Helpful Score: 9
The making of a man and the future of a planet are intertwined in this Science Fiction classic. Paul Atreides is the heir to his Father's Dukedom on th Planet Arrakis. The planet is the key to intergalatic commerece because of its large supply of spice. As Paul completes the rite of passage from child to man a new generation make their mark and it all begins in Dune.
Rarely, does a story capture me from the beginning like Herbert does here. The characters leave an indelible mark on the reader and move the story at a brisk pace. This is not an average sci-fi story. It has many levels of religious, political and ecological overtones that still hold significant meaning in today' world. I highly reccomend this brilliant Hugo and Nebula Award winning novel.
Rarely, does a story capture me from the beginning like Herbert does here. The characters leave an indelible mark on the reader and move the story at a brisk pace. This is not an average sci-fi story. It has many levels of religious, political and ecological overtones that still hold significant meaning in today' world. I highly reccomend this brilliant Hugo and Nebula Award winning novel.
Helpful Score: 4
In book one a young Paul Atreides has been having visions. In his dreams he sees his future home, his future lover, and his future strife. His father, aware he's walking into a trap, proceeds to move from his ancestral home to a plant that most would consider an un-livable hell, were it not for the spice*. A feud dating back centuries is coming to a head. The traitorous House Harkonnen has been plotting in the shadows. One house will fall, another will rise.
*The spice is a mysterious drug which is used by the wealthy to prolong life, boost the immune system, flavor meals, and provide pleasure. The drug is used by the Spacing Guild, who's navigators "swim" in a gas created from the spice and, with their mutated biology, gain a limited ability to predict the future. This is a nessissary ability since they guide ships faster than light.
This book is a "Must" for any SciFi/Adventure fan. Frank Herbert tells an epic tale that only starts with this book. When you put down this book after reading the last page I hope you feel what I felt. The story is simply amazing. While the first book feels complete you want more. However with 13 more books in the series, ("Road To Dune" I'm counting as supplemental) you have much more adventure in store.
*The spice is a mysterious drug which is used by the wealthy to prolong life, boost the immune system, flavor meals, and provide pleasure. The drug is used by the Spacing Guild, who's navigators "swim" in a gas created from the spice and, with their mutated biology, gain a limited ability to predict the future. This is a nessissary ability since they guide ships faster than light.
This book is a "Must" for any SciFi/Adventure fan. Frank Herbert tells an epic tale that only starts with this book. When you put down this book after reading the last page I hope you feel what I felt. The story is simply amazing. While the first book feels complete you want more. However with 13 more books in the series, ("Road To Dune" I'm counting as supplemental) you have much more adventure in store.
Helpful Score: 3
I had to read this for a college class and loved it. Out of 15 novels I had to read for that class, this was one of my favorites. It takes you out of your comfort zone and makes you think about how you need to pay attention to your enviorment and all that it can do for you.
Helpful Score: 2
Awesome book, one of the best I've read in a long time.
Helpful Score: 2
There are very few books that grab me the way Dune does. It's an amazing work of science fiction, and among the best books I've ever read, possibly the best.
I read Dune the first time at roughly 15 years of age, the age of Paul Atreides as the book begins. Whatever was going on in my life then, it let this book sink into me in a way few others have, and despite 30 years and innumerable re-readings, it continues to satisfy.
At one level, Dune is a science fiction story. It has a hero and a complex set of characters set against a backdrop that is foreign but understandable. At another level, Herbert went way beyond what anyone had done before. Written in 1965, Dune is an ecological novel too, telling the story of an entire planet and the people that live upon it. I understand that Herbert did something like ten years of research before writing Dune, and it shows. This is a work well ahead of its time.
A quick synopsis: Paul Atreides is the son of Duke Leto Atreides. Duke Leto has been instructed by the emperor to take possession of Arrakis, a desert planet and the only place where the spice, melange, is found. Melange has several properties, but most importantly it extends life, and it is a drug allowing altered mental states in some. For Space Guild navigators, it allows them to see far enough into the future to permit faster than light travel. For the Bene Gesserit, it permits and inward transformation so their members can access past memories.
Duke Leto, however, is opposed by Baron Harkonnen and others. Leto is killed and Paul and his mother find shelter with the native inhabitants of Arrakis, the Fremen. There Paul comes into full manhood in a hostile environment and sets about taking back that which his father lost, and then some.
With Dune, Herbert hit a peak that I am not at all sure he ever reached again. Subsequent books in the series - Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, and others were OK, but don't measure up in my estimation. Dune is a singular achievement, and stands alone.
A brief story about the first time I read Dune: It turns out that my mother was reading it while I was in school. I came home and read in the afternoons and evenings when time allowed (often) and so one night found me nearing the end of the book. Dune is large - my paperback is 537 pages - but I literally let out a cry of anguish when I learned the book ended some 50 pages shy of the cover. There were appendixes of various sorts after that point, but no more story. In the kitchen, though, I heard my mother's knowing chuckle. She'd finished the book a day or two before and knew what happened.
I read Dune the first time at roughly 15 years of age, the age of Paul Atreides as the book begins. Whatever was going on in my life then, it let this book sink into me in a way few others have, and despite 30 years and innumerable re-readings, it continues to satisfy.
At one level, Dune is a science fiction story. It has a hero and a complex set of characters set against a backdrop that is foreign but understandable. At another level, Herbert went way beyond what anyone had done before. Written in 1965, Dune is an ecological novel too, telling the story of an entire planet and the people that live upon it. I understand that Herbert did something like ten years of research before writing Dune, and it shows. This is a work well ahead of its time.
A quick synopsis: Paul Atreides is the son of Duke Leto Atreides. Duke Leto has been instructed by the emperor to take possession of Arrakis, a desert planet and the only place where the spice, melange, is found. Melange has several properties, but most importantly it extends life, and it is a drug allowing altered mental states in some. For Space Guild navigators, it allows them to see far enough into the future to permit faster than light travel. For the Bene Gesserit, it permits and inward transformation so their members can access past memories.
Duke Leto, however, is opposed by Baron Harkonnen and others. Leto is killed and Paul and his mother find shelter with the native inhabitants of Arrakis, the Fremen. There Paul comes into full manhood in a hostile environment and sets about taking back that which his father lost, and then some.
With Dune, Herbert hit a peak that I am not at all sure he ever reached again. Subsequent books in the series - Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, and others were OK, but don't measure up in my estimation. Dune is a singular achievement, and stands alone.
A brief story about the first time I read Dune: It turns out that my mother was reading it while I was in school. I came home and read in the afternoons and evenings when time allowed (often) and so one night found me nearing the end of the book. Dune is large - my paperback is 537 pages - but I literally let out a cry of anguish when I learned the book ended some 50 pages shy of the cover. There were appendixes of various sorts after that point, but no more story. In the kitchen, though, I heard my mother's knowing chuckle. She'd finished the book a day or two before and knew what happened.
