Reviews

Dune by Frank Herbert

jojo_bizarre's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ijfritz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Dune is an amazing read if you want to be asked existential questions. But in all seriousness it is a very good book. It reads a bit slow at some times but at other times it can read quickly. I would say that if you are interested in reading this book after having seen the movies please separate the two stories in your head. Denis Villneuve's Dune should be viewed as a separate story. Both are great stories but they are still slightly different in major ways.

hligas's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

sstars's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

nepantla's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

roribecker's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

mary_haeb's review against another edition

It was just a little slow paced. I'll probably come back to it.

jlapke's review against another edition

on hold

elisabethconnell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

daja57's review against another edition

5.0

The classic scifi story about the battle for a desert planet. A galactic empire is riven by faction fighting between aristocratic houses. An order of witches controls an aristocratic breeding programme. A young man on a desert planet is taught mind control tricks. This epic story is clearly the influence for Star Wars but, as the biggest-selling scifi novel of all time, it is so much more.

Its major themes include environmentalism, psychedelic drug use, eugenics and religion. There are clear references to the emergence and rapid expansion of Islam from its desert setting. Although religion is fundamental to the motives of the characters, and they experience drug-induced altered states of consciousness which include the ability to see the future, Dune is resolutely secular: there are prophets but no Gods.

Told from a multiple PoV, the plot is a characteristic hero's adventure; in the very earliest pages the hero is tested by and receives advice from a crone. Much of the interest of the book comes from the world-making which is incredible. Each 'chapter' begins with a quote from the works of Princess Irulan.

A page-turning epic which influenced so much.