Reviews with content warning for War - Dune

when i first watched the movie (without having read the book) i basically understood absolutely nada, and thus didn't enjoy it very much. i mean... it's a 2-hour long shot of endless dunes and desert.

i re-watched the movie some months ago, but this time i used the little lexicon at the back of the book to guide me—and i loved it. i was (and still am) obsessed.
so i decided to finally read the book (i've owned it for like a year; the pages are starting to yellow).

with the movie as a background, i definitely found the book to be more comprehensible. i think if i hadn't watched the movie beforehand, i wouldn't have understood much. so i do recommend to watch at least the first movie before reading the book.
but the book is super important and makes the whole world really come to life. i've heard many people complain about the movie, saying it was boring and so on and so forth. which—yes, it probably is for many who've not read the book.

but the book is great and provides a lot of context & now i cannot cannot wait to finally watch dune 2.

Content Warnings

intermeyer's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Dune is a wonderfull exploration of the economics and sociology of its universe, sadly for me Pauls character development takes precedent over the worldbuilding.

Additionally the pace of the book speeds up uncomfortably fast towards the end, which is definitly intended to bring across the feeling of a snowball effect gliding out of control but it still feels a bit to rushed towards the end for me. Overall the setting, mood and Pauls development are a delight to read, even if some of the themes are a bit out of their time.

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oozeloot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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philosopher_kj's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

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sunn_bleach's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

I read Dune over 12 years ago in 2011. I strongly enjoyed it; and, this revisit has changed some of my perspective. Herbert doesn't know when to trust you to get things; so much of the subtlety of the book is undercut by the characters giving you one- or two-line summaries about whatever's going on. No! Stop that! The best part of this series is figuring out the intrigue yourself! Herbert feels terrified that a reader might be slightly confused, which is ironic given the obfuscation around the Bene Gesserit and Missionaria Protectiva.

I also found that the book does a lot of telling rather than showing. We're told Paul is ~special~ and ~precocious~ from the start, but he's just asks normal questions. We're told the Suk school has unbreakable conditioning, but the *only* example we have is someone who can't. We're told that Thufir Hawat is a dangerous mentat, but he really screws up everything but one (Feyd-Rautha's gladiator battle). I almost feel like this is one of the few long books that could have been longer; we're given so much from the very beginning that feels subverted without establishment.

I still enjoyed this reread, but more for the ideas than Herbert's prose. Not a horrible thing to have, though!

Content Warnings

banned_book's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

2.0

The ideas presented here must have been mind-blowing during the time it was published for the impact it made on modern culture. I can recognize that. But the prose was insultingly basic, and gave no room for the characters to grow beyond cookie cutter tropes. The dialogue was a painful slog to get through, and almost exclusively constructed of as-you-know-Bobs. I heard for years that the worldbuilding was dense and difficult to follow. No. Herbert drives information into your skull repetitively as if you could not grasp it the first time. This book has not aged well.

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