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ariep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Slavery, Violence, and War
Minor: Sexism
lunaloewenherz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexism, and War
tinnuben's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Rape
Minor: Genocide and Incest
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Murder, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Slavery
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture
hollyrooker's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.5
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Rape
r0binflower's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
annabel__b's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The story follows the life of Paul, son of the Duke of House Atreides. The emperor has given them control over the planet Arrakis, a desert planet known for it's production of spice (Melange), a Hallucinogen drug that makes space-travel possible. But the Duke and his family know that this is a trap, and quickly the House Harkonnen attacks them and forces Paul and his mother to find shelter with the Fremen, the people of Arrakis. There, Paul finds a new destiny, a jihad that will set the galaxy on fire.
There are some point that I really loved about the book, and some that I did less. I really loved the planet Arrakis that Frank Herbert created. He takes you deeply into the ecology of Arrakis, and the way that a desert planet can still support life. I thought his importance of the worms was very well thought out, and I really enjoyed Kynes ideas on the possible terraforming of the planet. Another thing I liked was the Freman. The people of the desert were written quite well. So strong, so self-reliant, and so pragmatic in their goal to terraform their planet without the emperor noticing. Five million people, a whole planet, working towards one goal. It was amazing. The character called the Baron was a really good-written evil master-mind, and I enjoyed the way he was scheming. The last point I really liked was the working of the spice, and the importance of it for the human race. It's really interesting to see how the human world developed without machines (which is explained in the later books). What I didn't like about the book was, first of all, the fact that the characters have little... character. There's the elite that behave like elite, and the Freman that act like Freman, but the characters didnt get a lot of substanance. Secondly, there are only THREE female characters in the book, apart from the general whores and slaves. THREE!! It was so disappointing. I completely understand why they made the ecologist Kynes a women in the new movie. Also, one of the female charachters, Chani, get's so little substanance... She's only there as Paul's lover and fulfills her duty as that. It kind of shows that Herbert had some sexist ideas on the importance of women.
Nevertheless, it was a wonderful book to read. The focus on the desert as a place where life can exists shows that Herbert was living in a time where he was worried about the earth. Desertification is still a probable future for earth. This gave the book a timeless story. His description of the land are amazing.
Though I am interested in the story of Paul, I do not know if I will read the next books, because the sexism was bothering me. We will see!
Favorite quotes:
Page 35, Paul: "He recalled another thing the old woman had said about a world being the sum of many things - the people, the dirt, the growing things, the moons, the tides, the suns - the unknown sum called nature, a vague summation without any sense of the now.
Page 37: "'I guess I'm not in the mood for it today,' Paul said. 'Mood?' Halleck's voice betrayed his outrage even through the shield's filtering. 'What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises - no matter the mood. Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting.'"
Page 43, Paul: "Think you of the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us? What is there around us that we cannot feel?"
Page 402, Irulan: "Deep in the human unconsciousness is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic."
Moderate: Sexism
bella63096's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Minor: Sexism
almond_green's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Moderate: Sexism
1) I hate changing perspective mid paragraphs. 2) I hate he describes Jessica as concubine, as if her importance comes from giving birth to a male son. 3) I hate he reveals the whole plan in the beginning. 4) I hate the house politics. 5) I find it unoriginal that the main objective of "the bad guy" is to gain money. 6) I also hate how Paul commands the Reverend mother and treats her unbearably mean. I hate Paul. Please don't read this book.gsher002's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Fatphobia, Violence, Sexism, Pedophilia, Grief, Death of parent, and Body shaming