Reviews with content warning for Violence - Dune

Enjoyed this as an audiobook, though found it hard to navigate so many characters. Having seen the film for the first book that was really interesting to listen to, and the next ones make me look forward to the next adaptations. Found some things weren’t quite explained - but maybe because I was not paying attention properly sometimes. Of ending that is thought provoking and leaves me wanting more or to flick through all the Princess’ extracts.

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wispy_reviews's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

Like most classic Sci-Fi, a lot doesn’t age well here. To me, at least, the author at least attempts to be progressive and properly represent certain ideas and people, but I certainly don’t have the authority to weigh in on whether it’s effective all around.
Case in Point, the matriarchal society of badass, kung-fu, gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss space witches require a man to be their chosen one…
All that said, Dune is a revolutionary piece of fiction that changed everything. The weirdness of pulp streamlined into one of the greatest stories I’ve ever seen, a tragedy of power and hubris for the ages.

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avie_j's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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oustlangouste's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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? It's complicated

3.75

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dannilmp's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective 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? No

2.75

While my rating of Dune isn't that high, I must admit that for a piece of sci-fi written so long ago this book certainly holds itself up well and through the test of time. Here we follow a complicated game of politics across multiple planets and factions while a young boy and his mother are just trying to survive Arrakis' harsh climate.

The world building in this novel is superb, the politics, religion, factions, and planets are very well fleshed out and don't leave you wanting for much more information. If you have all of your wits about you when you start this book then I think you'll be able to keep up with the plot quite well. The touch of the passages from different sources before each chapter was a good addition as at times they revealed more than the reader yet knew, so it really got me thinking about certain characters or plot points throughout.

On the other hand, I felt like the characters themselves were not given as much attention as the world around them, they felt very flat in comparision. At times I would have to re-read certain parts of the text to see if I had understood something and even then there were times I don't believe I had a full understanding, especially when it came to the politics plot points. So while the story and world were good, I think this book fell slightly on the delivery of those points.

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scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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