Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Dune by Frank Herbert

3 reviews

jelliclejules's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical content, Drug use, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, War, Colonisation, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Classism, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia

Minor: Pedophilia, Incest, Child death, and Trafficking

luminifera's review against another edition

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

4.5

I find some of the characters very annoying for many different reasons, but the worst for sure is Chani. She simply

has no personality outside of being Paul's love interest

, which is kind of outrageous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Murder, Slavery, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Alcohol, Colonisation, Death, Physical abuse, War, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Addiction, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Xenophobia, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, Incest, Cursing, Gun violence, Medical content, and Miscarriage

It's about the colonization of a planet, and the main character is The Chosen One. Expect violence, war, and of course plenty of misogyny - this book is from the 1960s and was written by a man. Some things are simply offensive.

owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I really liked this book! It's the first book I've read for fun in almost two years and I think it may have reset something inside my brain. It is very long and the pacing drags at times but the plotting and narration more than make up for it.

I would definitely say I found the first two sections of the book - Dune and Muad'Dib - much more interesting. I think that might just be my personal preference for

tragedies and survival narratives

but the last part felt comparatively weaker, mainly owing to strange pacing, as information was released very slowly and then very quickly. I LOVED the themes of self-loathing and foreboding around an individual's own capabilities. In particular, the

dark prescience and subsequent self-loathing

Paul experiences. The

burdened with 'a great and terrible purpose' line

feels like it was specifically written in for my angsty tastes!

I did struggle with the scope of the world building. Often, in order to motivate myself to keep reading, I would just have to accept that I didn't really grasp all of the wider political and social contexts for the events of a scene. I also had to make peace with the fact that it's a book from the 1960s, so sometimes it's tricky to tell if it's pro or anti capitalist, and also that sometimes its Islamic influences can read a bit islamophobically. Also the blatant homophobia of having the villain

be the only camp and queer coded character but also a paedophile!

Overall it's definitely a good book and a well-deserved classic - I'm more excited for the movie now I kind of understand the plot and world! It is going to be interesting to see how Villeneuve cuts the book in half. I definitely think the first two sections are stronger and will make an excellent film, but I'm not sure the final third will work as a standalone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Torture, Religious bigotry, Body horror, Medical content, and Pedophilia

Minor: Homophobia and Islamophobia

I was really surprised by the homophobia and Islamophobia in this book. It's not massively present but it is there. And the Baron's queer-coding is often directly linked to his inherent evilness and paedophillia, so tread lightly when reading.