Reviews

Dune by Frank Herbert

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emmabeckman's review against another edition

5.0

I was pleasantly surprised by this one! I totally didn’t expect to like it so much. I will absolutely continue in the series. I really liked how it subverted the “Chosen One” trope, both by questioning how the Chosen One comes to be and by making Paul a flawed Chosen One. It sounds like Dune Messiah will take this further, which I’m looking forward to.

solene0910's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

dscotton's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective 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

tomlv's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

show_no_mercy's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I was a bit worried by the size of this book but, like the three musketeers, once I found a rhythm I was speeding through it 100 pages at a time. I enjoyed the excerpts from other later books that began each section of the text when it changed perspecrive. I found the world fascinating and it was nice to be able to see inside the characters heads which was not something the movie could offer. Duke Leto was far less flat in the book and he comes across as a more intelligent and tragic figure. I found Paul less irritating due to him only being 15 before the time jump and therefore his emotional outbursts were more understandable. I also liked the use of songs and the importance of music within the world which the films missed. In the film's favour I preferred the more nuanced look at the Fremen religious beliefs with there being more scepticism from Chani, and her character being a foil to Paul in a more overt way because lord know some people still failed to understand that Paul wasn't the hero of this. Although it was sad to lose the intimacy her and Jessica shared and the film didn't really capture Jessica's fear of Paul. His little sister was a bit goofy and I'm glad the film decided to find a way to circumvent that issue. I like a dense science-fantasy so I enjoyed the background information in the glossary and appendix, it's nice when an author actually puts some effort into thinking about how the world would work and the history of what came before. Minus points for the homophobia but on the plus side the author is dead so can't Rowling us. I think overall the book is better than the film and but film was pretty decent given what it was trying to achieve.

ktreadin's review against another edition

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Slow, too much exposition and I felt like paul had a weird character change when he learned he was the chosen one. He went from 15 year old kid to like full blown messiah and I couldn’t reconcile it