Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Dune by Frank Herbert

178 reviews

naomi_k's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Xenophobia, War, and Torture

Minor: Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, and Fatphobia

kt_jams's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Pedophilia

phantomgecko's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.5

Classic, impactful, science fiction novel but anticlimactic.

The novel before the two year time jump lives up to expectations, but the last section just seems rushed compared to the careful world building previous. (More specifics under the cut)

Take the Baron. In the beginning he really seems to be a competent and formidable enemy. Sneaky, smart, whatever. But then he becomes more and more pitiful until he's finally murdered by a literal four year old. And I get that the Emperor shows up as a bigger badder guy™, but still. Underwhelming.

The Emperor only gets to be the bigger badder guy for like half a chapter anyway. Ostensibly he gets to return as the antagonist in later books.

I understand that Paul is a literal CHOSEN ONE and all that, but he's pretty OP. Being able to molecularly change a poison administered to him seems like cheating.

Also not a big fan of Paul's son dying. I feel like that was needlessly depressing. Character development or whatever bs.

idk, I guess the takeaway is that this is not a strong standalone novel. It's impotent without the rest of the series.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Genocide, Pedophilia, Violence, War, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

kathrw's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Dune is a nuanced story that follows an anti-hero’s journey to power. Paul has been raised by the smartest minds in the universe, each manipulating him into a weapon. He finally steps into his role on the planet Arrakis where he, in-turn, manipulates the Freman into accepting him as their Messiah. He may believe he is avenging his family, killed by the Harkonnens and the Emperor, but he is only becoming the villain he’s been trained to be.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Violence, and War

goldenluck's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Dune is a classic, and its spot on every sci-fi fan's shelf is well earned. The writing is dense but compelling, sucking you in like the whirlpools of the deserts of Arrakis. Every writing decision in here that I could critique I understand the reasoning behind it. The time skip between parts 2 and 3 is off-putting (and a personal pet peeve), but understandable. Walking through all those 3 long years would have extended the book unnecessarily and made it go from slow-paced to downright molasses-like. The switching between internal thoughts can be difficult to keep track, however it does add to the tension of the novel, and best explains the political maneuvering without being blunt about it. 

Honestly, if you have any curiosity about this book at all, I recommend you pick it up. If you're a fan of fantasy political novels, I also recommend picking this up, as I would call it more science fantasy with a dash of hard science. It is, in a word, fantastic. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Incest

Minor: Pedophilia

macliffe's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring 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? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Death of parent, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Violence

Minor: Racism and Ableism

mardana's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Drug use, Genocide, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fatphobia, Addiction, Cannibalism, Violence, War, and Blood

Minor: Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Colonisation

parenthesis_enjoyer's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Classism, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Drug use, Racism, Colonisation, Addiction, Sexism, War, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Excrement, Sexual assault, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Genocide, Sexual violence, and Torture

the Baron is a depraved gay stereotype in the extreme

lunacurlypaws's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Excellent worldbuilding, a little slow to start, a good balance of character study and political intrigue, has some very 60s ideas about race and gender that make the book a little dated. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Fatphobia

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Trafficking and Slavery

Mentions of eugenics, sexism, gender-essentialism, detailed fat-phobic description of a character, possible use of tropes that appropriate or exoticize middle-eastern cultures.

bettysbookishworld's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

Literary masterpiece! I fell in love with Arrakis so much. Herbert created another reality of this planet by establishing its own politics, race, economics, culture, religion, and environment. 

The worldbuilding is the most complex aspect of the book and described imaginaries of Arrakis fell so real. 

The political story was very compelling and engaging. The characters have complex personalities and chatacteristics. All these aspects made Dune the genre defining literary piece with a story told on the existential level of Arrakis and other planets. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Genocide, Murder, Violence, Colonisation, and Drug use

Moderate: Drug abuse, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Grief