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Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Dune by Frank Herbert

58 reviews

thevampiremars'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

“Greatness is a transitory experience. It is never consistent. It depends in part upon the myth-making imagination of humankind. The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in. He must reflect what is projected upon him. And he must have a strong sense of the sardonic.”

I didn’t really know what to expect going in. I knew it was a science fiction classic featuring a young man called Paul on a desert planet that may or may not be called Dune, and I knew that there were big worms and something to do with spice – a rough outline, nothing more.
I think Dune can best be described as sci-fi for history buffs. It’s full of political intrigue, factions and dynasties, empire building, and so on, but also of note are the incessant spoilers courtesy of Princess Irulan. We are told who these characters are and what they will go on to do, to the extent that it sometimes feels like watching a reenactment of what happened or a dramatisation of a well-known legend rather than events unfolding in real time. At first I was thrown off by it but I adjusted and learnt to accept the writing for what it is instead of getting hung up on what I thought it would be.
Dune is, above all else, a story about expectations and adaptation. Having to adjust my own perspective in response to this curveball of a novel meant there was a neat parallel between my own reading experience and the experiences of the characters on the page having to adjust to life on Arrakis – a good avenue for sympathy and connection.

Paul, our protagonist, is entirely shaped by the expectations placed upon him.
He takes on various names and titles over the course of the story (Duke Paul Atreides, the Kwisatz Haderach, the Lisan al Gaib, Muad’Dib, Usul) and these personas seem to supersede any true sense of self he may have once had. His identity fractures and frays at the climax; not only does he flit back and forth between multiple selves, he also refers to them in the third person and assigns them different motives and personalities (“You have the word of a Duke [...] but Muad’Dib is another matter.”) I don’t know if I’d insist that Paul is plural, but his selfhood is certainly compromised and complicated by all these assumed identities.
Of course, while I’m on the topic of identity, I have to talk about gender – this book is riddled with it. I wouldn’t be the first to point out that women exist in this narrative only as they relate to men, and that they’re portrayed as intuitive, emotional, nurturing, and, above all, passive. I also wouldn’t be the first to note the queerness inherent to the Kwisatz Haderach, a boy with access to powers normally possessed only by women, who can see “both masculine and feminine pasts” – “the male who can truly become one of us.”
Paul has a drug-induced epiphany late in the novel wherein he claims women are givers and men are takers, and that he himself is “the fulcrum” who cannot give without taking nor take without giving.
That moment serves as a good demonstration of Dune’s strange synthesis of essentialism and transgressiveness. And I must say, the fulcrum quote really resonated with me as a genderqueer person.

I’ve talked about Paul, now it’s time to talk about Baron Harkonnen.
He starts off as a vague force of evil that influences the actions of others, only becoming a fully fledged character after the betrayal of Duke Leto.
Herbert could not have made it any clearer that this guy is a villain we’re supposed to loathe. Not only is he a power-hungry capitalist, he’s also an incestuous pedophile and (even worse!) he’s very fat. Yeah, the fatphobia is... not great. And that’s not the only thorny issue here. Dune is inseparable from its Orientalist manner, genocide is treated as set dressing, and eugenics (though criticised) does seem to be granted some legitimacy within the narrative. I don’t want to dwell on these problematic elements but at the same time I can’t disregard them.

Does Dune deserve four and a half stars? Probably not. Am I going to give it four and a half stars anyway? You bet. It’s not beyond criticism (far from it) but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. I’m curious to see where the story goes from here and I’ve already ordered Dune Messiah, but I won’t be reading it just yet because I have quite a backlog of unread books to work through first. 
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julianh's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective 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

4.0

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stephanieluxton's review against another edition

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challenging 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? No

2.25

I read this because it's become a classic and I was told it is a great gateway into sci Fi. What I liked about the book was the setting and the world building. It was cool and I really wanted to get lost in Arrakis. What I didn't like about this book is that it feels a lot like all talk and no action. The vast majority of the book is dialogue. I don't like the omniscient narrative and how I knew what basically all the characters were thinking at all times because it took all the mystery out of the plot. It also felt a lot like telling rather than showing. The overall storyline was fine but it felt like it dragged on. I didn't hate the book by any means but Im not sure that I really liked it all that much either.
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literarydumpling's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

3.5

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meredith's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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paigesbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging tense slow-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

3.75

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kaadee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I finished, but it took me forever. I REALLY liked how in depth the political system, ecology and economic system blended together to make the perfect world. A masterpiece of world building, truly amazing. I wasn’t a huge fan of Paul as a character, I felt like he didn’t have much personality. Maybe because of the writing style you didn’t really get that personal detail. But I felt like he was a complex/deep character just not very likeable. I love the Bene Gessirit, I think the organization is very interesting specifically the Missionaria Protectiva. The mix of spirituality and politics just makes my little heart happy. ALSO?? The quotes in this book are very well written, and has some of my favorite quotes. 
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kayblecar's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I enjoyed Dune, but i wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless they specifically wanted to read a sci-fi classic, or politics intersecting with capitalism and religion *in space!* or liked one of the adaptations of it. The anti-imperialism of Paul's goals is easily ignored, and the eugenics theory is granted some degree of "success" even as it is refuted.
That being acknowledged, I really love the kind of worldbuilding-through-hidden-history and complicated interactions between ecology, politics, and capitalism featured in Dune.
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marinapaso11's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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ivana's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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