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thebakerbookworm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
What I liked:
- the setting, and cool world-building
- the planet of Arrakis
- stillsuits were pretty sweet
- Jessica, for the most part
- the fact that nothing is really explained, we just have to figure it out from context or by reading the glossary
- riding sandworms
- the intros at the beginning of each chapter, which tell you exactly what is going to happen in the future so there are no real surprises
- Kynes
- sometimes liked Paul when he wasn't being boring or spouting nonsense because he can
- the fact that I got through all 600+ pages
What I didn't like:
- I could not connect to the characters and didn't see a ton of development. An "important" character would pop up and then disappear for three hundred pages, only to return just briefly or die or never get mentioned again. Paul was special because he was special and automatically good at everything, so there wasn't really any room for his growth.
- the slowwwwww prose
- the "chosen one" trope, which maybe wasn't as common when this book was written but is very overdone now
- the evil character is evil just because he is evil and fat
- the late late late arrival of Chani
- the intros at the beginning of each chapter, which tell you exactly what is going to happen in the future so there are no real surprises
- the random two-year time jump
- and lastly, I perhaps could have forgiven all the above, if not that I just do not like Herbert's writing style...it drove me crazy. This is written in third-person omniscient, which was already my least-favorite POV style, and the constant jumping between character's heads and thoughts plus the disconnected way Herbert writes about the characters had me bored or frustrated for most of the book.
Okay, so maybe there was more that I didn't like then did like...but I did still like some of it. And I appreciate the fact that it did a lot for the science fiction genre in its time. But I also just don't understand why people love it so much đ
I did watch the movie and enjoyed it a lot more than the book!
Also as always, please be wary of the content warnings; if you ever need more info about one, don't hesitate to ask!
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Racism
Minor: Pedophilia
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Murder, Violence, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Slavery
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture
saphirabloom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Violence, War, Death of parent, and Pedophilia
Minor: Child death, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Suicide
sophiejohn's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Child abuse and Rape
kashby's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Violence, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Torture
saltycoffee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Graphic: Addiction, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, War, Slavery, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny
r0binflower's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
iwi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I think part of the intention here was to show how harmful humans and power is. That I can agree with. But I still wish that I liked more about this story.
Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, and Slavery
Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Incest, Infertility, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
angoisse's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Murder, and Sexual content
Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Slavery
mariacandet's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Graphic: War, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Body shaming, Misogyny, Child death, Racism, and Slavery