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eyeliner_brand's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Sci Fi classic. Definitely deserved but very long and complicated. Dune is it’s own world with a special vibe definitely worth a try.oozeloot's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Genocide
leannanecdote's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Slavery, Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Colonisation, Death of parent, Violence, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Grief, Child death, and Alcohol
biobeetle's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Misogyny and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death and Sexual assault
leeyongjin's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Murder and Violence
Moderate: Classism, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Emotional abuse, War, Colonisation, Death, Grief, and Hate crime
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Genocide, and Drug use
alexiconic's review
- 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? Yes
3.0
Dune had things that were absolutely great. It’s clearly a well thought-through world, the environment and the history are very well constructed and it works well. We enter a world where it’s clear the author knows what is what. The mystical elements of the Bene Gesserit, the planet’s ecology, the political factions and their motivations: these are solids.
I’m a bit in the middle on the writing. Having switching POVs and a kind of omniscient narrative is not that popular anymore, and it took some getting used to. But I ended up appreciating it. I didn’t really enjoy the time jump midway in the book: it removed too much buildup and context, and Dune was already going to be a long, long book, which would have been better if we had a little more insight in the “between” period.
What really let the book down for me were the characters. Most weren’t very fleshed out, and while that was the point to a certain extent, it also lessened the impact. I truly didn’t understand why Paul was this great charismatic leader, for example. There were also some tensions in the characters goals:
Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Colonisation, Drug use, Fatphobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Slavery
nils_0'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Violence, and War
Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Gore, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
mardana's review against another edition
- 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
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
brnineworms's review
- 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
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.
Graphic: Drug use, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Torture
Moderate: Genocide, Addiction, Child abuse, Ableism, Incest, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Colonisation, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, and War
Minor: Self harm, Islamophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Homophobia
samdalefox'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? It's complicated
5.0
For such a famous and epic book there are plenty of detailed reviews for you to peruse. I'll only highlight the themes I identified and top line likes and dislikes about the book.
Themes
- Commentary on ecology and Earth's environmental crises
- Investigation into different sorts of power e.g. resource control (spice production, a clear metaphor to oil in the Middle East), 'soft' political control (bene gesserit and other religious sects), 'hard' militarised imperial political control (classism with the Landsraad, Emperor, salusa secundus, and racism against the Freman).
- Eugenics lack of morality e.g. the bene gesserit breeding program, and 'race conciousness'. I can see why the fascists love it so much. I read the book as criticising rather than advocating this point though.
- Beware of 'heroes'/'Messiahs/Leaders - Keynes's last words were explicitly that Dune did not need Paul the Hero. The Freman would have been better liberating themselves on their own terms with their own ecology and power plan.
- Investigation into the powers of the mind, mental capacities, and different ways of seeing. Perhaps influenced/inspired by 60s psychodelic drugs?
Likes
- I enjoyed this as an opposition to Assimov's Foundation series where everything is determined by computers and tehcnology and statistics etc. Dune felt like the mirror image demonstrated in the powers of the mentat and the butlerian jihad.
- Finally, women power! The bene gesserit. The Fremen women. Even Princess Irulan to a degree. Ok, they're not morally 'good' and don't have a lot of power, but women, with some agency, in a book from the 60s!
- The whole world building was beautiful and swept me up. Though detailed, long, and written a long time ago, I found it very easy to read.
- The three appendices: ecology of Dune, religion of Dune, Bene Gesserit motives and purposes.
Dislikes
- Alia. Just weird. I suppose that's the point of her, but, just nope.
- I find it difficult to believe that the missionaria protectivia planted the religious seed of The Prophet. Although reasonable (and possibly a shrewd criticism of religion in general), I get the niggly sense that this may have some unconcious bias or tinged racism to it. The fact that an entire people (brown, Islamic inspired people) so easily adopted this narrative of an outsider arriving to be their saviour... just I don't know, it was the only thing I thought hmmm really, sounds a bit off? I'd like to read reviews from Middle Eastern people to hear their opinions about whether Dune is racist or not.
- Outdated homophobia painting Baron Harkonnen as a depraved homosexual. The film made a good call in updating this aspect. On this point, the film adapted the book brilliantly. It was largely true to the source material and anything it left out or embellished was to enhance the core story and update the text beyond homophobia, sexism, racism etc. So, bravo! I look forward to watching part II at the cinema when it's released.
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, and Colonisation
Minor: Child death, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Blood, Violence, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, and Slavery