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serafinam's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Dune follows Paul Atreides, heir to his father's title, as his family moves to the planet Arrakis and is plunged into chaos.
My biggest complaints about the novel come from how minority characters are depicted and treated. Women in Dune are subservient to men, very manipulative, and are often depicted as slightly less intelligent than their male counterparts. While some of this can be explained by Paul's youth and the wickedness of some characters, none of the female characters are treated as equal and it does make the book harder to enjoy as a woman. The Fremen are more often that not depicted as mystical fanatics with outdated, or even primitive ways of living. Without their existence the entire plot would fall apart, and yet they are not treated with the respect they deserve, both as fictional people and as those based on an actual minority group. My final, and perhaps greatest issue, is with the Baron Harkonnen. It cannot be denied that he is a wicked, evil man--facts easily gleaned from his attempts to exterminate the House Atreides and his treatment of other characters. the inclusion of his penchant for young boys is wholy unnecessary to show just how evil he is. This is especially compounded by the fact that he is the only character we see to have same sex attraction.
I have a love/hate relationship with this book, though it does lean more towards love. I found the politics of the novel to be fascinating and the character motivations keep me guessing at who to trust at every turn. While the style of writing, lore introduced, and involved of the spice lends itself more similarly to high fantasy, it thrives as a solid science fiction novel. The time jumps and perspective changes could be a bit confusing at times, and I often found myself a little perplexed as to the importance of some characters, but I would still recommend this to anyone who loves works like Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, or Brian Sanderson.
My biggest complaints about the novel come from how minority characters are depicted and treated. Women in Dune are subservient to men, very manipulative, and are often depicted as slightly less intelligent than their male counterparts. While some of this can be explained by Paul's youth and the wickedness of some characters, none of the female characters are treated as equal and it does make the book harder to enjoy as a woman. The Fremen are more often that not depicted as mystical fanatics with outdated, or even primitive ways of living. Without their existence the entire plot would fall apart, and yet they are not treated with the respect they deserve, both as fictional people and as those based on an actual minority group. My final, and perhaps greatest issue, is with the Baron Harkonnen. It cannot be denied that he is a wicked, evil man--facts easily gleaned from his attempts to exterminate the House Atreides and his treatment of other characters. the inclusion of his penchant for young boys is wholy unnecessary to show just how evil he is. This is especially compounded by the fact that he is the only character we see to have same sex attraction.
I have a love/hate relationship with this book, though it does lean more towards love. I found the politics of the novel to be fascinating and the character motivations keep me guessing at who to trust at every turn. While the style of writing, lore introduced, and involved of the spice lends itself more similarly to high fantasy, it thrives as a solid science fiction novel. The time jumps and perspective changes could be a bit confusing at times, and I often found myself a little perplexed as to the importance of some characters, but I would still recommend this to anyone who loves works like Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, or Brian Sanderson.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Colonisation, Death, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Violence, War, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Murder, and Pedophilia
Minor: Grief, Incest, and Gore
spw14's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Pedophilia, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Homophobia
ryan_ggaur's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
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
3.75
The world of Dune is designed with care from the smallest atom up, but Frank Herbert’s writing style and complex, political plot makes the book as cold and unwelcoming as the titular planet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Misogyny
tarnishedcopper's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Drug use, Genocide, and Torture
Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, and Homophobia
tinyjude's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Homophobia, and Fatphobia
lunaloewenherz's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexism, and War
tinnuben's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Rape
Minor: Genocide and Incest
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Embarking on the odyssey that is this book, my only expectation was that I would be confused, having been warned (correctly) by Booktok that Herbert’s worldbuilding is of the variety that throws you in the deep end and expects you to figure it out. With Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet as my motivation, however, I flew through the first hundred pages or so (which, in my opinion, were the most confusing), and was quickly sucked into the world of Arrakis. The first 100-or-so pages of confusion aside, the worldbuilding was incredible—not only did the scientific explanations in this science fiction novel make sense (as a former biochemist, poorly researched or explained science is one of the biggest reasons I rarely read this genre), but I also found myself becoming extremely conscious of my own water use. In the (likely not-too-distant) future, water will be a much rarer and more valuable resource. This made me wonder whether Herbert suspected as much when Dune came out, or if this all came from his imagination.
I’ve heard about a lot of controversy surrounding the content of the novel, and I’m still not sure where I fall in the debate. My initial impression was that this is a classic white savior story (it definitely gave me blue-people-Avatar vibes), and Herbert definitely uses some orientalizing imagery—yikes. On the other hand, Paul doesn’t seem to be the glorified hero that so many stories have; in fact, as the story progresses, he becomes more and more clearly flawed. If this was Herbert’s intention (and I confess, I don’t know enough about Herbert or the historical context of the novel to determine whether or not it was), then the novel could be a critique of the white savior narrative. But then again, if it’s not obvious enough, then this message is lost of many readers and will be used to justify that which it critiques. To me, the much more obvious problems were the rigid gender roles (this man really wrote a novel set far in the future and thought men would still be in charge of everything?). Of course, the Bene Gesserit have power, and I did find that whole concept fascinating (not the eugenics, but the idea that they planted folktales and prophecies in various communities that could be used as protection for their own whenever they might need it). But despite their power, they have all taken a backseat role, and besides their order, we meet only a few other named female characters. I also don’t like the concept of multiple wives/concubines (again, this feels problematically orientalizing).
The added information at the beginning of each chapter (usually from Princess Irulan) was interesting (though sometimes confusing). I have never minded spoilers in the way that some people do, so I kind of liked that Dune essentially spoils itself with this framing. I was surprised, however, when we learn (somewhere around halfway through the novel) that Princess Irulan is actually alive concurrently with Paul—I had been imagining her as a scholar farther in the future, recording this history a generation or two later.
As a side note, I found it very funny that Herbert named whole planets and invented multiple new civilizations, but named his main characters Paul and Jessica (rather along the lines of Tolkein coming up with several entire languages, but calling the location of the story’s climax “Mount Doom”).
Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending): I don’t know that this could really be called a happy ending, though it’s honestly better than I was expecting (I wouldn’t have put it past Herbert to kill Paul in the end). It’s not exactly a cliffhanger, but definitely feels unfinished, and I’ve already put the sequel on hold at my library!
Content Warnings
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
grey_jayne's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I was surprised to like this as much as I did. Yes, there's misogyny, homophobia and so much patriarchy. Sometimes it was dry as unbuttered toast. However, the scope of the story won me over.
There's sand worms and space witches. Multiversal experiencing of time. I can see why it's highly influential in both sci-fi and fantasy. I'll be continuing through Dune Messiah and Children of Dune because the three books were already mapped out when the first one was released. Fascinating stuff.
There's sand worms and space witches. Multiversal experiencing of time. I can see why it's highly influential in both sci-fi and fantasy. I'll be continuing through Dune Messiah and Children of Dune because the three books were already mapped out when the first one was released. Fascinating stuff.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Child death, Pedophilia, and Homophobia
hollyrooker's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Child death, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Rape