Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Dune by Frank Herbert

69 reviews

philosopher_kj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, War, Xenophobia, Death, Murder, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Classism, Colonisation, Addiction, and Child death

Minor: Slavery

garbagebarge69's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Slavery, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Drug use, Grief, Death, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Minor: Pedophilia, Addiction, Blood, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Child death

banned_book's review against another edition

slow-paced

• 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

2.0

The ideas presented here must have been mind-blowing during the time it was published for the impact it made on modern culture. I can recognize that. But the prose was insultingly basic, and gave no room for the characters to grow beyond cookie cutter tropes. The dialogue was a painful slog to get through, and almost exclusively constructed of as-you-know-Bobs. I heard for years that the worldbuilding was dense and difficult to follow. No. Herbert drives information into your skull repetitively as if you could not grasp it the first time. This book has not aged well.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Slavery, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Drug use, Colonisation, War, and Cultural appropriation

dramagnu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Murder, Addiction, Classism, Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, Slavery, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, War, Violence, and Torture

leannanecdote's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Slavery, Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Colonisation, Death of parent, Violence, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Grief, Child death, and Alcohol

infinite_harness9030's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Slavery, Death, Drug abuse, War, Violence, Death of parent, and Racism

Minor: Classism and Adult/minor relationship

becksusername's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

It took me almost a full year but I have finally read Dune. Still can't get over the main characters being called Paul and Jessica. And in my head "Chani" is pronounced "Zendaya"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Classism, Drug abuse, War, Murder, Death of parent, Drug use, Kidnapping, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Fatphobia, and Pregnancy

lqne's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Colonisation, and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Grief, Misogyny, Violence, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Kidnapping, and Child death

giuliana_ferrari's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

As a book written in the 60s, Dune carries a modern touch to it that is quite surprising, unless you forget that's the appeal of science fiction: to imagine worlds and systems where technology has advanced to levels we normal humans wouldn't dream of. Another interesting aspect was the "ecology" of Dune, put in quotation marks given that the biological science behind it wasn't as well explained as I would've liked. Still, my own knowledge of ecology allowed me to pierce together the importance of the sandworms and that was quite an exhilarating reveal to achieve. The overlying theme of colonialism and fighting back for your own land was refreshing, with tactful care to portray the Fremen as humans as worthy as the Greater Houses, another refreshing aspect when considering how the myth of the good savage can spread so pervasively on literature. It was a book definitively ahead of its time; after reading it I finally understood the appeal of the story and I'm interested in reading the rest of the Chronicles, which is an excellent sign. My only complaint, which is not to the detriment of the book because it's obvious it was the author's choice, was the fact that many important details of the story are not explained, and one has to pierce together fragments of information throughout the book to fully comprehend what's happening. Doesn't remove the interesting world-construction of the book but definitively makes its first pages very confusing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Slavery, and War

limatau's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Writing is efficient often leaving out fluff and color in favor of telling the reader what is happening rather than describing it. It fits the political and analytical minds of the characters readers follow but can definitely become dull.

The adventure is good but the world building is great! 

The best or maybe second best book in the series. I personally would recommend reading this book and stopping, or, if you feel like all the main characters deserve a bit more resolution, proceeding to the next book and stopping there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Minor: Addiction and War