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lizziekarpen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
daniobsessivelyreads's review against another edition
3.0
This book was written by a man for men. Not to say that I don't appreciate the masterwork of world building, because I do. The world-building in this book is exceptional and the political elements are very intriguing. However, there is very little if any emotion to the characters. All the characters are written such that it is seen as uncouth to show outward emotion.
This is one of those cases where I feel like the movie is actually better than the book. The actors have the ability to show emotion without it being written on the page, because Mr. Herbert definitely barely mentioned emotions anywhere. Plus the visuals of this world that was build is more awe inspiring than what was briefly described about it.
I enjoy a book more when there are emotional ties between the characters and when the characters allow emotions to rule their actions at least some of the time.
This is one of those cases where I feel like the movie is actually better than the book. The actors have the ability to show emotion without it being written on the page, because Mr. Herbert definitely barely mentioned emotions anywhere. Plus the visuals of this world that was build is more awe inspiring than what was briefly described about it.
I enjoy a book more when there are emotional ties between the characters and when the characters allow emotions to rule their actions at least some of the time.
ellies_92's review against another edition
5.0
Great book, a true masterpiece.
It is confusing at first, but it's normal: Frank Herbert builds an entire universe and projects us directly into it. The reader connects all the dots and learns what is happening (and how this universe works) just by following the characters and their actions directly.
This is especially important because it means that there are no boring chapters filled with lengthy descriptions or explanations, each chapter has the right amount of action and even though it's quite a long book it's immersive and it's a page-turner.
The ending is no surprise as there are hints all along (the forewords to each chapter are written by Princess Irulan herself) and at the beginning of the second section Paul tells Dr. Kynes that he intends to marry her, etc. Nonetheless I'm not disappointed, because I understand that this book does serve to introduce us to characters, motives, planet Arrakis, etc. and does so masterfully.
Therefore, I expect that the next books in the series won't have so many "spoilers", or at least I hope.
The second part of this book (when Paul becomes a Fremen and learns their ways) is "slower" while the third part, after the 3 years time jump, it's much quicker; I guess it was the author's intention.
RIP Leto Atreides II, who was introduced to us just to die some chapters later - you win the prize for the less useful character in the book. Oh, no wait: Hara's children are just as useless (unless they appear again in the series).
It is confusing at first, but it's normal: Frank Herbert builds an entire universe and projects us directly into it. The reader connects all the dots and learns what is happening (and how this universe works) just by following the characters and their actions directly.
This is especially important because it means that there are no boring chapters filled with lengthy descriptions or explanations, each chapter has the right amount of action and even though it's quite a long book it's immersive and it's a page-turner.
The ending is no surprise as there are hints all along (the forewords to each chapter are written by Princess Irulan herself) and at the beginning of the second section Paul tells Dr. Kynes that he intends to marry her, etc. Nonetheless I'm not disappointed, because I understand that this book does serve to introduce us to characters, motives, planet Arrakis, etc. and does so masterfully.
Therefore, I expect that the next books in the series won't have so many "spoilers", or at least I hope.
The second part of this book (when Paul becomes a Fremen and learns their ways) is "slower" while the third part, after the 3 years time jump, it's much quicker; I guess it was the author's intention.
RIP Leto Atreides II, who was introduced to us just to die some chapters later - you win the prize for the less useful character in the book. Oh, no wait: Hara's children are just as useless (unless they appear again in the series).
soph_ssoph's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-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
4.25
jorgem's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
runeiia's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
okevamae's review against another edition
4.0
It’s easy to see why this book is a sci-fi classic. The worldbuilding is amazing. The characters are a little less strong, and I’m not a huge fan of “chosen one” narratives, but it’s still a compelling read. As with many older sci-fi novels, the dialogue (and the language in general) is weirdly stilted in some places, but the audiobook narrators do their best.
Speaking of narrators, the audiobook I listened to is bizarrely inconsistent when it comes to voices. The dialogue in some scenes is voiced by the full cast, but in other scenes all of the characters are voiced by the narrator. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to which scenes are full cast and which ones aren’t. It even switches mid-scene at times. The main narrator, Simon Vance, is fantastic as always, but I’d prefer they choose one or the other. Switching back and forth makes no sense. My only guess is that they started out doing a full cast recording and then ran out of money, or something like that. That’s the only thing that makes any sense to explain why they did it this way. When I read in the reviews that the audiobook had problems, including some passages being edited, I tried to find another recording, but I didn’t have any luck. Older recordings of this book must exist, but unfortunately, they aren’t available on Audible, Overdrive/Libby, or Hoopla.
Audiobook aside, there is certainly some questionable content in the book, but I think any book with this kind of staying power is going to have things in it that raise eyebrows 50+ years on. Overall, it’s a really excellent sci-fi epic, and I’d recommend it to any fan of the genre, so long as you’re cognizant of the content warnings.
CW: Fatphobic tropes (the cartoonishly evil villain is described as grossly obese), rape and pedophilia
Speaking of narrators, the audiobook I listened to is bizarrely inconsistent when it comes to voices. The dialogue in some scenes is voiced by the full cast, but in other scenes all of the characters are voiced by the narrator. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to which scenes are full cast and which ones aren’t. It even switches mid-scene at times. The main narrator, Simon Vance, is fantastic as always, but I’d prefer they choose one or the other. Switching back and forth makes no sense. My only guess is that they started out doing a full cast recording and then ran out of money, or something like that. That’s the only thing that makes any sense to explain why they did it this way. When I read in the reviews that the audiobook had problems, including some passages being edited, I tried to find another recording, but I didn’t have any luck. Older recordings of this book must exist, but unfortunately, they aren’t available on Audible, Overdrive/Libby, or Hoopla.
Audiobook aside, there is certainly some questionable content in the book, but I think any book with this kind of staying power is going to have things in it that raise eyebrows 50+ years on. Overall, it’s a really excellent sci-fi epic, and I’d recommend it to any fan of the genre, so long as you’re cognizant of the content warnings.
CW: Fatphobic tropes (the cartoonishly evil villain is described as grossly obese), rape and pedophilia
tachipic's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
noahnewland's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-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