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Average Customer Rating:

Overhyped and Ill-written

Customer Rating:

"We're going to test you to see if you're a human or an animal, Paul," says the nun. "Why?" "Because man relied too much on machines." Wait. What? Oh, I'm paraphrasing, all right... but that's exactly the way it looks. So begins Dune, a disjointed, pretentious, poorly written piece of dreck. I am not certain why or how this book has attained the status it has, so let's look at the pluses and go from there. Is the world of Dune fascinating? Yes. Are you going to find something quite like it anywhere else? No. The planet is amazing. The way people live, amazing. The sandworms and spice, amazing. I also happen to love stories dealing with special children with amazing destinies -- I wanted to know about Paul's rise to importance. By golly, I wanted to read and like this story... badly. Unfortunately, the way this story is written absolutely kills it. I felt like I was reading a first draft half of the time; the rest of the time I was reading and re-reading parts to see what the heck Herbert was trying to imply. In the end, I'm not even completely sure why I couldn't "get" it. I read the first chapter three times, trying to see how an "animal" was like a "machine" and how this had anything to do with relying overmuch on machines or special breeding lines. This part never made sense and I finally decided to go on, hoping he would clarify later (he doesn't). It also started to make me hate Paul, who was a little brat who seemed to have all the answers. Oh, I am fine with above-average characters... but generally, only the ones with hearts. Think Ender from Ender's Game for the ideal. Herbert's dialogue was past poor -- a stilted, disjointed mess. Good dialogue fits together like the rungs on a ladder; Dune's dialogue is the ladder from hell, with rungs completely missing or spaced too far apart. It often seems to shift from subject to subject at random and has little or no connection to what the person said previously. For example: Yueh and Jessica have a conversation at one point. Yueh speaks for a paragraph about the wonders of spice. Then Jessica breaks in and says, "I think our house should go renegade." Huh? On the positive side, at least the dialogue improves as the book goes on. It doesn't improve much, but at least you won't be frustrated out of your mind. Even worse, and most certainly the nail in the coffin for me, Herbert's conclusions and characterization didn't make any sense. In one scene, Duke Atreides gives his men a big plan. "Yeah!" I thought. "Go Atreides!" But the men don't like the plan for some reason. Paul (super-wise little git that he is) is over thinking in the corner how much his father is bombing. "But what's wrong with the plan?!" I said to the book. The book refused to tell me. As this was its job, I was rather irritated with it. Reading between the lines is an impossible task. You just can't do it; I'm not even sure how this is possible. As you're reading and making conclusions from people's actions and words, suddenly Herbert writes what they're thinking and you realize your conclusions are absolutely wrong. They're often making illogical decisions or basing their knowledge on some as-yet undefined process. Which brings me to yet another problem -- sometimes, you're waiting and waiting for Herbert to explain some alien process, kind of people, world, or person, and he chooses to describe it... with another undescribed facet of his universe! Oh, the agony! In short, you have to try and think like Herbert to understand why people make the decisions they do, especially when they make mind-numbingly stupid ones. For example, in one instance, Atreides finds the need to show the public that he's shunning Jessica, and needs Jessica to act the part of the forlorn lover. He decides to leave Jessica in the dark and not tell her his plan... even though he admits she could put on a perfect act. Again: why?! Why?! The result is that you rely on what everyone tells you... and that's just maddening. It's like coming up against a brick wall over and over, and there's some ocean of meaning on the other side. You can't find a key to open the way into this meaning, though, because the mean trick is that the key is tied up in ol' Herbert's head, and there's no getting to it. You can only get a superficial, hazy feeling for everything. I honestly don't know why this book is supposed to be the best sci-fi book ever written; I can't fathom it. It reads like it was written by a precocious high school student at best. Maybe someone can enlighten me. In any case, it's a frustrating read... very frustrating. Even so, I kept wanting to say the problem was with me. Maybe it's not.

A SciFi Masterpiece

Customer Rating:

A great novel is one that you can read multiple times and get something new from each new reading. Dune certainly qualifies. This is, I think, my third reading since I first read 'Dune' as a freshman in college. My first reading had been a year before 9/11 and my second reading about a year after. In many ways, my second time through 'Dune' was like like reading an entirely different novel. My awe at the vastness of Herbert's vision gave way to Herbert's ruminations on the intersection of government, religion, and violence. The differences I found in my third reading were more subtle. I came out of this reading thinking about the power of both fear and promises of redemption. But subtle difference in my reaction aside, Dune is a novel I can return to again and again because Frank Herbert creates something close to the perfect science fiction novel. Herbert's universe is fantastic and intricately detailed. Societies, economies, and ecologies are all carefully crafted. Each one is entirely alien in some way but the way that Herbert's characters interact with these 'great forces' of civilization are instantly recognizable as human. Dune, despite its purposeful depictions of human society, sweeps the reader through a story rife with betrayal, political intrigue, violence, and human struggle. Unlike other pieces of science-heavy SciFi, Dune never bogs down. Herbert's masterpiece, almost half a century after its first publication, certainly still has something to show us about humanity, especially about the relationship between power and society and power and the individual. But there are bits of the novel that feel dated. While not as blatantly as other SciFi works at the time, Herbert's female characters lack some of the verve of the male characters. Don't let that dissuade you. Dune is a giant in the world of SciFi for good reason. It's well worth the time of any reader with even the smallest disposition towards Science Fiction. That said, Herbert, and later his son, followed Dune with a string of sequels. I read them all of the Frank Herbert sequels and one of Brian Herbert's after my first reading of Dune. They are all dreck. Don't even bother. But whatever you do, don't miss Dune.

I do not understand why Dune is so popular.

Customer Rating:

I first read "Dune" when it was originally published, I enjoyed it. Paul seemed to be an interesting and complex character. I read it two or three times since then. My opinion did not improve. There are two or three spots in the story where I get bored. Also, the story-line has always seemed a bit far-fetched to me. I always wish for more true hard science fiction and less of the psychic stuff. While I rate it at four stars, I, honestly, do not understand why this book has gotten the huge reputation that it has.

AMAZING BOOK!	Customer Rating:
This book is a must for any science fiction fan who appreciates good writing! 5 stars!

"The Sleeper Has Awakened!" ~ Science Fiction Or Prophetic Utterance?

Customer Rating:

With over 1,000 reviews posted on Amazon.com and an overall rating of -4 ½ Stars- I guess there's not a lot left to be said about the late Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi book `Dune'. It has been at least 30 years since I sat down with this book and to this day it still remains one of the most original, enthralling, visionary and mystical novels I've ever had the pleasure to read. This was truly a novel way ahead of its time. Back then I was primarily fascinated with the elements of mysticism that permeated the story; Paul's visions, the ancient prophecies, the Bene Gesserit, the spice and of course the great sandworms. However now in the light of the world as it exists in the 21st century I clearly see the author's keen foresight at work. His environmental concerns pertaining to ecosystems and the scarcity of water, as well as the foreboding of an impending, universal Jihad bring his story to life in ways unimaginable forty years ago. Maybe he was really Frank Herbert the prophet, not Frank Herbert the author?