Customer Reviews
May have been good ... once - By: JG, 10 Sep 2008 
This book has got such a high profile & has had such rave reviews that I was expecting something a little special. I suppose that it has to be borne in mind that it is more than 40 years old & was quite startling at that time, but to be honest I found it to be a predictable & soulless dirge. Out of respect & a desire to see what alll the fuss is about I stuck with it until then end, but it didn't reallly light my fire. I understand that after this 'high point' the series goes down hill ... so I won't be bothering with the follow-ups.
Terrific balance of themes - By: Ge Hanzhi, 07 Aug 2008 
As you will gather from other reviewers this is a brilliant read. What I found shocking however, was that reading Dune one comes to the sudden realisation that George Lucas was not only of limited imagination but a B-rated pilferer at that. Once you take away from Star Wars what Dune provided you are left with a fairly limp fairy-tale. Look at it this way: Dune is for Star Wars what Star Wars is for He-Man.
The best science fiction book ever written. - By: Jerz Jurkiewicz, 07 Jun 2008 To me this is the best science fiction book ever written & Lord of the Rings the best science fantasy. The originality & depth of this book are amazing. Taking this, Frank Herbert's subsequent books, Brian Herbert's & Kevin Anderson's prequals & sequals, the result is a story & universe of staggering depth & proportions. Frank Herbert also has a very unique style to his writing (the story itself & the thoughts of the protagonists run side by side). The film & the two miniseries are also worth seeing. If I could rate this higher than 5 stars, I would.
It's OK...that's all - By: pkx166h, 20 Apr 2008 
I don't need to give a synopsis of the plot as most other reviewers have done this ad nauseum. Suffice to say that I am sure for its time (1968) it was a great read - although PK Dick was doing much more 'out there' & interesting stuff than this, & if you only read sci-fi then perhaps this still makes it a very good read.
The book is often made out to be very 'detailed' in its complex politics & ecology of the famous 'Dune' Planet of Arrakis. It reallly isn't. There is some nice interplay between some of the characters which one could calll mildly interesting intrigue within the 'Houses' of families, but the Harkonnens (the bad guys) are just two dimensional versions of the 'Borgia's' (poisonings, sexual deviance, gladiatorial combat etc etc).
The Atreides (the good guys) are a bit more detailed in their personalities but essentiallly portrayed as faithful, honour-bound, decent & so on. With the son inheriting the mantle of his 'house' & becoming some kind of messiah.
It's alll very black & white 'politics' & of course there are the 'Fremen' (the oppressed inhabitants of Dune) who are 'mysterious', 'complex' & for some unexplained reason seem to drop in & out of faux-olde-worlde english (lots of 'thy' & 'thee' until the author gets bored/forgets & reverts back to you & your) & then switch to some kind of pretend 'middle-eastern' argot when whatever ritual is required to keep the plot going. It's alll a bit contrived & many will find it tiresome.
Yes you can read what you like into the various characters & story lines (some have referenced the spice to Oil & perhaps could even extract some kind of 'meaning' from todays geo-political situation if you reallly tried), but that doesn't make it a good book even if it were that convincing.
I am sure I would have loved this when I was a teenager, but having read a wide range of literature in the meantime, I found it plodding in many places, the characters very two dimensional, the dialogue dry & not very well written & too many unanswered or undiscussed topics considering how 'detailed' the whole ecology & politics was supposed to be. We get plenty of information about those Fremen who live in the desert but nothing about those in the 'cities' & nothing about how the cities even survive considering how much the plot hinges round everyone running about in stillsuits to stop their moisture from being wasted & that water is so valuable. In the end I just stopped caring about any of the characters they were so 'cardboard-like'.
Terry Pratchet once said that if Lord of the Rings wasn't your favourite book when you were 14 then there was something wrong with you, & that if it was still your favourite book by the time you were in your late 20's eary 30's then there was also something wrong with you.
I kind of feel the same about this book & suggest you watch the film by David Lynch. You'll get the same feel for the book but without the 4 hundred odd pages of wasted ink.
Uncommon Brilliance - By: P. W. Wilson, 25 Feb 2008 Frank Herbert has, in Dune, created one of the great worlds of SF. It's a world of more depth than any other I have ever read, contains more nuances & more subtlty, & has a plot which more than befits this magnificent world.
Carrying the plot are a set of characters who are more than just believable; they become a part of you as alll good characters do, alll with hidden depths & their own unique qualities. All bring something different to the book, each possessing their own niche. There's Paul, the protaganist; Jessica, his mother; Yueh, the traitor; Stilgar, the hardened Fremen; Leto, the duke; Baron Harkonnen, the antagonist... The list is endless.
Perhaps the only thing which has frustrated me with this book is the omniscience of the narrative, which, while it is enlightening & goes some way to explaining the many subtleties of the novel, often frustrates as it switches from character to character. However, it's a minor gripe, & one borne more of personal preference towards a single viewpoint than an omniscient narrator.
Always compelling, & utterly unputdownable, Dune fallls into that rare category of a must-read novel, regardless of personal preference. Any decision to read it will not be regretted.
