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mburnamfink 's review for:
Dune
by Frank Herbert
Dune is a book of immense scope and terrible purpose, set in a richly imagined universe of politics, religion, and mythos. Young Paul Atreides may be the next step in human evolution, armed with mental and physical power honed to a razor's edge and gifted with prescience. But this story is about more than a boy becoming a man--or even super man. It's about politics and power, good, evil, and the truth; The fate of entire nations, the nature of justice, ecology and economy and History with a capital H.
Dune is the greatest work of science fiction ever written, full stop, and one of the most influential books in my own personal canon. Reading Dune was a watershed moment in my adolescence. I've read two copies (and Children of Dune) into pieces, my first literary writing was a Dune pastiche. This book has marked me. But you shouldn't just take my word for it.
******EXPANDED REVIEW FOR THE HUGO AWARD PROJECT******
Dune is a densely imagined masterpiece, a book of immense scope and terrible purpose set in a universe of politics, religion, ecology, and myth. Approximately 10,000 years in the future, mankind has spread through the stars under the aegis of the Emperor, propelled by the starships of Spacing Guild, and ruled by innumerable feudal great houses. The most precious commodity in the universe is the spice melange, a powerful drug which extends life, opens the mind, and is the lifeblood of safe faster-than-light navigation. The spice comes from only one place: Arrakis, Dune, desert planet. A harsh world inhabited by harsh people. Two of the great feudal houses that rule human space are swapping control of Dune. The honorable Atreides and the vile Harkonnen are mortal enemies locked in an ancient and generations long feud. Harkonnen is abandoning the immense profits of Arrakis to the Atreides by order of the Emperor, but it is obvious to all that the swap is a trap. What is not obvious are the ramifications for humanity that will come of this action.
The story begins with young Paul Atreides, heir to House Atreides, asleep, being observed by his mother and an old witch. There is the potential that he is the Kwisatz Haderach, a super-man. He is tested with terrible pain; survives, and in the first third of the book we meet his world through the course of his life. Paul is subjected to intensive training in martial arts, physical control, and mental computation. Dune is described: a geography made of sand and bare rock, survival only through exotic technology like stillsuits that recapture and purify the body's water. The shape of the political struggle begin to emerge, and the war of assassins between the great houses. We meet the Fremen, the native people of Dune, and there is just a hint that House Atreides might accomplish great things before the jaws of the trap close. The Harkonnens, with the convert support of the Emperor, invade. Duke Leto Atreides is killed, and Paul and his mother are forced to flee the to the Fremen.
The second and third parts of the book are concerned with Paul learning the Fremen culture, fulfilling his destiny as the Kwisatz Haderach, and finally achieving vengeance against the Harkonnens and the Emperor. The Fremen are one of the most original cultures present so far. They're clearly inspired by Bedouins, follow Zensunni religious beliefs, and sprinkle their language with Arabic words, but this is more than Lawrence of Arabia in Space (and yes, I've read Seven Pillars of Wisdom). Paul's exploration of inner space and his burgeoning powers of prescience under the influence of drugs is for me the most interesting part of the book, with the philosophical message that the known path leads always into stagnation and death, and its depictions of a man caught between a terrible destiny (visions of a galactic jihad under Atreides flags) and his inability to halt it. And the final confrontation with the Baron Harkonnen and the Emperor and all the forces that have lead Paul Atreides to this nexus of power, are as satisfying and climatic as any scenes in fiction.
It is impossible for me to be objective about Dune. I've read two paperback copies of Dune (and one of Children of Dune) into pieces. Having read the 12 prior Hugo winners, I have a little more context on what makes Dune unique. This is the first of the novels with a galaxy-spanning empire based on non-democratic/meritocratic principles. It has by far best depictions of a protagonist culture truly alien to mid-American sensibilities in the Fremen, as well as the best developed planetary ecology (although there are some hints of that in A Case of Conscience. Dune is the first novel in this series that could (and did) support a whole cohesive setting, matched only by The Lord of the Rings in the fiction of the time. The psychotropic exploration of the inner self is written by someone who's actually done drugs, as opposed to have the sensation of altered states described to them. And above all, Dune has the best female characters so far in the Lady Jessica, Chani, and the epigraphs by Princess Irulan that begin each chapter. Dune is Paul's story, but the women in it are just as important and well-rounded as the men. And I love the tense perfection of some of the smaller scenes as well: The Arrakeen dinner party and it's hidden politics; the death of the Planetologist Liet-Kynes in the desert; Paul and Jessica retrieving their survival gear from a sandslide using foam.
Trying to read this with a more critical eye, there are some bits that don't work perfectly. The knife-fights are clunkier than I remember (somebody leaps only the to meet the blurring point of a blade on their chest two or three times), which is unfortunate given how important they are. Herbert has a grand authorial voice, but it renders all the characters a little similar. The only gay character is arch-villain Baron Harkonnen, although I think it's clear that his evil is defined by his pedophilia, sadism, and gluttony, rather than any sexual preference for men over women. The actual politics of the universe are smaller than I remember. Atreides, Harkonnen, and Corrino on Caladan, Arrakis, and Geidi Prime, although as in a play there is a sense of a bigger cast and other sets waiting in the wings.
In terms of the themes of human potential and the wisdom of government over centuries, the only fair comparison to Dune from this project are Stranger in a Strange Land and A Canticle for Liebowitz, and Dune blows them out of the water. If any of the setting elements or stylistic tricks of Dune seem like cliches, it's because the past 50 years of science fiction have borrowed from the original so liberally. Dune is a monument to human imagination.
Dune is the greatest work of science fiction ever written, full stop, and one of the most influential books in my own personal canon. Reading Dune was a watershed moment in my adolescence. I've read two copies (and Children of Dune) into pieces, my first literary writing was a Dune pastiche. This book has marked me. But you shouldn't just take my word for it.
******EXPANDED REVIEW FOR THE HUGO AWARD PROJECT******
Dune is a densely imagined masterpiece, a book of immense scope and terrible purpose set in a universe of politics, religion, ecology, and myth. Approximately 10,000 years in the future, mankind has spread through the stars under the aegis of the Emperor, propelled by the starships of Spacing Guild, and ruled by innumerable feudal great houses. The most precious commodity in the universe is the spice melange, a powerful drug which extends life, opens the mind, and is the lifeblood of safe faster-than-light navigation. The spice comes from only one place: Arrakis, Dune, desert planet. A harsh world inhabited by harsh people. Two of the great feudal houses that rule human space are swapping control of Dune. The honorable Atreides and the vile Harkonnen are mortal enemies locked in an ancient and generations long feud. Harkonnen is abandoning the immense profits of Arrakis to the Atreides by order of the Emperor, but it is obvious to all that the swap is a trap. What is not obvious are the ramifications for humanity that will come of this action.
The story begins with young Paul Atreides, heir to House Atreides, asleep, being observed by his mother and an old witch. There is the potential that he is the Kwisatz Haderach, a super-man. He is tested with terrible pain; survives, and in the first third of the book we meet his world through the course of his life. Paul is subjected to intensive training in martial arts, physical control, and mental computation. Dune is described: a geography made of sand and bare rock, survival only through exotic technology like stillsuits that recapture and purify the body's water. The shape of the political struggle begin to emerge, and the war of assassins between the great houses. We meet the Fremen, the native people of Dune, and there is just a hint that House Atreides might accomplish great things before the jaws of the trap close. The Harkonnens, with the convert support of the Emperor, invade. Duke Leto Atreides is killed, and Paul and his mother are forced to flee the to the Fremen.
The second and third parts of the book are concerned with Paul learning the Fremen culture, fulfilling his destiny as the Kwisatz Haderach, and finally achieving vengeance against the Harkonnens and the Emperor. The Fremen are one of the most original cultures present so far. They're clearly inspired by Bedouins, follow Zensunni religious beliefs, and sprinkle their language with Arabic words, but this is more than Lawrence of Arabia in Space (and yes, I've read Seven Pillars of Wisdom). Paul's exploration of inner space and his burgeoning powers of prescience under the influence of drugs is for me the most interesting part of the book, with the philosophical message that the known path leads always into stagnation and death, and its depictions of a man caught between a terrible destiny (visions of a galactic jihad under Atreides flags) and his inability to halt it. And the final confrontation with the Baron Harkonnen and the Emperor and all the forces that have lead Paul Atreides to this nexus of power, are as satisfying and climatic as any scenes in fiction.
It is impossible for me to be objective about Dune. I've read two paperback copies of Dune (and one of Children of Dune) into pieces. Having read the 12 prior Hugo winners, I have a little more context on what makes Dune unique. This is the first of the novels with a galaxy-spanning empire based on non-democratic/meritocratic principles. It has by far best depictions of a protagonist culture truly alien to mid-American sensibilities in the Fremen, as well as the best developed planetary ecology (although there are some hints of that in A Case of Conscience. Dune is the first novel in this series that could (and did) support a whole cohesive setting, matched only by The Lord of the Rings in the fiction of the time. The psychotropic exploration of the inner self is written by someone who's actually done drugs, as opposed to have the sensation of altered states described to them. And above all, Dune has the best female characters so far in the Lady Jessica, Chani, and the epigraphs by Princess Irulan that begin each chapter. Dune is Paul's story, but the women in it are just as important and well-rounded as the men. And I love the tense perfection of some of the smaller scenes as well: The Arrakeen dinner party and it's hidden politics; the death of the Planetologist Liet-Kynes in the desert; Paul and Jessica retrieving their survival gear from a sandslide using foam.
Trying to read this with a more critical eye, there are some bits that don't work perfectly. The knife-fights are clunkier than I remember (somebody leaps only the to meet the blurring point of a blade on their chest two or three times), which is unfortunate given how important they are. Herbert has a grand authorial voice, but it renders all the characters a little similar. The only gay character is arch-villain Baron Harkonnen, although I think it's clear that his evil is defined by his pedophilia, sadism, and gluttony, rather than any sexual preference for men over women. The actual politics of the universe are smaller than I remember. Atreides, Harkonnen, and Corrino on Caladan, Arrakis, and Geidi Prime, although as in a play there is a sense of a bigger cast and other sets waiting in the wings.
In terms of the themes of human potential and the wisdom of government over centuries, the only fair comparison to Dune from this project are Stranger in a Strange Land and A Canticle for Liebowitz, and Dune blows them out of the water. If any of the setting elements or stylistic tricks of Dune seem like cliches, it's because the past 50 years of science fiction have borrowed from the original so liberally. Dune is a monument to human imagination.