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Dune by Frank Herbert

Cannonball Read / Blonde Savant

Book Reviews | November 6, 2009 | Comments (27)

I’ve heard a lot of friends talk about the Dune books in way that reflected their deep love of the series as well as their inability to articulate just what it is about the series that they love so much, what keeps them coming back for more. It’s a love of books that I understand completely. I find myself being drawn in by the style an author uses, to the point of seeking out every obscure thing that they have written, even under pseudonyms.

And, as much as I want it to, Dune is not speaking to me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the book. The story is a great epic, I like most of the characters, the writing is good with the bonus of being unique in style. But I am not experiencing that thing, that compulsion to read the next book, to see what happens next. I’ve been mulling over this, trying to find a specific point where the story lost me, and I’m having a difficult time coming up with any particular thing. It’s almost like I’m experiencing the opposite of the compulsion to read more. I don’t hate it, I just kind of don’t care. I find it strange that although I can identify all of the elements that I did like about the book, I can’t point my finger at anything I didn’t like, but I still wouldn’t say that I liked it.

I do believe in giving a story a chance to develop and grow, so I intend to continue reading the series. It certainly has all of the elements working in it’s favor, the most important of which is that the author does not feel compelled to explain things to me. Nothing piques my interest more than when information is withheld from me, and this is something that Herbert is great at. He drops you into this huge world and expects you to pay attention. I can even deal with the use of jargon, which I normally detest, because it doesn’t cross the line from making up a word for something that doesn’t exist in our universe to renaming an existing object just because you can. But it remains to be seen if this story can take root in my mind and grab on.

This review is part of the Cannonball Read series. For a list of participants, check here. For more of Blonde Savant’s reviews, check out her blog.


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Comments

You read Dune in less than 6 days? That is IMPRESSIVE. I gave up after the first very dense 30 pages. Hard sci-fi just isn't my thing, apparently. Good job.

Posted by: TylerDFC at November 6, 2009 8:26 AM

Awww, this makes me sad in the pamts. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it but to each his/her own. Honestly though, if you're not hooked by the end of book two you may just wan't to quit. It get pretty goddamn strange after that.

Posted by: admin at November 6, 2009 8:31 AM

I've found that Dune works well for me when I take it apart and find something different each time.

When I first read it, it read like an action novel full of intrigue -- no different than The Three Musketeers. The second time I discovered it was talking about the strip-mining of far-flung areas and the abuse of indigenous peoples by foreign powers. The third time I found this whole environmental angle. Another time I saw a battle of faiths and religions in there.

I say that to admit that Dune IS DENSE. So I'm not surprised the reviewer had such a disconnect from the material. Herbert throws no lifeline to the reader to get them up to what things such as the "Bene Gesserit" or the "Kwiszast Haderach" stand for or mean.

BTW, I did try to read the sequels but stopped halfway through Book 2. They got even more difficult to wade through.

Posted by: Fredo at November 6, 2009 9:14 AM

The first three are the best, though I think only the first really captures that "thing" of which you speak.

The fourth is philosophical masturbation, and it goes downhill from there.

If you don't get Dune, that's quite all right. You probably just went in with inflated expectations.

Posted by: Neodiogenes at November 6, 2009 9:35 AM

Not much of a review, I have to say. You could have saved us all the trouble of reading it by using one word: meh. You couldn't even say why you're indifferent.

I shall give my own one-word review of this review: butthole.

Posted by: logar at November 6, 2009 9:58 AM

Ahhhhh, Dune! I admit that I have to reread it every couple years. Something about it calls to me on every level, and when I finish the series (and I agree the latter ones have little to do with the Paul Atreides saga), I'm surprised when I don't see sand dunes outside my window. Frank Herbert is a masterful world-builder and creates a mythos that totally encapsulates me. I can't think of any other series with such depth and so many layers. Amazing.

Posted by: sabian30 at November 6, 2009 9:58 AM

Yeah, I feel you Blonde Savant. It is a sprawling epic, but I found that I just couldn't get over how unlikeable all of the characters were. I always roll my eyes at least a little bit when an author rolls out a Gary Stu character who farts Mozart sonatas and pisses rainbows and knows absolutely everything intuitively and is thus Destined For Greatness. Throw in the whole "I can see the Jihad coming...and it kinda gives me a boner!" stuff and I just want to say fuck it.

Also, there's nobody else in the book who seems to have any redeeming value other than maybe Gurney Halleck. Maybe that comes with the territory of having a book about power struggles amongst noblemen who rule planets: everybody is a power-hungry douchebag.

Posted by: Cat at November 6, 2009 10:06 AM

Who cares!!! My boyfriend also agrees with me. He is 10 years older than me, lol. We met online at age-gap club -- http://AgelessOnly.COM/. Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.

Posted by: Kyra at November 6, 2009 10:28 AM

I've got to say that Dune has become my favorite Science Fiction book of all time. However, I couldn't really appreciate it with the first read. In fact, I would say it was almost painful. The book is so dense and rich that it took a second read before I could really appreciate the depth of meaning in the religious and political world that Frank Herbert created. After nearly 20 years, I still finding myself reading it over and over again.

Posted by: Adam at November 6, 2009 10:38 AM

I love this book -- my all-time #1 favorite. That said, I acknowledge that a science fiction epic written a half century ago that intentionally has about 4-5 different metaphorical levels is definitely not for everybody, so no offense taken, Reviewer.

But I am a little sad and disappointed that SpamBot doesn't like it -- I would have expected more from our future robotic overlords.

Maybe they're afraid of the Butlerian Jihad?

Posted by: VampireSlug at November 6, 2009 11:03 AM

I've read Dune two or three times, and I enjoy it and find new things every time I read it, but I admit I wasted my money on the sequels because I couldn't get through the second book, let alone keep going with the series. It just becomes too many words with too little payoff.

Posted by: Alexandra at November 6, 2009 11:51 AM

It's an amazing book that needs to be given time, and it's not for everyone. Like was written above, it can be read as an adventure, or as a treatise on any number of issues. What keeps me coming back is the complexity and world-building the Herbert accomplishes without forcing anything. I'm never skeptical of the plot or characters' actions.

The Dune series is like The Lord of the Rings with far greater depth but far fewer likable characters, and less sense of wonder, to be sure. While the LotR is a simple allegory about war and the environment (and superficially a few other issues), Dune dives into philosophical issues that drive me bonkers with their complexity.

As a one-off, Dune is the most accessible of the series, Blonde Savant, so I admire your fortitude and drive to continue reading the series. It reaches a low-point in book 3 (and book 2 isn't exactly scintillating stuff either), but after that it... I'm not even sure what it does, but I found the second half of the series far easier to read. It could be that by that time one is used to the style, complexity and universe that it seems natural.

I'm thinking of writing a counter-review, watch for it here: http://brentonwalters.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Brenton at November 6, 2009 12:32 PM

I loved the first few, but I never finished the series, can't remember why I stopped, maybe I should go back. In reading the comments though, no one has come up with a convincing argument to. Anyone? Bueler?

Posted by: karen at November 6, 2009 12:35 PM

Sorry Brenton - apparently we were dueling banjos for a min. I wait for your "pro keep reading dorks!" review

Posted by: karen at November 6, 2009 12:38 PM

Yeah, definitely agree with some of the other people here. It's a dense book, but it's one of the best and holds up well over multiple readings. I do have to say, however, that if you do end up liking this one and it makes you want to read the others, don't! They aren't close to Dune's level.

Posted by: Royalewithcheese at November 6, 2009 12:42 PM

I had a similar reaction to the book, and here's my guess as to why it fell, if not flat, at least less than compelling to me: everyone is a kung fu master.

Every dang character (or the overwhelming majority of them) have weird skills that makes them super-amazing at various and sundry things. Paul is the superman, so that's okay, but all sorts of folks can do things to absurd degrees ("By the imperceptible cock of his eyebrow, the Lady Buffy knew of his shameful ancestry and his love of cockfighting"), and it made the whole enterprise alienating. Nobody felt human. All that was left was to admire the worldbuilding, which was, admittedly, pretty cool.

The overarching story is an allegory on oil and the Middle East, and I gotta give Herbert credit. His synthesis of existing ideas and languages and his gift for worldbuilding created a damn impressive setting. The allegory was clear but not bludgeoning, and the references hidden in the languages weren't overbearing. It felt "just alien enough."

It's a good book, but I'd never call it great. And yes, I "got" the various strains of ideas running through it. The flaw was in the characterizations, leaving everyone a little hollow and making the whole thing a little distant.

Posted by: Soulless Merchant of Fear at November 6, 2009 12:53 PM

Karen,

As much as I loved the entire series, if you're not hooked on it after the first few, I really can't come up with a cogent argument to convince you to come back for the last bunch. The series started with on of the greatest Science Fiction books of all time, but the subsequent books were not quite as good- more and more "philosophically masturbatory" as neodiogenes put it- as the series goes on.

That being said, Chapterhouse is one of my favorites of the series- you start to see the Golden Path come together, and it was faster paced and more engaging than the previous couple books. The more recent novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson don't hold a candle to Frank Herbert's originals, in terms of style and "density", but they are fast paced, and progress the story to it's conclusion... which, if you're a big fan of Chapterhouse, is appreciated since it raised more questions than it answered.

But if you don't care about the story by the end of the 1st 3, then you're probably not going to dig it moving forward.

Posted by: logar at November 6, 2009 12:54 PM

Dune is one of my all time favorites. It is dense, but that's because the author created an incredibly well-developed universe for the books to be set in. To be completely honest I don't think that Dune can really be evaluated on its own as it really is almost a teaser to get the reader onto the Golden reading Path of crazy-Herbert-goodness.

But I can definitely see that it's not for everyone. The book is a fantastic mix of fantasy and sci fi, which some people may find off-putting. (I mean, it takes place thousands (millions?) of years in the future and people are all kinds of different). And of course, when the book has its own glossary the reader knows its not going to be a passive reading experience.

By the way, how wrong is it to put parenthesis inside parenthesis? Can I do that?

Posted by: Emily at November 6, 2009 1:16 PM

Try the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. best sci fi i've ever read. plus... i didn't mave it through Dune.

Posted by: wickedwhisper at November 6, 2009 1:25 PM

I absolutely loved Dune, but for some reason the second book lost me within a hundred pages, and I haven't tried any of the others, despite owning them. I've re-read the first book a few times, and love it just as much as I ever did, but none of the proceeding books spoke to me either. Which is weird, becuase normally I am that compulsive reader.

wickedwhisper Thank you for reminding me! I bought Hyperion after reading (and loving) The Terror, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Posted by: LowSlash at November 6, 2009 1:49 PM

Dune is tough. Plain and simple, it is really a difficult series.
The first book is easily among my favorite works of science fiction. The world building, the politics and religion, the action, all of it. Great.
Dune fires on all cylinders.
The second book is very nearly as good as the first book is, the third book is almost as good as the second, and then the series draws a line in the sand that says that you have to really, truly LOVE this world if you intend to continue.
I've been reading this series for the very first time for the past couple months and am about to begin the last of the FRANK Herbert penned novels, and I'm demanding every couple pages that he give me a reason to keep reading.
He always does, but if you aren't certain you're hooked, it's not always a very GOOD reason.
There are time gaps between books of multiple millenia. There are books containing NO characters in common with prior entries in the series.
But it is consistently entertaining, endlessly intriguing, and an absolute triumph of human intellect and imagination.
I absolutely recommend Dune as a stand-alone novel and I definitely recommend the rest of the series to those who LOVE the first book, but I recommend a tempering of expectations as the series is a very TOUGH read.

Posted by: geekchicoho at November 6, 2009 2:12 PM

I definitely agree with the sentiment, this book took me forever to get through. Compelling, but I wasn't compelled to keep reading. I could appreciate the brilliance but not really enjoy it. It's been a few years though, I might pick it up again.

Posted by: Mick J at November 6, 2009 4:13 PM

I gotta go with logar here and say:

BUTTHOLE!

Posted by: AgoGo at November 6, 2009 4:23 PM

Okay, so I can't be purely cruel. You are so entitled to your opinion, especially when it comes to literature. I would say give it another chance, maybe take some more time, choose a time when you are in the mood or right frame of mind for this amazing, phenomenal, mind-blowing book. I, myself, have found that I read books very differently depending on mood, previous books read, time of year, expectations, etc. But, you know, whatev.

Posted by: AgoGo at November 6, 2009 4:26 PM

Ah, non-human quantum leaps into ideas and completely foreign lands.

Breath of fresh air from this smothering rock called Earth.

Took me a summer to read the series.

I'm not even going to try to explain. If it doesn't speak to you, move along.

Posted by: Recondite at November 6, 2009 5:59 PM

If you're not feeling Dune, I wouldn't continue. I LOVED Dune, but I will readily admit that the series kind of drops off after the second book and even then the second book wasn't quite as good as the first.
The first two of the series manage to balance a complicated mythology and political system while making it interesting and intriguing. The third book is where the series begins to sag under the weight of the convoluted world its created and, for me, kind of implodes by the fourth.

Posted by: Saint Saturn Sunshine at November 7, 2009 3:38 AM

Great book! I read it in a 15 hour jag back in college after getting in a fight. Whew, the good old days

Posted by: Blurm at November 20, 2009 4:54 PM





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