Jack Edwards's Reviews > Dune

You're not alone, bestie 😔✊ that was one of the most boring reads of my life

I hated reading it and how it's written but I really like the story and idea.

Same. Couldn't go beyond 7 chapters. Such a tedious task 😩

I had the same thoughts. It reads like the literary equivalent of the author sucking his own d*ck at how smart hw thinks he is. Very pretentious and convoluted. The plot was interesting but I couldn't get over the pompous writing style

yes!! such a shame because it's a cool sand planet and there's religious elements and game-of-thrones-esqe houses who are being petty and bitchy and GIANT SANDWORMS!! so frickin cool but the writing is so boring and exhausting and omg the political debates...... no. i love u dune but u suck

Oh no now I'm really scared to pick it up.

While I enjoyed it a lot I totally understand the issues. I had a hard time to get into it and to keep reading especially in the beginning before I just got consumed by the world.

Ah I actually really enjoyed princess irulan's spoilers. But I think that could be because they were the bits I actually understood. Otherwise the first half of the book went straight over my head. Four books in now out of six - so I am glad I powered through

I thought the passages by princess Irulan and all the other stuff made it feel epic. I wouldn't say the worldbuilding felt laborious, it felt quite immersive. the political structures, religious practices and character motivations(even if the characterizations themselves were lacking) feels like a well realized universe.

It makes all the difference if you read this book slowly (I read it over about a 1 month period)! Taking the time to understand the world and all of its complexities was one of the reasons I enjoyed reading it - I really felt engrossed/in another world as a result. Loved Paul’s evolution as a character as well - as a leader and just as a human. Totally understand your points however. This book definitely isn’t everyone’s cup of tea

ahhh dune can be really difficult to get into because frank herbert just throws you into the story with so much names, details, and established lore but i enjoyed it, especially when the story started to pick up after all the world building. i found that it was an immersive world with interesting characters and themes and the fact that its been around since 1965 still blows my mind. im so glad you gave it a try though!

Currently reading it and honestly loving it so far (I’m about 500 pages in) definitely think it wise to read it slowly with the terminology list pulled up beside you. It may seem tedious at first but I think it’s worth it. I’m at a point where I don’t have to look up too many terms and it truly feels like I’m watching a movie (I’ve yet to watch the film adaptation) I’ve been at it for about 3 weeks and love just falling into this beautiful and vivid world though I do understand why many people didn’t like it - it’s not for anyone but still great to hear your opinion on it!

Started reading it a few days ago and I am enjoying it. I haven't read science fiction in soooo long and it's been really nice getting back into it. I didn't realise how much I missed futuristic representations of humanity and I'm already very into the depictions of the roles class and natural ecosystems, as well as technology, race, and such play in the story. I'm immersed, though very soon I did realise that if I wanted to get through it, I'd have to take notes on characters and locations. I'll have to find that terminology list. I don't mind the epigraphs too much for now. It seems mythical and prophetic. You could call it spoilers, but it makes me more interested in seeing how we arrive to that place. Seeing you started to read it inspired me to finally pick it up, so thanks for that and wish me luck.

I love getting sucked into such elaborate worlds!

The Princess Irulan epigraphs were very deliberate. They wanted you to know how the world unfolded off the bat and give you the why as you read on.

The reason for this is that the book wants to address ideas of fatalism. It's a huge core theme to the franchise. At least regarding the arc of Paul.

The Bene Gesserit has literally been engineering the Atreides for generations through the breeding programs. The Missionaria protectiva, a sub group of the Bene Gesserit went so far as to engineer a religion around the Atreides by influencing less developed ethnic groups that live in harsh environments such as Fremen as a means to forward the protection and preservation of the Bene Gesserit.

They were pawns from birth and most of Paul's story reflects this. However, to focus on any one character in Dune I feel misses the point a bit. If you were to read on, you would realize the main character is really the world and any character is just means to describe how the ruling classes and populace interact with that world.

Hopefully this gives you a new perspective and possibly a new appreciation for what Dune is to those that love it.

Cheers.

I couldn't even get through the first few chapters of this one 🥴🥴🥴

Proud to say I will never read this book :)

This, very disappointed too after hearing many praises for it , despite interesting concepts the book is very underwhelming. And somehow it always makes me thirsty while reading it.

I was immersed in the Dune world from the beginning, the complexity made it even better. I read this book with high expectations, and it ended up being on my top favorite books of all time. But in the end don’t go into sci-fi books expecting a character driven story.

This review is breaking my heart. But You can’t expect someone to just fall in love with sci-fi right away, and this book is definitely not an easy sci-fi book to read, but for me the beauty of it is in its complexity, and how it handles topics of religion politics and environmentalism, which is not a common theme in the genre. I believe you need to give this book another read.

I haven't read and lot of si-fi and it took me a while to get into Dune but by the halfway point I was really enjoying it. The book took a turn in part three and I got so lost, I read the prophet twice and it just wasn't sinking in which was disappointing because I was enjoying most of the book. In the end I like Dune, I just don't love it.

I adore this novel. One of my favorites

That’s so strange for me. I did have some doubts when I read the first few pages, only because I got transferred into a worlds so detailed and grand that I got scared of all the names and places I’ll have to memorise. But after like 150 pages, I could hardly put the book down. One of the best sci-fis. Truly.

Don't let any bad reviews or comments discourage you to read this book. It portrays a fantastic world with some tense and insightful scenes on how fiction —and real life— politics works. Frank Herbert's world development is outstanding and catching! If someone think he's "just trying to prove how smart he think he is" is only because they don't have the imagination to get inmerse into the arrakian experience, neither the curiosity to wonder how everything in that world works and happens.

I've read Dune twice now and absolutely love it! For me, the worldbuilding was increadibly immersive. Herbert's universe feels ancient and futuristic at the same time. He manages to blend sci-fi and fantasy in such a compelling way. It's epic! The novel explores ideas around environmentalism and our relationship with political structures and charismatic leaders which was not what I was expecting. It is very dense and I was definitely intimidated by it.

PS - Denis Villeneuve's adaptation is *chefs kiss* and I've seen it twice!

I just started reading it, i don't care about how tedious can be the world building, it's very important for the plot and in literature in general, there's one thing I find annoying about this book, and that is the names are so overly complex to say or read but aside of that It has an opportunity from my side

Thank god, I'm not the only one!

"The book is great, i don't know what u talkin about. ✋" (Nicki Minaj's voice)

please read dune messiah, it might change your mind

Paul can literally do anything so there's zero stakes. We never really think he'll fail to ride the worm or defeat the harkonnen because we know he does because a) from the first page, he's the most special-est boy in the universe, and b) Irulan tells us he's just fine.

I was frustrated with the pre-chapter bits as well. It's weird because they work well as a literary device to illustrate how Paul sees into the future, but they also fail in a practical sense by removing suspense. I think it's a good criticism.

Absolutely agree with this comment and sad that I just didn't love this. It isn't that it was too complex- can't get enough of Ursula le guin- but as others said - the complexity doesn't always seem necessary, so much is thrown at you that it's hard to know what is important and what not, and for sure knowing that Paul is going to be a heralded hero from the start removes any tension whatsoever from the story.
I also didn't quite understand the references to Islam in regards to the freman so perhaps I missed that connection.
I also found it very dated and cliched- bad people are fat and/or gay. Good people are beautiful with green eyes. Women apparently don't make ANY progress in the future- the very few women in the story have super cliched roles - religious wise woman, concubine or princess of few words. Even Chani is completely under developed and is mostly there to provide Paul with a SON as even in fiction stories daughters have little worth ...

This is the analysis from biggest book youtuber?? society is doomed

Real. One of the most boring reads of my life.