Review | Dune

Title: Dune by Frank Herbert

Date Published: June 1965

Dates Read: May 5-27, 2021

Current Goodreads Rating: 4.23/5

I consider myself to be someone who enjoys sci-fi novels. Sometimes the stories shine a light on the ridiculousness of our current society and sometimes the stories are simply futuristic retellings of tried and true fairy tales. I had tried to read Frank Herbert's Dune a looooooong time ago and just could not follow along with the politics and the culture of the planet of Arrakis. With the new movie coming out soon and the fact that my husband has been raving about the series for the last few months I decided to give it another shot. After all, I enjoy sci-fi novels and this is one of the first and, supposedly, one of the best.

Ok, so what happens? You honestly probably know. Paul and his family are relocated from their watery home planet to rule over Arrakis, a planet known for its deserts and merciless dry climate. Water is currency here alongside a mysterious substance known as spice.

Like every story that centers around a family in power, there is a coup and Paul is suddenly forced to become a man and a hero in the unforgiving deserts. He is taken capture and then eventually becomes the leader of the Fremen, a tribe that has learned to survive in the desert, and plans to one day take his rightful spot on the throne. There's some other stuff in there as well, but this was basically the gist of it.

Ok, so what did I think? This book took me almost the entirety of May to get through. I will admit that I was able to track the story a lot better than I did the first time I attempted to read the classic, but I wouldn't say that made my reading experience any better.

The book was split into three parts which, for the most part, made sense to me. The first part was all about set up - we meet Paul and his family, we learn about Arrakis and its politics, and then the drama sets in as a coup sends Paul's family scrambling for survival; the second part was all about development - Paul learns how to survive, becomes a Freman and a leader, and I think rides a worm at one point; and the third part was all about conclusion - Paul faces the man who started this war between families and (spoilers I guess, but I feel like this was kind of obvious?) takes back his seat of power and they all live happily ever after. It makes sense in the way that these books usually do, but maaaaan did it drag.

I got through the first section just fine. It was pretty interesting learning the contrasts of the two planets we get to see as well as learning more about Lady Jessica's experience as part of the Bene Gesserat, a powerful group of women warrior spies that is honestly pretty badass considering this book came out in the 60s. Though I could have seen the coup at the end of this section from a mile away, the stakes were still high enough and the losses still painful enough that I was still invested in how Paul was going to make it out alive and figure out how to survive long enough to take his power back.

However, the middle section was probably the hardest section to get through. There are only so many scenes I can read about Paul learning how to control his powers as a male Bene Gesserat on top of becoming a leader while tramping through the desert. There are only so many water puns I can read before I have to close the book and do something else. I'd say a majority of the month it took me to read this book was primarily on this section alone. I understand that this is a Hero's Journey kind of book, but I'm positive there could have been several edits done where I didn't have to read the same scene in the same sandy patch of ground over and over again.

To be honest with you I don't remember much of the third section other than all of a sudden it had been two years and some new characters were introduced and then almost immediately killed off. Perhaps their death made the 1960s readers weep, but I was so beyond caring at that point that I was just glad I didn't have to keep track of more characters. The final battle itself felt so underwhelming and was over too quickly and I didn't feel like Paul got the justice that had driven him across the desert for the last 200 pages.

Finally, my last irritation with this book is how it treats its female characters. Lady Jessica is set up to be a badass warrior and, for the most part, she is. But a lot of her scenes, especially in the second and third sections, she's treated as an untrustworthy witch or simply regarded as a thing a man in charge could marry to gain power. I understand that this book was written in the 60s and that the times have changed in terms of women in media, but it was something that bothered me continuously as I was reading and I feel it has to be said.

Along those same lines, I was surprised at how small a part Chani plays in the entire novel. When she's introduced she's described as such a strong warrior, but then we don't see any of her strength. She is Paul's companion and then his lover and even the mother of his son, but I don't feel like her character has much depth aside from following Paul around and giving him purpose. SPOILER AHEAD: On top of that I felt that Chani's character was utterly disrespected when Paul decides to marry the Emperor's daughter in order to ascend to the throne. Yes, he tells Chani that the marriage will only be in name and he would never share a bed with the princess, but it still gave me a bad feeling and it didn't help that that was literally the last sentence of the book.

Also, I really hope they don't try to tell me that 26 year old Timothee is playing a 15 year old character.

Will I read the other Dune novels? Absolutely not. I've heard a wide variety of reviews on the later works - that they're all amazing or that I should stop reading after the third or fourth book in the series because it just gets weird, but I think I'm going to stop at one. I'm still look forward to seeing Dune in theaters if only because I'm really interested to see if it's possible to make a good cinematic version of Herbert's novel. I will admit that, from what I've seen, the casting looks spot on and I'd be lying if I told you I didn't immediately think of Timothée Chalamet while reading.

Long Story Short:

• Make stronger female characters,

• Not all Sci-Fi is good Sci-Fi regardless of how many awards it received,

• I'm just excited to get back into movie theaters tbh.

My Rating: 2/5