Does anybody think Dune is good?
Does anybody think Dune is good?
Sure, a lot of people think Dune is a good book.
Hey Rob, who is your favorite character in Dune?
Frank Herbert's Dune is considered by many to be the paragon of Science Fiction literature.
If you do a search on google or elsewhere, you will almost always see him on the top of lists.
I myself haven't read it yet, but I am reading another one of his books (The White Plague) and Dune is probably much better than this so I would say go ahead and get it.
I'll be reading that once I am finished with this.
The White Plague is, in my opinion, an excellent novel. It has been many years since I read it but I know that it was one of the reasons for my branching out into more mainstream fiction from time to time. Although it may, strictly speaking, be science fiction, the subject matter is so consistant with the global fears of the past couple of decades, that it comes across as a horror-thriller. It is both gripping and moving, driven as it is by the author's masterful prose and charachterisation.
Fave Dune charachter? So many to choose from obviously. For me it's probably Leto I. The charachter's gravitas is immense, destined as he knows he is to lead his friends and family into a trap that has been engineereed amongst the highest echelons and from which there can be no escape. There is something Christ-like in the way that he never once falters upon his path.
Other good Herbert reads:
Dragon in the Sea (his first novel) is excellent
The Green Brain is chilling
Hellstrom's Hive, whilst not his best, is strangely appealing
The Eyes of Heisenberg is also impressive
ND
Dune is easily among the best SciFi books available, too bad the rest of the series paled in comparison to the 1st.
I actually found Children of Dune to be a quite worthy sequel to Dune. The others were also good, though not as good as the original in my opinion.
Favorite character? Probably Stilgar. I love reading about the Fremen- particularly the Fremen prior to Alia's regency.
The first Dune book is excellent. I could scarce put it down, but when I read the second one I was so disappointed I haven't picked the series back up yet...
It's a hard thing to keep an audience if you write an amazing first book and then let it get less interesting.
With that in mind, I always try to finish what I start unless of course it is too painful to continue, such is the case with most network television shows. They start out great and capture the audience for the first two seasons, but then slowly recede into the gutter. (Prison Break, Lost, Smallville, Heroes, etc).
Always keep the thought in the back of your head.. that when the first of a show or series is great.. there's usually only one way to go.. and that's down.
Originally Posted by Bengoshi-San
That's a slightly pesemistic view isn't it??
In the case of the Dune novels, whilst I admit that the series never regains the heights of the original, the later books are impressive in and of themselves. Messiah was hard for me initially - it appeared that the author was tearing down everything that he had so carefully constructed, but now I see it as the abject lesson Herbert intended, i.e. that even the mightiest can be brought low, and that nothing lasts forever.
My favourite of the sequels is Heretics, by a long chalk.
ND
P.S. I am discounting the Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson books in my above comments
I hated Dune, it's a turgid read and I disliked most of the characters. Honestly, I can't understand why everyone seems to love it so much. I think I've read worse but have rarely been so bored for such long stretches of reading time - I only finished it due to it's reputation, which it failed to live up to. What is often described as epic, literary sci-fi I found here to actually be grandiose, pompous space fantasy of the highest order, with yawn-inducingly depressing layers of meaning apparently about the US, oil and drugs. Whoopee.
I don't know - I think Ropie put it best back in May:I hated Dune, it's a turgid read and I disliked most of the characters. Honestly, I can't understand why everyone seems to love it so much. I think I've read worse but have rarely been so bored for such long stretches of reading time
...within a fairly clear sphere of recognized SF classics even the books we find difficult or not what we expected (which is a common cause of 'boredom') will have educational merit, potentially even more than the books we sail through and are not critical about. It might be an idea to analyse what it was one didn't like about book 'x' rather than just declaring it boring.
Last edited by phil_geo; July 8th, 2008 at 07:45 PM.
I liked Dune when I first read it. I kind of doubt I would like it as much today. Really long stories with heavy emphasis on the culture and atmosphere don't interest me so much anymore.
The movie with Sting and Patrick Stewart was tolerable after having read the book though I don't see how anyone who hadn't read it could stand that movie. The TV mini-series was much better.
It is decent as the space opera sub-genre.
psik
Well, it certainly attracts a wide variety of opinion! Much like a lot of other "classics", LOTR amongst them.
ND
I didn't say it was boring, I said I was boredand I think I outlined why I disliked it so
And I will add that I quite enjoyed the film. I think it is the presentation of the book that put me off, Herbert's writing dragged me down into the sand.
Last edited by Ropie; July 9th, 2008 at 04:14 PM.
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