Started reading Dune..

[Keyoke]

Hello, I've just started to read Dune.. I'm only about 30+ pages in, and I am seriously confused..

Is this normal? Will it all become clear as I read on? I'm afraid I may give up...:/

Any words of encouragement?

What about the rest of the books in the series by Herbert?

Keyoke

[Cadfael]

Keyoke... carry on! all will become clear, it is rather hard to get into at first. One they move to Arakis, the story will pick up.

The other Dune books are a bit of a mish-mash, I will definitely recomend the next three :-

Book 2 - Dune Messiah
Book 3 - Children of Dune
Book 4 - God Emperor of Dune

The other books start to become very hard to read, and to understand. Nothing really happens untill the last chapters, and even then it is hard to understand why things happen. The books are:-

Book 5 - Heretics of Dune
Book 6 - Chapter House Dune

One thing I will say, forget the movie when you read Dune, most film adaptations never do justice to the book it was taken from. But this movie really is nothing like the book.

[Hound]

I read the whole series and I still don't quite understand the big finale in book 6. I have been to fansites where this topic was explored and I find that I am not alone in my perplexity. So if you're feeling a little overwhelmed remember that you're not the only one. In the meantime keep at it. These books are worth the effort.

[Rob B]

Yeah, Dune is a bit confusing in the beginning, esp. if you saw the odd-ball David Lynch film before reading it.

I always thought of Dune almost as a epic-fantasy type story in a Sceince Fiction setting. What with the prohetic saviour and warring families/clans, and worms (wyrms).

[Merry]

Carry on Keyoke - they get better. I enjoyed all of the series, but I think that Herbert died before completing the series (I may be wrong), so that explains the "up in the air" ending.

[FitzChivalry]

Yeah, i still don't understand the ending of book 6 either...
But there is a reason for that, it wasn't the grand finale... it wasn't supposed to be the last book, Herbert died before writing the next one.

So, Robert Jordan fans etc. who are afraid the author they like will die before series end. The frustration is indeed great.

[Shehzad]

So THAT's what was wrong with the last book! I thought it was just me.

[Hound]

Concerning the ending in book 6:A long time ago(4-5 years) I went to this fansite that proposed the coming of an alien race to the "Dune" part of the universe. This,among other things, was supposed to explain the migrations of the Honored Matre. This was supported by various cryptic quotes taken from the books according to those who ran this website. Pretty wild stuff...

[FitzChivalry]

Hmm...
*******spoiler*******
IF you mean that guys who can changes faces and that defeated the Honored Matre to come back to the dune part of the universe... i'm pretty sure it was explained that they were humans, of those who can change faces in the dune area that became independent somehow...
been a while, memory is leaking..

[Cellandros]

I wish that Frank Herbert's son would publish the collected notes that Frank had for book 7. That way all of us would be able to get a last glimpse into what Frank's vision was for book 7.

According to his son not only were there alot of notes they found, but also several of the previous books with lots of highlighted passaged that formed the basis for the next book.

[Hound]

Fitzchivalry:You mean the renegade Tleilaxu face dancers? It`s been a while since I've read book 6 for me too...My point here is that I think what the fansite take on the ending meant is that a mysterious(previously unmentionned) species was responsible for the Honored Matre showing up in the first place. What caused them to come back and stir up things like they did...Anyway this interpretation could be way off but it's still quite provocative.

[Eventine]

Frank Herbert's son will not be publishing the notes from the 7th book. He will be writing it from them however.
He is continuuing his prequel trilogy, then doing atrilogy set during the Butlerian Jihad, and then writing Dune 7.

Spoiler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As to what the Honoured Matres were running from, I always figured it was renegade Tleilaxu who had evolved one more step and had massive powers. Which explains the old man and woman, but no quite how Duncan Idaho was involved. Maybe he went along the same evolutionary path - after all he was modified by the Tleilaxu.

[FitzChivalry]

Argh.. need to reread.

[Hound]

Eventine:You're right! I tried to find this website I was mentionning before but was unsuccessful. I did come across this website http://home.wxs.nl/~faase009/D7main.html which has a pretty comprehensive analysis of the possible endings of book 6 and plotlines for book 7. They tend to agree with your take on the ending.I guess I got things a little mixed up when I first came across the mention of new "aliens" in the Dune series. I had visions of Borg or Grays pouring into the Old Empire...

[This message has been edited by Hound (edited March 06, 2001).]