Yeah, well this is where suciul is right. If a topic like this attracts people to contribute their pearls of wisdom:
IT's BORING. or It SUCKS...
I can't tell you how embarrassed ifI would be if I looked back on my visits to any forum and found that my contributions were whatever was boring or that it sucked. It's like admitting that I needed to be put in remedial classes at school...
Sorry... but you should know because it's what everyone one is thinking when you write those two things...
Nobody thinks "hmm, how edifying, how straight forward, how profound..."
As a rule, internet forums are seldom if ever "edifying."
Ok. Overlooking the fact that this is the net and you can't honestly expect literary criticism from a forum, I'll bite anyway.
In Dune, Frank Herbert took the farsighted approach and accurately guessed the radical environmentalist position decades before it emerged on the world scene (meaning popular culture noticed it, rather than implying it didn't exist). So for that he should be acknowledged, but that alone doesn't make for entertaining reading. It's the execution that brings the thrills and entertainment. Something that Herbert failed to do, IMNSHO.
Herbert also managed to inject politically relevant religious satire into his work that most people overlook. The Bene's controlled and manipulated the Fremen religion (along with dozens of other religions) to advance their own ends. But are the Bene's villains, only partially as it is their meddling (and Jessica's reversal of that meddling by having Paul against the wishes of the order) that produces Paul, who in turn "saves" the Fremen. Great, good for him, I'm still opposed to religious manipulation of primitive cultures by more advanced ones. It's still horrid and yet, in the context of the novel (re: series) it's an utterly necessary evil for their to be any story/plot.
That most people read it and side with the Fremen does not escape me, but when examined from a modern perspective, that same position is held by the guerillas in Iraq. "You're in our country (ie on our world) and you're exploiting our natural resources for your own ends. Please get out or we will slaughter you."
While I don't agree with the exploitation of a native or the population's natural resources, it is rather funny that terrorists are bad in real life, but we can be made to sympathize with them in fiction. Any point-of-view or perspective can be made 'reasonable' with naught but a sympathetic main character and the situation being turned on it's head.
That's not to say that the villains in Dune, the Hark and the Emperor, didn't need to be put down. It's the whole, the enemy of my enemy is my friend bs that I can't stand, especially when that new friend is a real villain.
Targeting civilians is always wrong, no matter why you do it. Yes, as depicted in Dune there are barbarities performed by both sides. But that doesn't justify anything.
The Emperor and the Hark target civilians (ie the Fremen before they engaged in hostilities), and the Fremen (once they engaged in hostilities) also target civilians. In a war, any war, targeting the enemy's army is acceptable. But, targeting their supply lines may be tactically necessary, but if they are manned by civilians, it's a crime against humanity.
Both sides are wrong and neither is heroic for this simple fact. However, because freedom is good, the Fremen are somehow justified in their targeting of civilians, while the Emp and Harks are just bastards. I call bs.
So, instead of making you read a flame inspiring rant about the modern politics of a decades old book, I stuck with the easier target, the books lack of sustained action and engaging writing (ie the dreaded "it's boring").
Again, I remind you, this is an internet forum, you shouldn't expect anything at all from the members here, much less actual literary criticism.
