Dune by Frank Herbert {book review}
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Hello friends,
Doesn’t it just feel like everyone is talking about Dune at the moment ~ both the book and the latest film? Well since I recently finished reading the book, I’d thought I’d jump on the Dune hype train and write a review and share my thoughts. I’ll do my best to make this a spoiler free as possible, though there will likely be vague spoilerly hints at certain things. So grab a beverage of your choice, maybe a snack and let me tell you about one of my new favourite books!
So before I get into my thoughts, let me give you the synopsis for the story from the dust jacket of my copy, just in case you aren’t familiar with the plot as a whole:
“Paul Atreides, son of Duke Leto Atreides, and all of his family have been sent to the planet Arrakis having been outmanoeuvred by their arch-enemy Baron Harkonnen.
Arrakis - also known as Dune - is an arid place, but a planet of fabulous wealth, the only source of a drug prized throughout the Galactic Empire - Spice.
What will happen next will change everything. There are secrets on Dune, known only to the planet’s native people, the Fremen. They have been waiting for their moment to make their move.
Paul will be brought into their path by terrible events beyond his control. But Paul himself is important. He is the child of destiny, a child of prophecy, and within him is the ability to bring the Empire to its knees.”
The synopsis lays out the main plot nicely, as there’s many layers to this chunky book; it’s a story of moves and countermoves, figuring out people’s motives and how to combat them, with Paul Atreides essentially at the heart of it all as he is important to all involved for different reasons.
There’s a decent sized cast of characters within the story but I never found myself lost with who was who or who were supposedly the good guys and who were the bad. That is a testament to Frank Herbert’s writing; each character you’re introduced to and follow through the story has some point of interest, intrigue or memorial characteristic that even when they didn’t feature often, I knew who they were when they did appear again.
The only one that I personally had a slight issue with at times in the beginning of the book was Paul Atreides himself. Overall, I found him an interesting main character, he’s one of those characters that you just instantly like because he’s a “good guy” but as time goes on, you realise he also has a bit of a dark side, which I feel makes him more interesting, so on that front, he’s great. I also loved his battle with the roles he has to play, which is shown in the different names he comes to be known by and the way he grows into each one and uses each to his advantage is really nicely done. My issue is purely because during the first section or two of the book, I just feel, that although there are small moments when he’s shown as a “typical teenager” {mainly at the very beginning of the book} his age wasn’t as believable at times. He starts the book at 15 years old and granted he’s thrown into a situation where he has to grow up very quickly, even before that, he felt older than his stated age. That could be attributed to his upbringing, being the son of a Duke and the glimpses of his life before he ended up on Arrakis and the specialised training his parents had him involved in, especially his mother. But there was such a emphasis at times of him being a “boy-man” that it felt a little off at times. But as I’ve said, I did really like his character overall, there’s a lot of depth to him but I think I preferred Paul within the back half of the book.
There are many other characters that I really enjoyed, one of which being Gurney Halleck, a loyal Atreides soldier, who was a minstrel at heart and had a song or poem for any occasion. Lady Jessica, Paul’s mother and Chani, a member of the Fremen, were really well written and essentially the female leads of the story. Both are strong individuals, and while there seems to be tension between them, mainly from Jessica, it was lovely to see hints of them coming together in the end as Chani ends up in a very similar situation as Lady Jessica. The only character that I wanted to know more about was Princess Irulan, the Padishah Emperor’s eldest daughter. While she makes an appearance during the final section of the book and there are excerpts from the books she has written throughout the main story, I really would have loved to see more of her. I couldn’t help but feel for her and the position she was being placed in during the final part of the book. I also want to read more of the books she had written, as I found the excerpts given were really interesting and gave some extra little details at times to certain characters and their thoughts on certain matters.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
Overall, for me it just feels like that great, well balanced mix of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, with futuristic elements combined with the mysterious, mystical people of Arrakis and off-worlder politics where I imagined the upper classes live in Castles due to the titles the characters are given. It makes sense to me, I live in the U.K, it’s basically the “Land of Castles” and so my mind automatically associates Dukes and Barons with them.
But imaginary Castles aside, Herbert beautifully captures the dunes of Arrakis, the tension during certain scenes felt palpable and, I swear I could hear those Sandworms coming for me while I could smell the hints of cinnamon in the air that meant there was Spice near by; good job my eyes are already blue! {if you know, you know.} The world that has been created within Dune is so detailed, it’s world building at it’s finest and I don’t think I’ve read another book like it.
While it’s definitely not perfect and in many ways a book of it’s time, Dune is still a Classic and, now having finally read it, I completely understand why. It’s inspired so many books and films within the Science Fiction genre, including Star Wars and I’m sure it will continue to inspire others in the future.
Have you read Dune or watched the new film yet? I’d love to know your thoughts, if you have. Personally, I’ll be waiting for the film to come to streaming services before I see it.
Stay Safe. Read a Book.
L x
