Dune
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 9:40 pm
What can I say that hasn't been said about this book before? I can see why Frank Herbert is likened to JRR Tolkien.
Herbert, an ecologist, literally crafted a world. A world that isn't just mere ramblings - he used his knowledge as an ecologist to make sure Arrakis made as much sense as possible. That it was believable. Further, beyond the trials of life on a desert planet, he looked at how one might transform it from an inhospitable hellscape to a world with enough water and greenery to make it an almost pleasant place for human life.
And then, of course, there's the political backdrop of it all. The scheming, the treachery, the warring between Great Houses of a Universal Empire.
Well written - rightfully deserving of the praise it receives as one of the (if not THE) best written Scifi books/series around, Dune remains an easy read despite its hefty 181k word count/600 page chonky fucking story. It's thicc. But it isn't bogged down by technobabble, Arrakis never feels overwhelmingly, annoyingly, TOO GOD DAMN SANDY (a fear I had for sure, hating desert planets in other forms of media, such as any and every time Tatooine is depicted in any of the Star Wars games/movies). Hell, it keeps you wanting more, even after you're 400 pages in.
I'd heavily recommend Dune to any would be readers. I've yet to even get my hands on the rest of the series, so my knowledge of it begins and ends at book 1, but from what I hear it remains strong. At least through the 6 books Frank Herbert himself wrote. He eventually passed and his son wrote more in the Dune Saga. Those...I hear are a bit lacking.
Herbert, an ecologist, literally crafted a world. A world that isn't just mere ramblings - he used his knowledge as an ecologist to make sure Arrakis made as much sense as possible. That it was believable. Further, beyond the trials of life on a desert planet, he looked at how one might transform it from an inhospitable hellscape to a world with enough water and greenery to make it an almost pleasant place for human life.
And then, of course, there's the political backdrop of it all. The scheming, the treachery, the warring between Great Houses of a Universal Empire.
Well written - rightfully deserving of the praise it receives as one of the (if not THE) best written Scifi books/series around, Dune remains an easy read despite its hefty 181k word count/600 page chonky fucking story. It's thicc. But it isn't bogged down by technobabble, Arrakis never feels overwhelmingly, annoyingly, TOO GOD DAMN SANDY (a fear I had for sure, hating desert planets in other forms of media, such as any and every time Tatooine is depicted in any of the Star Wars games/movies). Hell, it keeps you wanting more, even after you're 400 pages in.
I'd heavily recommend Dune to any would be readers. I've yet to even get my hands on the rest of the series, so my knowledge of it begins and ends at book 1, but from what I hear it remains strong. At least through the 6 books Frank Herbert himself wrote. He eventually passed and his son wrote more in the Dune Saga. Those...I hear are a bit lacking.
GF?