09 August 2020

Dune (Dune Chronicles #1) by Frank Herbert

Dune (Dune Chronicles, #1)Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 4.7/5

Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the 'spice' melange, the most important and valuable substance in the cosmos. The story explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis.

Published in 1965, it won the Hugo Award in 1966 and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Dune is frequently cited as the world's best-selling science fiction novel. 

***** *** *******

This is my third reading of this classic sci-fi novel, which I thought that I'd get in before the release of the latest screen adaptation attempt due to be released later in 2020. The origins and subsequent success of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune is well documented and is a good indication of how good this book really is. It comes across as a bit dated in its style and prose, but you can't deny the quality of the story. It's an epic adventure across the face of an incredible and desolate planet which is itself part of a massive galactic empire, under the rule of an Imperial head and administered by various noble houses or families who constantly strive in competition and rivalry with each other, contending for power and commercial gain which is itself controlled by a huge galactic corporation. It's all good stuff right here.


I was actually introduced to Dune by listening the the music of Iron Maiden, who have a track called "To Tame A Land" on their 1983 album Piece Of Mind which is a heavily paraphrased seven minute version of the story. Apparently the band wanted to call the song "Dune", and approached Frank Herbert for permission, who quickly refused due to his dislike of heavy metal music. Fair enough, but he's got Maiden to thank for revealing his excellent novel to me and, I'm sure, many others as well.

The characters of the story are excellent and have quite some depth in most cases, although Dune itself only really scrapes the surface of the story and its characters. These are apparently expanded upon to quite some extent in the sequel novels, as well as the canon of "expanded universe" works co-authored by Herbert's son Brian and Kevin J Anderson. My intention is to explore some of these in the future, although opinion seems to be very mixed as to their worth as companion works to one of the most successful science fiction books of all time.

It's interesting and enjoyable that Herbert wrote so many strong and interesting female characters into his story, and I reckon this is one of the the real highlights of the characterisation. There's been some talk about the gender of one or more of the characters being changed in the upcoming movie(s) in, what I can only assume, is an attempt at political correctness which I find just a tad ridiculous. The world depicted in Dune has many male figureheads yet there are women pulling the strings all over the place as well as men who truly love and honour their women. One of the more distasteful players in the story (Baron Vladimir Harkonnen) is presented as a homosexual deviant with a taste for young men, another plot point which might need to be treated a bit more carefully in this day and age. This is just more reason for me to eagerly anticipate the movies, to see just how things might be dealt with in the context of both the story and current thinking about issues such as the role of women and sexuality.

Reading this book is best done in an unhurried manner, taking the time to fully digest the words and the details of the story. The pacing does feel a bit erratic at times, sections of extended but very good character dialogue mixed with some really good action scenes, especially the knife fights! This is a mere observation and I didn't find the differences in pace distracting in any way. Overall its position as a seminal work of science fiction, which went on to inspire an untold number of readers and writers alike, is well deserved. What it loses in terms of its sometimes dated speech, it more than makes up for in depth of story and intrigue. I highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys an absorbing and epic tale.

Roll on the new movie or movies! May they do for Dune what Peter Jackson's movies did for LOTR and undo the damage (personally speaking only) from the 1984 film adaptation.

5/5 for theme
4/5 for delivery
5/5 for entertainment
= 4.7 out of 5

Buy the book HERE (Amazon)
Buy the book HERE (Book Depository)