62. Dune by Frank Herbert (Science Fiction) 474 p.

Sci-fi Classics Challenge

Paul Atreides is the fifteen-year-old son and heir of Duke Leto Atreides and his concubine, Lady Jessica. When the family is forced to leave their home planet and take control of the desert planet of Arrakis, called Dune, it sets in motion traitorous plots and a strange fate for Paul.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a science fiction novel with quite this level of world-building before, or which makes so few concessions to the reader’s ignorance. And that’s a good thing.

Of course, Dune is one of those books that everyone has heard of, but I had no clear idea of what it was about, or what to expect from it. It turned out to be unlike anything I could have imagined: rich in cultural, religious, mystical, and ecological detail, with a strong plot and spare, elegant prose. There was absolutely no info-dumping; if anything, the level of information available to the reader was often rather sparse. The reader learned what the characters learned, but the characters had an understanding of the history and culture of the universe they inhabited that the reader lacked. It imparted a realism to the Dune universe that couldn’t have been acquired any other way.

Despite its undeniable quality, I was a little disappointed in this book. I enjoyed the first section immensely, but the other two didn’t quite go in the direction I was expecting, and I think I would have loved the book more if they had.

[spoilers]

I would have liked to see more attention paid to the ecology of Arrakis, and the sandworms in particular. The first section seemed to be building up a bit of a mystery about the creatures, and how they and the spice were related, but there was no particular grand revelation, and what was revealed was somewhat anti-climactic. I suppose I wanted Dune to be an ecological discovery novel, but it turned out to be dominated by a more conventional political plot.

I really felt for the characters in the first section, but I had trouble maintaining a level of interest in them, especially the secondary characters, whose development stagnated in the latter two-thirds of the book. I also couldn’t bring myself to care much about Paul Atreides regaining his dukedom, so the whole political side of things fell rather flat for me. I also think Frank Herbert missed a chance when he chose not to show us Paul Atreides with his son, or much of his feeling for the boy, since that made it harder to empathize with him when his son was killed.

[/spoilers]

I knew, coming into this challenge, that many classic science fiction novels were written by men, for men, and would probably do things with women that I wouldn’t be all that fond of. In that sense, Dune wasn’t a surprise; Herbert preserves many of women’s traditional roles in sci-fi. He does maintain an interesting, vital, and sympathetic female main character throughout the novel, which is good. I would have liked to have been able to expect better, but how can I hold Herbert to a standard even many modern science fiction authors fail to meet?

Still, aside from a few quibbles, Dune is an awe-inspiring achievement. I can see why it is so often compared to The Lord of the Rings. I’m eager to read the rest of the Dune saga, and to see the movie and TV miniseries.

Books read: 62/100 (62%)
Pages read: 18,579/25,000 (74%)

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Dune, Frank Herbert, Sci-Fi Classics Challenge