As mentioned yesterday, I have a large list of completed books and very little energy with which to review them. So, in order to prioritise the 'reviews, I handed control over to You, the Reader.

Sort of. I mean, that post was pretty weird. But the general idea was that you guys could tell me which books you were interested in a review of. Frank Herbert's Dune was requested a couple of times, so let us do that one first. I don't know why this suddenly became a plural exercise, but fine. Us it is.

Dune, Frank Herbert.

I imagine that quite a lot of you have already read this. Most of you, in fact. It was published about a million years ago, has won awards and titles, is immensely popular, had a terrible movie and a (reportedly) decent television mini series spawned from its carcass. Not to mention the seemingly endless stream of sequels churned out by Herbert and (later) his son, The Other Herbert.

Nonetheless, I am equally assured that several of you have not read Dune. I hadn't, after all. And I find as I continue to write these quick reviews¹ that I am not in a minority of one regarding some of these cultural and sub-cultural classics. For example, others had never even heard of Watchmen or Usagi Yojimbo and my reviews were helpful to them.

So, Dune. Note that I have neither read the sequels nor have any intention of doing so. I cannot be persuaded otherwise; on this I am firm. I have had entirely too much of Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind to be persuaded into starting yet another open-ended series of literature, choked with half remembered history and smothered with the promise of it all wrapping up in the next book, honest. O no, you'll not get me into that trap again.

So here Dune is standalone. It does so very well, I think. There is a beginning, which starts at the beginning. There is a middle, conveniently located in the centre of the book. There is an ending, which ,while leaving matters open, nonetheless ties together the plot-threads into a finely sewn bundle, which will never tear, rip or fail and only two American dollars today only effendi.

In short, there is no need to read the sequels lurking beneath the horizon in order to enjoy the novel. And it is enjoyable, a solid page-turner. It is often compared to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and that comparison is apt, in a way. The plots are vastly different, of course. Dune is a story of grand adventure, rebellion and empire-building, while Lord of the Rings is a novel the heart of which is the Quest. But both are informed by the tropes of epic literature, and while the grand sweeping War of the Ring is mostly backdrop or B Plot to Tolkien's work, it is the focus of Dune.

As is my wont, I'll not go into further detail on the plot itself. As I said above, there are movies and television films and synopses on Wikipedia and the like for all that sort of thing. Suffice it to say that there are few surprises- the plot follows a fairly linear formation, with many of the traditional epic elements. Women who can see the future, but the prophecies come out unexpectedly, traitors and honourable enemies, all that jazz. It's good, but nothing especially shocking.²

There are some notable features I want to point out, things I had not seen before. These are the focus on ecology, the parallels 'twixt the rise of Islam and Muad'dib, and the internal politics. This last informs the pro/antagonist divide of the piece. Unfortunately, if I were to do so, this so-called 'thumbnail' review would quickly become a whole arm. Suffice it to say that even if the plot is fairly simple and straightforward, the setting is very complex, and great care is paid to that which is often ignored in science fiction: the ecology of the planet.³

One particularly interesting theme I would like to dwell on is the danger of religious fanaticism. ( Spoilers )

So, all that said: Is Dune worth reading? Is it good? Yes, and yes. It is worth reading because it is an excellent piece of award-winning science fiction, and deserving of that praise. Actual science drives some of the plot⁴, and the prose is crafted well. Moreover, it inspired or otherwise affected the following four decades of literature and is therefore important for geek street cred. It also happens to be a lot of fun, and a damn good read. The pages flip past very quickly- I can't recall exactly, but I think I finished my 487 edition in only a few days.⁵

Dune is a complex and fascinating novel, one that can be enjoyed easily on its own merits or reviewed and examined in the context of the hordes of sequels that followed it, or examined in intricate detail. The setting and themes particularly bear close inspection, especially for those of us nervous about the rise of religious extremism in the Middle East and Middle America.

When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.



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¹Which are becoming less quick as I get into the habit of writing them and grow ever more in length. Is this a problem for anyone? I do like the sound of my own typing.

²It may be worth bearing in mind that Dune was published in 1965 and some of these tropes may not have been as well known then. I am not a literary historian, nor am I especially familiar with science fiction in general. I mention this to point out that the straightforward plot is not a negative criticism of the novel.

³The novel is actually dedicated to dry-land ecologists, which is so freaking awesome it makes my head hurt.

⁴Not all of it. There are prophecies, and foresight and mind control powers, none of which are scientific in the least. But enough of it is, and what there is is central to the plot. Good enough for me. Certainly a damn sight more 'science fiction' that Star Wars, which is fantasy in space.

⁵Including the (short) appendices. No point in not reading the whole of a thing, yes?