Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I think the fact that there are over 480 reviews of this book on Amazon.com, almost all of them 5 stars, tells you something - this book is one of the best-loved sci-fi books in existence, inspiring an almost cult-like following. And no doubt Dune IS a fine work of epic fiction ("a cast of thousands"), but it is definitely not perfect, as many reviews would have you believe. Let's start with the many positives: in Dune, Frank Herbert has created a complex, richly-textured, fascinating, internally consistent (for the most part), other world. The world comes complete with it's own fascinating politics, economics, awareness of ecology (specifically, the importance of water), language (largely borrowed from Arabic), mythologies, good guys and bad guys (of course), heroes, traitors, etc. And it's a rip-roaring story which is almost impossible to put down! What you also get in Dune is a whole hodgepodge (sometimes confusing, sometimes ready to fly apart at the seams) of Zen-influenced philosophy, Machiavellian political intrigue (rival houses, the Emperor, CHOAM, the Bene Gesserit "witches", Mentats, spys, assassins, etc.), Arab-influenced desert culture and language, ecology, "planetology" (and Kynes, the Imperial planetologist) mysticism and religion aplenty, human psychology, a whole inter-galactic economic system (based on "spice"), and Star Wars-quality adventure. Whether or not this all manages to hold together is a good question, and I basically (with reservations) think it does, this book is really not comparable to any other that I know of, exactly. And things are not as "black and white" as they seem at first glance - although the Harkonnens ARE really nasty and the Atreides ARE really good (the Fremen and others tend to be far more ambiguous). And of course, there is possibly Herbert's greatest creation, the giant sandworms ("makers"), and the precious "spice" produced by them without which the whole empire would fall apart. Paul Atreides himself is a smart, likeable, charismatic character, and is basically an excellent example of a the somewhat cliched "boy comes of age and grows into a man" character. Actually, Paul's growth in this novel is not just from boy to man, but actually further, to something way beyond (almost superhuman), namely the Kwisatz Haderach - the man (can't be a woman, for somewhat obscure reasons which come awfully close to nonsensical psychobabble) who can see where others cannot, and who bridges space and time. I DO find the whole concept of being able to "see the future" fascinating the way Herbert presents it, not simplistically at all, but as a dynamic process whereby, like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, the very act of observing something changes it. In fact, Herbert's view of the future (and the past) is basically an incredibly complex set of possibilities converging at a nexus point (in Dune, it's mainly Paul Muad'Dib) and subject to change via the slightest move. How does Paul remain sane with such knowledge and such a "terrible burden"? How is he able to act and not remain paralyzed with fear when he knows that anything he does might unleash a galaxy-wide "jihad"? That's all really interesting stuff, and Herbert generally handles it well. Now here are the main problems (far fewer than the positives, and if you are one of the "cult" people, you might not want to read this!) with "Dune": 1) sometimes Herbert gets carried away with all the mystical/philosophical mumbo-jumbo and jargon (seems brilliant when you're 16, sort of like "Atlas Shrugged", but give it a couple of decades and see what you think then!); 2) Herbert sometimes forgets that his characters are just people, not superbeings, which I think makes them less believable and harder to relate to (unlike, let's say, Frodo in the Lord of the Rings); 3) all of the plot twists -- the "feints within feints within feints" can at times get a little confusing/tedious, even after multiple readings; 4) all this "terrible purpose" stuff can get annoying and a little over-the-top and silly at times (sometimes I feel like saying "c'mon Frank, lighten up a little bit!"); and 5) Herbert is an adequate, but certainly not a great prose stylist. But, all that said (cultists can start to read again now), Dune is still an excellent book and well worth reading, probably several times, each time on a different level (there are many here in this multi-layered book). Definitely DON'T waste your time on the awful movie (unless you're a big Sting fan), and also I would say avoid the sequels as well (I've read most of them). Frank Herbert had one first-rate (despite its flaws) book in him, and this is the one! Essential reading for any sci-fi fan.