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It's reprint made Dune one of the biggest books of last year, made bigger by the blockbuster movie version that was nominated for ten Academy Awards, of which it won six. But is it a good read? In this post I'll give you my take, well, I'll give you the best of it that I can considering I DNFd the book. DNF for those unfamiliar means 'did not finish'. I did not finish Dune because God's honest truth is that I just couldn't. I'll share why as well as the opinion I was able to formulate in this post.
Things I liked
There were things I liked about this book and I think it's important I point them out before you start to think it was all bad.
Worldbuilding
I like the actual world that the author created. It's not the greatest or most immersive, but it was good. The interplanetary government system with the Emperor, and noble families vying for favor was interesting. Spice being the most valuable commodity is also quite interesting, as well as the general oddities that a writer gets to imagine in a story set in outer space. It was familiar enough to still make sense to our understanding of reality and odd enough to be interesting. This is generally a great balance for stories with strange new worlds. As exciting as truly unique worlds are, when they are too different they require too much focused attention to remember how that reality works, and this can take away from the reader's ability to focus on the story. I think Herbert did this well.
Foreshadowing
I liked how the author used foreshadowing. There were multiple ways that he did this and I thought the net effect was very satisfying. From the very onset, the author plants the seed for Paul to be Muad'Dib, or the story's savior of the spice planet, Arrakis. He also sows the seed that Paul's father, Duke Leto, will die and never see the great success of his son. Although we know this and it's reiterated through various characters like the Duke's wife; the leader of the Bene Gesserit; Paul; and even the Duke himself- the reader still feels a sense of anticipation right up until it actually happens. This is actually quite amazing, and I commend the author for pulling it off. '
Character and their Development
The characters felt solid to me. They felt well thought out and specific enough to be real. I can't know for sure about how they develop in their entirety because I didn't follow their arcs all the way through, but I would venture to guess that this was one of the things that the author continued to do well.
These are the things I enjoyed and these are major thing- often if a book can get all of these right, it's a great book. And I think that's why some people genuinely love it. It's just that I place a very high ranking on readability and this book lacked that for me. The greatest story in the world will sit untouched on my shelf if it doesn't make me want to read it. Which brings me to:
Things I didn't like
It was so difficult to read. I got to page... and just couldn't push myself to read on. Mind you, page ..... is a random 'in the middle of a chapter' page. I couldn't even push through to the end of that chapter. These were some of my biggest issues with the book:
Density/ Poor Readability
This is a dense book with low readability. By that I mean it has (many) phases that are difficult to get through. You know those fun summer novels people bring to the beach and just breeze through? This was not that. This was at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I think a perfect readability score in somewhere in the middle, leaning slightly closer to the denser side of things. This is my personal preference, and it will be different for everyone. However, regardless of preference, I think a book should flow.
Reading Dune felt like work.
It wasn't fun, it wasn't pleasant- it literally felt like a job. In chapter....I hit a complete standstill. I could not pick up the book. I did not want to pick up the book. A whole month went by. I imagined I would be so bored as I read it that I didn't want to actually live through that torture.
Here's an excerpt from the first chapter:
"Paul awoke to feel himself in the warmth of his bed—thinking ... thinking. This world of Castle Caladan, without play or companions his own age, perhaps did not deserve sadness in farewell. Dr. Yueh, his teacher, had hinted that the faufreluches class system was not rigidly guarded on Arrakis. The planet sheltered people who lived at the desert edge without caid or bashar to command them: will-o'-the-sand people called Fremen, marked down on no census of the Imperial Regate.
Arrakis—Dune—Desert Planet.
Paul sensed his own tensions, decided to practice one of the mind-body lessons his mother had taught him. Three quick breaths triggered the responses: he fell into the floating awareness ... focusing the consciousness ... aortal dilation ... avoiding the unfocused mechanism of consciousness ... to be conscious by choice ... blood enriched and swift-flooding the overload regions ... one does not obtain food-safety-freedom by instinct alone ... animal consciousness does not extend beyond the given moment nor into the idea that its victims may become extinct ... the animal destroys and does not produce ... animal pleasures remain close to sensation levels and avoid the perceptual ... the human requires a background grid through which to see his universe ... focused consciousness by choice, this forms your grid ... bodily integrity follows nerve-blood flow according to the deepest awareness of cell needs ... all things/cells/beings are impermanent ... strive for flow-permanence within....
Over and over and over within Paul's floating awareness the lesson rolled."
The whole book reads this way. There is some natural variation when certain scenes call for it, sure. But, generally, this is the overall feel of the entire material. Some people may like it, I did not.
So much Telling (and not enough Showing)
Personally I feel like this is due to too much telling and not enough showing in the storytelling. So many of the details feel like they are part of a manual that the author just had to share with me for reasons I can't understand, and he didn't even bother to try and make it entertaining. When a book feels like that, it burdens the reader with having to psyche themselves up to continue reading. I had to do that- I literally remember saying 'I have to finish reading this so I can write a review'. Nobody wants that to be the reason they read a book (and no author wants to know that's why people read their book).
Note: I do understand that due to the kind of book that Dune is, an epic space fantasy, it requires a great deal of world building that will lend itself to quite a lot of descriptive writing. The author has to set up the government system, for example, as well as the conditions of each of the planets. I give allowance for that. I think had the 'telling' been limited to these necessities for the most part, I would have been able to look past it because I would see it as the necessary tool it is. However, the whole book read like that. It felt like sitting through a lecture.
Verdict- I was bored
All of these elements came together to give me a net result of boredom. I was bored. My mind wondered and I had to, on many occasions, tell myself that I had to finish this book 'so I can fairly review it'. It had nothing to do with enjoyment. It reminded me of being an engineering student and having to read through a section of a physics textbook in preparation for a test. It was all about minimizing future pain. In the end, I decided the time commitment wasn't worth it for something I was genuinely dreading. It means I can't give a review because it wouldn't be fair, but so be it.
This was really hard for me because when I pick up a book, my intention is to read and finish it. It feels like a silent promise I make to the author. I know how hard it is to write an entire manuscript, and I want to give each one a fair shot. But, life is short. Much too short to read books we don't love, especially when we have shelves and shelves of books we probably will. I'm at peace with my decision, but it did take a while.
If you did like the book, please share what you liked about it. If you finished it, please share your overall take on it. And, if you DNFd it like me- I'd like to know that too. It will make me feel less bad.
Here's to reading more books and hopefully loving them.
Take care,
Nonjabulo
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