Spoilery Book Reviews

Dune by Frank Herbert

Back of the book

The spice Melange is the rarest and most valuable element in the universe. It does everything from increasing a person's lifespan to making interstellar travel possible. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world Arrakis.

Whoever controls Arrakis control the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe.

When the emperor transfers stewardship of Arrakis from the noble House Harkonnen to House Atreides, the Harkonnens fight back, murdering Duke Leto Atreides. Lady Jessica, Duke Leto's concubine, flees into the desert with their young son Paul, where they are rescued by a band of Fremen, the native people of Arrakis. The Fremen control Arrakis' second great resource: the monstrous worms that burrow beneath burning desert sands.

In order to raise an army to avenge his father and retake Arrakis from the Harkonnens, Paul must earn the trust of the Fremen and lead a tiny army against the innumerable forces aligned against them.

His journey will change everything.

My thoughts.

Yes, I jumped on this bandwagon because of the recent movie starring Timothée Chalamet but I refuse to be shamed by how I discover good books. I watched the movie first, found it okay, then read the book and had my mind blown by how much deeper and more interesting the story is. The movie gave me preliminary imagery to then continue my world-building upon while reading.

For a book published in 1966, I was expecting the writing style to be unwelcoming. Luckily for me I found it easy to read and reflecting back, the confusing parts were meant to be, as I became situated in the universe with its terminology and different races. The version of the book I have, includes a glossary of terms at the back which I forgot to utilise and could have improved my reading experience.

I really enjoyed the concepts of this book. The ideas about how a religion is formed, learning to live in such a harsh desert and all the politics about spice were really engaging (allegory for coal in the modern world?). We always see religions at their end point and not the formation, although this formation was pre-determined due to the plotting of the Bene Gesserit. I would have loved to see this book even more from the science point of view, more from Liet-Kynes about living in such a harsh environment and the dream to completely change the ecology so plants can grow and moisture to be available.

The politics at first were hard to follow. As much as the characters straight up tell us key information, a mind map of who is control of what and who hates whom would have been beneficial.

I'm glad I watched the movie before reading the book, because I didn't know what I was missing. The book centres heavily on the mental processing of Paul, his view of time and the Bene Gesserit training of noticing subtleties about everyone else. I barely believe how they thought to make a movie of it in the first place. I'm not mad at them aging him up, because fifteen seems super young, although a standard age for YA adventures to occur.

I am intrigued to read the sequels, although the first book did feel like a complete story, I would like to return to Arrakis. Peace never lasts long. I'm not sure I'm a fan of reading about all-out war, if that's what the sequels entail. Dune focussed on the political dance and Paul integrating with the Fremen instead of describing multiple battle scenes which quickly get repetitive for me.

Dune is well worth a read. Where the movie was overly long, the book never feels like its wasting space, always a development on the page. I can't seem to put into words what I loved about this book. Escapism, maybe? The navigation of a political territory for the all-important element. The comparisons between Earth and politics surrounding coal and oil, and Arrakis with spice, are alarming and too big-brain for me to extrapolate on.

Below, a few links to expand upon the ideas that I don't have the correct knowledge or words to express accurately.

https://imgur.com/a/cdk94Y6

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/climate-change/dune-a-prophetic-tale-about-the-environmental-destruction-wrought-by-the-colonisation-of-africa-79948

https://www.renewwisconsin.org/the-oil-spill-and-you_3396/

TL:DR

Inter-planetary politics, religion at its formation, past, present and future visions all in a harsh desert world without mercy. A teenager changes the world, leading a culture, revolution and the knowledge that is his ultimate weapon: destruction of spice. Almost seems like a cautionary tale for how humans behave about coal.