cleverpun’s 2019 Reading Journal: April · 2:28am May 15th, 2019
Dune by Frank Herbert
In the distant future, everything is different. Computers have been outlawed, replaced by human-computers known as mentats. Interstellar travel is possible, thanks to the Guild, which uses prescient navigators and space-folding ships to travel faster than light. Humans live longer than ever. All this is thanks to a substance known as Melange, the spice that can only be found on a single, inhospitable desert planet known as Dune.
Because Dune is the only known source of spice, a commodity so valuable that a mere pinch of it can command exorbitant prices, control of the planet is a monumental treasure. The current ruling house, House Harkonnen, has been ordered by the Emperor to cede fiefdom to House Atreides. These two houses have had a long-standing blood feud, and House Harkonnen doesn’t intend to let House Atreides simply have the most valuable property in the universe. The heir of house Atreides—one Paul Atreides—will begin a cycle of revenge and political maneuvering that will affect the galaxy for thousands of years (and five more books). And it all begins on Dune, with the local population of humans known as Fremen…
I could go on, but those 200 words only begin to scratch the surface of Dune’s plot. It is, at its heart, a political thriller, with the feud between House Atreides and Harkonnen taking center stage throughout the novel. All the fantastic technology, prescience, laser guns, forcefields, FTL travel… they all take a backseat to that conflict, and I cannot claim it is not interesting. Not only do these two houses factor into it (and all the retainers and characters that implies), but there are a handful of other factions each with their own goals and a novels worth of characters. The Fremen and Emperor have major impact on the plot, and I didn’t even mention the Bene Gesserit or House Fenrig (whose Count gets an entire chapter to himself). There are a bunch of POV characters, political machinations, twists and reveals throughout this novel, and it is goddamn long.
The story also spends a massive amount of effort on something beyond foreshadowing—it straight up tells the reader a bunch of upcoming developments, and even developments from future novels. Foretelling is a huge plot point in the novel, given all the prescient characters running around, so perhaps this makes sense. But it also makes the general plot and trajectory of the story lose a lot of its surprise.
And despite all this, I couldn’t put it down. The character who sparks the events of the book—Doctor Yueh—has a fantastic motive. The Baron Harkonnen is a villain whom it is a pleasure to despise, and Paul’s combat trainer Gurney Halleck could head a book on his own. And these are all only secondary characters! Paul Atreides himself is a rare example of a character who has ridiculous, even Mary-Sue-esque abilities, but they don’t stop him from being challenged, and the book’s conflicts are all engaging.
If this book has a flaw, it is that it’s ending sort of putters to a stop. With all the foretelling showing us how the plot will end, it’s no surprise when the ending actually arrives. It is a classic example of a book that I consider more about the journey than the destination. I only regret it ending because it meant that I could not spend more time with these characters. And the plot had its share of surprises, but it was ultimately because of blockages on the road, not because the destination was a mystery.
Will I read the next books? Perhaps. But reading just the first one felt like an entire novels worth of setup, and it took 400 pages. I’m not sure I have the energy for more, but we will see.
Next up: Firefight by Brandon Sanderson
One of the things I find really interesting about the Dune books is that each of the first four provides a solid ending point for the series. Dune, like you noted, sort of peters out, but does get Paul to his apotheosis. Dune Messiah brings Paul's arc to a graceful, melancholy close (it's also the best book in the series, IMO). Children of Dune completes the movement of the empire away from a feudal structure and to a full North Korea autocracy, while ending on a weirdly triumphant note (it makes sense in context). And God Emperor of Dune deals with the problems of precognition and spice-awareness that have permeated the story, grappling with the question of how humans can live in a world where they(/some of them) can literally know everything that's going to happen.
Then the last two books ditch that and set up a giant cliffhanger that Herbert died before resolving, and the stuff his son did is atrocious. Oh well; point is, I think it's neat that you can stop after any of the first four books and feel like you've read a complete "story."
This is a yet further confirmation that I really need to get around to reading Dune.
5058788
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea isn’t an autocracy.
Man I read Dune ages ago and this brings it all back.
I recall the feel of the words was something different then other things I had read at the time.
Dune is a dense book but its a very compelling read.
Dune is a book where...I like it but I want it to be different than what it is. I loved it but I like it less each time I read it, if that makes any sense. Mostly because I'd have wanted to SEE a lot of what we know happens. We get the high points but miss the slow scheming we got in the beginning, more details of all the things we know happen and believe the characters involved are capable of because of all that, but don't get to see unfold.
Will look forward to Firefight. It's not Sanderson's best but that isn't because it's bad. It's quite good. It's just that Sanderson sets such a bloody high bar, and it misses some of my favorite things from his better works. Also, it kind of feels like a retread of the first Mistborn book but with superpowers.
That said, it still has some of my VERY favorite lines that I've quoted again and again. "We cannot let them convince us this is normal!"
5058788 From what (very little) I know of the books after the first, that seems like a fair point. Making a novel series can often have the problem of each novel not feeling self-contained. And considering some of the weird things that happen in the later books (like that 3500 year time-skip and the semi-immortal species-hybrid character), it's perhaps not surprising that the story has natural break points.
5058815 I've always had a love of science fiction, and I've read plenty of older sci-fi from Dune's era and before. That said, Herbert definitely has a way with words. He has the same sort of prose style as many old sci-fi writers, like Heinlein or Asimov, with lots of straightforward statements of details. But there's a lot of intriguing details and observations scattered throughout those factual statements. I suppose it's no surprise, given Herbert's background as a journalist.
5058818 I also kind of felt that way after finishing the book. As I said, there's so many engaging side characters that could each easily headline their own novel. Beast Rabban gets only a single scene with Baron Harkonnen, but it's filled with engaging back-and-forth and layered motives and machinations. Doctor Yueh's motivations and ultimate betrayal are fantastic, and exploring the events that led him to this book is a story I would gladly read. Thufir Hawat spends years serving the Harkonnens while hating their guts, and we don't see any of that. Gurney Halleck is a force, but gets the same treatment as Hawat.
But at the same time, I can understand why so much interesting stuff was relegated to off-screen. The book is already quite long, with subplots and time skips and alternate POV characters galore. It did not need to be longer, especially since so much more came after it.
I read Steelheart back in February, and I had mixed feelings about it. Sanderson is definitely a fantastic writer. He has a lot of great observations and interesting narration. And he is better at representing fight scenes/action sequences in prose than most authors. But the reveals and characters don't always live up to that, which is a damn shame. I'm not expecting to love Firefight, but I'm also hoping to be wrong.
Been a fan of the Dune series for a long time. How long, well, I first got hooked on the series when Children of Dune was printed as a serial in Analog magazine back in the 70's. I do have all the books (Both Frank's and his son's works) and always find some detail I have either forgotten or just didn't notice it in prior readings.
Currently rereading 'Navigators of Dune' for the second time, the first being before December 2017 (I know that because of the bus pass I used as a bookmark). Even though I know how it winds up, I'm still enjoying the ride. I don't know if there are any more after that one, and honestly, I'm afraid to look. Off on another book quest...
5058903
My favorite series by Sanderson, by far, is The Stormlight Archive. Which is a trilogy of doorstoppers and just getting longer, but I also really don't care. This is one where he really DOES get the characters down, and the reveals repeatedly make you start swearing and go 'Oh my god, I'm a moron!' Plus it really emphasizes what's my favorite element of Sanderson's best writing, that even in awful settings many people are basically decent and want to do the right thing. Plus the villains are terrifyingly competent. It's the same reason I like Elantris so much, but he's only gotten better as a writer since then.
Dune is political intrigue done correctly. The movers are all well known, the stakes are big, and while the ultimate destination is known, the how you get there is entertaining.
The science fiction is also done correctly. The tech is used as a setting, rather than the focus. The thing I found the most intriguing was that, these highly-advanced, laser-gun-toting, personal-force-shield-wearing characters all eventually have to resort to knife fighting. A lot of sci-fi stories are always about “develop the better gun, the better shield, bypass the reverse polarity inverter.” Dune avoids that because there is no real room for tech advancement. This leaves personal development and guile as being what will win a conflict. And that’s a good thing.
I can definitely see the argument for Paul being a Mary Sue, since he never really loses past that one big loss, you know the one. But he develops and changes his views, which is something a Mary Sue would never do. A Mary Sue would be right to begin with, and all challengers would have to change to his way of thinking or perish. But he realizes the reality of the politics, and changes his views and tactics to match.
Hrmmm... did I have a point here? Prolly not.
5058941
Agreed. It’s also like Honor Harrington in that the tech is designed backwards to produce a particular type of world and story (in that case recreating Naval Battles in space, but with ALL the missiles seriously more missiles than you’d believe) and, because they really THOUGHT about it instead of just hand waving things, it produces something completely unique.
5059273
It’s all about space circles. #legendofthefalacticheroes
5058904 I respect your seniority, haha. Dune is definitely a series that has enough depth and intricacies to warrant that amount of revisiting and investment. But that same intricacy and density also makes it a bit intimidating to approach. I put off reading the first novel for a long time, and I'll definitely need time to process it before I even consider reading the rest.
5058941 Yes, Science Fiction can often have a problem with escalation. That's one reason I never really bothered with the Lensman series. It's perhaps fitting that one of the major weapons Paul uses, one of the major threats he pressures the other factions with, is a destruction of technology, rather than an escalation or new weapon. I also found the scene early on when the Harkonnens use howitzers to be quite amusing. The characters are all flabbergasted that such an outdated technology is being employed, and even their users admit they were only being used for the surprise value.
5058911 I've liked Sanderson's writing enough that I'm going to explore more of it, but I'll have to wait and see which I try after The Reckoner's trilogy. The Sotrmlight Archive is planned to be 10 books, which sounds pretty ridiculous.
5060924
Yeah, the concept of advancing so far that you in fact become extremely vulnerable to “ancient” weapons and tactics is a running theme in the book.
The book also points out how large scale conflict pales in effectiveness to guerrilla warfare. I mean, the entire book is a critique of the handling of the Middle East by the world’s superpowers.