Review: Dune (Dune, #1) by Frank Herbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lately, I’ve been thinking about what makes something epic in literature or media. To me, the word “epic” greatly concerns scale, where the protagonist’s world or life is threatened, and they meet that threat with greater or admirable force to match. I’ve seen ideas that I would consider epic in other stories before, but I admit that I didn’t expect to come to see Frank Herbert’s Dune in this way.
While reading, I also kept thinking about how legend and myth are tied into the story. I really enjoy when a story’s world and culture is fully realized. If said culture begins tying into the main narrative, I am more likely to be captivated by events within the story. Frank Herbert’s intricate worldbuilding, combined with the breathtaking narrative at the center, made this book very difficult to put down!
Before we go any further, let’s recount the story.
Summary
We open to Paul Atreides and his family leaving their home planet Caladan to live on the desert planet Arrakis. Paul’s father, Duke Leto, is being given control of the spice mélange there, allowing the family considerable political power.
Once they get to Arrakis, however, Paul and his parents quickly discover that not everything is as it seems, as the family’s authority puts them at risk from an old rival group willing to do anything to bring them down.
As tensions rise, will Paul and his family find a way to survive in this new, hostile world?
Thoughts
There was something about this story that I couldn’t get enough of! The plight of the Atreides family and how they cope after being uprooted from their home planet Caladan to live on Arrakis is amazing! Seeing Paul, his mother Jessica, and father Duke Leto Atreides all try to survive as war unfolds on their new home is amazing! However, as I hinted earlier, it isn’t just this family’s story that I find so interesting.
I also love the background Paul relates to Jessica at the closing of the first part of the story. It is fascinating and I found myself captivated by the history he relates to her. This was only the first in what became a line of mind-shattering reveals and twists thrown into the narrative, and these revelations made the book very hard to put down! They helped raise the stakes significantly, building suspense and danger throughout the narrative.
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s discuss some of the characters.
Characters
Paul Atreides
I find Paul rather interesting. His abilities continue to develop and influence his actions as the story goes on, particularly shaping his desire to stop a terrible disaster he foresees. Seeing the fallout on Arrakis from that, along with how it affects him as an individual, is really thought-provoking.
Seeing him try to understand what he is and how he fits into the world of Arrakis is gripping! I think this most shines through during his time with the Fremen. The spiritual journey he goes through is moving, showing how he grows as a result. How the Fremen culture shapes his character right up to the end is particularly interesting, as his actions show that they had a significant impact on him.
With that said, I think that’s all I wanted to say about Paul. Let’s move on to another member of the Atreides House.
Lady Jessica
I find Lady Jessica interesting for different reasons. I love how Herbert builds her up as this incredibly powerful Bene Gesserit and she is aware of (and not afraid to use) her abilities. While reading, I was wondering if how others viewed her boiled down to sexism, so seeing her show the people questioning her that she is more than they think is amazing! Her journey is just as fascinating as Paul’s.
Speaking of Paul, her concern for him is heartwarming, and adds a layer of tension to her arc. This arc then works on two fronts, where her character is more fleshed out as a caring mother, and then also in her role as part of House Atreides, which influences how she handles people she perceives as threats.
I think that’s all I wanted to say about Lady Jessica. Before I close out the character section, I want to switch gears away from the Atreides family and discuss whom they are up against.
The Harkonnens
The Harkonnens raise the stakes significantly in this story. Their conflict with the Atreides family is built up beautifully. Seeing how the two families work against each other drives up the stakes and fleshes out the Harkonnen family’s goals to the point where the threat they pose is considerable. The family members themselves are rounded and interesting, where they are cruel enough to evoke anger in the reader while also having their own stories outside of the conflict.
I do have one issue that I want to bring up, though, concerning Baron Harkonnen. Frank Herbert frequently highlights one characteristic of his in tandem with presenting him as an evil tyrant, and the chosen characteristic is rather dated. I understand that this story was published in the sixties, but this aspect was mentioned frequently, to the point where I felt annoyed whenever it was brought up.
With that said, I think that’s all I have on the characters. Let’s move on to the story’s structure!
Structure
The structure is one of my favorite aspects of the story! Each chapter opens with a quote from Arrakis history texts, usually talking about the mythical figure of Maud’Dib. This helps to flesh out the world and politics of Arrakis, giving the reader a glimpse into their literature, religion, and customs before we even see the events of the coming chapter. It’s awesome to get a taste of their society in this way, and I love how the epigraphs tie into the overall mood and tone of the story.
If I had to nitpick anything, though, I will admit that I wish Frank Herbert had handled the glossary better. When you come across a word that is explained in the back of the book, there is nothing to let the reader know that it is a word that needs further explanation. This caused me to miss quite a few vocabulary terms before I finally caught on and started looking for definitions. There needs to be something within the text to let the reader know when a word they are seeing is defined somewhere else.
Well, that’s what I have about the structure. Let’s look at the writing next.
Writing
Frank Herbert has an interesting writing style. The prose is complex, and it wasn’t uncommon for me to reread certain passages multiple times because of how convoluted the phrasing got. For me, this isn’t much of an issue because I have dealt with prose like that before and I don’t mind rereading to better understand something. However, I call it out because not every reader may feel that way. Every word needs to have its place in the text for the message to be completely clear. While I personally like the writing style, I am not sure it was always transparent in what was being communicated, which is why I suspect I needed to reread certain parts.
Besides the prose, I think we should talk about mood and tone with a story like this. The overall mood of the story is tense and it’s part of what worked to keep me hooked. However, the tone of the writing shifted whenever a character’s inner thoughts were highlighted, and I found the sudden change jarring in the beginning. I think the payoffs for these types of setups are strong enough to more than make up for that original feeling of mine (and I did get used to the interjection of characters’ thoughts as I continued), but I wanted to mention it because the changes took some time for me to get used to at first.
With all that said, I think I’ve covered everything. Let’s wrap this up.
Conclusion
In the end, I enjoyed this very much. The story is captivating and epic, with the scale of the world being large and intricately built! The conflicts within the story are also gripping and kept me guessing. All of this put together made this very difficult to put down once I got into it, and I think the message of the narrative is thought-provoking and interesting.
While there are some issues with the writing and structure, I don’t think they detract very much from the overall work being enjoyable and I would honestly recommend it to any science fiction fan. For this reason, I will be giving the story four stars.
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