Why read either? There are thousands of better books out there. if not millions.
Brian Herbert clearly didn’t inherit the stuff to actually write good books from his dad, I agree. I even tried one of his non-Dune books and…dare I say it…I do!..they’re even worse dreck than the B Herbert Dune prequels!
I’m suprised there would be any question as to the quality of the Brian Herbert books, considering the co-author of them… Kevin J. “I have no problem at all shitting on the goodwill that Zhan built with his Thrawn trilogy and producing something awful of my own in Star Wars” Anderson…
The prequels and sequels aren’t to be compared to the originals. There’s little religion, mysticism, philosophy or sex to be found, the range of vocabulary is poor, the style is simple, and they don’t capture the look and feel of the Dune universe portrayed by Frank.
I didn’t have to re-read them many times over a few decades to piece it all together and figure out what was going on though, something I can’t say about the originals. I’m not quite sure if that is a compliment or criticism. I really enjoy God Emperor, Heretics, and Chapterhouse now, which certainly wasn’t the case the first time round.
The best thing I can say about the prequels and sequels is that some of the information within helps build the Dune universe and adds to it much as would one of those encyclopedias or offshoots you get with other world building series. They might sit happily on one of my shelves with the Science of Discworld, a Hellgate London novel and some Star Wars EU books, but they couldn’t take pride of place alongside the originals.
I tried reading this for the first time the other night because. I don’t know if it is because I was tired (which I was) or some other reason, but the opening pages seemed like gobbledygook. I put it down and went to sleep.
Is this worth putting more effort into and also is it possibly a bad book to read when a bit drowsy? I do most of my reading before bed - maybe not a book to do that with?
You’re asking if a novel that won the Hugo and Nebula awards, has been translated into dozens of languages, sold nearly 20 million copies, and spawned a raft of sequels, films, and video game adaptations is worth putting some effort into? This is a serious question you’re asking?
On the other hand, if you’re asking for a novel suitable for a shweepyhead, perhaps you should stick to L. Ron Hubbard.
All books’ opening pages read like gobbledygook to me, that’s why it’s so hard to start a book. I also read mostly at night before falling asleep. And that definitely doesn’t help.
Yes, Dune is worth putting in the effort. It’s really good. And if you get to it, Book 4, God Emperor of Dune, will require even more effort, but that’s my favorite.
Yep, you don’t need to be a douche about it. Just don’t bother answering the question.
I don’t follow who wins what awards - or particularly care. I don’t get through a lot of books a year because like I said I tend to read when I’m getting kind of tired so many times I only last 15 minutes or so.
Thanks Rock8man, I can always count on you for not being an ass. Maybe I need to start reading it during the day and once I get into it, it would be OK to read it when I’m less awake.
Dune is definitely an experience in being confused at the start. The world-building is outstanding, but it is integrated into the story and parceled out in small doses, so you only slowly begin to understand that background to the narrative and how things come together. But it is brilliantly written —at least the original novel is — a once-in a generation work of great fiction. Very much worth the work.
Just wanted to also say that it’s well worth the effort even though it has a bit more of a hump to get over than a modern novel would. I had a similar experience with Fellowship of the Ring and Foundation - each of them took me three tries before I got deep enough in to make sense of them and get hooked into the world. Dune i read only after seeing the lynch film, though, so it was easier to get immersed in right away.
I will join the chorus and encourage you to press on. Try reading it at a different time of the day. It is worth it. My experience is the first book is like two books in one. Without giving away too much the protagonist’s circumstances will change dramatically and the book shifts into a very different kind of narrative and tells a different kind of story as opposed to the more standard space opera of the first half of the book.
Being more a space opera buff myself, I couldn’t get in to Dune Messiah so much and gave up halfway through. I really enjoyed the machinations between the feudal houses which is probably why I like Crusader kings II so much.
To each their own.
I’ll have to queue this up for a daytime read and at least give it 100 pages or so
And indeed, that’s how it came about:
[Herbert] published a three-part serial Dune World in the monthly Analog , from December 1963 to February 1964. The serial was accompanied by several illustrations that were not published again. After an interval of a year, he published the much slower-paced five-part The Prophet of Dune in the January – May 1965 issues.
This is a thing I did not know, thanks!
On the other hand, I think it is a structurally gorgeous novel, and never had any sense that it was two novels combined into one.
Man am I looking forward to the new movie adaptation. Just bought the book on kindle, as that is handier to read than my old translated-into-dutch paper version.
Dune is without a shadow of a doubt one of the books that made me who I am. The litany against fear, the thoughts about humanity vs animal behavior, the sense of ecology as something real and tangible, they all formed me as a youth, and are still with me to this day.
Sure I fear things, but I will never let that fear stop me in my tracks. For I am human, I can choose to stay my hand in the box. And I did, and will do so again. Dune taught me that.
Me too. Would love to watch this with a group of Dune appreciative friends.
I’ve played 3 games of the board game Dune: Imperium in the last 2 weeks and although it is not as iconic and awesome as the 70s Dune board game, it’s actually very good. It does capture a decent amount of the flavor, and it definitely had a nice intrigue feel to it. If you want some tabletop fun with the Dune license, I am finding the game pretty good.
Jeeves, warm up the jet, I must fly anon.
yea, in that way is similar to LOTR, the deep is very deep
too bad the author died before he was able to finish the 9 books so a lot of it is open to interpretation (or accept the books continuation made by different authors)