Frank Herbert

A deluxe hardcover edition of the bestselling science-fiction book of all time--part of Penguin Galaxy, a collectible series of six sci-fi/fantasy classics.sics.

Dune

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for....

When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream. 

tanaz

The mind commands the body and it obeys. 

The mind orders itself and meets resistance. 

Tem Nugmanov

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see it’s path. where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune: winner of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, and widely considered one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written. Melange, or 'spice', is the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe; a drug that does everything from increasing a person's life-span to making intersteller travel possible. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world Arrakis. Whoever controls Arrakis controls 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. Paul, his son, and Lady Jessica, his concubine, flee into the desert. On the point of death, they are rescued by a band for Fremen, the native people of Arrakis, who control Arrakis' second great resource: the giant worms that burrow beneath the burning desert sands. In order 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. And his journey will change the universe.

Anastasia Illner

fira

“Nothing money won’t repair, I presume,” Paul said. 

“Except for the lives, m’Lord,” Gurney said, and there was a tone of reproach in his voice as though to say: “When did an Atreides worry first about things when people were at stake?”

He felt emptied, a shell without emotions. Everything he touched brought death and grief. And it was like a disease that could spread across the universe.

Through it all threaded the realization that her son was the Kwisatz Haderach, the one who could be many places at once. He was the fact out of the Bene Gesserit dream. And the fact gave her no peace.

“I see us giving love to each other in a time of quiet between storms. It’s what we were meant to do.”

The drug had him again and he thought: So many times you’ve given me comfort and forgetfulness. He felt anew the hyperillumination with its high-relief imagery of time, sensed his future becoming memories—the tender indignities of physical love, the sharing and communion of selves, the softness and the violence.

"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear's path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

"First, you will answer me one question," she said. "Are you now a Harkonnen agent?"

Hawat surged half out of his chair, his face dark with fury, demanding: "You dare insult me so?"

"Sit down," she said. "You insulted me so."

me too. (me when i like yet another character who is doomed by the narrative)

And Kynes, returning the stare, found himself troubled by a fact he had observed here: This Duke was concerned more over the men than he was over the spice. He risked his own life and that of his son to save the men. He passed off the loss of a spice crawler with a gesture. The threat to men's lives had him in a rage. A leader such as that would command fantastic loyalty. He would be difficult to defeat.

Against his own will and all previous judgments, Kynes admitted to himself: I like this Duke.

"How is a planet to become an Eden without money?"

"What is money," Kynes asked, "if it won't buy the services you need?"

starting to get why my best friend is so obsessed with duke leto atreides/lady jessica

There was no doubt how the Duke felt about his concubine. One only had to watch him as he followed her with his eyes.

A whole pattern of conversation welled up in his mind—the kind of thing he might use to dispel the vapors in his men before a battle. The pattern froze before it could be vocalized, confronted by a single thought:

Ant 

abi a

He knows something, the Baron thought. Fear sat like a stone in his stomach until he could hardly bear the thought of eating. Yet, the feeling was like hunger, and he poised himself several times in his suspensors on the point of ordering food brought to him. But there was no one here to obey his summons.

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for...

When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.

DUNE

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💔💔💔💔💔💔

madina

A whole pattern of conversation welled up in his mind—the kind of thing he might use to dispel the vapors in his men before a battle. The pattern froze before it could be vocalized, confronted by the single thought:

It occurred to her that mercy was the ability to stop, if only for a moment. There was no mercy where there could be no stopping.

Paul spoke dryly: “A terrible place for them to die." Without turning, Kynes said: “When God hath or- dained a creature to die in a particular place, He causeth that creature's wants to direct him to that place."

Drowned? It was the stillsuit manufacturer's daughter. Paulhestitated, then: "Yes. Immersed in water until dead. Drowned”

Emmie B.

The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future

Veronica Palmieri

Camila Sánchez

I know that this book is so popular, but it’s so politic heavy that I don’t plan on finishing the series. If you like politics, then I definitely suggest giving this book a go! 

Evan Carter

This was very weird and very good. Highly recommend. In fact, highly recommend for people who like high fantasy but want to start reading sci-fi.

Kiersten Hepditch

"First published in the United States of America by Chilton Books 1965"--Title page verso.

Kairos

Lost in Tome 

Oh my goodness!! It was amazing!! I loved every bit of this world!! What an amazing writer to not only create an amazing assortment of characters, a complex world and magic system but also a new religion!!! AMAZING!!

Traci Wilbanks

Well-formed characters and a rich setting. The mythology and religion were more compelling than the political machinations. It was quite easy to be sucked into the narrative as the two major storylines pulled you along.

The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.

Liana

altlovesbooks

"He looked at his hand. How inadequate it appeared when measured against such creatures as that worm."

This is one of those books I always felt like I should read, but never actually ended up doing so. The mixed reviews from friends that oscillated between it being the best book ever to it being the most boring book ever didn't really instill confidence in me, and it's quite a large book to commit to if you're not even sure people like it. If it wasn't for the movie coming out, I likely would continue kicking the can down the road until I either ran out of can or ran out of road. My friends goaded me into finally reading it, and while it took me forever, I can finally say I've read it. I can also confidently say that this is the best book I'll never revisit.

For the good, the worldbuilding is spectacular, and the entire reason I finished the book. Full disclosure, I did not read the appendices, but what was included in the actual novel was enough to keep me engaged. I wanted to love this journey I was on, Frank Herbert kept my imagination fed and made it easy for me to picture the desert, the vistas, the people, the scenes. I loved reading the descriptions for that alone.

Unfortunately pretty scenery does not a great book make. I found the characters vaguely unpleasant, and boring in some cases. Herbert's reliance on the auto-win Bene Gesserit button also made any conflict predictable and flat. The pacing also felt really weird in places; things have a slow steady buildup in the beginning, and then suddenly we're clearing entire years in a few pages with very little warning. 

I'm glad I read this in anticipation of seeing the movie, but I likely will not re-read it, nor will I read the followup novels.

While I would agree that this book is a classic, it does show influences from the time it was written. 

Obviously, the drug melange spice and its mind-altering effects features so prominently. 

Asimov’s Foundation was a decade old when Dune was published. Certainly, the scale of time and the idea of an Imperium could have had some influence. 

The 20th century saw the rise of many charismatic leaders. In Dune, we see a slice of humanity organized to produce such a person through generations of manipulation. 

Dune’s most probable shortfall is its depiction of the role of women. However, recent events in the US may cause one to rethink this. 

Overall, Dune has a unique view of humanity’s future, and it’s a worthwhile journey to take. 

Doug Lane

While I would agree that this book is a classic, it does show influences from the time it was written. 

Obviously, the drug melange spice and its mind-altering effects features so prominently. 

Asimov’s Foundation was a decade old when Dune was published. Certainly, the scale of time and the idea of an Imperium could have had some influence. 

The 20th century saw the rise of many charismatic leaders. In Dune, we see a slice of humanity organized to produce such a person through generations of manipulation. 

Dune’s most probable shortfall is its depiction of the role of women. However, recent events in the US may cause one to rethink this. 

Overall, Dune has a unique view of humanity’s future, and it’s a worthwhile journey to take. 

Vietnamese edition of Dune. This is the chronicle of Young Duke Paul Atreides' life and death adventure on the desert planet of Arrakis, where each of his action would contribute to the fate of all... Vietnamese translation by Tran Tien Cao Dang. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

shelby mosel

I can see why people love this book but it just wasn't for me.

every single one of these people are doomed by the narrative

It did take me a bit to get into this book, but once I did, I couldn’t stop reading. The world building is beautiful and the plot for this book was good. I’m excited to read the second one.

Jasmin Bud

finally finished reading dune #1. i did not expect to like it as much as i did.... but of course i would, if you gave me space opera & familial grief & restraint wound with each other. i was struck by the open communication between lady jessica & the bene gesserit lady in the beginning. also just.... those 3 house atreides figures.

i had to keep rereading to get the visual description right but that's just #AphantasiaThings. ok time to watch this movie!

finally finished reading dune #1. i did not expect to like it as much as i did.... but of course i would, if you gave me space opera & familial grief & restraint wound with each other. i was struck by the open communication between lady jessica & the bene gesserit lady in the beginning. also just.... those 3 house atreides figures.

i had to keep rereading to get the visual description right but that's just #AphantasiaThings. ok time to watch this movie!

Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune, one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written.Melange, or 'spice', is the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world Arrakis.Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe.When stewardship of Arrakis is transferred to his house, Paul Atreides must travel to the planet's dangerous surface to ensure the future of his family and his people. But as malevolent forces explode into conflict around him, Paul is thrust into a great destiny beyond his understanding.And in this game of power, only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

honestly a must-read, but it feels like the new Flaubert srsly, too much details

Noemie Brousoz

Great world building last 300-200 pages really turned this book around for me.

Derek Graf

Astor Reinhardt

I really struggled with this book. The massive amount of "made up words" threw me off. I didn't understand half of what went on in this book. If your book requires you have a dictionary in the back...you're doing something wrong.

It was not an easy book to get into...I stopped reading it at one point early on but I forced myself to read this book. If only because a lot of people seem to think it's a must read for sci-fi lovers...it's not. It's dull and needlessly convoluted.

The only saving grace for this book is the setting. I thought the setting in a desert planet was pretty cool. I also liked the plans the Fremen had for reshaping the planet.

But the writing...I'm a fast reader and it took me nearly a month to read this small (in my opinion when compared to some of the things I've read) book. Somethings wrong with that.

People keep calling this book a "grand epic"...I can think of plenty of other books that fit that title a lot better.

Julia

4.5/5. Easier to get through after having seen the new film, and I’m eager to read the sequel. I struggle with high-concept SF/F but this I had no problem getting sucked into.

Lily Trambley

Interesting story, will likely continue. My main problem with the story was the odd timing. It felt really jarring with what seemed to be time jumps throughout.

Bri Billaney

Anthony

Originally posted on my website: https://anthonymorris.dev/books/dune

If you enjoy reading science fiction, you've no doubt heard of Dune. Written in the 1960s by Frank Herbert, Dune is a futuristic tale about the politics that drive society on an interstellar scale.

The world of Dune unravels when the Atreides family is assigned to rule of the planet Arrakis by the Emperor of the Known Universe. Arrakis is a dry, desolate world where water is scarce. The planet is the only source in the universe of spice, which influences the political interest of the planet and the way its inhabitants live their lives.

Moving to Arrakis is a trap. The Emperor is threatened by the Atreides family, and the head of the family, Duke Leto. Leto's son, Paul, and concubine, Lady Jessica, end up fighting for survival across the unwelcome planet.

Paul discovers himself in a unique way as he moves through the desert with his mother. He is capable of seeing the future. As a young boy, Paul fights through his visions to become a messiah to the natives of the Arrakis. The boy we meet at the beginning of the story becomes a man driven by stories of prophecy and power.

Jessica is one of the most interesting characters in the story. She's a member of the Bene Gesserit, a group of females that have great influence on politics and the way the world moves. Her children are gifted with the powers she has attained. She watches her son grow to become more than she could have ever imagined. While she does help him realize his potential, I wonder if she would've hoped for a simpler life for him.

There are many, many more characters that bring life to Arrakis and beyond. Some will piss you off while others will make you cheer. They all have struggles of their own to deal with as they weave through the story of Paul Atreides and the universe of Dune (Duniverse?).

I loved that the world is in a post-computer era. Unlike most science fiction, there is a fear of artificial intelligence that has prohibited the use of computers. There are no robots and computers have been replaced by Mentats. It isn't how I imagine the far off future which makes it all the more interesting to me.

Some people might have issues with Herbert's borrowing from various languages, cultures, and religions, especially Arabic and Islam. I never found a problem with this because I imagined a world further evolved from where we are today. It doesn't seem unrealistic to me that these cultures and religions could've combined to make something new.

I found the book a little slow at the start. Perhaps it was because of a lot of terms that were new to me or the writing itself. By the end of it I was definitely a fan. The world feels immersive to me, the characters build slowly but surely. I closed the book wanting more, not because there wasn't enough, but because Herbert's world captivated me.

Dune is a story about the perils of heroism, the consequences of blind faith, political struggles, and humanity's potential future. It's a world packed with dynamic characters both terrible and great. It isn't perfect. No art is. But it is wonderful and well worth reading.

Gavin

The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better [to] rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes
– Frank Herbert

  'Didn't you learn the difference between Harkonnen and Atreides so that you could smell a Harkonnen trick by the stink they left on it. Didn't you learn that Atreides loyalty is bought with love, while the Harkonnen coin is hate?
– also Frank Herbert


Dune shouldn't work: there's a lot of the worst of fantasy fiction in it. The spurious black and white morality, above; cod-medieval dialogue; noble-savagery and bizarro Orientalism; its spoilers for itself (through its constant first-person precognition); and the po-faced chapter epigrams about how great the main character is... *

But it does work. It works because of the loveable setting and its thrilling ecosystem; the sharp, rapid dialogue; its sheer, smushy pastiche of human history (American environmentalism, medieval feudalism, Arabic sheikism, and Zen martial hokum ("he is a Zensunni prophet", "to use the family atomics"); its mystical anti-Star Trek historical materialism; excellent setpieces; and because the book contains a realist reading of its own magical-heroic events. (Here's a start: Everything takes place on a world made of shroom heroin! You can't trust a thing these people say!)

This hidden realism is clearest in the (heavy) appendices to the book - these aren't the ordinary conceited footnotes of fantasy, which assume you care about its little world as much as the author does. They're instead a rationalist palate cleanser after 600 pages of woo. A scientific, academic register erupts, mocking the internally real mysticism of the foregoing. I was even a little disappointed to find a huge glossary at the end, containing all the words I had been puzzling over. Mystery and gnosis and not-quite-getting-it suits the plot. The appendices say the book is more than its plot, and the world more than its books.

(The big realist moment within the book is when you see that the great prophecy is just a scam, planted to manipulate people.)

The baddies, the Harkonnens, are a bit much though: nothing they do is not repulsive. Herbert has the protagonists use mysticism and authoritarianism, while having most of the best characters resist and despise these things. There's no such tension with the main antagonists, no nominally redeeming feature. So you can feel Herbert hissing and booing the Harkonnens. Here is the first scene with the evil Baron:

  
 It was a relief globe of a world, partly in shadows, spinning under the impetus of a fat hand that glittered with rings... A chuckle sounded beside the globe. A basso voice rumbled out of the chuckle:
 'There it is, Piter, the biggest mantrap in all history. And the Duke's headed into its jaws. Is it not a magnificent thing that I, the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, do?'


Herbert gets away with this because Harkonnen is supposed to be over-the-top, and, more, because his world has a black and grey morality. (Do you want the genocidal decadent rapist Machiavels or the square-chinned aristocratic Machiavels?)

The greyness of the Atreides leads to the biggest plot problem. (It's not exactly a plot hole, but it takes interpretive labour to make it make sense.): Paul's Jihad is unmotivated. Nobody wants it, including the Messiah it is carried out for. Paul even compares himself to Mega Hitler:

  
'There's another emperor I want you to note in passing - a Hitler. He killed more than six million. Pretty good for those days.'
'Killed by his legions?'
'Yes.'
'Not very impressive statistics, m'Lord.'
'... at a conservative estimate, I've killed sixty-one billion, sterilised ninety planets... We'll be a hundred generations recovering from Muad'dib's jihad.'


and it's implied that the previous tyrant, Padishah, did not do such things. This completely undermines the exciting and righteous revolution that we spent a book and a half cheering on. If unprecedented death and misery is the payoff, what is the gain of having a noble ruler?

OK, Paul frequently speaks of not being able to stop the jihad - scrying that, if he does try and stop it, he just gets usurped and then it carries on worse. But then he shouldn't have come to power at all, and the book tacitly tells us that things would have been better if the Harkonnens succeeded and none of the last three-quarters happened.

The way to make sense of this is to take Herbert's anti-hero line above seriously. Paul made a terrible situation worse. We're not supposed to root for him. But, Herbert knows, we can't help it, because Paul is the Underdog and Loyal and Smart and Competent and (obvs) dead handsome.


  
    
  



Notes:

 
  

   There's very good dialogue throughout, with some of the best lines given to an array of anonymous guards. It is good because spare in the face of a baroque religion and politics. 
  

  

   The Nietzschean philosophy of the book (that is, of Herbert, not just of the Fremen or of Paul) suggests a stronger connection between strength, suffering, and spiritual superiority than there actually is. But, even here, it would not be too hard to make a dove reading of Dune, where the actions of all ruthless parties are actually perverse. 
  

  

   Dune even has a proper dialect, not the usual mere conlangs. Vocal memes: several different characters say "Ah-h-h-h-h" in a particular way. 
  

  

   The Bene Gesserit are the best thing in the book, a cabal of galactic, psychic, eugenicist spies. 
  

  

   The books eventually turn against the Bene Gesserits' specific eugenics program, but it never lets up with hardass Darwinism (which in respectable form has been called Haidtism). Lots and lots of woo:

 The race of humans had felt its own dormancy, sensed itself grown stale and knew now only the need to experience turmoil in which the genes would mingle and the strong new mixtures survive. All humans were alive as an unconscious single organism in this moment, experiencing a kind of sexual heat that could override any barrier.


There's a Randian seduction in the Fremen hardass ethic. As in Nietzsche: Herbert is inviting the reader to view themselves as strong, above the mob. (If you feel nothing seductive about these books - well, you've a modest soul.) 
  

  

   The second book goes into even more gritty detail: the Fremen toilets are 'reclamation stills', for instance. (I'm just impressed at the speech-act of grossing out your readers with your hero characters.) 
  

  

   I've been toying with a connection between Kynes (Dune's divine ecologist, who designs the rejuvenation of Arrakis) and the Kynde of Piers Plowman (Nature itself, or the intuitive transcendental grasp of it). I mention this mostly just to score a literary point: no-one else has noticed. 
  

  

   The Fremen, his Muslim Tuareg, are actually Thracians in complexion. Xenophanes about Thrace:

Men create the gods in their own image; those of the Ethiopians are black and snub-nosed, those of the Thracians have blue eyes and red hair.


 
  

  

   I also love his Vulcans. Rather than being the mockable and inhuman they are just whaddya know better at thinking:

'A mentat could not function without realising he worked in infinite systems. Fixed knowledge could not surround the infinite. Everywhere could not be brought into finite perspective.'



"Be a man and a mentat!"
"I am a mentat and a man."

 
  

  

   * On the last page you are told that the epigrams are all written out of sexual frustration, the joke on the author of them:
'See that princess standing there, so haughty and confident. They say she has pretensions of a literary nature. Let us hope she finds solace in such things; she'll have little else.' 
)
Cue laughtrack, applause, credits. 
  

 

The quality dropped sharply between books: Dune is amazing, Messiah is slow but satisfying, Children of Dune is ok. Believe the hype.


*********************************

How does it do as Serious science fiction?

 Social development: Done pretty well, despite appearances. Dune is a wild repudiation of Whig history, that our technology and our society must progress, and progress together. "Feudalism with energy weapons" as Heath says, half in contempt.

 Software development: No.

 Actual Science: No.

Cathy Trình

Fatima Kadri 

dnf @80% 
Things just got progressively boring after a certain point that I won’t specify because spoilers.

Sabanar

This book took soooo bloody long to get through the start since it was just overloading with information on the world, people and the politics. The first 1/4 literally took me more than a year to get through . But the rest of the book I went through quickly since the world began to make more sense and the story started get real good. 

I really enjoyed the story, especially the world building and the Arab influence it has. Towards the end the book the initial Jihad that was alluded to kinda felt underwhelming and a bit rushed. I also didn’t like the time jump that happens, though I do see why the author did it.

Good read if you can get past the start.
🏜

Dune

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