Dune

Title: Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
Published: 1965, this edition is by Ace from 2010
Genre: Science fiction
Pages:794, 883 with appendixes and afterword


Ooh. Dune. One of the masterpieces of science fiction! I've mentioned before that I'm not so well acquainted with sci-fi, but I've wanted to read Dune for a while. I might have seen the movie when I was a kid, not sure. I've been wanting to see it now, but wanted to read the book before I do that. For one ~800 pages long, it was a surprisingly fast read!

15-year old Paul Atreides moves with his father the Duke, mother Jessica, and their court to the desert planet Arrakis, to rule over the planet and the collection of expensive spice, per imperial command. The previous rulers, the Harkonnens, are not very happy to part with the riches of the world, and have long planned for a warm welcome. And Paul, well, he's not your average teenager by a long shot, and becomes less so in his new home.

There's politics and nature issues and all kind of things going on, I'm fairly sure I missed many things.The book felt kind of... clinical most of the time. People's actions and motivations are explained, but they still feel distant. Some kind of futuristic stiff upper lip? I don't know. That being said, I still enjoyed the book and wanted to see what happens next. Even though the reader is informed of certain plot points, you still keep reading, to see how they play out. Will be checking out the rest of the series, at least the next couple of books, sometime in the future.


   "On Caladan, we ruled with sea and air power," the Duke said. "Here, we must scrabble for desert power. This is your inheritance, Paul. What is to become of you if anything happens to me? You'll not be a renegade House, but a guerrilla House-running, hunted."
   Paul groped for words, could find nothing to say. He had never seen his father this despodent.
   "To hold Arrakis," the Duke said, "one is faced with decisions that may cost one his self-respect." He pointed out the window to the Atreides green and black banner hanging limply from a staff at the edge of the landing field. "That honorable banner could come to mean many evil things."
   Paul swallowed in a dry throat. His father's words carried futility, a sense of fatalism that left the boy with an empty feeling in his chest.