Review of Dune

Dune

By: Jonathan Chen 

Dune is Confusing: Summary

    Dune follows Paul Atreides throughout his journey from small child to religious Messiah. His family, House Atreides, is one of the Big Houses that hold a lot of power throughout the universe. The Atreides have just been forced through political scheming from the Harkonnens and the Empire to take over Arrakis a.k.a. Dune. Arrakis is a desert planet that is also home to the most important supply in the universe, spice. The spice is needed for all interspace travel because it is essentially a drug that allows the ships steersman to see into the future. Its also used for other things but you will have to read the book for it to make even a tiny bit of sense. 

    The planet is mostly uninhabited except for the fremen and the gigantic sand worms. The fremen have mastered the way of the sand, and they are trained from birth on how to kill. Their key characteristic are their blue eyes with no whites. They also have been brainwashed by the Bene Gesserit to await their Messiah.

 

    Paul's mom is part of the Bene Gesserit which are a group of space witches. The Bene Gesserit are powerful and have been doing selective breeding to create their Kwisatz Haderach, a male version of the Bene Gesserit who can see visions from both genders. Paul is the Kwisatz Haderach, but he came 1 generation too early which makes the Bene Gesserit angry.

    When the Atreide's go to Dune, they attempt to recruit the fremen to fight against the emperor who they know has set them up for failure. They don't succeed in doing this in time and they get invaded forcing Paul to run into the desert. Did I mention that the desert has storms that rip flesh from bone? I wonder if they survive. COUGH COUGH Dune Messiah.

Actual Review

    Hopefully the summary wasn't too confusing because there is so much more to the book that is even more confusing. Dune written by Frank Herbert is very interesting and full of mystically magical things. Many of the scenes are action packed and you never know what could happen next. Another thing the book was good at is world building. The fremen have their own separate culture that you have to discover along with Paul such as their obsession with water because they are on a desert planet. When you first start hearing the words "their water belongs to the tribe" sounds weird, but now if I hear those words I wouldn't even flinch. 

    The two things that were a little off putting is that they don't really explain what certain things are. I had to search up what a mentat was because the book doesn't explain it in a way that I could understand. Another thing is how the characters are almost inhuman. I do believe that Paul was intended to be like that because he is the final product of hundreds of generations of selective breeding, but it makes him unrelatable. There are many scenes where they are analyzing people and they notice some tiny characteristic, and then there is a full paragraph on what that tiny wrinkle of the nose means, or when they have a full mental battle that happens just by passing one tiny stare. 

    With all of these factors put together, I would give the book 4.5 stars.