Reviews
Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 2: Muad'Dib by Brian Herbert, Frank Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
bookwomble's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
roodster47's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Spoiler
desert 🐀tobin_elliott's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
Maybe it's just me, but there is really nothing impressive about this adaptation.
The art makes some bold—yet sometimes bewildering—choices, and they don't always work. Personally, I find the linework rather workmanlike, and it doesn't seem to often bring the scale, the majesty, and the sheer alienness to the page like Frank Herbert's words did. Everything seems rather accurate to the books, but it doesn't leap off the page like it should. I mostly blame the artists, but the colourist also tends to go with pastels or muted colours, which is fine when required, but bust out that palette when you should, too!
And then there's the writing. Frank Herbert was verbose, but he was careful with not just the thoughts, ideas, concepts, and dialogue he put into his books, but also the word choices and the phrasing. It flowed.
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson feel more like they're coming from the "good enough is great" point of view. Have to hack up the dialogue? Good enough. Have to make jarring leaps between the pages, or even between the panels? Good enough. Have to shorten long patches of dialogue to clunky summaries? Good enough.
None of this is good enough, and it's certainly far from great.
But, being the idiot I am, I'll still buy the last one in this trilogy of books and I grouse just as loudly about that one, too.
I really hate what Frank's son is doing to this series.
The art makes some bold—yet sometimes bewildering—choices, and they don't always work. Personally, I find the linework rather workmanlike, and it doesn't seem to often bring the scale, the majesty, and the sheer alienness to the page like Frank Herbert's words did. Everything seems rather accurate to the books, but it doesn't leap off the page like it should. I mostly blame the artists, but the colourist also tends to go with pastels or muted colours, which is fine when required, but bust out that palette when you should, too!
And then there's the writing. Frank Herbert was verbose, but he was careful with not just the thoughts, ideas, concepts, and dialogue he put into his books, but also the word choices and the phrasing. It flowed.
Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson feel more like they're coming from the "good enough is great" point of view. Have to hack up the dialogue? Good enough. Have to make jarring leaps between the pages, or even between the panels? Good enough. Have to shorten long patches of dialogue to clunky summaries? Good enough.
None of this is good enough, and it's certainly far from great.
But, being the idiot I am, I'll still buy the last one in this trilogy of books and I grouse just as loudly about that one, too.
I really hate what Frank's son is doing to this series.
ju_shi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
leiabear's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
absolutely's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
shelfreflectionofficial's review
4.0
How you dune?
If I could describe this book in one word it would be: dry.
Okay but seriously. I’m mature and you can trust me.
So I saw the first Dune movie and since I don’t have the dedication to read the original series, I decided to try the next best thing: the graphic novels. I reviewed the first graphic novel HERE.
The next movie isn’t coming out until next year so I obviously had to read this because I’m impatient. (Even though I 100% won’t remember any of it by the time I see the movie.)
It’s interesting to read this book and then go and read the reviews of the actual novels. Having done that I’m thinking I’m missing quite a bit about the story. There’s only so much you can portray in 170 pages of pictures and dialogue bubbles.
Apparently book 2 begins 12 years after book 1? If that’s true then I’m not sure where this graphic novel fits into the timeline because Paul is still the same age.
I’m also realizing the story arc of this series spans many ‘main’ characters and Paul is not the ‘hero’ throughout the whole thing which is kind of a new thought for me having only seen one movie. Frank Herbert was not afraid to kill off characters.
I would say that for a Dune-ignorant reader such as myself, this one was a bit harder to grasp than the first one. I think the politics of it felt a bit vague. And apparently I have no idea who Hawat or Thufir are. Is that bad?
Okay, yes it’s bad. I just googled ‘Dune characters’ and Thufir Hawat is one person sooo. I meant Hawat or Gurney. Who are bad guys and who are good guys? I can’t keep the traitors straight.
I also don’t fully understand the point of the Bene Gesserit and what the prophecy means.
Reading the graphic novel is not a big commitment at all. You can easily read it in a day or two so for me, it’s not a big deal to read it and ‘see what comes next.’ I know I’m missing out on what made the novels so iconic but I’m just not sure if I want to commit to the books. Plus it seems like a lot of reviewers loved the first book but not so much the others.
Too risky.
I’m content to stick with the movies and graphic novels. So sue me.
Sidenote: I’m not going to describe the plot of this book because I’ll probably mislead you and ruin everything and that’s just not who I am.
Um. I don’t know if these three things were supposed to be serious or funny but I’ll recount them to you either way.
1.
I may not know the secrets of Arrakis, but I know a good insult when I read one:
“Do as she says you worm-faced, crawling, sand-brained piece of lizard turd!”
Too far, Fremen dude, too far!
2.
Next we have Lady Jessica doing her little magic stuff and discover she’s a “weirding woman” and everyone wants her to teach them “the weirding way.” Is it just me, or does this sound like a middle school boy’s superhero story he wrote for school.
(Or maybe it’s just a throwback to the show ‘So Weird’ which I never watched because paranormal activity was too scary for me but now I wish I had because it seems like a toned down version of Supernatural which I watched in college and kind of liked. Or wait! It could be a throwback to Step-Sister from Planet Weird. I bet she knew the weirding way. Okay my aside is too long so I’ll stop making Disney Channel references. Except now I’m realizing the novel came first so Disney was actually ripping off Dune this ENTIRE time).
3.
Last, but certainly not least, we have a particularly secretive conversation between two characters where utmost privacy is required.
Enter: the cone of silence.
And if you have watched Get Smart then you will immediately be thinking of this scene and this scene and can no longer take anything seriously.
So anyway.
I’ve provided you with a pretty comprehensive review that should definitely tell you everything you could ever want to know so you’re welcome for that.
And as is my custom for this series I've taken pictures of the inside pages. (They were chosen at random and are in no particular order so hopefully there are no spoilers. Would I even know what a spoiler was? We don’t know, we don’t have the technology.) You can view them on my original blog post HERE.
For more awesome book reviews/content follow me:
Book Review Blog | Facebook | Pinterest
If I could describe this book in one word it would be: dry.
Okay but seriously. I’m mature and you can trust me.
So I saw the first Dune movie and since I don’t have the dedication to read the original series, I decided to try the next best thing: the graphic novels. I reviewed the first graphic novel HERE.
The next movie isn’t coming out until next year so I obviously had to read this because I’m impatient. (Even though I 100% won’t remember any of it by the time I see the movie.)
It’s interesting to read this book and then go and read the reviews of the actual novels. Having done that I’m thinking I’m missing quite a bit about the story. There’s only so much you can portray in 170 pages of pictures and dialogue bubbles.
Apparently book 2 begins 12 years after book 1? If that’s true then I’m not sure where this graphic novel fits into the timeline because Paul is still the same age.
I’m also realizing the story arc of this series spans many ‘main’ characters and Paul is not the ‘hero’ throughout the whole thing which is kind of a new thought for me having only seen one movie. Frank Herbert was not afraid to kill off characters.
I would say that for a Dune-ignorant reader such as myself, this one was a bit harder to grasp than the first one. I think the politics of it felt a bit vague. And apparently I have no idea who Hawat or Thufir are. Is that bad?
Okay, yes it’s bad. I just googled ‘Dune characters’ and Thufir Hawat is one person sooo. I meant Hawat or Gurney. Who are bad guys and who are good guys? I can’t keep the traitors straight.
I also don’t fully understand the point of the Bene Gesserit and what the prophecy means.
Reading the graphic novel is not a big commitment at all. You can easily read it in a day or two so for me, it’s not a big deal to read it and ‘see what comes next.’ I know I’m missing out on what made the novels so iconic but I’m just not sure if I want to commit to the books. Plus it seems like a lot of reviewers loved the first book but not so much the others.
Too risky.
I’m content to stick with the movies and graphic novels. So sue me.
Sidenote: I’m not going to describe the plot of this book because I’ll probably mislead you and ruin everything and that’s just not who I am.
Um. I don’t know if these three things were supposed to be serious or funny but I’ll recount them to you either way.
1.
I may not know the secrets of Arrakis, but I know a good insult when I read one:
“Do as she says you worm-faced, crawling, sand-brained piece of lizard turd!”
Too far, Fremen dude, too far!
2.
Next we have Lady Jessica doing her little magic stuff and discover she’s a “weirding woman” and everyone wants her to teach them “the weirding way.” Is it just me, or does this sound like a middle school boy’s superhero story he wrote for school.
(Or maybe it’s just a throwback to the show ‘So Weird’ which I never watched because paranormal activity was too scary for me but now I wish I had because it seems like a toned down version of Supernatural which I watched in college and kind of liked. Or wait! It could be a throwback to Step-Sister from Planet Weird. I bet she knew the weirding way. Okay my aside is too long so I’ll stop making Disney Channel references. Except now I’m realizing the novel came first so Disney was actually ripping off Dune this ENTIRE time).
3.
Last, but certainly not least, we have a particularly secretive conversation between two characters where utmost privacy is required.
Enter: the cone of silence.
And if you have watched Get Smart then you will immediately be thinking of this scene and this scene and can no longer take anything seriously.
So anyway.
I’ve provided you with a pretty comprehensive review that should definitely tell you everything you could ever want to know so you’re welcome for that.
And as is my custom for this series I've taken pictures of the inside pages. (They were chosen at random and are in no particular order so hopefully there are no spoilers. Would I even know what a spoiler was? We don’t know, we don’t have the technology.) You can view them on my original blog post HERE.
For more awesome book reviews/content follow me:
Book Review Blog | Facebook | Pinterest