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jonasdalefredriksen's review against another edition
5.0
Very heavy start, a lot of stuff gets introduced without any explanation, watching the movie first probably helped a ton
hilhcl's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
borjabilbao's review against another edition
4.0
Ciertos tramos de los Fremen se me hicieron algo pesados, pero la novela se devora igualmente. Más de 50 años después es una novela que tiene toda su vigencia.
Por cierto, con la revisión de la traducción se lee como si Herbert la hubiese escrito el año pasado.
Por cierto, con la revisión de la traducción se lee como si Herbert la hubiese escrito el año pasado.
ylbirda's review against another edition
2.0
I always knew there was a book called "Dune" with dessert planet and worms. I just never was a huge fan of sci-fi, so I ignored it.
Last year, Dune came out as a movie and I thought about seeing it in the cinema. But then I thought "wait, there is the book, you should read it first".
So I tried. I read 50 pages, unterstanding pretty much nothing and put it away with a heavy heart.
But then we got the board game. And I love this game. So I thought, "it's such a cool game" now I actually want to know what happens.
So I pushed and kept reading. The first 300 pages were really tough. In fact, I think you can actually skip them completely (if you have seen the movie, you'll probably not really miss anything).
Then somewhere in the middle, the story finally picked up and it was really nice to read. Well, I find the ideas presented in the book really appealing, however the way it's written is really not enjoyable.
I also felt kind of robbed of all the excitement that should have been in the book, e.g. Paul riding Shai-Hulud and the final battle which just kinda didn't happened.
Around the 500 pages mark and then again 700 pages mark I again felt the urge to just give up. It seems I wasn't invested in the book that much, so only the wish to finish it pushed me.
Considering that it's almost 800 pages with actually quite little happening, I wish there would have been way more explanations of the world. Why do I read about the spacing guild in an appendix? Shouldn't the important info about the spice be in the main story? How can the spacing guild play such a big role and at the same time almost never be mentioned in the book?
I really wanted to like the book. I find the general ideas amazing. But the way it's written...
Last year, Dune came out as a movie and I thought about seeing it in the cinema. But then I thought "wait, there is the book, you should read it first".
So I tried. I read 50 pages, unterstanding pretty much nothing and put it away with a heavy heart.
But then we got the board game. And I love this game. So I thought, "it's such a cool game" now I actually want to know what happens.
So I pushed and kept reading. The first 300 pages were really tough. In fact, I think you can actually skip them completely (if you have seen the movie, you'll probably not really miss anything).
Then somewhere in the middle, the story finally picked up and it was really nice to read. Well, I find the ideas presented in the book really appealing, however the way it's written is really not enjoyable.
I also felt kind of robbed of all the excitement that should have been in the book, e.g. Paul riding Shai-Hulud and the final battle which just kinda didn't happened.
Around the 500 pages mark and then again 700 pages mark I again felt the urge to just give up. It seems I wasn't invested in the book that much, so only the wish to finish it pushed me.
Considering that it's almost 800 pages with actually quite little happening, I wish there would have been way more explanations of the world. Why do I read about the spacing guild in an appendix? Shouldn't the important info about the spice be in the main story? How can the spacing guild play such a big role and at the same time almost never be mentioned in the book?
I really wanted to like the book. I find the general ideas amazing. But the way it's written...
aleezastars's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
kstericker's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
cyanidehahn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
penguin_emperor_of_the_north's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed it, I think knowing this book was a classic probably tempered my mood and made me more critical but I enjoyed it.
The thing that made the biggest impression was the Bene Gesserit. They're this order of nonreligious nuns with superpowers like controlling their own blood chemistry, evaluating other people's speech and mannerisms to learn how to manipulate others. And they have the Voice which lets them borderline take control of others and they're basically a breeding cult trying to create a chosen one by manipulating who has kids with who. Yeah, they're really creepy.
The world building of the desert planet Arrakis was interesting. It really plays into life in a desert where every bit of water needs to be saved and fitting the sandworms in was cool. Like walking without rhythm to avoid drawing the attention of the sandworms (having a rhythm to your steps indicates that the noise is from a living source rather than wind or whatever) or how they wear suits when outside that capture every bit of moisture from the body to recycle. It was interesting to think through how all that worked.
My two biggest issues were the over hyped abilities and the pacing.
A lot of the abilities in here are really played up but don't seem to live up to the descriptions. Like the Mentats are human supercomputers but they don't come off as that intelligent or capable of analyzing the situation. The Fremen and Sardaukar are supposed to be the best soldiers ever and we're just told that. I'm not sure how being a dehydrated survivalist makes you a better fighter but *shrugs*. The whole informed ability thing was the most frustrating part of the book, I had to take a lot of peoples' abilities on faith/word of the author.
And the pacing was just slow. Stylistic choice I guess but there were various points when I was left wondering when they'd cut to the chase.
The thing that made the biggest impression was the Bene Gesserit. They're this order of nonreligious nuns with superpowers like controlling their own blood chemistry, evaluating other people's speech and mannerisms to learn how to manipulate others. And they have the Voice which lets them borderline take control of others and they're basically a breeding cult trying to create a chosen one by manipulating who has kids with who. Yeah, they're really creepy.
The world building of the desert planet Arrakis was interesting. It really plays into life in a desert where every bit of water needs to be saved and fitting the sandworms in was cool. Like walking without rhythm to avoid drawing the attention of the sandworms (having a rhythm to your steps indicates that the noise is from a living source rather than wind or whatever) or how they wear suits when outside that capture every bit of moisture from the body to recycle. It was interesting to think through how all that worked.
My two biggest issues were the over hyped abilities and the pacing.
A lot of the abilities in here are really played up but don't seem to live up to the descriptions. Like the Mentats are human supercomputers but they don't come off as that intelligent or capable of analyzing the situation. The Fremen and Sardaukar are supposed to be the best soldiers ever and we're just told that. I'm not sure how being a dehydrated survivalist makes you a better fighter but *shrugs*. The whole informed ability thing was the most frustrating part of the book, I had to take a lot of peoples' abilities on faith/word of the author.
And the pacing was just slow. Stylistic choice I guess but there were various points when I was left wondering when they'd cut to the chase.