Reviews tagging 'Death'

Duna by Frank Herbert

177 reviews

yzvt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Slavery, Torture, and Trafficking

jester_k's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

2.5

I wanted to like this mainly because my Dad loved it when he read it as a teen. But the story was so slow-moving that it didn't grip me and I didn't find the glossary til right at the end so a lot of things went way over my head. The Harkonnens are depicted as disgustingly evil but the fact they have slaves and enjoy murder and rape is put on a level with the fact that the Baron is... just fat. It's constantly focused on to show how gross he is and I struggled to enjoy the rest of the book with this deep-seated fatphobia. 

Also, Paul starts the book being kind and compassionate and ends up becoming an awful tyrant so I stopped being able to root for him at all. I'm sure that's part of the point but it didn't leave me with any characters to enjoy the perspective of. Then he won and it was mostly just depressing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Sexism, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Grief

jonssweater's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

iceberglives's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A very slow burn. I enjoyed this book, though the many pages describing the intent behind the minutae required to terraform a planet is probably not for everyone. There are authors who write combat better but reading this felt original and authentic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

ambert's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Excrement

hollywatson's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

sea_tea_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense

3.0

The worldbuilding was decent, I can say that much. Otherwise, I felt this was far longer than necessary with too many characters to keep track of. I also found it strange that the author did not explain any backstory for the reader; rather, the story appears to start in the middle. 

I would have preferred more information about the technology and engineering of these future civilizations. How did Earthlings go from landing on the moon to

intergalactic eugenics and war

? Where was the science in this science fiction?

A lot of heavy themes in this book club pick:

religion, addiction, cults, war, politics, misogyny, eugenics, sexual harassment

.

Relevant quote:

“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's too late.”

Frank Herbert, Dune (Dune, #1), 1965

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Pedophilia and Death of parent

Minor: Child death and Incest

mbrogs2024's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Slavery, Blood, and Alcohol

regaliaofchaos's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia

The pedophilia and adult/minor relationship do not involve the main character Paul

elennadelynn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, and Death of parent

Minor: Pedophilia