Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Dune by Frank Herbert

110 reviews

jomojobo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Grief, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Drug use, Genocide, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death and Fire/Fire injury

katie0528's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-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

4.0

A sci-fi classic. I've blown this off for years thinking I knew enough by how elements have trickled down into pop culture. However after watching the two new movies, I decided to give the book a chance. I see now why it is a classic that so many other sci-fi franchises draw from. It largely holds up. Of course as a book from the 60s, there are elements that are a little cringe to a modern reader and there are elements and small plot lines that could have been cut for the sake of brevity, but over all I was impressed with the book. I think it helped that the audiobook had a full cast to help me keep track of who was who. I suspect some of the minor characters may have blended together otherwise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and War

Minor: Child death, Slavery, and Torture

sarasreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

I finally read Dune! It's been on my list for a while, and I'm so happy I can finally cross it off my list. I'm really glad I saw the movie first, or the huge info dump in the beginning would have been overwhelming for me. We took the audiobook camping, and let me tell you, listening to it every night around the campfire is a top tier experience! And the one I had was a full cast, which was fabulous. 

I found sections of the book really slow, mostly because all of the possible tension was erased. What is the plot and who is the betrayer?? Oh don't worry, we revealed that four hours ago. I think keeping the intrigue would have helped a lot. Especially with Paul, as he reveals basically everything about himself not even halfway through the book. I know I saw the movie first, so I knew some things going in already, but some more secrets and tension still would have kept me guessing. 

And I'm interested to keep reading more! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Child death

kergo's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Islamophobia

Minor: Suicide

itsjustnxkki's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

5.0

World building was a bit confusing at first but the pace is slow enough that it makes more sense as you get further into the book. The story is captivating and the writing style is enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug use, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

suzanne906's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Child death, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Grief

jeffpowell's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I watched the most recent Dune movies (1-2) before reading the book. I’m of the opinion that it’s worth consuming both the movies and the book. The book really shines when it comes to revealing all the inner thoughts of the characters as the plot beats are hit; I loved learning about all the little things that the protagonists noticed—things that are really hard to replicate in the screen. I think the movies shine by filling in the gaps of the moments of grandeur in the plot. I also appreciated some of the rearranging of the plot that they did, particularly the choice of omitting some of the characters mentioned in the book. Now, my opinion may change, depending on if the removed characters are necessary for plot points in later books (which I haven’t read as of this review)—we’ll see!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual content

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