Why it endured
Herbert's epic set on the desert planet Arrakis, where control of a precious spice determines the fate of the universe. A meditation on ecology, religion, politics, and power. The best-selling science fiction novel of all time, and one of the most ambitious works of world-building in literature.
What they're saying
5 people recommend this book
“I think Dune is a masterpiece of science fiction. The world-building is extraordinary — ecology, religion, politics, all interwoven.”
“Dune is simply not my thing, and makes a great example of where my sci-fi tastes strongly diverge from sci-fi tastes of others (judging by the 4.19 average rating). This book has almost no elements of sci-fi except for some details that don’t really matter to the plot (ships, shields, etc.). It also starts very slowly; at some point you’re halfway into it and really nothing of substance has happened yet. The last 10% get a little better but the end is highly abrupt. The plot amounts to a chosen one taking revenge on a cartoonish bad guy. I feel robbed of my short time here on Earth as a result of reading this book. I did enjoy some of the inventiveness of the world, w.r.t. the Fremen culture, etc. “it’s okay”, or 2/5 on Goodreads scale. 2/5”
“If you read Dune, and you don’t read it for the plot but you read it for understanding geopolitics, suddenly something clicks in your head.”
tim.blog“The book takes a long time a long time to really take speed in my opinion, but what it does is an amazing journey that I love taking part of[...] I think this book can definitely be interpreted in different ways even though, it's really just a badass space adventure. Given it four out of five stars.”
Also recommended by