I Read Books: Dune
Frank Herbert’s masterwork. Herbert mixes Arab culture with a giant portion of other ideas – most importantly the spice melange that both holds back aging and allows the Spacing Guild to see future paths and safely travel between stars. Duke Leto Atriedes is given the governership of the planet Arrakis, known as Dune to the Fremen inhabitants. It is the only source of the spice; a desert world in which water is wealth, and spice (almost) common.
What propels the story forward from the start is the knowledge that this is a trap. Everyone knows that this is an attempt to destroy House Atriedes, either due to them failing to produce spice, or by vendetta with House Harkonnen, their great rivals and former governors of Arrakis. This gives a sense of urgency even as the book makes its way through many scenes setting up parts for later – or even scenes merely to add flavour.
There are vivid scenes, especially in the desert, as Paul Atriedes must survive and pass the tests, proving himself not only as Fremen, but as leader and even messiah. As the accidental end of a breeding program millennia long he finds himself cursed with prescience, the ability to see the future. And that future is a terror, leading to jihad and the Fremen inevitably destroying world after world.
Anyway, it’s very good.
Read This: For a science fiction masterpiece, that still holds up, despite it’s silly requirements for swords and human computers (“mentats”).
Don’t Read This: If a noble scion, bred to be a messiah, no matter how problemiscised by the narrative, turns you straight off.
For Some Alternatives: See this post for Muab'dib of the Apes and Princess Bride of Dune.
Comments