One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
Dune by Frank Herbert is a sci fi classic and I’m surprised I haven’t read it until now. I listened to it free on the internet. The site didn’t list the author.
The Duke Lido and his family must move to a mining planet rife with danger and intrigue, and a battle for power that rages between the emporors subordinants. The planet’s indiginous people aren’t happy about it either.
So many sci fi fans (including my husband and father) love this book and I have wanted to read it for a long time. But it’s so intimidating!! It’s well loved, it’s long, it’s problematic, there are lots of reasons to be worried about this book. The main reason that I never picked it up was how long it was. We know that I avoid long books as much as possible. That was why I was so happy to find this book on audio. I’m not sure who the reader was but he read really well. I LOVED this book! It’s a tome for sure, outdated, misogynistic, yeah, but it’s so good!! It’s absolutely compelling and interesting with a ton of quick and easy character development and world building. It is looooong, but especially listening to it, I was so surprised how fast paced it was and how much the story moved along. If I had a complaint, it would actually be that the ending was rushed! There was so much still to happen and the book wrapped it up very fast and matter a factly, which was a bit jarring after all the time and work put into the beginning. I’m not 100% sure, but it seemed that Dune was the originator of a lot of sci fi devices and trope. Was this where sand worms first came from? Was this were life saving land suits came from? Was this where books and Movie like Tank Girl got the idea for a waterless planet? Space drugs? All sorts of great things are in this book. Although Dune does have the classic (and mainly annoying) chosen one trope, I really enjoyed how it was tackled here. Although it had the problematic theme of the white man freeing the indigenous population, II felt it tackled some of those issues in the way that the characters dealt with and felt about the problem inherent in that. I think I need to read (possibly physically) this book again before I make a real (spoiler rich) in depth review of Dune. But for now I can say that I highly recommend this book for those who love space operas, classic sci fi, chosen one stories, mystical sci fi and all those who love big books.
This book was mentioned in my November Wrap Up.