Herbert, Frank: Dune
Dune
Writer: Frank Herbert
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 535
There's a kind of funny story about my reading of this book. In 2005, emerald_ibis and I made this our June challenge. But because I was at the Odyssey Fantasy Writers Workshop and had NO TIME, we made it our July challenge as well. However, by time July ended and we were both only 100 pages into the book, we decided to abandon it. I don't know what emerald_ibis's reasons were, but I know mine. The head-hopping omniscient point of view made me want to rip my eyes out, the action had a melodramatic feel to it, and I just couldn't read the name "Lady Jessica" without laughing (I know, I know, the name Jessica was exotic back then, not common). But to be fair, I was in a very hyper-critical reading phase, and I must say to anyone who attends a workshop like Odyssey or Clarion: do not read for pleasure while you're there. You'll be too critical.
So what made me decide to pick Dune up and give it another chance? Well, it's been a year and a half since my first attempt, and I've read a heckuva lot more material since then, some of it very dense and/or very frustrating. Add to that the fact that I can't stand NOT finishing books I've started along with the fact that reading David Hartwell's Age of Wonders gave me a solid, sympathetic and contextual history to place the book in, and, well, I finally realized that if Dune was the only thing I had to read when I was bored at work, I'd get through the book, like it or not.
Color me surprised: I ended up really enjoying this book.
I had saved my place from when I'd put this book down, so when I picked it up again, I just started where I left off, all the while remembering the THINGS THAT ANNOYED ME. What struck me was that not only did these things not bother me anymore, but due to the complexities of the politics, I decided to re-read the first hundred pages that I'd read the year before. I'm glad I did. It cleared up some questions and details that I was pondering over, and it allowed me to view the book with fresh eyes.
I enjoyed this story a lot. I was finally able to connect with the characters, and like the last time I'd tried reading it, I couldn't help but realize that Dune must have been a primary influence for George Lucas when he created the Star Wars mythology. It's all there, including the desert planet. :) But I saw Dune's influence in things as well, like Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart. I think it helped that I'd read the latter. Carey's work is rife with political intrigue, and I've taught myself how to juggle the detail and many characters, which was a boon for reading Dune.
So what can I say about this? I really love the last line of the book. LOVE IT. And along those lines, I love the fact that Herbert writes his women well. He gives them strength, beauty, and power, but not in the she's-so-perfect kind of way. Lady Jessica is far from perfect, and this I appreciate, because it makes her human. All of Herbert's protagonists (well, the main two that count, Paul and Jessica) change drastically during the course of the novel, and that's a plus as well. There's some examples of very solid plotting as well--Herbet's introduction to fighting with shields and how this affects Paul with the Fremen; the whole details of the sandworms. There's lots of rich, powerful stuff here, and an observant reader can't help but notice the parallels between the political/religious conflicts in Dune and what's going on in current times, especially the analogy of their spice to our oil.
Do the things that annoyed me so much before still bother me now? Well, I'll never hold Dune up as an example of how to write omniscient point of view well. I see now that it was the proper POV for this particular story, and I got used to it once I got over my peeves, but I would never recommend to a writer to use this book as an example of how to write in this style, especially not in today's market. In terms of melodrama, the parts I thought were melodramatic before I still considered melodramatic, but this time I was braced for it. And as for having giggling fits over the name Lady Jessica? Yeah, I got over it.
I think there's lots of things Dune does well, but--as Hartwell pointed out about this era of science fiction, the writing isn't always the best. And I won't say Dune is written badly, but it's not a stellar example of the craft either. That's okay, though, as long as you know what you're getting into when you pick up the book.
I am now enticed to find all the movie/mini-series versions of this book and watch them, despite the pros and cons I've heard of each. I'm also very open to the idea of the sequels. I'm not rabid over the need to read them, but I think one day, when I'm bored and don't mind spending the cash, I'll read more. So that's really saying something about the story and the meat of it. Still, I warn readers who never read this book when they were young and who haven't seen the movies: this book is hard to get into. As long as you put the book in the context of the genre and understand the conventions of the time, you should be fine (or if you're simply not hyper-critical, you should be fine). It's a very good story, and worth the read if you're willing to commit to it.