Personally not a book I would pick up myself, but my partner insisted I try it. It can be hard to follow at times with the world-building and tons of characters, google was really helpful with that. Overall it's a good story, bringing you with Paul and his family to this new world and having to deal with the new culture and trying not to die. There is betrayal and new loyalties that need to be formed. I know that it is the first in a series but the ending was super satisfying, Herbert seems to be the type of writer that makes you infer a lot from what he has said, and what he hasn't. There was also some needed time jumps that you don't understand happen until way late; it would be nice if they were more plainly written.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I think it's actually worthy of being one of the founder's of modern sci fi. The concepts were and are still fresh, the world is different, and the Fremen culture and how well it's developed is actually pretty good. It did a pretty good job of pacing, introducing the world and its concepts, and keeping me interested in what was going on with Paul.

However, as you can probably already tell from my rating, there is a big "BUT" coming.

It did a good job introducing concepts, BUT the fact that the appendix gave me insights that were not made available in the main text was frustrating. I shouldn't have to flip to the back to find out exactly what a baliset is (especially in a third person omniscient POV). Similarly, an ornithopter. I figured it was just like a helicopter until I get to the appendix and found out it was basically a helicopter that moved in the fashion of a bird (rather than a rotating blade). An appendix should be to refer back to only, in case you forget something (not uncommon in books with a lot of heavy world building), and not as a sole source of information.

I love how deep and interesting the new societies and cultures are, BUT it never ceases to amaze me that male writers can envision entirely new worlds, new societies, new environments, new histories, new everything, but literally cannot fathom a world that doesn't treat women like property or treat the women who have broken away from men (ie: Bene Gesserit) like evil witches. And there seems to be a large paradox in this story that it doesn't realize. The Bene Gesserit are sagely and wise enough to use as truthsayers/trusted advisors, but literally every man everywhere who talks about them are like: EVIL WITCHES! SORCERESSES HISSSSSSS!

Um, what? How can they achieve titles like "Reverend Mother" that people outside of the Bene Gesserit respect/acknowledge, but then simultaneously be called evil witches? That's like respecting Nuns and seeking their advice/guidance on spiritual manners, but then turning around and calling them satanic whores. It's like Herbert couldn't keep his own misogyny from seeping into the pages/dialogue. Or perhaps it's reflective of the fact that the men realize they can't control the Bene Gesserit, so chose instead to try to exploit them and get mad when they can't, which might fit the narrative better, but generally speaking, it's not handled well. Plus, even though Dune passes the Bechdel test (barely), the women don't have any agency. Chani and Jessica just bob along doing whatever the men around them tell them to do.

I think the world is deep, but some things are not well explained. It seems very obvious the Emperor decided to help the Harkonnens get rid of Duke Leto. But then Princess Irulan says that the Emperor was very upset to hear the duke had died? But why? I also don't understand the feud between Harkonnens and Atreides or how the baron was able to "legally" get rid of the Atreides without facing any backlash? I know these things are touched on and hinted at, but I wish it would have been spelled out better.

Speaking of spelling out, I really don't need to hear the inner thoughts of all the characters in a scene, especially when it starts to become very back and forth. Having Paul go "OH NO, what is she doing?" And having Jessica being like "Come on, Paul, I'm spelling it out for you. Don't you get that I'm hinting at XYZ?" And Paul being like "Ohh, I get it now. She's being subtle and hinting at XYZ. Ah-h-h-h, so clever!"

I thought the baron was a relatively good villain, but Herbert didn't need to harp on his fatness all the time and point out how "disgusting" he was. Not to mention, making him gay. Instead of adding to his character, these things just seemed to be used to "add" to his villainy. Oh NO! He's FAT and GAY. That makes him even MORE evil.

While I think Herbert did a good job of constructing a story, he didn't do a good job at getting me invested in his characters. Yes, I kept reading because I wanted to see what happened, but I didn't care much if Paul or anyone else died. Except maybe Gurney/Hawat. I felt more attached to them than any of the other characters. I started to become attached to Paul, but as he became less and less of a normal person and more of the Kwisatz Haderach person (I don't even care if I spelled it wrong, lol), I could relate to him less and less. Not to mention, as the story progressed, Herbert focused a lot less on character building and more on just world/plot building. So when Leto II died, I just shrugged and moved on.

Overall, I wish goodreads had a fractional rating system. Because I don't feel like this is a 3, but it's not a four either. More like a 3.5 - 3.7. I think it's a good read, but its age definitely shows.

I’ll be honest, the first time I tried to read Dune I did not finish. However, I picked it up again before part one of the adaptation came out and it clicked. I love the world building and political intrigue. While Paul is not the most interesting protagonist by today’s standards I really like that he isn’t just the typical chosen one savior MC. It feels more like he is fighting a losing battle against an inevitable future and it added a lot of drama for me at least.

I recently reread with an audiobook and it made me want to read further on in the series. I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants to give the book a shot but is intimidated by its reputation for being dense and hard to read. The audiobook is produced very well with multiple readers to do voices and some music between chapters and during important moments.

i’ve yet to read the appendices 3.7 stars