Frank Herbert's Dune

I’ve done very few book reviews over the past few weeks so I thought that I’d remedy this today by reviewing one of the most well known and respected series of science fiction novels: Frank Herbert’s Dune.

The first Dune book follows the fortunes of the Atreides family sent to rule the planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, by the galactic emperor. On the face of it, this is a great opportunity as Arrakis is the only source of the valuable spice melange, a potent drug which can drastically increase the human lifespan. The assignment, however, soon turns out to be a trap as the emperor has allied himself with the Artreides’ deadly enemies, the Harkonnen, who launch a surprise attack. Duke Leto Atreides is killed and his family flee to the wilderness of the desert planet where they must learn to survive and plot revenge.

Those who haven’t read the novel shouldn’t be put off by this wholly inadequate description or by David Lynch‘s distinctly mediocre film adaptation. This is an amazing book, with interesting characters and a complex, rewarding and suspenseful story which, at points, had me literally gasping with surprise.

Herbert’s real achievement, however, is in the universe he created in this book. It is rich, detailed and has a well developed back–story. Its centrepiece is of course Arrakis itself, a deeply alien yet realistic feeling place. It is a place where giant worms roam the sand and where water is so scarce that most inhabitants have to wear “stillsuits” which recycle their sweat and urine. The planet’s population, the Fremen, are an ancient, proud people who Herbert created using strong Arabic influences. I can think of no other book in the entire genre of science fiction which has as well developed a setting as this. It is certainly on par with even Lord of The Rings.

You might have noticed that I’ve been carefully referring to only the first book. Herbert wrote six Dune novels, each worse than the previous one. The plots begin to get far too convoluted, to the point where I barely understood what was going on and the story begins to feel boring. The later novels also have a bizarre and totally unnecessary focus on sex. The graphic sex scene between Duncan and Murbella in ‘Heretics of Dune’ is almost unbearable.

Herbert’s death in 1986 left the series unfinished but his son, Brian Hebert, wrote two sequels (as well as countless prequels and even interquels) in partnership with Kevin J. Anderson. While they have been almost universally panned by the critics, they are infinitely better than Frank Herbert’s own later work: at least I could find some find some excitement and follow the plot.

My advice is to read the first book and forget about the rest.