Dune
1965
- dune (imaginary place)
- fiction
- fiction, science fiction, general
- dune (imaginary place), fiction
- science fiction
- science-fiction
- american literature
- nyt:mass-market-monthly=2021-11-07
- award:nebula_award=novel
- nyt:trade-fiction-paperback=2021-11-07
The story
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the "spice" melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for... When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul's family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream. A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.
What it’s like
Vast, sun-bleached sand under a hard white sky, with heat shimmer on the page, stillsuits that hold every drop of moisture, and the slow menace of enormous worms moving beneath the dunes. Herbert's prose is dense and deliberate, drifting between shifting inner viewpoints and long passages of political calculation, with ecology, religion and survival laid out in patient detail rather than rushed action. The mood is austere and brooding, a sense of destiny pressing on a young man, with tension that builds slowly and breaks into sudden, brief bursts of violence: duels, ambushes, a treacherous blow in a cold stone palace. Gore is present but not lingering, and the cruelty is more political and psychological than graphic. Sexual content is minimal. It suits a long, unhurried read on a quiet evening or a grey week when you want to sink into a world built to the last grain of sand. Best for readers who love worldbuilding-heavy epics, court intrigue and mythic scale, and who don't mind a slow start and a lot of talk about power.
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