Who here likes the Dune series? I’ve only read the original, but it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Discuss its pure win here.

I read the first two ( Dune and Dune Messiah), but crapped out in the third ( Children of Dune). Paul gets kinda depressing during Messiah, but I guess that’s to be expected when you’re unintentionally responsible for mass genocide…

I thought the premise of Dune was fantastic, but the execution of the actual story was badly done.

Yeah, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to as well. At first, I thought it was the bestest book ever, but then I re-read it and… well yeah, not super great.

Aw, I love Dune! I’m new to the series as well, but I’ve read through the first three books at least. They’re so confusing, though. I’m a fast reader, but I have to force myself to slow down and think about everything to understand what’s going on!

Okay, I was just wondering if you didn’t like that stuff because you didn’t understand them, or you did understand them, but still didn’t like them. I don’t want to start a debate, I don’t disagree with anything you said, so I’ll just have my say and leave it at that.

I’ll admit that the series goes into some potentially uncomfortable areas as to the power of religion (hence my comment about Paul causing genocide). That sort of thing isn’t a pleasant topic.

Concerning the concubine thing, remember that marriage in the books isn’t like it is today, but more like it was a few centuries ago – something to do with politics, not love. Leto couldn’t marry Jessica, even though he probably wanted to, because then he couldn’t marry someone else (like someone from another noble house, thus gaining a political ally).

As for the shields, well, here’s the entry from the glossary/encyclopedia:

SHIELD, DEFENSIVE: the protective field produced by a Holtzman generator. This field derives from Phase One of the suspensor-nullification effect. A shield will permit entry only to objects moving at slow speeds (depending on setting, this speed ranges from six to nine centimeters per second) and can be shorted out only by a shire-sized electric field. ( See Lasgun)

I’m pretty sure most arrows and defiantly bullets move faster than nine cm/sec. Now, the entry for Lasgun (the beam weapons in the Dune universe):

LASGUN: continuous-wave laser projector. Its use as a weapon is limited in a field-generator-shield culture because of the explosive pyrotechnics (technically, subatomic fusion) created when its beam intersects a shield.

So, in essence, lasgun + shield = nuclear explosion – radiation. They actually use this to their advantage in the first book, since no one wears shields on Arrakis, so they can use lasguns without fear of killing everything within a five mile radius. Until someone sets up a shield behind them as they’re escaping the bad guys, who just happen to be carrying lasguns…

Basically, its a reason to have a bunch of characters fight with knives, rather than just shoot at each other. And you have to admit, the way the shields work adds a level of complexity to fighting – strike too fast, and your knife will bounce off the shield; too slow, and you’ll miss your opponent.

Hey, it’s a better rationale than Simon R. Green gave in the Deathstalker books – he made almost all the guns take way too long to recharge. For example, in the first book, they brag about the fact that the new energy guns only take two minutes to recharge. For perspective, a good soldier could fire a muzzle loaded musket three times in one minute.

I read the first book, but didn’t like it for different reasons than other people here seem to. The only “good” character, someone who respected people (e.x. saving people from the sand worm instead of the equipment) seemed to be portrayed as a sedimental fool, while his jerk son is shown as the ideal person.(give or take some minor flaws) So the only decent person in the book was killed off early, and the violent jerkasses run the show, and are the “good guys”.

seemed to be portrayed as a sedimental fool

Teeheehee. I know you meant sentimental, but it’s an apt spelling mistake considering the nature of Dune. :D

One of Herbert’s big themes in Dune is the nature of humanity. That’s why Leto, the most human character, had to die, and that’s why Paul, who tries to retain his humanity, doesn’t become God Emperor. Leto II does, and he’s the one who sacrifices his humanity for absolute power. I do find Herbert’s characterisation heavy-handed, but it works in the way that he intended. Sort of.

I’m a Dune geek, but I have my beefs with Frank Herbert. Here’s one of my biggest ones: (Spoilers if you haven’t read God Emperor of Dune)

I actually like Dune, but the greatest work ever? no, not by a long shot.
I read the prequel to Dune series first(written by his son) and I really liked them, now I was a bit younger back then, so my memory is a little hazy, but I thought that explored the universe quite well and showed why characters like Duncan are awesome(something I found a bit laking in the originals). I recommend the prequels to anyone who likes Dune, although I have heard that there was heavy criticism against them by fans(though most of it was against the legend of dune series). I unfourtunately only read a translated version of Dune, but I generally agree with a lot of the above posters, the first book was good, the world/universe building is awesome, but characterisation and storytelling are laking. The second book was fun, but less so then the first and had many of the same problems, the third book was downright boring and I never finished it.