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Jimothy

Dune book series

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I can't possibly be the only one on here who's read the series, have I?

For those of you that aren't in the know, the Dune series centers around one Paul Atreides and his family/descendants as time passes. My super-brief summary comes nowhere close to doing it any sort of justice, but I'm just curious to know if I'm not the only one who enjoys Dune.

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Dune is a classic, probably one of the best sci fi books ever written. Children of Dune is not so classic. God-Emperor of Dune is weird but good enough, considering it's a book about a half-man half-worm so fucked up that even furries wouldn't wank over it.

Anything written by Kevin Anderson is a stinking, rancid feast of shit.

Honestly, I wish I'd read Dune and stopped there.

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darknation said:

Dune is a classic, probably one of the best sci fi books ever written. Children of Dune is not so classic. God-Emperor of Dune is weird but good enough, considering it's a book about a half-man half-worm so fucked up that even furries wouldn't wank over it.

Anything written by Kevin Anderson is a stinking, rancid feast of shit.

Honestly, I wish I'd read Dune and stopped there.


Yeah, I wasn't too impressed by Children of Dune, though I really liked God-Emperor and the first Dune. Dune Messiah was a pretty good sequel to the first book imo, but that's just me. I'm re-reading the series, and I'll start on Heretics/Chapterhouse next week.

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darknation said:

Honestly, I wish I'd read Dune and stopped there.

I'm so glad I did exactly this. I don't have to ponder whether I hate or can kind of tolerate what I just read as a sequel, or as something that exists. Original Dune is magnificent.

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No, you are not the only one reading them. I have seen the movie, played dune 2000 game red first 3 books and one of the new ones: butlerian jihad. I enjoyed the butlerian jihad very much but havent had time to read other books chronologically which was my original plan. I got like 13 of dune books just waiting in the shelf and I even got 1984 hardcover dune encyclopedia which was hard to find in good condition

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Dune is the best novel I've read thus far, it deserves it's status as a classic. Dune Messiah was ultra dull, but I enjoyed the latter four books. Yes there are only six dune books, I refuse to acknowledge anything Dune not written by Frank Herbert.

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Technician said:

I wish DUNE had the three part Peter Jackson treatment that Lord of the Rings got.

Sorry to disappoint, but we've been there and it was shit, heh. It had some no name director, true, but I don't think Jackson would do much better. Dune is no simplistic fairy tale.

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Every year I reread the original six books. I don't have any of the others yet. I'd at the very least want to get the last two for closure.

Of all the post-Dune characters, I'd have to say I like Darwi Odrade the best. A shining example of the Bene Gesserit finally growing up.

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rf` said:

Every year I reread the original six books. I don't have any of the others yet. I'd at the very least want to get the last two for closure.

Of all the post-Dune characters, I'd have to say I like Darwi Odrade the best. A shining example of the Bene Gesserit finally growing up.


This is my second re-read of the original six.

My favorite pre/post-Dune character would have to be Duncan Idaho, mainly because he's just...so there in each novel, whether it be Duncan serving Duke Leto or the God-Emperor Leto II, he shows up in each one and is just this massive anchor. It's a glorious thing, really.

Favorite actual post-Dune character is Miles Teg, mainly because he's an awesome old guy.

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I've only the read the first Dune and liked it well enough not to bother with what may be lacking sequels. That one Dune strategy game was pretty neat too.

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I've read the first book and seen the movie. Honestly, that's about as far as I want to go with the franchise. Don't get me wrong, I loved both the book and the movie, but it's the kind of thing where I just didn't feel the story needed to progress beyond that. To me, it's like Star Wars vs. Star Trek. I don't mind that there are always new Star Trek movies and TV shows, because I love just exploring the Star Trek universe. On the other hand, with Star Wars, I just don't care much about any of the expanded universe - I loved the original trilogy for the story it told, not the larger universe it created. Granted, I love Star Wars video games, but it's not so much the story, just "Hey, it's fun to fly an X-Wing and blast TIE fighters or hack people up with a lightsaber."

I dunno, maybe I'm being a bit unfair, I freely admit as I haven't read all the Dune books, but from what I've heard, the sequels just don't sound appealing to me like the first book was. Sure, a "good vs. evil" story is always fun, but for me, there were concepts in the book that went far beyond that, and the vibe I get from what other people say is that the series ultimately does just fall back on "good vs. evil." Again, sorry if I'm wrong about that, as I haven't read the whole series, but that's just the gist of what I've heard about it, and it's kinda lessened my desire to seek out the other Dune books.

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God Emperor of Dune in a nutshell: a giant worm angsts over how he wants to die because he doesn't have a penis anymore.

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Gez said:

God Emperor of Dune in a nutshell: a giant worm angsts over how he wants to die because he doesn't have a penis anymore.


And then I lol'd

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Gez said:

God Emperor of Dune in a nutshell: a giant worm angsts over how he wants to die because he doesn't have a penis anymore.

dude, spoiler tags. Although...

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darknation said:

dude, spoiler tags. Although...


Looks to me like

Spoiler

Leto's in the Sareer in that picture, though I'm curious as to why a tree might be there; I thought it was pure desert.

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I've read the first three books and will eventually finish the original series, which ends at "Chapterhouse." My sister has read, I believe, all the books in the series, many of which are (apparently) mediocre prequels written by Herbert's son and some other dude.

Obviously, the first is the best, as it introduces you to this fantastic new world.

"Children of Dune" and "Dune Messiah" are pretty bizarre, but interesting, even if they drag a bit. Hebert isn't great with dialogue, which is often overdramatic and stiff. His strengths are in his ability to realize entire worlds and their cultures, and some of his ideas are so intriguing that they still feel very relevant today, whereas a lot of science fiction from a half century ago would be undeniably corny by contemporary standards.

"Dune" has aged well at least in part due to Hebert's lack of emphasis on technology. While there is plenty of it--including interstellar starships, laser guns, force fields that act as shields, and even a planet whose economy depends on genetic engineering and human augmentation--humanity relies primarily on its own intellect, which over several thousand years of training actually surpassed their greatest supercomputers, which today would be called "intelligence amplification" and is one of the predictions of the tech singularity.

As for the film and the miniseries ... I'm a David Lynch fanboy, and saw "Dune" as a child, just as I was getting into the PC game. It's no surprise then, that the movie has a special place in my heart, but even beyond that, it's one of the most surreal and meditative sci-fis I've ever seen. There's nothing quite like it. The soundtrack is killer, one of the best you'll ever hear, and Lynch's personal touches--such as the Baron's diseased face, the arbitrary pug dogs, the sets for Geidi Prime, the dream sequences, the weirding modules--just add to the film's uniqueness.

I basically pretend the miniseries doesn't exist. Never mind the fact that it's longer and therefore contains more of the original story's elements. It's horrifically acted, badly casted, the special effects are laughable (and yes, I know it had a much smaller budget), the set pieces are hideous and the costumes are juvenile. Even the lighting is dogshit. Every element of the miniseries was poorly thought out and it's a grotesque misrepresentation of the book.

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I think the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries had some good aspects - for example, it's probably the only example I can think of where people from different planets have weird accents. The Bene Gesserit also look less stupid than the Lynch versions.

The Children of Dune miniseries is much better than the first one. Despite the title, it covers the second and third books. Even this one had an extremely limited budget, but due to advances in technology they could do so much more with it effects-wise.

As for the books, I sold all but the first one a few years ago. By the bitter end they had gotten incredibly stupid and I don't feel the need to ever reread them.

My sister has read, I believe, all the books in the series, many of which are (apparently) mediocre prequels written by Herbert's son and some other dude.

It's not just "some other dude," it's Kevin J Anderson, one of the most legendary literary hacks of our time. I'm guessing he's really good at cranking out words in a short time frame which is why seemingly every licensed book series wants a part of him. Back in high school when I read Star Wars books you always knew you were in for a stinker if good ole' Andy was the author. Truly a master of schlock.

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The spice trading and space travelling with living melange drugged navicational computers and idea that oil,gold and other valuables were replaced with eatable substance that has many effects is very fascinating

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I'm especially fascinated by the Fremen culture, and how in the second and third books, there were folks who despised the new Fremen way of life. They were starting to live comfortably, becoming "water fat," being careless with conservation and forgetting their warrior ways.

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Scet said:

Dune is the best novel I've read thus far, it deserves it's status as a classic. Dune Messiah was ultra dull, but I enjoyed the latter four books. Yes there are only six dune books, I refuse to acknowledge anything Dune not written by Frank Herbert.


To be frank (that was not a pun), I want to read the last few Dune novels just to get a sense of closure.

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Jimothy said:

To be frank (that was not a pun), I want to read the last few Dune novels just to get a sense of closure.

kinda hard, because herbert died before finishing the last book.

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darknation said:

kinda hard, because herbert died before finishing the last book.


Not sure if you mean last as in Chapterhouse or the last one in the entire chronological series. But yeah, it sucks he died before he got done with Dune.

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Spoilers ahead:

Heh, it's almost creepy how there have now been at least two Dune discussions within a few months of my having completed the 6 main books.

I feel that there is a ton of very interesting psychology and philosophy contained in all of them, however the narrative suffers greatly in all but two of the books IMO. Still, the characters and settings and politics kept me interested.

I love how a lot of what motivates certain characters is never fully spelled out, and must be inferred - which allows for people to interpret it differently and have discussions like this.

For example, I dont think the Golden Path is ever explicitly defined, the reader just gets hints and must make their own conclusion. There may have been a single sentence in the entire series that defined it loosely, in a discussion with Hwi if I remember correctly

And also the nature of prescience is nebulous, and not quite explained. Like it seems that most with the ability are basically perceiving a "best guess" sort of calculation of the future, with holes and flaws, during their spice trances (like an extension of quantum mechanics where the measurement/knowledge of something alters it implicitly). However, I think there was a long winded suggestion in one of the final books, that at least one of the main characters had achieved a true future-seeing.

That last book though, Chapterhouse... oh man. I sortof feel like Herbert was sabotaging or putting his own work to rest. It was so bad on so many levels, I prefer almost to ignore it completely.

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