Dune

[Tess]

After a very enthusiastic recommendation from an Uncle I have finally started to read Dune. I have not read any sci-fi books so I suppose one of the most popular ever is a good place to start! So far I am very impressed.

[My Friend Jack]

Tess, I first read the original Dune trilogy in the 70s. I then read each one of the second trilogy as soon as they were published. I hardly ever re-read books, but I did actually read the first 3 again about 3 years ago. Unfortunately, I then ran out of steam!

The plots were always very complicated, and I remember (first time around, when I was in my late teens) being very pleased that I had managed to understand some of the intrigue that was going on. Second time around I found it easier to follow, although I felt that some of the assumptions and mind-leaps made by some characters were illogical – probably my shortcoming rather than the authors!

Frank Herbert’s son has co-written a number of prequels to the Dune saga. I have read three of these, House Corrino, House Atreides and House Harkonnen. They weren’t quite as high-brow as Frank’s books, but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed them. It seems that Frank’s son (Brian?) has found some papers that his father had prepared, outlining how the original series would move forward, apparently bringing the whole thing to a satisfactory finish (I always felt that the major problem with the originals was the lack of an ending). Brian and his co-writer have also written 2 (possibly 3?) other books that go back even further in time, detailing the events around the Butlerian Jihad (which gets many mentions in Frank’s books). I believe that the next book(s) will start moving forward from the point that Frank left it at.

Whether you like the idea of the saga being added to after the death of the original author or not (and I must say I had mixed feelings on this at one point), it’s worth giving the new books a try. As I said, it seems that Frank Herbert had planned further books, so it could be seen as fitting that his son is helping to complete the vision.

Anyway, hope you continue to enjoy!

[Claire]

I enjoyed the first one - and yeah, felt quite pleased with myself about having followed the plot ;)

The second one was a bit harder to follow, and I was rather mystified by it...

The third one lost me completely and utterly - I battled on and made it to the very last page - but couldn't have given you any sort of summary as to what had actually happened.

It was linked to Paul Atriedes....as he got further and further from the boy he started off at, I got more and more puzzled :confused:

And yes - also mixed feelings about sagas being carried on post-mortem, as it were. Maybe a topic for a thread in it's own right?

[winterwren]

They have been done twice, I think, made for TV movie series that were done in different installments. Seems I remember that Sting is in one of them? They are pretty good although as befits the books sometimes hard to follow everything.

It was intersting to hear about the son trying to carry on with the father's vision. I don't know. I understand the idea of it being sorts of weird but I also think that it is wonderful that he can love and share in his father's vision. I think that is sometimes very hard for a man to do. Guys always want to start their own bonfire and you don't see too many willing to pick up their father's torch instead of taking off on their own.

Of course all of that does not mean that the son's books would be great (or bad) but if they are done with a true love for the vision then they would probably be interesting to say the least.

Trudy

[stevieb]

The history of Dune as a film is fairly tortourous - it was originally mooted in 1975 to be directed by Alexandero Jodowski(a seriosly deranged Chilean director who made El Topo,The Mystic Mountain and Sante Sangre) with Orson Welles as the Baron Harkonnen and Salvador Dali as the Empereror.
The main ideas are on various web pages and its well worth looking up.
Nedless to say the money ran out so in 1984 David Lynch was hired to make the version we see - there is apparantly a much longer cut that surfaced on a Japanese LaserDisc in the mid 90's and Lynch has denounced the film and refuses(to this day) to talk about it.

There is a longer TV version of the Lynch movie(directed by one Alan Smithee - the name directors use when they don't want to be assosiated with a movie) - its not really any longer - they just repeat several battle scenes to make it look like its longer - avoid...

Then there is the TV version with Wiliam Hurt as Duke Leto - they also seem to have made Children of Dune as well as a TV series - havn't seen that one....

[Tess]

Well I have finally finished Dune and have to say that overall it was a very impressive book although it went over my head at times :o

I was confused about the life cycle of the planet i.e. makers and spice and the lack of water. Also what happened with Jessica when she drank the sacred water?

[stevieb]

It was more Alia(her unborn child) that was affected becoming fully conscious in the womb and being born with all the knowledge and memories of the Freman race.....the first book is actualy fairly straightforward - its later in the series that things become increasingly incomperhensible.....

[Tess]

It was more Alia(her unborn child) that was affected becoming fully conscious in the womb and being born with all the knowledge and memories of the Freman race.....the first book is actualy fairly straightforward - its later in the series that things become increasingly incomperhensible.....

hmmm not much hope for me and the other books then!

[Colinj]

Would this be a good book for someone who wishes to read science fiction but may find it too heavy going?

[Tess]

This is the first Sci-fi book I have read and I did find it quite hard in places as it was so different to anything I have read before, I would however recommended it to other new readers as it is a truly epic book.

[belinda]

Would this be a good book for someone who wishes to read science fiction but may find it too heavy going?

Think one of the best writers to start with would be John Wyndham. The ones that are still frightening and plausibe are The Chrysalids, Midwich Cockoo and Day of the Triffids.

Lent one of them to someone who did not think they liked science fiction and they have since read all the rest.

[Purity]

I took Dune on holiday with me last week and thought it was fantastic. Just ordered the next two books in the trilogy and will hopefully then move on to the prequels :)

Saw the film last week also, and it was just typical David Lynch. Anyone who has seen Lost Highway or Mulholland Drive would feel right at home! If I hadn't read the book beforehand I would not have had a clue about what was going on (and even though I had read the book, the film was still dodgy in places!)

This is one film that I would love to see a big budget hollywood remake of. Maybe Peter Jackson would be interested......... ;)

[incredible]

If you really want to know more about the ecology of the planet Dune, then the best way is to read the 3 prequels by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson (writing together). These were mentioned briefly above and are House Harkonnen, House Atriedes, and House Corrino.

They tell the story of how the Atriedes, culminating in Paul who becomes Muad'dib, are "given" Arrakis/Dune as their fief after the Harkonnens have had it. In the course of that story, you also learn a lot of other background to the original stories, including details of spice and the sandworms which are only hinted at in the original series.

My personal view is that these prequels are pretty masterful and would be good novels in their own right. To produce them while necessarily fitting into the hints and allusions of Frank Herbert's books is very impressive.

There is also a second prequel trilogy emerging from Brian and Kevin, covering the Butlerian Jihad as someone else said. This goes even deeper back into the pre-history of the Empire. The two I've read so far have been good but not brilliant, and much less important as immediate Dune background, though they tell the origins of the Bene Gesserit, the Bene Tleilax, the discovery of spice and its use in space navigation, and why thinking machines were outlawed.

[richard]

On the subject of a reader new to epic SF, I would recomend the Foundation trilogy. Another great read and less complicated than Dune

[Atom]

The original Dune books were great but I've never bothered with the prequels. However I just found out last week that two further books have been published to complete the original stories based on Frank Herbert's notes. They're called Hunter's of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007). I've ordered them so will report once I have them in my hot little hands.

[Atom]

Well I got these and had time to read them both. Frankly they left me a little uninspired, but they're not bad books. I just think the best of the lot was God Emperor of Dune and everything since was a little tedious. It finishes off the second trilogy's story but from toward the end of Hunters on it references material and characters that obviously come from the prequel books that were written. That's not insurmountable as it's clear what's going on, but it is a bit annoying if you haven't read them.

[My Friend Jack]

I started to read the first of the prequels (The Butlerian Jihad, I think) when it was first published, but I just wasn't in the right frame of mind at the time! Also, I found the style of writing was so different from Frank's that it was difficult to believe I was reading about the same world.