Not one mention of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence? I'm actually reading that book right now; so many parallels. It's a shame Herbert didn't mention Lawrence in this essay.
Dune Genesis (1980)
21–30 of 73 posts
Re: Dune Genesis (1980)
#22It probably doesn't need to be said here, but if you haven't read Dune, stop what you're doing and read Dune. If like me you enjoyed the idea of LoTR but found the writing irritating, you're going to bloody love Dune. Don't worry too much about the many sequels, they can get a bit too weird. The first book stands alone just fine.
The original is an absolute classic, but the first sequel, Dune Messiah is probably also worth reading - without it, you don't really get a good picture of what Herbert has to say about the hero's journey.
Re: Dune Genesis (1980)
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even the Herbert sequels are not really that good. I'd recommend new readers to stop at Dune to avoid destroying their image of the Universe.
I actually find that God Emperor of Dune was my favorite, not Dune itself. I don't recall whether it was Chapterhouse or Heretics , but the scene with the Bene Gesserit in the cave has stood out in my mind for years. Really, the writing style is the same, and there's a lot of "idea" content in the sequels, especially God Emperor . I really don't feel the Dune universe is any different - but the events of Dune did cha…
I've read the first six. Rereading, I stopped at God Emperor.
I tell people who are thinking about reading it that if they found Dune to be slow and difficult that they should just stop at the first one. It's a lot of world building and politics as it goes on.
Re: Dune Genesis (1980)
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't worry too much about the many sequels, they can get a bit too weird. The first book stands alone just fine. True, but if you decide to read the sequels, only read the Frank Herbert sequels. The Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels are more like poor fanfiction than sequels.
> The Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels are more like poor fanfiction than sequels. Thank you. I read one book by Brian H. and every chapter filled me with rage, for destroying the magic of one of my most loved books. One of the most enjoyable things about Dune is that all factions/entities have shades of grey and plans within their plan. The way Brian H. books change them to a linear story and put entities in a…
I read a lot of them because I'm a sucker.
Very few authors can break my concentration, snap me out of the story and make me think "oh, that was cheap..." like the the Herbert/Anderson collaboration.
Re: Dune Genesis (1980)
#25It probably doesn't need to be said here, but if you haven't read Dune, stop what you're doing and read Dune. If like me you enjoyed the idea of LoTR but found the writing irritating, you're going to bloody love Dune. Don't worry too much about the many sequels, they can get a bit too weird. The first book stands alone just fine.
Noooo!
Messiah and children are amazing, and the rest are weird but great (and 5000 years distinct in time).
It's well worth reading all 6.
And yes, that's all 6. There never were any more than 6.
Re: Dune Genesis (1980)
#26Not one mention of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence? I'm actually reading that book right now; so many parallels. It's a shame Herbert didn't mention Lawrence in this essay.
a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia, https://archive.org/details/SevenPillarsOfWisdomByT.e.Lawren...
Re: Dune Genesis (1980)
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't worry too much about the many sequels, they can get a bit too weird. The first book stands alone just fine. True, but if you decide to read the sequels, only read the Frank Herbert sequels. The Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson novels are more like poor fanfiction than sequels.
Even the Herbert sequels are not really that good. I'd recommend new readers to stop at Dune to avoid destroying their image of the Universe.
My stock recommendation is: The first book is a classic for a reason. However, if you don't like it, stop here. The subsequent books will not change your opinion. In fact Herbert may really not be your thing. (He has a certain unique feel to his writing, I think.)
The rest of the first trilogy is definitely more hurried and rather than "justifiably classic" are merely pretty OK if you like that sort of thing. A lot of people jam up here.
God Emperor of Dune is one of those books that is more fun to read the second time than the first, because the first time you really want the primary plot line to finish up and it feels like it is dragging. It really isn't, the rest of the content is quite worthy and the book would be made worse for removing it, but the first time through it doesn't feel that way. I like it better on re-reads, but this is a lot to ask of a reader. (Another one I feel this way is A Deepness in the Sky by Vinge. It's packed with goodness and I love it, but in the first read the middle half of the book can really drag since the goodness isn't in the "A plot".)
Finally, if you make it this far, Chapterhouse and Heretics are once again quite fun reads and re-reads. But it can be hard to get this far in the first place.
My suspicion is that a lot of people who blanket bemoan all the sequels never made it as far as Chapterhouse Dune. But then, it's perfectly understandable.
Oh, and I'll edit this to include my video recommendations: The classic Dune movie should be considered only loosely related, IMHO. The Sci-Fi (before it was "SyFy") miniseries of the book is good if you've already read the book and you view it as a filmed theatrical production rather than a "movie". Which, IMHO, actually works, as theatrical tropes are a better medium for Dune than conventional movie tropes in a lot of ways, but if you don't know what you're getting in to can be a shock. The miniseries of the second two books is better produced, but IIRC still requires you to have read the story first to really understand it. I definitely don't recommend them as your intro to the series.
Re: Dune Genesis (1980)
#28The July 1980 edition of Omni, in which the Herbert's article appeared, is available on archive.org in various formats [1]. The full collection is at [2] and was discussed a few years ago on HN [3].
[1] https://archive.org/details/omni-magazine-1980-07
Re: Dune Genesis (1980)
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even the Herbert sequels are not really that good. I'd recommend new readers to stop at Dune to avoid destroying their image of the Universe.
I actually find that God Emperor of Dune was my favorite, not Dune itself. I don't recall whether it was Chapterhouse or Heretics , but the scene with the Bene Gesserit in the cave has stood out in my mind for years. Really, the writing style is the same, and there's a lot of "idea" content in the sequels, especially God Emperor . I really don't feel the Dune universe is any different - but the events of Dune did cha…
_God Emperor of Dune_ has the best opening sequence of any book I have read (the wolves chasing the raiders in the forbidden forest), love it!
You really have to read that far to get a sense of how important the Duncan Idaho character is in the Dune universe: in the first book he is just a bit player, but later he becomes central.
Re: Dune Genesis (1980)
#30It probably doesn't need to be said here, but if you haven't read Dune, stop what you're doing and read Dune. If like me you enjoyed the idea of LoTR but found the writing irritating, you're going to bloody love Dune. Don't worry too much about the many sequels, they can get a bit too weird. The first book stands alone just fine.
Noooo! Messiah and children are amazing, and the rest are weird but great (and 5000 years distinct in time). It's well worth reading all 6. And yes, that's all 6. There never were any more than 6.
This dialogue with my son made me proud of my parenting:
Me: "Godfather I?" He: "One of the greatest movies of all time." Me: "Godfather II?" He: "Transcendental. The rare sequel better than the original." Me: "Godfather III?" He: "Never happened. An elaborate hoax."