Okay, so Today we're going to be talking about Dune.
This is going to be spoiler free because
when I asked in a video if you guys wanted a dedicated video
or not, the majority said yes, but I got a lot of yeses from
people who were trying to decide if they wanted to read it, and then
a lot of people who wanted to discuss it
because it's their favorite book ever.
I will say this, this review is coming from the perspective
of someone who doesn't know this story backwards and forwards, and who
is very new to Dune and the Dune universe and fandom.
I know that a lot of people revere this book very highly.
My review is specifically coming from the perspective of someone who
just read the book and is very, very new to it, but wants to discuss it.
If there are things that I did not understand,
or nuances that I didn't pick up on, please forgive me, but also
please chat with me about it in the comments because this
has got to be one of the most interesting books I've ever
read in concept and philosophy, but we'll get into that.
It seems to me that the point of Dune
was to discuss a lot of deeper topics,
and the story was a way to discuss,
it was a medium to discuss, but the story itself
isn't nearly as important as the discussions
that Frank Herbert was wanting to have.
In this world, in the very first chapter, we're thrown
into the middle of a scene,
and in this scene, a lot of complex phrases and words
and history in terminology are being thrown around
with absolutely no context.
Now, to me, that opening scene, the opening chapter was fantastic,
because even though I didn't know
a lot of what was going on, and I didn't understand most of the world
and the terminology that was being discussed, I was given just enough
to make me realize that this world is huge, and that the information
of this world is going to be very well thought out.
It had me excited to learn more.
As someone who loves the intricate
details of worlds and how the worlds are run,
I got really excited by that opening scene.
The thing is that at least in book one, the
amount of flesh that I wanted put to this world wasn't there.
I think in large part, that's because
Herbert wanted to discuss things more than he wanted to tell a story.
Frank Herbert gives you a lot of information about his
world and his systems and how much he put into it all,
but he tells you in these tiny
little details that could easily be thrown away.
In large part, I think that there's a lot
of this story that I came away still
not understanding, and it's not because I wasn't
paying attention, but it's because you really have to notice every detail
of the story in order to put things together.
This isn't a casual reading sort of story.
It's definitely not a book for escapism.
It's a book for discussion.
In a lot of ways, I think that this is
one of the best written books I've ever read
because of how expansive Herbert's ideas and concepts are,
and how subtly and intricately and intentionally
he puts them all together.
In other ways, I didn't like how the book was written at all.
I feel like there are two sides of how I feel about this book.
I think that it's brilliant and incredibly, intentionally
and cleverly put together.
On the other hand, there are a lot of elements to this
story that I just genuinely didn't enjoy reading.
You can clearly see a lot of the influence
that this book has had on so many things.
I, as little as I know about Star Wars, I saw a lot
that Star Wars must have taken from Dune.
I even saw some elements that I feel like
the wheel of time was influenced by Dune.
I can see how this was a book that has impacted
what we read today in such huge ways,
or what we consume today in such huge ways.
I also really enjoyed some of the discussions that that this author
attempted to have with me within the story of how horrible
these complex systems of power can work,
trying to undo this hero/savior trope,
and I'm sure a ton more concepts that I just
didn't even catch on this read through.
I mentioned earlier that I feel like Herbert's philosophies are really
what he wrote this book for, wanting to have complex discussions,
and then he built a world and characters and systems
around it so that he could have this discussions.
I could be completely wrong about that, but that's how it read to me.
Because of that, the world building, even though this world I feel like
what I want is a Silmarillion for Dune, because I feel like
this author had so much of this world in his
mind that he couldn't lay it all out in the book.
I want it because it is such an interesting world and system and set
up, probably one of the most fascinating worlds and systems
I've read, but I didn't get enough of it. This is book one.
I'm sure that continues to build, but that is something that I was craving
from this story, is to understand this world
more, and to understand the complex systems of this world more.
The other thing that I just had to accept, I think,
is the low action of this book, because it
seems like this is a book of discussion
more than a book of a story, even though the story is very interesting.
Because of that, the action really takes the back seat in this book.
I still think that it was a really interesting book to read,
and there were so many moments that I feel like
the more quiet suspense was almost more realistic.
I felt like I was in something real,
because the quiet suspense rather than the big huge action scenes.
Even the biggest battle of the book was not even the main focus
of the chapter, it was in. I think that's very interesting.
If you're looking for a fast paced action packed story, this isn't it.
This is a story that I feel like I could read
a dozen times, and each time come out
with new interpretations and discussion pieces,
and pieces of the world even
though I'm reading the same text over and over again.
Like I said, I think that this is one of the best written books I've ever read
in that way, in the way he slowly and patiently divvies
out such a complex and intricate world and political system.
At the same time, there were things that I didn't like about it.
Take these with a grain of salt,
those of you super fans out there, because it is
possible that because of the way this book is written,
and because of Herbert's writing style, that I just
missed it this time around, or that I missed details
this time around that made it harder for me to enjoy at times.
One thing that I'm not a fan of is the amount
of internal thought put on the page.
This is sort of an omnipresent narrator, so we get
the intentions and thoughts
and perspectives of everybody that's in the scene at any given time.
I'm really comfortable with that writing style.
However, Herbert really leans on internal thought in order to
give us information to the point where
sometimes I feel like Herbert was holding my hand, even though the way he
wrote the world, he doesn't hold my hand at all.
The way he discusses certain things,
the way he does his story doesn't hold my hand.
However, there are other elements that I feel like
he really did beat me over the head with things.
One instance of that is that there is a betrayal that happens in the book.
This isn't a spoiler because it's on the back
of the book and because we know about it from the very beginning,
even though it doesn't happen until later on.
Because we're also in the thought of the guy who is doing the betraying,
I felt like, okay, I get it, stop. Because that character kept
saying over and over again while he was having a discussion
with the character, he was going to betray, he kept saying, "But
she can't know that I'm going to betray her.
Oh no. I think she suspects me that I'm going to betray her.
I'll say this and it'll throw her off.
I think I made it out of that scene all right,
and she doesn't suspect me anymore, but I still must betray her."
Eventually I'm just like, oh my gosh, I get it. I get it. I understand.
There were also a lot of internal thoughts that I felt were
totally unnecessary and could have easily just been
written into the scene more organically.
Like someone just thinking,
"I like that guy", and that was the whole thought.
Whereas I could have just seen them interacting
and picked up on my own how they feel about each other.
I also got sometimes frustrated with the characters'
decisions or a lack of understanding of things.
With this betrayal, I felt like it was so obvious and not
just because of the constantly being told that the betrayal
is coming by the internal thoughts, but also just in the actions.
The one character who keeps repeatedly
telling the readers that he's going to betray people, at one point gives
another character a sleeping pill, and then that night,
that character, there's an assassination
attempt on them, and everybody just
responds, "Oh man, someone's going to betray us, but we don't know who.
Probably not the guy who just tried to drug
me right before I got betrayed. He's good."
Then there's another point where it's actually spelled
out to one of the characters, this guy is bad.
Then the character, in his head, he's like, "Oh no, she knows it's me now."
Then she thinks, "Huh, that was a weird thing he said.
Probably not him though." To the point where when they finally figured
out who did it, I wrote in the margins, finally caught up, have ya.
Again, that's not the point.
That's not the point of this book.
That's not what Herbert was trying to do, was to write this thrilling
action-packed suspense filled story.
It was the discussions he was trying to have.
There were moments where I felt very frustrated
by the way it was written, or the way the characters
were thinking or not thinking, to the point that I couldn't--
I tried to think, okay, I know what this author is trying to do, so I want to
enjoy the book for that, not for just the storytelling aspect.
There are parts of the storytelling
aspect that really frustrated me because as interesting as
Herbert's concepts were, there were times where I just, I didn't like
the other part of the book. Don't get me wrong because these
characters and this plot and this world, I think
are really interesting, but the way Herbert wrote them sometimes
really didn't work for me. I know that's a personal thing.
I know that there are a lot of people
that love all the things that I just described not liking,
and that's fine, but for me, I didn't enjoy Herbert's writing all the time.
This is a book that I would have loved to have read with a super
fan and someone who's read this book over and over and over again
so that they could maybe help me pick
up on some of the nuances, and help me to see some of the things
that I potentially missed, because this is a book for discussion.
This is a book that I'm surprised
we don't study in school, because it is a classic, and it is
a book that I think it needs so much unpacking in order to fully enjoy.
I feel like I wanted to take a course on it so that I could unpack it
appropriately instead of just trying and hoping that I'm
peeling back the layers correctly.
I know a lot of people read this book for the first time and love
it so much that they want to read it over and over and over again.
For me, I have really mixed feelings about it.
There are some things that I love
about this book, and then there are other things that
I didn't love as much.
At this point, I don't even know how I feel about it.
I respect it more than I enjoyed it, but I could see
myself coming back to it later and reading it again and having
the respect and the enjoyment come together.
This feels like a really incoherent review, and I apologize for that.
I feel like I'm just trying to discuss my feelings on this book, having
now read it, so that you guys can talk with me about it more.
I know there are things that I missed.
I know that there are concepts that I didn't fully pick up on,
and I'd love to continue having that discussion because
this is a book that I'd really like to
dig into more, because I think that there's
a lot there that almost can't be
picked up on until you've read it a few times over.
I know this was a spoiler free
review, so I didn't dig into a lot of the book,
but this is a book that I really want to continue discussing.
Despite me maybe not enjoying it on the level that so many people do,
it's a book that I really, really
respect, and a book that I want to continue understanding more of.
Be sure to chat with me more about it in the comments whether you haven't
read it yet and you now think that you will or won't, or if you
have read it many times and you want to talk more about it. I post videos
every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
I'll see you guys again soon. Bye.
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