Dune by Frank Herbert

605 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1965

Series: Dune (#1), Dune Universe (#14)

Scifi/own

This was a tough one to rate. I read it when I was 18 and loved it. I re-read it now and was pretty meh about it.

The movies are great. Maybe I compared too much.

Maybe it was because it is written in third person. I never got under anyone´s skin, I never cared for anyone.

No one was scary, those Harkonnen´s are pretty lame.

Maybe you can only read some great books once.

This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence.

The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium.