Book Blog #224: Dune by Frank Herbert

Title: Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
# of Pages: 512 (paperback)
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the 'spice' melange, the most important and valuable substance in the cosmos. The story explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis.
Review: This is not the type of book that would usually draw my attention. In the past, I've read science fiction books, but these are more along the Divergent and Hunger Games variety. I've read some similar to Ender's Game (which I think has a similar writing style as used in the book I'm reviewing now), but I had very little interest in that.

I picked this book up because it was popular (so much for being hipster). I knew immediately after starting that it was going to take me a while to get through it (and I wasn't wrong). This is the type of book where the reader would most enjoy the story if it is read in big blocks of time (versus reading it for 10 minutes in between activities).

Part of what makes this book so difficult to read is because the reader is thrown straight into the world with very little context. The world Herbert created is so intricate, he had to include appendices (yup, multiple ones) just so the reader could keep up with the lingo.  The only character provided to the reader to learn about the strange-ties of this different world is Paul, the story's fifteen year old protagonist. Although he has already grown to adolescence in this world,  he is more ignorant than the other characters who's perspectives the reader gets to hear the story from (thankfully in third person). Most of the other characters (Jessica, his mother, or the Baron) are well-versed in certain sets of Dune specific vocabulary, it makes it difficult to stay immersed in the book because of the constant flipping to the appendices.

However, once having the time to sit down and read it, Dune was a very interesting book. Once getting past "Book 1" (after which I was mostly accustom to how the world operates), I was gripped up the tale of Paul as he grows up and struggles with those in power. The ending did not feel like an ending, but this is probably because there are other books in the series.

I would recommend this book to those who are interested but not to those who do not think they can handle a dense science fiction story.