Review: Dune

Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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This felt like an absolute chore to read. :( The entire time I was reading it, I would catch myself considering on DNF-ing it. But I felt the need to give it multiple chances and to see it through. I did and I can now honestly, and without bias, say: Nope.

I've enjoyed the first part where their characters and world were introduced--the move to Arrakis and a glimpse of the Atreides dynamics. But the political turmoil being introduced on a very new political system (new in a first-time-reader's mind) became very hard to digest and follow. It became a headache to follow through who is betraying who, and the motives behind the betrayals.

Book Two and Three further alienated the story to me. The weird rituals and drug-induced ceremonies on these parts became hard to understand and relate to. The prescience became too burdensome to put into the context of what is presently happening to them. I found myself constantly rushing to get through the parts I cannot understand, instead of repeatedly laboring over them again and again with the same confused 'What??' at a scene.

What frustrated me the most was Paul and his "mysterious abilities". They became too convenient, and so his (very little) character development felt forced and outlandish. He was too perfect from the start until the end. No character was actually relatable and made me root for them. Lady Jessica was almost relatable, but in multiple scenes where I'm finally almost at the point of fully understanding her, she does something so uncharacteristic of her train of thought that she looses me again completely.

The messianic wonder surrounding Paul was too sudden, and made me wonder if the fanaticism aspect wasn't really fully developed and built into the story, or are the characters just really stupid to be so devoted to him without any basis. I know this is the point of fanaticism, but come one! At least pull your reader into some sense of plausibility to attach to.

It became too fraught with pompous aphorisms in stuffy dialogue. The emotions were stunted and as a result: dubious. It strayed away from straightforward and instead, looped around either cartoonish-ly religious or cartoonish-ly scientific tones that further stifled the narrative.

Herbert's world was detailed, complex, fascinating, and opens a lot of potential, but I felt that it was wasted on this mediocre plot filled with non-redeemable archetypes. I guess that "Science Fiction's Supreme Masterpiece" tag carries a loooot of burden and expectations.

Will I be continuing with the sequels? Probably not. Am I still looking forward to the 2020 film adaptation? Definitely! I still think this would translate better on screen than it did on my currently-lackluster imagination.

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