Dune Wrap-Up

This past weekend I finished my first big book for Sue Jackson's #BigBookSummer Challenge, which was Dune by Frank Herbert. The novel was 617 pages long plus an additional 70 pages of appendices, including a glossary of terms and sections about the world of the novel. This was a reread, and I posted my thoughts on rereading before I jumped into the meat of the book. 

Dune begins as the Atreides family obeys imperial orders to take over rule of Arrakis, the desert planet, from their sworn enemies the Harkonnens. Arrakis' climate is brutal, lacking water resources to the point where the indigenous people, the Fremen, wear "stillsuits," which absorb perspiration and other liquid waste and recycle it as drinking water. The Harkonnens and other imperial houses give the indigenous people little regard and maintain interest in Arrakis for the singular purpose of extracting its crop of melange, known as "the spice," for export to other planets in the system. The Atreides make this move to Arrakis knowing that a conspiracy is waiting for them there, seeking to destroy them. 

Paul Atreides, the main character, is the culmination of his father's men's instruction but also of his Bene Gesserit mother's training. The Bene Gesserit are a school of women who train their acolytes in various modes of influencing others, including The Voice, in which a Bene Gesserit can pitch their voice in such a way that the listener is forced to obey against their will. They have also implanted prophecies in various places which Bene Gesserit can exploit when survival needs require it. (There are definitely some interesting gender themes to explore here, as the most powerful women in this universe are often sought after by powerful men but relegated to a role of influence and then thereafter are subject, as often shown in the story, to suspicions of treachery and accusations of witchcraft.) Paul must use the full force of his training to survive the political and ecological challenges on Dune.

I'll stop the summarizing there to avoid getting into spoiler territory. Most of the book is not very action-packed, so I think it's no wonder I forgot from my first reading what happens, because not much really does; however, the scope of the world-building is remarkable. I still loved the book, though I think upon second reading I was more aware of the crafting behind it, rather than feeling completely immersed in the story. I think that often happens in subsequent readings, so I'm not mad about it. The amount of information included about the Bene Gesserit and the religious beliefs of the Fremen is perfectly done. Herbert scheduled out morsels of high-context revelations but didn't reveal too much to destroy the mysteries of faith. The novel examines heavy themes such as colonialism, religion, ecology, political intrigue, and reading it can feel dense as a result. The final scene relieves some of that with almost farcical camp. I love a good villain, and Baron Harkonnen is up there with the best (worst!) of them, and I love precocious four-year-olds.

Totally worth putting on your lifetime bucket list. I'm almost afraid to read any sequels that risk ruining the first, but I will add the next book to my TBR for some point in the future.

Smelling the spice