Certain books can represent a turning point in one's life. I don't mean the textbooks you had to devour a day before the test, or the even the first Ladybird your mommy read to you before leaving you in the darkness to imagine the critters in your closet and monsters under your bed. I mean the books that change your attitude as a reader. Books that truly open your eyes.
Dune is such a book.
Herbert doesn't so much tell the story as show us with tremendously evocative prose and emotive characterisations. The worlds he created for this tale are complex, fascinating, and above all, realistic down to the smallest of details. On Arrakis, desert world, where the action primarily takes place, native fauna and flora exist in a state of parched struggle, adapted to he dry wilderness, and perfectly described by this most intricate of authors. The characters thrown into this mix, hard military warriors for the most part, must adapt or die, and in the progress of their change, we see the story evolve into undeniably the greatest science-fiction story of our time.
It is a vast tale which is as potentially infinite as the universe it inhabits, and was the first story for me that managed to make political intrigue interesting, and give characters a very real effect on my emotions.
Also, it is not a slave to its technology. With some sharp plot aspects, Herbert manages to limit the tech in such a way as to let the story fly. In this universe, beam weapons are fatally flawed, and blades become the tools of choice. Aircraft have wings, and knives can cut through shields.
Truly my favourite book. After seven reads, I still find myself musing on some aspect of the plot, which may yet occur to me while I'm in my bed before the monsters come.
Dune is such a book.
Herbert doesn't so much tell the story as show us with tremendously evocative prose and emotive characterisations. The worlds he created for this tale are complex, fascinating, and above all, realistic down to the smallest of details. On Arrakis, desert world, where the action primarily takes place, native fauna and flora exist in a state of parched struggle, adapted to he dry wilderness, and perfectly described by this most intricate of authors. The characters thrown into this mix, hard military warriors for the most part, must adapt or die, and in the progress of their change, we see the story evolve into undeniably the greatest science-fiction story of our time.
It is a vast tale which is as potentially infinite as the universe it inhabits, and was the first story for me that managed to make political intrigue interesting, and give characters a very real effect on my emotions.
Also, it is not a slave to its technology. With some sharp plot aspects, Herbert manages to limit the tech in such a way as to let the story fly. In this universe, beam weapons are fatally flawed, and blades become the tools of choice. Aircraft have wings, and knives can cut through shields.
Truly my favourite book. After seven reads, I still find myself musing on some aspect of the plot, which may yet occur to me while I'm in my bed before the monsters come.
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