Skip to main content

Dune Review

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Do your Research Before Buying a PM 2.5 Pollution Mask

With development comes pollution, and though we love the benefits of a driven and vibrant economy no one likes the side effects a major example of which is air pollution. PM 2.5 refers to particulate matter, tiny little pieces of material, below 2.5 microns across which is danger size for your lungs.   Particulate matter above 2.5 microns in diameter is still dangerous, but less so according to scientists.  These particles are so small that thousands of them will hide in this full stop. Particles this small will travel deep into your lungs because the body has no defence against particles this tiny.  One of your best options is the stay indoors, although even indoor levels may be high if the levels outside are high.  If you smoke cigarettes or use candles or cook with oil, then these activities will contribute to this PM 2.5 pollution.  The particulate matter is about 30 times thinner than a human hair and mostly originates from car exhaust in a city...

You're not Ninjas

You're Not Ninjas Apparently Discord employ ninjas. So do iTunes, on PC at least. Whatsapp prefer Ronin, but the motif holds. Facebook has pirates which is perfect as we know what pirates did wrong and why they died out. I just updated my profile on Linkedin, and rather than getting profile moderators to check it, can you guess? Yeah.  Wow. Apparently it's a thing now. Before you start whining about plurals in Japanese, I don't care. If I don't pluralize it, I'll be attacked by Nazis, which is worse. You're not ninjas, you're software developers. You spend your days tapping away at plastic and staring at radiation, you don't spend your days stopping your heart to float across an ocean inside a dead platypus with a collapsible graphite katana secreted inside your penisgina so you can sneak in through the sewer outlet and coldly remove a threat to our kind. I may be splitting hairs, but there's a difference. Oh, I added a friend on Skype, well may...

The Last Jedi review - part one

Is it a sign of a lack of mental fortitude to get angry at a movie?  Is it wrong for me to be blazing with rage at 3 am because something I watched didn't meet my expectations?  Is it okay to reboot a franchise by stealth, choosing to destroy its future for everyone and ruin the memories of the people who made it famous in the first place rather than facing the facts and admitting that you have no new ideas at all and are forced to reboot, but you are terrified you'll lose the fanbase and profit, that cowardice and dishonesty is your only option Disney, you scum? There's some bad structure there but I'm too angry to even care.  Does she look like she cares or does she have the shits like me? Luke and Leia and Chewy are in it, so it must be Star Wars.  They're trying to create a new generation of fans so the old guards are introducing the new.  Fair enough.  No problem with that.  I'm sure my nephew cheered when the Death Star was destroy...