Review

“Dune” by Frank Herbert is strangely enough one of the books I had the hardest time starting up. I read the first chapter, gave up for 5 years, started over in preparation for the release of the film by Denis Villeneuve and just absolutely loved the book. When I then watched the film as well, I just loved the story even more. Simply put, the book can be quite difficult to read in my mind, yet somehow the enormity of the story that is being told and the plot between the factions and their politics - perhaps makes this one of the best books I’ve read.

It should be no secret that I continued with the rest of the series immediately following finishing the first book and the imagination and vision of Frank Herbert is impossible to contend with. I frequently think back on “Dune” with great fondness and look forward to the day I discover a book on this level. Perhaps it will be a long time before I find it, but luckily I can always return to Dune for another read-through - Which I will do happily one day.

The closest books I can find to compare with Dune is a happy marriage between “The Lord of the Rings”-trilogi by J. R. R. Tolkien and the “Foundation”-series by Isaac Asimov. So, the complexity of the universe from “The Lord of the Rings” combined with the philosophical and longitudinal approach of “Foundation”.

Score: 10/10

Yes, it is a somewhat complicated book to read, but the number of amazing quotes, the depth of the tale and the complexity of the relations between the characters just puts it at the top of almost any list of Sci-Fi books. The way that Science Fiction is used as an engine to theorise and speculate on potential other societies working on completely different timelines, while still keeping the universe created so tangible that it almost becomes real is the thing that always leaves me amazed at Science Fiction-writers and I believe Frank Herbert here proves that he is one of the very best.

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