Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Dune

This is topic Dune in forum Discussing Published Hooks & Books at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by rcorporon (Member # 2879) on :

I'm probably going to get blasted for this, but does anybody else hate the Dune series?

I loved the 1st book, but the 2nd and 3rd were terrible, and I didn't continue after giving up on the 3rd.

Not sure why they are "SF Classics."

Posted by DeepDreamer (Member # 5337) on :

After reading it through twice, I liked the first. I tried the second, and gave up. It was just too tedious, too hard to follow, and too hard to find a reason to care.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

Liked the first, hated the second, liked the third (which I read before I read the second), liked the fourth...lost the ball after that one.

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

I haven't read any of them.

This is precisely the reason. Anyone I've asked has given mixed reviews. Oh, and being completely worm/snake phobic hasn't helped.

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

I'm not going to crucify you for your opinion. People have different tastes.

However, I loved the series. The only one I had a hard time with was God Emperor of Dune. I liked the complete flip-flop of society in the later Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune.

I think Dune was a brilliant series, sadly left uncompleted. It not only encompassed The Iliad, but predicted the current Gulf Wars decades ahead of time.

quote:

Not sure why they are "SF Classics."

To answer your question:

Elements of Dune can be found in much of Sci-Fi, from Steve Perry's Matador series to Star Wars. Also, it is like the Lord of the Rings of Sci-fi -- with the exception that each component of the story is a stand-alone novel.

Posted by DeepDreamer (Member # 5337) on :

Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean it isn't good fiction. I didn't care for Lord of the Rings either, and there's a world of people out there who feel otherwise. I think it was my lack of ability to connect with any characters in either series that kept me from really getting into them.

But it is a classic, it's had a significant influence on the SF genre, and my opinion of it doesn't change that at all.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

I take it a lot of people who hang 'round here belong to a younger crowd, and haven't touched base with the many SF classics that influenced me so. So much of it is unavailable, out of print or in hard-to-get "special" editions...

Fair's fair, though...I've read only a smattering of the recent stuff, a lot of which is probably just as good as the "classics" I remember.

(For lack of a better place, I'll mention I just picked up another reprint, a new collection by the late Poul Anderson: To Outlive Eternity and Other Stories. Some great stuff in there. I'm still impressed by Anderson's work---but I was quite shocked to realize it's been at least twenty-five years, maybe longer, since I last read "No Truce With Kings," collected within. The collection seems to be easily available...if you're curious, pick it up.)

Posted by Dulci (Member # 5051) on :

I just got done reading the first book and am trying to hunt down the second (my library loves to leave at least one book out of any given series - they have most of the Ender books except Ender's Game itself...)

Anyway, I loved it. And I'm in the younger generation. I loved how complex it was, a "meat" story and not just glamorous fluff. Seems to me there's not too many of those these days...

I did see the influence it had on Star Wars, definately.

Posted by HuntGod (Member # 2259) on :

I've read and reread the series many times, as well as the not nearly as good prequels that Herberts son and Anderson have published.

Dune - Loved it
Dune,
Messiah - Least favorite but still enjoyed it

Children of Dune - Nice twists and has a flavor similar to the first book

God Emperor or Dune - Radical departure in tone, this is where alot of people stop reading them, it is a good book but aside from setting bears little resemblence to the earlier books.

Heretics of Dune - Continues the tone of God Emperor and is enjoyable if you can make the shift

Chapterhouse Dune - This is often belittled as nothing but two nuns arguing for 600 pages, I did not find the book to be like that at all, I thought the dialogue they had was well interspersed with the Bashar storyline and it even kind of ended with a classic cliffhanger.

The prequel books are worth reading just to glimpse the source material that Frank Herbert was working from as executed by his son and Anderson.

The pre-prequels set during the original Jihad were not so interesting, but still worth a look if you are a true Dunehard fan.

Posted by InarticulateBabbler (Member # 4849) on :

I loved them all: Frank Herbert's; Brian Herbert's and Kevin J. Anderson's.