Throwback Thursday – Dune by Frank Herbert

Throwback Thursday is a weekly feature to highlight books from the past. It can honestly be anything as long as its not a book that is a current release. Maybe its a book that I read and reviewed and just want to highlight, maybe its a book I read before I started reviewing or maybe its a book that has a sequel coming out soon or maybe its a backlist book from my TBR that I just want to revisit and decide if I will make the time to read. Pretty much, anything goes. 

If you have a backlist book you want to feature in someway, please feel free to join in! 

This week’s choice is Dune by Frank Herbert.

Dune was a book that read for book club, not because I chose it myself. I very rarely gravitate towards science fiction now and back when I read this I just about never chose to read science fiction. Turns out it was a good book for me to read and see that the genre labels are not nearly as important as what is in them. I say that, but I also feel like Dune is pretty much just a fantasy story that happens to be set in space.

There is a lot of political intrigue (which I always enjoy). There is obviously a traitor in the midst of the characters, and as a reader I enjoyed trying to unravel who the traitor was as well as watching all the players work for their positioning under the new Duke, wondering if it is their own interests, the Dukes interests or Harkonnen’s interest they are most vested in. 

This book gets a lot of love, and while I did enjoy it, I also want to mention that about half – 2/3 of the way through it did lose some steam for me. But not enough to leave me with a negative impression.

Dune is very much a coming of age, boy fulfills prophecy type of standard fare story that reads much more like a fantasy novel than Sci-Fi 

Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the ‘spice’ melange, the most important and valuable substance in the cosmos. The story explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis.

Published in 1965, it won the Hugo Award in 1966 and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Dune is frequently cited as the world’s best-selling sf novel.