Dune
by Frank Herbert
read by Jen Crispin

Dune had been calling me.

From the moment it arrived in a box full of books from my sister (I had lent it to her previously but I needed it back to review it for the 100 books list), it had been calling me.

Every single time I finished a book and wandered to the bookshelf to decide what to read next, it called me.

Why was I resisting? This is a good question. Part of it was just that I had read it before, and I knew that I loved it. I suppose I was saving it, to console me after reading a particularly painful book. There were also a lot of books on the list that were new to me, and I didn't want to jump straight into something I already knew. Something comfortable. I wanted to be challenged.

I also wanted to get some studying again. As soon as I gave in and picked up, I was gone, given over completely to it. Homework? Who cares! Time for bed? Who cares! Missed the bus and have to sit at the stop for half an hour before the next one comes? Yay!

One might think that a book I'm this familiar with would be easier to put down, but it was exactly the opposite. My mind was constantly jumping ahead to what was next, and I was eager to get there and read it again. Never mind that I've seen the movie over and over again. Never mind that my father read the book to my sister and me when we were younger, and that I had read it again myself as recently as two years ago. That's how much I love this book.

And what's not to love? Sure, there's the stupid macho pissing contest between House Atreides and House Harkonnen, which goes on for seemingly little reason, but that's small beans compared to all the wonderful things in this book.

First of all, I want to be a Bene Gesserit, okay? Forget "Jedi knight" as an alternative religion, the next time the census comes around I'm writing down Bene Gesserit. Lady Jessica is one of the most fascinating women in science fiction. She's incredibly powerful in many ways yet entirely powerless in others. She defies her superiors in an organization whose motto is "We exist only to serve." She does so in the hope of producing the Kwizatz Haderach, yet is horrified when it appears that this is exactly what she's done.

Her son, Paul, Usul, Muad'Dib, the Kwizatz Haderach, could be said to be the main character of the book (that is, if you don't assume that the main character is the desert planet itself.) As pointed out in Michael's recent review of Dune, Paul is a young fifteen when his father is assassinated and he and his mother are thrown out into the harsh desert in the middle of a planet-wide war. With only stillsuits to conserve their water, a bag of tools salvaged from a thopter crash, and their wits, Paul and his mother must dodge huge man-eating worms, avoid the perils of the desert, and befriend the "locals," the Fremen, who aren't usually given to showing kindness to those not born and raised in the desert.

Then there is the desert itself. Dune, the planet Arrakis. A planet on which there is no surface water to be found outside of the small frozen icecaps at the planet's poles. The planet which is the universe's only source of the spice, melange, which is what makes interstellar flight, amongst other things, possible. The entire human civilization depends upon the production of a resource constantly threatened by sand storms, politics, and the worms, which are always drawn to mining activity and will swallow a mining craft whole if it isn't rescued first. Wells that produce water mysteriously dry up within a few hours. And for a planet seemingly devoid of water, the air contains more water than would be expected.

Really, I could go on and on about Dune, and I think that I've rambled enough. Dune is unquestionably one of the best science fiction books ever written. It does not succumb to any of the usual limitations of the genre, instead it addresses so many larger themes in life it could make one dizzy. It is a science fiction novel not afraid of science, nor shying away from human nature and relationships.

And here I am raving again. Let me just say this: Dune is one of the most enjoyable and accessible books on the 100 books list. If you haven't read it yet, you should. If you are tempted to see the movie first, please see the movie and not the truly awful mini-series, for which my high hopes were dashed within the first thirty minutes (and I could not bring myself to watch it any longer.) Neither are terribly true to the book, but the movie at least gives a good feel for the themes and general plot of the book.

Please excuse me, it's time that I finally went and read the rest of the series.

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