Author:	Frank Herbert
Copyright:	1965
Date Reviewed:
Rating:	8.0

Synopsis: After 22 generations ruling Caladan, House Atreides is ordered by the Padishah Emperor to take over control of Arrakis from the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. The Duke Leto Atreides, his consort Jessica (trained in the Bene Gesserit way), their son Paul and their troops, lieutenants and assassins go to Arrakis. Arrakis is a desert planet, water conservation is of the utmost importance. It is poor in resources except for melange, a precious geriatric spice, found only on Arrakis, which is mildly addictive taken in small doses but in larger doses it becomes very addictive.

Without the spice, the Space Guild would not be able to navigate since under certain conditions the spice can give its user prescient vision. For the good of the empire, the spice must continue to flow. After a short time on Arrakis, House Atreides is attacked by the Harkonnens. The kanly, organized warfare between Houses, is legal. Illegal is the 2,000 ship force that the Emperor gives to the Harkonnens to help them defeat the Atreides. In the war, House Atreides is all but destroyed. The Duke is killed and Paul and his mother flee to the desert to live among the Fremen. While living with the Fremen, Paul learns of his true powers. As predicted, Paul is the true Kwisatz Haderach, the male counter part of a Reverend Mother that the Bene Gesserit has been breeding for generations. With his powers and the help of the Fremen, Paul Maud'dib defeats the Harkonnens and forces the Emperor into retirement.

Review: This is the third time I've read Dune. The first time I was 13 years old doing a book report. I didn't understand the book and I didn't like it. I read it seven years later and this time I did like it. The movie is to be released next month so I read it again. This time I had mixed feelings about the novel.

"Dune" has three parts. The first concerns the move the House Atreides to Arrakis and the myriad political manipulations and intrigues. I found this part of the book most interesting. Even after reading the book two other times, I couldn't always guess what was going to happen. In the second part of the book, Paul goes to live among the Fremen and becomes Maud'dib. Interesting at first, this part soon became very boring. There was little action here, just a lot of talk about Bene Gesserit powers. The third part of the book, where Maud'dib mounts a resistance movement, picked up a little on the action but after being let down by the second part, I never really got back into it. "Dune" is very well written but it suffers from being too long.