“Dune”, by Frank Herbert

533 pages, Berkley Medallion, ISBN-13: 978-0425080023

I first read Dune (and the whole series for that matter) several years ago. While the first book is the best known and the best written of the series, don’t let that stop you from reading all of the sequels, as well (more on those in future posts). Like all good SciFi, Dune presents you with the customs and attitudes of the present in completely different surroundings that seem to come out of present-day situations. Dune is a complex and fascinating novel: at first glance, it seems to be simply a very imaginative adventure story – and it’s a great read even if that's all you ever get out of it. However, Dune is much more than just an adventure; it’s an analogy, from a writer who was very concerned with ecological issues, for societal over-dependence on a single substance and the ways such dependence skews the structure and character of that society.

The value of a commodity is directly related to its abundance: here, water covers 2/3rds of the planet, but how much more value would it hold for us if it were as hard to get as gold or oil? Dune shows us just what life might be like in such a place; furthermore, the Dune series devotes considerable attention to exploring the messianic dilemma, and as you venture through the original six-book series, this theme becomes a central issue, the seeds of which, naturally, are sown by Paul Muad’Dib on Dune. These are the levels upon which Dune can be read that occur after only a few readings of the book, for it is one of those rare reading experiences that improves each time you return to it: every subsequent journey – as it can only be called – through the Universe that includes Arrakis, Dune, desert planet, yields a richer, more satisfying experience. Dune, simply put, is the premier example of the speculative fiction genre.