Another "Dune" thread...

[DigificWriter]

I made the decision to start my Dune reading experience in chronological order, beginning with Brian Herbert and KJA's The Butlerian Jihad, which sort of ended up derailing my reading experience when I couldn't adjust to the differences in writing style between their prequel novels and Frank Herbert's original Dune novel. However, I've vowed to myself that, at some point, I'm going to pick up the original book again and get through it because of how 'classic' it is, and because, despite the problems I had, I was really enjoying the book's narrative (and really enjoyed the narratives of the prequel books).

 

[DarKush]

^
Sucks about your experience. I'm glad I read the first three Dune books about 20 years ago, and wasn't too disrupted by the change in writing styles or the relative 'weightlessness' of the Brian Herbert books compared to his father's more dense style. If anything, Brian's books were quick reads and brought back a lot of nostalgia for me. They also helped fill in the cracks for his dad's books. I do encourage you to start over, reading the first three Dune books (Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune) at least.

 

[Marc]

Probably best to read the first book before watching the Scifi mini. Most of the mini's appeal comes from how close to the book it stays.

I have to admit, the mini of Dune never struck me as being that close to the book (the much large role of Princess Irulan is a prime example).

Barring the depiction of the weirding way as sound based weapons (which is actually understandable when you think about it), to my thinking, Lynch follows the book more closely.

Can't comment on Dune Messiah/Children of Dune as I'm not that familiar with the books.

 

[ATimson]

I recommend reading only the original Frank Hebert books. The rest are derivative , lightweight books that water down the genius of those originals.

That may be a fair accusation to throw at most of the BH/KJA books, but I thought their House trilogy was good - certainly less lightweight than Heretics or Chapterhouse and their sexual imprinting...

 

[DigificWriter]

^
Sucks about your experience. I'm glad I read the first three Dune books about 20 years ago, and wasn't too disrupted by the change in writing styles or the relative 'weightlessness' of the Brian Herbert books compared to his father's more dense style. If anything, Brian's books were quick reads and brought back a lot of nostalgia for me. They also helped fill in the cracks for his dad's books. I do encourage you to start over, reading the first three Dune books (Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune) at least.

Since I started with the BH/KJA novels, the drastic change in narrative pacing and storytelling style that FH used caught me off guard, and I got frustrated and eventually gave up. I probably won't do a full chronological re-read-through of the series if/when I get to delving back into the series, and will just pick up with Dune, although I do definitely want to re-read the 6 prequel books at some point (especially the Legends of Dune trilogy) as well.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

There exists a 45 minute fan edit, with no dialogue

 

[Lindley]

Probably best to read the first book before watching the Scifi mini. Most of the mini's appeal comes from how close to the book it stays.

I have to admit, the mini of Dune never struck me as being that close to the book (the much large role of Princess Irulan is a prime example).

Barring the depiction of the weirding way as sound based weapons (which is actually understandable when you think about it), to my thinking, Lynch follows the book more closely.

Can't comment on Dune Messiah/Children of Dune as I'm not that familiar with the books.

They changed some things for the mini, yes. But they hit all the beats of the book well enough----most of the changes were just expanded or reduced roles for various characters.

Whereas the Lynch version spends 80% of its running time on the first third of the book.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Probably best to read the first book before watching the Scifi mini. Most of the mini's appeal comes from how close to the book it stays.

I have to admit, the mini of Dune never struck me as being that close to the book (the much large role of Princess Irulan is a prime example).

Barring the depiction of the weirding way as sound based weapons (which is actually understandable when you think about it), to my thinking, Lynch follows the book more closely.

Can't comment on Dune Messiah/Children of Dune as I'm not that familiar with the books.

They changed some things for the mini, yes. But they hit all the beats of the book well enough----most of the changes were just expanded or reduced roles for various characters.

Whereas the Lynch version spends 80% of its running time on the first third of the book.

Yeah, the Syfy adaptation was much closer to the book, all told. The changes they did make were at least sensible. Making Irulan into a more developed character was a good decision, in my opinion, and it's not as though other parts of the mini suffered as a result.

I watched one fan edit of the Lynch version that was even worse than the 80% you cited, Lindley. It made the first 2/3 of the movie even longer, so the Harkonnen attack on the Atreides doesn't happen until almost 2 hours in.

I love the production design of the Lynch film, but the pacing is just total nonsense.

 

[Kegg]

less lightweight than Heretics or Chapterhouse and their sexual imprinting...

I've only read the Frank Herbert novels, but yeah, one could - and probably should - skip the last two. Although it's been so long since I've read them I can only remember how uninteresting I found them... the first four books have stuck on my mind something better.

God Emperor of Dune, the fourth book, is my favourite of the six, but it was obviously Dune itself which made the whirlwind impact on me. There are many, many science fiction and fantasy novels that go into great detail depicting and fleshing out the world they are set, and I've even read some of them... and then again there is Dune, which is dense and complicated but never inscrutable, that can suggest a context or history fairly seamlessly without ramming tiresome exposition down one's gullet. A book that can manage to through around words like Kwisatz Haderach and still seem that direct is, ah, a delicate balance.

 

[Lindley]

Both Heretics and Chapterhouse were slog for the first 7/8ths of the book, and then abruptly became awesome in the last 8th. I'm still not quite sure how they managed that.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

less lightweight than Heretics or Chapterhouse and their sexual imprinting...

I've only read the Frank Herbert novels, but yeah, one could - and probably should - skip the last two. Although it's been so long since I've read them I can only remember how uninteresting I found them... the first four books have stuck on my mind something better.

God Emperor of Dune, the fourth book, is my favourite of the six, but it was obviously Dune itself which made the whirlwind impact on me. There are many, many science fiction and fantasy novels that go into great detail depicting and fleshing out the world they are set, and I've even read some of them... and then again there is Dune, which is dense and complicated but never inscrutable, that can suggest a context or history fairly seamlessly without ramming tiresome exposition down one's gullet. A book that can manage to through around words like Kwisatz Haderach and still seem that direct is, ah, a delicate balance.

It actually took me a while to get through Dune. I really wanted to like it. I kept picking it up and putting it down, over several months. It was the whole section with Paul among the Fremen that just didn't quite click with me, I guess. Then, you get to the last act, with the planning of the attack against the Emperor and things got interesting.

I breezed through Messiah, thought it was a brilliant conclusion to what Dune set up while planting the seeds for what came next. I enjoyed Children of Dune but honestly remember very little about it, other than the killer tigers and Ayla channeling Baron Harkonnen (plus the weird shit with the sandtrout latching onto Leto at the end.)

God Emperor, I think I read in a single sitting. Totally fascinating book, and unfilmable in my opinion. It's way too philosophical and meandering to work on the screen. I love it as a deconstruction of all the themes the series had thus far explored, plus watching Leto plan his own downfall had a certain tragic poetry to it.

I liked Heretics and Chapterhouse but they didn't make especially strong impressions. The whole idea of escaping precognition is interesting, I just feel like not enough was done with it. And of course, Chapterhouse doesn't exactly represent a conclusion to the series. I guess that works in its own way: there is no conclusion because nothing can be predicted anymore, and that universe goes on in ways unknown to us, tying in nicely with the general theme of escaping destiny and foresight.

I should go back and re-read them at some point. I love the writing style and the world-building, even if the actual plots aren't always that engaging.

 

[Starbreaker]

I am disappointed Leto of Dune has been cancelled, but this new trilogy does seem kind of interesting. To be honest, the Dune universe is such a fun place to re-visit that I'll gladly buy any book with Dune in the title.

Yay... similar opinions. Let's be BFFS, haha.