Posted on 02/02/2015 3:27:28 PM PST by Perdogg
I apologize for the vanity, but I know that FR is a community of avid readers. Last year, I read "The Hobbit", "The Lord of The Rings" and "The Silmarillion".
I read that Arthur C Clarke referred to "Dune" as 'The Lord of the Rings' of Science Fiction.
What are Freepers opinion of Dune (the book not the movie) and should I continue with the sequels? I saw the film 30 years ago, I remember receiving a sheet with a primmer at the movie theatre after buying a ticket.
also, is there a Gothic horror equivalent to "Dune" of "Lord of the Rings"?
I looooooooved the original “Dune.” I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! I must say I thought all the “Dune” sequels were pale imitations of the first, inspired, book.
As for a seminal Gothic horror work, unfortunately I have always found both “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” (the original books) rather lacking, because of their meandering storylines and excessive wordiness. (I know that was a Victorian thing, but Dickens, for example, kept his stories moving right along, and his wordiness was in service of the plot.) I’d nominate a modern book, “Interview With the Vampire,” as a seminal Gothic horror work. (Again, sequels are not so great.)
Dune is wonderful.
“What do you despise? By this, you are truly known.”
I’ve had the set... The Dune Trilogy, for many, many years. I became a Sci-Fi fan in the early ‘50s; movies and books, when I was about 10 y/o.
The Dune series, IMO, requires a lot more concentration than the usual recreational reading because there are so many odd names to remember and lots of twists and turns in the story line.
I consider Asimov’s ‘Foundation Trilogy’ of books to be difficult reads, as well; but worth reading if you’re a fan.
My favorite book. Must have read it 4 or 5 times.
Make sure you read Children of Dune as well. It ties up some loose ends.
I’d add that the Foundation Trilogy should be all of the Foundation series that you read.
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Agree! FT was very artfully written!
Along with the sequels, consider the prequels, which lay the groundwork for many of the conflicts in the main story.
Once you start reading Dune, you will never look at a rain cloud the same way again. Imagine ... so much water that it falls from the sky!
Gordon Sumner, played the Harconan nephew Fey in the movie.
He also had a role in the Who’s movie version of the album Quadraphinia. He rode a really tricked out scooter. He was the leader of the street gang. I can not remember if it was the Mods or the Rockers.
He was most famous for being the lead singer and base player in a British Punk Rock band that played at CBGE down in the Bowery of NYC in the late 1970’s early, 1980’s. They went on to sell multi platinum albums. The name of the three piece band was called THE POLICE. He goes by the name of Sting.
the first few books were really good. After about #4, the story seemed (to me) to bog down. Oh, well. Thats why they call it “speculative fiction...”
I always thought of that as a love story....
First time through there were a lot of times where I wasn’t sure why things were happening (or why people said what they said), but I was always pretty clear on what was happening. I thought it deliberate on Herbert’s part; often the reader’s bewilderment is reflected by Paul or by other characters who are also trying to figure out what’s going on and how things work.
Been a while since I last read it as well, but I believe you’re right that Dune has less exposition than many books popular at the time/when I first read it. Niven, for example, spends a lot of time explaining how things work and laying things out in considerable detail. OTOH, I have memories of specific scenes in Dune, while I only remember a few ideas and concepts from reading Niven; it may be that Herbert’s more spare approach meant my brain had to fill in more gaps to create the scene, which ended up getting me more involved.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2/186-3393062-1520322?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Quasars%2C+Pulsars%2C+and+Black+Holes
My cousin says I should re-read the trilogy and this time read the other ones too.
I might.
Also, IIRC, the great warrior Duncan Idaho is killed pretty darn easily.
Gordon Sumner, aka Sting. He had a modest acting career for about 20 years, in which he played minor roles in a handful of films. In Dune he played the secondary villain—Feyd Rautha, the Baron Harkonnen's nephew—though his role consisted of the line "I will kill him!" repeated several times, albeit with different inflections.
I love Asimov’s nonfiction, although a lot of the science stuff is getting dated.
I am slowly collecting many of his history books, which don’t show their age as much, but the homeschoolers were clued into them, so for a while there they were crazy expensive! Prices seem to have settled down considerable, though; “The Greeks: A Great Adventure” was well over fifty bucks last time I checked, and now it’s down to $36 for a “good” copy (one without highlighting or underlining).
The 1632 series by Eric Flint. Author’s a bit of an old-time Wobbly in mentality, but his tech is sound enough.
I am done with “Dune” and on to “Dune Messiah”.
I loved the first, started getting a little bored with the second. Never read the others — yet.
Ursula LeGuin Earthsea trilogy
Foundation trilogy by Asimov He then wrote a fourth and fifth, the fourth stands, the fifth isn’t worth the paper its printed on.
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