Our discussion of Dune by Frank Herbert

Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the 'spice' melange, the most important and valuable substance in the cosmos. The story explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis.

Published in 1965, it won the Hugo Award in 1966 and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. Dune is frequently cited as the world's best-selling sf novel. Goodreads

Below are a sampling of our comments:

• The book is a product of its time – women are “other”
• Jessica is strong, smart, and a player in a feudal, male-dominated world
• The power of the Reverend Mothers balances things out a bit
• This was one of the first books to really explore world-building and it is an amazing achievement that continues through all six books in the series
• The book had an ecological message before its time – climate fiction from the 1960s
• There’s a theory that the spice is a metaphor for oil
• The Guild was not really explored in the first book - the movie was very different from the book
• Check out the Fatboy Slim video for “Weapon of Choice” featuring the dancing of Christopher Walken and Dune inspired lyrics
• Trivia: What supergroup composed the soundtrack for the 1984 movie? …Toto

Please add any additional thoughts or comments you may have about Dune. We gave this title the codes AGE, ESP, ECO, POL, CUL, REL, & ETH with an average rating of 4.4.