Dune is Frank
Herbert's masterpiece, a work of art that
has had a tremendous impact on the world of
science fiction since the first moment of
its release. Now, 40 years, 10 books 2 movies
and 3 video games later, we are just beginning
to see how the Duniverse has shaped the world
of fantasy writing.
Dune focuses on the rise of young Paul
Atreides, son of Duke
Leto of Caladan and Lady
Jessica, a Bene
Gesserit, upt to the Emperor's throne. Paul
moves from his home land, planet Arrakis, to the
planet Arrakis, else known as Dune, which has
been given to his father by the emperor.
Arrakis is the house of the melange production,
the spice, a material with geriatric action, highly
addictive, which is needed by the Guild
navigators to make interstellar journeys possible.
Mostly, spice is the substance that can build
up prescience and the ability to see the future.
In Arrakis, the Atreides house is victim to treasury
by the enemy house of Harkonnen. Duke Leto dies
and most of the Atreides troops are slayed, including
Dankan Aidaho, Leto's
swordmaster, whereas Paul and his mother flee
into the deserted areas that cover 99% of the
planet's surface. There they will enroll in a
Framen community (Dune's natives). Paul, using
his special skills as a Kwisatz Haderach and his
training in the Bane Gesserit ways, will try to
exploit the Fremen
prejudice and become their religious and war leader.
What makes Dune stand apart from all other science
fiction novels, is the unique complexity of the
plot "behind" the book. No simple and
childish Star Wars worlds will you find in Frank
Herbert's worlds. Comparable only to the Lord
of the Rings, in matters of complexity, Dune is
a mixture of philosophy, politics, religious prejudice
and ecology. The basic theory in the book stems
from a
Bene Gesserit saying: There is no least unstable
structure in matters of government than a tripod.
And so is the world of Dune: The emperor with
his powerful Sardaukar,the
Landsraad Council
of the great Houses and the Guild with its
monopoly over space journeys. The situation becomes
more complicatd by the presence of the Bene Gesserit
with theie selective human-breeding program and
the importance of the spice, the ultimate imperial
coin.
Concluding, Dune is one of those rare cases of
SF books, consisting of stories within stories
within stories. You can love it or you can despise
it (the character of Paul
Atreides with his Nitshe influences, so far
away from the average Hollywood movie :good guy
hero" can be a burdain in the stomach). There
is no way however that you can neglect it!
