"Dune: Book one" by Frank Herbert (Dune Chronicles #1, 1965)

Simply, one of the books I regret NOT reading earlier. It's easily one of the well-written epics ever produced after Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Since my time back in college, the name was on my mind, but it never grew more than another title in my long-buried, dust-gathering TBR list. First, there were Frank Herbert's first six books and the other ones written by his son. And second, there's David Lynch's Dune (1984) flop of a movie adaptation. Both reasons weren't encouraging enough to make me embark on this long journey. That changed anyway since I watched Denis Villeneuve's Dune (2021). It had the one thing I really desired to see in a sci-fi/fantasy epic—culture. Not just another medieval replica, but that of something unique, mystical, and exotic.

Dune (published in 1965) is a coming-of-age epic exploring themes like self-discovery, betrayal, revenge, extremism, religion, and politics, but what sets it apart from J. R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (published in 1996) in this regard is its heavy focus on the spiritual. 

“On Caladan, we ruled with sea and air power. Here, we must scrabble for desert power.”

                                                                                                  —Duke Leto

Humans have always looked at the desert as something that inspires awe and reverence. And indeed, there's something serene and even romantic about it. Something to fear. Something to admire. That's what makes Dune unique in its approach to spiritualism and sophism.

Some readers may find the writing style to be a bit stilted or constrained. There's some truth to that. Still, it's not a deal-breaker if you consider the time of the story's events, which is about 10,000 years in the distant future. Of course, by then, language and culture and interactions would divert and become different from that of our time.

On the contrary, for me, the writing style felt rather compulsive, a bit of a page-turner, despite the fact that the book is crammed with a plethora of new and even odd concepts. To make the reading process enjoyable and far from monotony, Herbert was fully conscious of not to info-dump world-building concepts on his readers. Instead, he exploits the setting/context/plot to his advantage and introduces each concept one at a time. This is pro writing. I never felt that I was being dictated to what the world of Arrakis was. Rather, I felt there was a hunger within me, compelling me to flip the pages and discover more about the Gom Jabbar, Kwisatz Haderach, the Spice, the worms, the Fremen, etc. 

One of the most important aspects that the book excels at is 'character development'. Never before did I read about such distinct and remarkable characters, and that wasn't in the sense of being them ideally painted in black-and-white. The morality of Dune is complex. Each character undergoes apparent change over time, from Thufir Hawat, Gurney Hallack, the Baron, Stilgar, Chani, Jessica,..., to Paul. In fact, this change plays an important and critical role in shaping the characters' lives because of the choices they'll have to make.

Some might argue that the book falls into controversial traps ranging from cultural appropriation, the 'white savior' narrative, to touching on sensitive religious issues, especially if equating Paul with the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). I'm an Arab and a Muslim. If anything, I've never felt so overwhelmed and awed by the richness of the world of Dune. The narrative is subjective, I admit, but it was done in a positive way. Indeed, there are similarities in the process of making the Kwisatz Haderach but the outcome of Paul as a character diverts from any real figure. 

Furthermore, I didn't detect any kind of looking-down orientalist narrative towards middle-eastern cultures (if the Fremen are indeed a projection of such ethnic group that is). Far from it, Herbert paints this fictional group of nomads as proud and free.

There are of course some issues I've had with the book which prevent me from granting it a rating of 5/5 stars.

(some spoilers are ahead)

a) I would have loved it better if we had gotten to know Chani more and more. The ending was kinda sad and unjust. Now, I know that being a Kwisatz Haderach required Paul to marry the Emperor's daughter even though he's in love with Chani.

Perhaps the only solace I'll get before reading the second book is in Jessica's words to Chani:

"Think on it, Chani: that princess will have the name, yet she'll live as less than a concubine—never to know a moment of tenderness from the man to whom she's bound. While we, Chani, we who carry the name of concubine—history will call us wives."

b) The fighting scene at the end against Feyd-Rautha was waaaay off. First, there was no depth to either his character or background. We didn't get to know him better. The reason why we didn't grow to hate him. Feyd-Rautha didn't do anything to Paul. In fact, he was going to do him a favor by assassinating the Baron.

c) The book could benefit from the element of surprise to create some kind of a shock. I didn't like Herbert's approach, for instance, when exposing Yueh, the traitor, right from the beginning, or when Princess Irulan keeps spoiling things about Mua'Dib for us.

Summary: 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dune. It was a gratifying experience. The characters are so relatable and the plot is interesting. I have some reservations about the ending though. I'll definitely continue reading through the second book.