Reply #15: My dear Orrex,

[Dr. Strange]

I'm about 102 pages into it, and here's the approximate breakdown:

Pages 1 to 65: Lots of intrigue. Intrigue, intrigue, intrigue. Conspirators. Intrigue. Some stuff about the Bene Gesserit and a guy with a rubber face. More intrigue. And some more.

Pages 66 through 85: Intrigue! Buckets and buckets of intrigue, with Paul and Alia and Chani and Irulan, and then some more intrigue. Followed by intrigue. A smattering of Fremen slogans and then some more intrigue.

Wheels within wheels, my friend.
Will he heed my challenge? Dr. Strange wondered. I fear he won't be up to it, what with his elfin intelligence.

Pages 87 through 88: The young Alia strips naked, bathes, and then engages in some nude swordplay with a prism-dummy until she's interrupted by Paul and Stilgar, both of whom take appreciative note of her nudity.

:woohoo:

Pages 89 through 101: Intrigue! A big steaming pile of intrigue, with an extra splash of intrigue for good measure. Then there's some intrigue involving a Steersman who's scored some facetime with Paul. After this we get an offhand mention of Genghis Khan, who killed 4 million, and Emperor Hitler, who killed 6+ million. "Pretty good for those days," notes Paul, with apparent admiration. We then learn that paul has, by his own admission, killed upwards of 61 billion.

Page 102: Intrigue, complete with a body found decapitated in the desert with its hands cut off. Alia has taken the time to put clothes on, by the way.

And what are Paul's feelings about the jihad? This is an important point. Pay attention!

I have to say that I'm almost bored out of my mind, the nubile Alia notwithstanding. I know that Herbert is praised for the rich tapestry of his Duniverse, but all of this intrigue within intrigue makes me want to pluck my eyes out.

Do you know what the Fremen do with their blind? Soon, you will!

Why is it that Paul and Alia, in spite of their supernaturally sharp prescience, seem to be worse at reading people than anyone else in the book and, honestly, than anyone I've ever met?

I never got that impression. To me, it came across more as not really caring what other people thought.

Also, I find Herbert's third-person omniscient POV to be frankly amateurish, and it invariably follows this formula:

Person One says Thing A.
Person Two reacts to that Thing A while thinking Thing B.
Person One says something else about Thing A while thinking that Person Two is pondering Thing B.
Person Two says something else about Thing A while thinking that Person One knows that Person Two is thinking about Thing B

And so on.

This is all easily understood in light of Joseph Campbell's Hero Myth. Maybe if you read more you'd be smart enough to figure this out. There! I've played the Campbell card. Now he has no choice but to respect my opinion.

I'm sorry to say that I'm not greatly impressed. Dune is considered a cornerstone of serious science fiction, but there are some basic flaws in the story, the characterizations, and the writing. I'll finish the book because it's so short, but...

But after that, you will continue. You will read Children of Dune. And then you will read God Emperor of Dune. And then you can stop, because that is where you choose to stop. And also because the last two books in the series aren't as good if you ask me.