Hello everyone!
I might have, even, if not for the fact that I needed to be in the right mood for it.
Also, I'm fairly certain that it was actually the better option for me to watch the movies first before tackling the book itself, because I understood a lot more going in that way than I possibly would have otherwise.
Or, maybe I'm just overthinking everything.
In any event! Let's not waste any more time.
Because we have to travel far, far into the future, to a point when there are no more computers, but there's definitely a whole lot of reasons for a holy war.
And plenty more reasons to wonder how it all goes down, in Dune.
I can now definitely say I see why Star Wars has Tatooine as a central, focal point whenever we visit a galaxy far, far away.
It's Dune, basically, the desert ass planet that the Fremen are doing their best to turn back into a lush, green garden so they can thrive on it rather than simply survive.
But, I digress.
We all know the plot, and there isn't much that diverges from it in the three parts of the book that you read through (Dune, Muad'Dib and The Prophet): in the future, like, tens of thousands of years into the future, computers have been banned and prohibited, but humanity have trained certain individuals to computer-like skills.
House Atreides is given governance over Arrakis, the one and only planet in the entire empire (not of the Palpatine kind, mind) that produces the spice Melange, which is needed to safely navigate through the vastness of space.
House Harkonnen has a beef to settle with the Atreides so they use a household doctor, turn him traitor, and eliminate their opponents.
Alas, however, two members of the house escape: the ducal heir, Paul, and his mother Lady Jessica of Bene Gesserit training (who has also, conveniently, been training PAUL in those ways).
We spend the entirety of Dune, that is, the first part of the book, learning about the different players and circumstances and the move from Caladan to Arrakis, as well as what worries certain people. Unlike in the movie, where we mostly follow Paul (with random inserts of his mother and father), we slip into the minds of his parents, his teachers, the traitor, the Harkonnens, and even the Bene Gesserit for a little while.
Even if it might sound confusing, it's actually helpful to the reader to learn of all the different factions vying for control of Arrakis and just what the reasoning for taking out House Atreides is.
Then, in Muad'Dib, we get to know the Fremen more, and watch Paul and Jessica adapt to their way of life in the desert, to survive when everyone else might have failed.
Not only this, but we learn about the Fremen dream, the prophecy detailing of the coming of their 'Chosen one', and how it's actually a part of the Bene Gesserit Missionaria Protectiva, aka, these witchy women have been all around the universe back in the day and planted seeds that might help them if they ever found themselves stranded on certain planets.
We also meet Chani, Paul's Sihaya, and watch as Paul struggles between simply allowing himself a life with the Fremen, letting the prescience that he's burdened with through the spice that he keeps ingesting one way or another, fade into oblivion, or taking up the mantle of the one who'll lead the Fremen to glory and re-define Arrakis, starting the jihad. The Holy War.
His horror at that idea is palpable, but by the time we slip into part three, The Prophet, when outside forces finally start taking note that something's up with Arrakis (and we still don't REALLY know why the Harkonnen bloodline is so important to preserve, considering they're psychos, the lot of them) and converge on the dusty ass place, he's fully transformed into the Kwisatz Haderach.
Having ingested the Water of Life from the great sandworm of Arrakis, Paul can now see the past and all possible futures, and he accepts that jihad is inevitable. This is even more painfully obvious when his sister is captured by the Imperial forces and his son is killed in the process.
But he out-plays everyone, takes the Emperor and his entire entourage hostage, having won over the Fremen completely, and declares himself the new Emperor, promising to take Princess Irulan as wife to consolidate his rule.
And we leave him just as he launches into the actual Holy War that he spends most of the book previously avoiding.
A masterful piece from start to finish, there's definitely key differences between the book and the movies, most importantly that Alia is fully omitted from the visual medium, kept as unborn for the time being, and that Lady Jessica plays a much larger role in pushing Paul towards his inevitable destiny than she does in the book.
In actuality, in the book, she practically pleads with him to make a choice for HIMSELF, rather than what she has - maybe even unconsciously, because of her training - been guiding him towards. The book shows it's much more Paul and the circumstances surrounding him that simply won't permit him to fade into obscurity which lead to him becoming exactly who he's been trying to avoid.
Now to some grittier business:
One, the chapter division only being represented by Irulan's quotes are a liiiiittle something to get used to. Not egregious, but still a bit abrupt.
Two, Herbert really should have worked on his transitions a bit better overall. The text will jump from one third person POV to another without much warning, and you sometimes need to REALLY knuckle down to figure it out.
Three, possibly the most annoying: half the time, we don't see something happening. We're constantly left with cliff hangers, because we get a set-up that says, for example, Paul will be doing X/Y/Z. Then instead of experiencing it with Paul, we immediately jump to the aftermath, usually into another POV, and get told about the consequences of this invisible action.
I wish we could have seen MORE, honestly. The world-building is top-notch, as is the definite set-up of different houses (we know the Atreides secure loyalty through love, the Harkonnens through fear, and the Corrinos through power), but so much potential is slightly wasted with the "tell, not show" mechanic employed throughout.
But I'm happy to finish this! Because now I know the nexus, and can go back to start right at the beginning to see for myself how every single path in the past 10,000 or so years brings us to Paul and his jihad.
Definitely recommend, but be aware you'll need to fully commit and be present when reading this.
Two, Herbert really should have worked on his transitions a bit better overall. The text will jump from one third person POV to another without much warning, and you sometimes need to REALLY knuckle down to figure it out.
Three, possibly the most annoying: half the time, we don't see something happening. We're constantly left with cliff hangers, because we get a set-up that says, for example, Paul will be doing X/Y/Z. Then instead of experiencing it with Paul, we immediately jump to the aftermath, usually into another POV, and get told about the consequences of this invisible action.
I wish we could have seen MORE, honestly. The world-building is top-notch, as is the definite set-up of different houses (we know the Atreides secure loyalty through love, the Harkonnens through fear, and the Corrinos through power), but so much potential is slightly wasted with the "tell, not show" mechanic employed throughout.
But I'm happy to finish this! Because now I know the nexus, and can go back to start right at the beginning to see for myself how every single path in the past 10,000 or so years brings us to Paul and his jihad.
Definitely recommend, but be aware you'll need to fully commit and be present when reading this.
xx
*image not mine
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