Dune & Dune Messiah

Dune & Dune Messiah

Frank Herbert, 1965

Some neighbors went for a sort of men's-afternoon-out to see the new Dune 2 movie, which got me thinking, so I went ahead and watched the recent Dune 1 movie, and then #2 as well. As action films go they're on the good side of the spectrum thanks to a cerebral bent, but at the end of the day they're still just action films. But I liked them enough to figure that I'll probably see #3 if there is one. So i decided to re-read the books. I read them I think back in 9th grade, in the late 1980s. I figured I'd read the first three: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune and possibly go on to ChapterHouse Dune because I remembered that's where my stamina petered out so many years ago.

But friends, these books just ain't that great.

There's plenty of reasons why.

• The fascination with single hand-to-hand combat. Goodness !
• The many, many many plot holes.
• The constant self-involved dialogue.
• Have I mentioned the Omniscient Narrator with Opinions ? (ONO) I'm not kidding, there's a narrator which goes inside everyone's head to let you know what they're thinking, but then also has opinions all of its own. It's weird.
• The overall atmosphere of psychedelia. Perhaps this was more novel in 1965, but even by the late 80s it was threadbare terrain for yours truly.

My theory is that Lord of the Rings was published in 1954-55 and sort of shocked the world of literature and good creative folks like Herbert said to themselves wow! what an epic scope! I can write that too! .. But neglected to put in the several decades of intense personal crafting of the world and the story which Tolkien had, with predictably inauthentic results.

Okay, 'nuff said.