posted
After reading it through twice, I liked the first. I tried the second, and gave up. It was just too tedious, too hard to follow, and too hard to find a reason to care.
Posts: 34 | Registered: Apr 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Liked the first, hated the second, liked the third (which I read before I read the second), liked the fourth...lost the ball after that one.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I haven't read any of them. This is precisely the reason. Anyone I've asked has given mixed reviews. Oh, and being completely worm/snake phobic hasn't helped. Posts: 1911 | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm not going to crucify you for your opinion. People have different tastes.
However, I loved the series. The only one I had a hard time with was God Emperor of Dune. I liked the complete flip-flop of society in the later Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune.
I think Dune was a brilliant series, sadly left uncompleted. It not only encompassed The Iliad, but predicted the current Gulf Wars decades ahead of time.
quote: Not sure why they are "SF Classics."
To answer your question:
Elements of Dune can be found in much of Sci-Fi, from Steve Perry's Matador series to Star Wars. Also, it is like the Lord of the Rings of Sci-fi -- with the exception that each component of the story is a stand-alone novel.
posted
Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean it isn't good fiction. I didn't care for Lord of the Rings either, and there's a world of people out there who feel otherwise. I think it was my lack of ability to connect with any characters in either series that kept me from really getting into them.
But it is a classic, it's had a significant influence on the SF genre, and my opinion of it doesn't change that at all.
posted
I take it a lot of people who hang 'round here belong to a younger crowd, and haven't touched base with the many SF classics that influenced me so. So much of it is unavailable, out of print or in hard-to-get "special" editions...
Fair's fair, though...I've read only a smattering of the recent stuff, a lot of which is probably just as good as the "classics" I remember.
(For lack of a better place, I'll mention I just picked up another reprint, a new collection by the late Poul Anderson: To Outlive Eternity and Other Stories. Some great stuff in there. I'm still impressed by Anderson's work---but I was quite shocked to realize it's been at least twenty-five years, maybe longer, since I last read "No Truce With Kings," collected within. The collection seems to be easily available...if you're curious, pick it up.)
posted
I just got done reading the first book and am trying to hunt down the second (my library loves to leave at least one book out of any given series - they have most of the Ender books except Ender's Game itself...)
Anyway, I loved it. And I'm in the younger generation. I loved how complex it was, a "meat" story and not just glamorous fluff. Seems to me there's not too many of those these days...
I did see the influence it had on Star Wars, definately.
posted
I've read and reread the series many times, as well as the not nearly as good prequels that Herberts son and Anderson have published.
Dune - Loved it Dune, Messiah - Least favorite but still enjoyed it
Children of Dune - Nice twists and has a flavor similar to the first book
God Emperor or Dune - Radical departure in tone, this is where alot of people stop reading them, it is a good book but aside from setting bears little resemblence to the earlier books.
Heretics of Dune - Continues the tone of God Emperor and is enjoyable if you can make the shift
Chapterhouse Dune - This is often belittled as nothing but two nuns arguing for 600 pages, I did not find the book to be like that at all, I thought the dialogue they had was well interspersed with the Bashar storyline and it even kind of ended with a classic cliffhanger.
The prequel books are worth reading just to glimpse the source material that Frank Herbert was working from as executed by his son and Anderson.
The pre-prequels set during the original Jihad were not so interesting, but still worth a look if you are a true Dunehard fan.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
This is precisely the reason. Anyone I've asked has given mixed reviews. Oh, and being completely worm/snake phobic hasn't helped. 
