Witchcraft, sword-fighting, riding around on beasts, feudalism, scarcity, walking... Dune is great sci-fi even just for pointing out the future might look more

Witchcraft, sword-fighting, riding around on beasts, feudalism, scarcity, walking... Dune is great sci-fi even just for pointing out the future might look more like the past than the present. Then, the middle books cover prescience and its implications. The last two have more typical 80's sci-fi: ships, planets, weapons, dystopian overcrowded cities. The final clincher for me though is the strong thread of politics* throughout and the exploration of relationships outside of the bounds of the possibilities of past or present. In case you can't guess, I highly rate it all! (Although 2 and 3 are a bit weaker.) * Indeed, in an early scene, Paul identifies the purpose of the Bene Gesserit as politics, and they are arguably the main thread of the books.