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I've only read the first book, perhaps the rest of the series does get more sci-fi. But there are no clones or genetic engineering, and nothing about drug assis

I've only read the first book, perhaps the rest of the series does get more sci-fi. But there are no clones or genetic engineering, and nothing about drug assisted spaceship navigation. The mentats are just highly trained people. If your definition of sci-fi is anything set in the future or with some futuristic technology, then sure. But there is something very different between Dune and "typical" sci fi. It reminds me a lot of Star Wars, which people have described something like "fantasy adventure that just happens to take place in space". But at least star wars is filled with blasters and droids and space battles.

the_af 10y ago
No, sci-fi is not "anything set in the future", which is why I didn't use the word "future" in my post at all. By that token, SF is also NOT "filled with blasters and droids and space battles"... that's space opera! ;) It's true there are no clones in the first Dune book, but there is genetic engineering (that's what the Bene Gesserit breeding program is, after all). There is drug assisted navigation -- how else do you think the Guild Navigators manage to do it? That's a main plot point and why Arrakis and melange are so important. The mentats go beyond being "highly trained" people (they are the "human" response to computers after the Butlerian Jihad), and they claim the drugs they sip (called "sapho juice") assist them in their mental powers -- but if they were merely highly trained people, that would still be firmly within the realm of SF and outside Fantasy :) This is all from the first book, by the way. Dune has plenty of SF, as myself and others have already mentioned.
sleepybrett 10y ago
Both the mentat and the navigators are assisted by spice (the juice of saphoo or whatever is a spice concoction). The navigators themselves are potentially a new species after evolving under heavy influence by the spice.
dllthomas 10y ago
> nothing about drug assisted spaceship navigation I think you missed something.
- Houshalter 10y ago
  Quite possibly. Is it in the last 76 pages because I haven't finished it yet. So far the guild has only been mentioned as some mysterious organization no one knows anything about. I think they said no one has even seen a guildsman. They certainly haven't been an important part of the story.
  - dllthomas 10y ago
    There are a number of references, some oblique and some more direct. One of the clearer you've probably not hit yet (at least at the writing of your comment). But you've earlier passed, for instance, "But the idea of living out his life in the mind-groping-ahead-through-possible-futures that guided hurtling spaceships appalled him. It was a way, though. And in meeting the possible future that contained Guildsmen he recognized his own strangeness." > They certainly haven't been an important part of the story. Directly? No. But they're why the spice is necessary to space travel, which plays a major role in the economics (and thereby politics) of the situation.

the_af 10y ago

No, sci-fi is not "anything set in the future", which is why I didn't use the word "future" in my post at all. By that token, SF is also NOT "filled with blasters and droids and space battles"... that's space opera! ;) It's true there are no clones in the first Dune book, but there is genetic engineering (that's what the Bene Gesserit breeding program is, after all). There is drug assisted navigation -- how else do you think the Guild Navigators manage to do it? That's a main plot point and why Arrakis and melange are so important. The mentats go beyond being "highly trained" people (they are the "human" response to computers after the Butlerian Jihad), and they claim the drugs they sip (called "sapho juice") assist them in their mental powers -- but if they were merely highly trained people, that would still be firmly within the realm of SF and outside Fantasy :) This is all from the first book, by the way. Dune has plenty of SF, as myself and others have already mentioned.

sleepybrett 10y ago

Both the mentat and the navigators are assisted by spice (the juice of saphoo or whatever is a spice concoction). The navigators themselves are potentially a new species after evolving under heavy influence by the spice.

dllthomas 10y ago

> nothing about drug assisted spaceship navigation I think you missed something.

Houshalter 10y ago
Quite possibly. Is it in the last 76 pages because I haven't finished it yet. So far the guild has only been mentioned as some mysterious organization no one knows anything about. I think they said no one has even seen a guildsman. They certainly haven't been an important part of the story.
- dllthomas 10y ago
  There are a number of references, some oblique and some more direct. One of the clearer you've probably not hit yet (at least at the writing of your comment). But you've earlier passed, for instance, "But the idea of living out his life in the mind-groping-ahead-through-possible-futures that guided hurtling spaceships appalled him. It was a way, though. And in meeting the possible future that contained Guildsmen he recognized his own strangeness." > They certainly haven't been an important part of the story. Directly? No. But they're why the spice is necessary to space travel, which plays a major role in the economics (and thereby politics) of the situation.