4 ms·

I love the first book; have read it ~5 times. I never picked up on this "heroes are disasters" theme until last week, when a review of the movie said the same t

I love the first book; have read it ~5 times. I never picked up on this "heroes are disasters" theme until last week, when a review of the movie said the same thing. Still love the book, not sure if it was that effective at getting that message across. Maybe my opinion will change when I re-read it again with knowledge of that underlying motivation.

Trasmatta 3y ago
Herbert himself regretted the fact that not many people picked up on that theme, which is why they tried to make it more obvious in the movie. Did you read Dune Messiah and Children of Dune?
- kaycebasques 3y ago
  Makes sense, thanks for the color. That makes me give Part Two a little more slack. But only a little. Loved Part One but Part Two was a disappointment for me. Yes, read each of those books once. I think I got up to God Emperor. Next time I have the itch to read the first, maybe I'll just force myself all the way through to Chapterhouse...
setr 3y ago
I don’t think it’s even possible to read that theme out of book 1; the only real suggestion of it is the jihad prophecy, but by the end of the book our hero has only really done good things for good people and has dramatically escalated in power over his enemies with essentially zero negative consequences… and even as you read through it, it seems like Paul is going to eventually avoid that future (because he’s so constantly aware of heading towards it), so even thats not useful. It only really shows up in the next books, and then with hindsight
enasterosophes 3y ago
It wasn't obvious to me until I read God-Emperor. God-Emperor is the key to understanding exactly what Dune is about. These days when I re-read all six books (as I do maybe every five years or so), the original trilogy just ends up feeling like prequels.

4 ms·

I love the first book; have read it ~5 times. I never picked up on this "heroes are disasters" theme until last week, when a review of the movie said the same t

by kaycebasques 3y ago

Trasmatta 3y ago
Herbert himself regretted the fact that not many people picked up on that theme, which is why they tried to make it more obvious in the movie. Did you read Dune Messiah and Children of Dune?
- kaycebasques 3y ago
  Makes sense, thanks for the color. That makes me give Part Two a little more slack. But only a little. Loved Part One but Part Two was a disappointment for me. Yes, read each of those books once. I think I got up to God Emperor. Next time I have the itch to read the first, maybe I'll just force myself all the way through to Chapterhouse...
setr 3y ago
I don’t think it’s even possible to read that theme out of book 1; the only real suggestion of it is the jihad prophecy, but by the end of the book our hero has only really done good things for good people and has dramatically escalated in power over his enemies with essentially zero negative consequences… and even as you read through it, it seems like Paul is going to eventually avoid that future (because he’s so constantly aware of heading towards it), so even thats not useful. It only really shows up in the next books, and then with hindsight
enasterosophes 3y ago
It wasn't obvious to me until I read God-Emperor. God-Emperor is the key to understanding exactly what Dune is about. These days when I re-read all six books (as I do maybe every five years or so), the original trilogy just ends up feeling like prequels.