As soon as I finished reading the prequel to this, I had to go back and reread it. It had been over 15 years since my first read and I had to give it another shot. After all these years and so many other books, it's still stands apart as a masterpiece to be admired and revered.
This is a sci-fi story alright, but the future is quite different from what one might imagine. The known universe is ruled by an Emperor and the government system is basically feudal. Titles of nobility abound: dukes, barons, counts, earls and all that. Implausible? I don't know, but I recommend you suspend any disbelief you may have and read on.
In several aspects society depends on a substance called the spice melange, which extends life and expands consciousness. Faster than light travel lies at the core of the empire's economy and requires that spaceship navigators use this substance's power to fold space and compute trajectories between source and destination. The only problem is that the spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe. A desolate, dry planet called Arrakis or Dune.
The story that unfolds as you read on is one of political intrigue, social manipulation, warfare, ecology, mysticism and, of course, of fantasy. Said to be the best selling sci-fi series of all time, Dune is a majestic piece of imaginative work, a puzzle carefully and beautifully crafted. It talks about the nature of men, about good and evil, honor and friendship and all that lies at the core of an entire society. Undoubtedly, this is one of my favourites and I can't help but recommend it to anyone who enjoys an intelligent read.
Having refreshed my memory with this volume helped me appreciate the prequel a little more. Characters who are no more than sidekicks here, such as Shaddam IV, Count Fenring, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam and even the Baron Harkonnen are given a fuller background and made more solid. In light of this new realization, I must also recommend you read the prequel, but read it after Dune.
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