The Dune Books.....I Am Not Enjoying The First Book

Im a huge sci fi and fantasy fan. I have read about everything there is and what I havent it is on my reading list. I have been putting off reading Dune because I have been told that it is the best sci fi book out there. I was kind of afraid that after I read it there would be nothing left for awhile but I ran out of books...so I'm reading Dune and I just don't get it...Does it pick up somewhere? It is boring so far and just not that interesting to me. Anyone out there who has read them please motivate me to continue or just tell me its not my cup of tea. Im unsure of what page im on but id wager im through atleast 50 to 100 and its been a bore fest so far.

To each their own...
I loved Dune-Children of Dune, after that, it just got silly.

I personally can't read Asimov. I like the premises and the concepts, just not the delivery. Different strokes for different folks.

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

How far in are you?

It's a 50 year old book.

I'm guessing you're about half that age.

Dune is an amazing series. Maybe you could read a page or two every so often? Or watch the film to get you started? Sometimes watching the movie before reading the book helps instead of the other way around.

Never tried them--too spacey for me. I prefer my book landscape to be mythical and medieval-y versus robots. I personally can't stand things that take place in outer space because they aren't very believable and there are usually a load of plot holes. I also dislike Asimov. The best sci fi book that I've read would have to be The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Also, the author China Mieville is very good--just got done reading Kraken. Which was a great book about a futuristic london divided by strange religious cults--one of whom worships the Kraken. There are ninjas, wizards, necromancers, esp-users, basically there's anything and everything lol. Really weird but quite enjoyable.

The Dune books always looked like a weird rip off of Earthsea to me, so I never tried them. They were popular with boys but I've not really met any girls who enjoyed them.

With regards to newer scifi, of course, Feed is good. So is Unwind--my personal YA sci fi favorite. Then of course the Uglies/Pretties/Specials by Westerfeld. American Gods and Neverwhere by Gaiman. The Magicians by Grossman. Slaughterhouse 5 wasn't bad...

But yeah, 50 years shmifty years. I read older books--I love literature. Dune gave me an 'ehhh' feeling looking at it and I trust my booksense. I'm good at picking out what I'd like based on covers alone usually. Which sounds stupid but for me it works. Something about good aesthetics/eye-catchingness, creativeness of the title.

Dune has been done before. And I am not feeling it. Sorry to those who like it--I also hate the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And I can go into why but that would be a bit derailing.

Dune sounds contrived--oh the big hooray savior against the galactic evils! eh, i'm not buying it. To get me to love it, a book has to make me trust it so i can get lost in it. Reading about a cliche protagonist who does cliche things to save a planet isn't my cup of tea. I'd rather read something that sets my imagination on fire and that teaches me something useful. I don't care about relationships between characters in dune because I cannot relate. That kinda thing.

Same reason why I don't like the Enders series. Something about space books--they usually aren't very smart-feeling for some reason. It's like the author took all his creativity and made up the environment--but had none left for the actual plot or for character development. Things aren't as surprising as in other books--maybe because space is such a limiting environment. Now, I'd love reading a book about how space is time and the characters traverse through the aether or something. That would be better. But stranding me as a reader on some planet I care nothing about...how about not having a planet. Like, where is middle earth? might not be our earth--but it might be. Same with Robert Jordan--there's that air of mystery that leaves something up to the reader to imagine.

I'm a bookworm lol whee

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

Ya know, I tried reading the first Dune book as well. I just couldn't get into it no matter how hard I tried, I always found my attention straying.

I do love me some sci-fi though. If you haven't, I recommend checking out the work of Neal Stephenson. Particularly Snow Crash and Anethema. Ian M. Banks is a great sci-fi author as well along with Richard Morgan, another favorite of mine.

My heart is in fantasy though.

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

I was not impressed either although more than one person told me it was must read S F..
After watching the I M O unwatchable film Dune with Sting and coffee guy from Twin Peaks I decided to give the book a try.
At least the first part and was totaly under whelmed.

Its a case of each to there own and the world would be boreing if all our likes and diss likes were the same.

Try Weave World by James Herbert Fabtasy as opposed to S F but still a fantastical book and I am amazed Its never be dramatised for T V would make a great series .
I also like the River world Books by P J Farmer although I know people that find them as bad as I found Dune .
River World was adapted for T V but was I M O un watchable and bore only fleeting resemblances to the books.

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Yes Ian Banks been a fan since Wasp Factory.
His Fiction and Novels are brilliant he writes S F under Ian M Banks

You have to get to about pg. 150 or so before it picks up.

It's a difficult read, there are meanings within meanings, which are hard to pick up on.

My favorite was the last in the series, Chapterhouse Dune was phenomenal.

Thick politics in Dune. Loved the first book especially. Maybe by the end of it the spice will be in your system and you'll continue reading the rest of the series!

a reply to: ecossiepossie

Indeed.

My favorite of his works is Transition. Simply mind blowing. Its a shame he's gone.

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

Did you see the movie before reading the book? So theres that.

Then there is the clear and present reality that all these sci fi ideas from books like Dune have been played to death by Hollywood and reading about it in a Novel now is just plain boring as hell.

Too bad you weren't around before sic fi block buster movies. Books were adventures for the mind. Nowadays our minds have become laser blaster mush.

imo

a reply to: the owlbear

Very interesting cause I love Asimov....haha i bet its just a flavor im not enjoying is all....

a reply to: intrptr

Never seen the movie...ive debated watching it now instead to see if it gets me pumped up

a reply to: GodEmperor

Very well ill give it to 150 then....ive read a few reviews stating a lot of people give it up in the first 50 pages

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Snow crash is on my list! Along with another book he wrote which I can't remember now.

originally posted by: rukia

The Dune books always looked like a weird rip off of Earthsea to me, so I never tried them. They were popular with boys but I've not really met any girls who enjoyed them.

Umm, OK. Let's recap. The Earthsea series was written as young adult novels, rather short with easy language suitable for pre-teens, featuring a young wizard as the protagonist, intelligent dragons with mystical powers, and, you know, lots of water, including floating cities, where young man meets dragons and learns the mystical ways. And yes, intentionally suitable for girls, which is part of the author's philosophy.

Dune, a lengthy, complex, and language-rich book, takes place on a desert planet that makes Tatooine look like a paradise where the ruling family has been exiled/sent/transferred there because of galactic politics, where a bunch of huge worms try to protect their excrement from "miners," who farm the stuff because people who eat it have their eyes turn luminescent, and it happens to be valuable because of its life-lengthening properties, where people who die have all the water squeezed out of them to contribute to a hopefully eventually vast underground lake that will obviate the desert......

and Dune is a ripoff of Earthsea?

Hmm. I never would have thought of that. And I think both Frank Herbert and Ursula LeGuin would be scratching their heads in puzzlement as well.

Most underrated, incredible, mindblowing sci fi, RADIX by A. A. Attanasio. Add to your list, must read.

Now you, recommend something you've read.

a reply to: rockpaperhammock

Dude, it is literally one of the best books I have ever read and it was only his sophomore effort, great stuff. Neal Stephenson is an excellent author. His Baroque Cycle is mind numbingly boring but excellent nonetheless. Another I would recommend would be Daemon and Freedom its sequel both by Daniel Suarez, great books. Ian McDonald's River of Gods is a must read as well.