29. Dune

29. Dune by Frank Herbert  (8/11/2011 - 8/28/2011)

Thus far in this experiment, I think this is the longest that I've taken to read a book.  To my credit: Dune IS almost 900 pages long (closer to 1,000 if you read all the appendices).  And it's an awesome 900 pages -- I'd never read Dune before but had always heard great things; hell, the cover of the book calls it "science-fiction's supreme masterpiece!"  Now, I'm not 100% sure it's the best sci-fi book ever written, but it's up there with the best sci-fi I've ever read.

Dune is the story of the Atreides family, who are moved to the desert planet of Arrakis (aka, Dune) and soon betrayed by their enemies.  Some insight is given into the minds of these enemies throughout the book, but the majority of the tome focuses on the life of the Ducal heir, Paul, who will be ultimately be accepted into the Fremen as Muad'dib -- essentially, as the Fremen savior that has been prophetized  for generations.  There are many interwoven layers to this plot -- the Bene Gesserit women who have been planning for the coming of their own savior, the movement to transform Arrakis into a veritable Eden, the stealthy workings of the Emperor and his Sardauker, the betrayals of the Harkonnen family, and the list goes on.

That being said, I do caution against delving into Dune too quickly.  The narrative style takes some getting used to; for probably the first 250-300 pages, almost all of the action takes place off the page and you as the reader are learning about it through characters talking about what happened. Don't get me wrong, it's still super interesting stuff! But it's secondhand.  That does lend some authenticity to the narrative, but it is a little difficult to get used to.  In some areas of the start of the novel, I felt like I was reading something close to Asimov's Foundation (book 5 on this list) wherein characters would discuss the plan and then the story would jump to after it had been successfully completed.  And just like with Asimov: it's a little disconcerting until you get used to it.  This does change, like I said, around page 300 or so, and from there on out, all action is being carried out in front of you on the page.  It is, in my opinion, after this point that the true genius of Herbert comes forward in the writing.

Herbert has done something truly amazing with Dune -- he has created a plot so complicated yet so simple to follow and understand and, most importantly, believe that I as a reader could not help being entirely enthralled from start to finish.  There were moments where I would quite literally forget that I was sitting in my living room; I was so engrossed, I almost believed I was a Fremen warrior following along as the story of Muad'dib unfolded around me.  I think at one point I actually yelled at my fiancee when he interrupted my reading to ask me a simple question -- I believe my exact words were something like "Go away, they're trying to kill the main character and he CAN'T DIE!" When I started, I was skeptical that Dune was a masterpiece; now, on the other side of the plot (but not even close to finished with the appendices, which are actually useful for the first time in fiction's history since Tolkien), I completely agree. Dune is amazing. Future science fiction reading will never be the same.