I’ve read “Dune” so many times in my life that the binding of my hardcover copy has long since been broken. There’s really no need to discuss how wonderful the book is, or how much it changed my perception of the world, science fiction, and how it all tied together. To call “Dune” a tour de force of imagination is practically a cliché.
Instead, this time around, I was looking at the novel in light of the recently published prequels. A great many things stood out in the prequels as inconsistent with my memory of the original novels, and having tackled the “Legends” and “House” trilogies, it seemed like a good idea to refresh on the classic novels.
Considering how many basic facts were contradicted (such as Paul’s birthplace), it’s stunning how many of the broad plot elements in the trilogies were right there in the original text. It wasn’t hard at all to understand why the new authors went in the direction they did on certain topics, particularly in terms of the “Legends” trilogy. Oddly, most of the discrepancies and tonal disharmonies take place between the “House” trilogy and the classics.
It’s also interesting how the saga as a whole has created such a mystique around the novel that it always feels like something is missing on every new re-read. “Dune” is actually the most straightforward of the classic novels, despite the depth of the universe, and it’s almost as if the words themselves only scratch the surface. That quality only serves to reinforce the primary weakness of the Herbert/Anderson novels; the new novels may be detailed and might cover a dozen plot threads, but they lack the substance of Herbert’s original creation.
Rating: 10/10
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