" I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. "
With its movie coming out this October I decided to read DUNE or so called The Father of Science Fiction. I am not a big fans of the sci-fi genre, but with the fact that DUNE is a classics so I thought I might give it a shot. My journey with this 800-page-long book has a bittersweet moment. So here's my list of 5 things that I like - and 5 others that I don't - About Frank Herbert's DUNE.
warning: spoiler alert!
What I Like - The World Building
Sci-fi has never been my first genre to pickup in a bookstore, it's simply because I can't make the narrations feel alive, shortly my imagination sucks. But, Frank Herbert's writing has helped me to imagine this book easily. Even though DUNE is placed 10.000 years from now, some of the situation is very relatable today. I must admit that Herbert has the best world building skill, given by the fact that this book was written in the 60s and inspired a lot of modern sci-fi movie.
What I like - The Political Issue
Even though DUNE is purely imaginative, some of the politics in this book felt real. The cold-war between The House of Harkonnen and The House of Atreides is inspired by the real life cold-war, the U.S.A and Russia. Also, there are some lines in this book that indicate how these big houses underestimated the Fremen, despite that these people are the real owner of Arrakis. I can relate to the imperialism that happened in this book, because I grew up in a country that used to experienced that too.
What I like - The Fremen
The fremen are the desert people. They have a strong personality also rich in culture. They are very courageous and won't submit to anyone but themselves. Living in the desert is the same thing as living with challenge and not all can survive through this circumstances, that is why the fremen are the real desert power.
What I like - The Ecology
The water crisis that portrayed in this book felt like a vision tunnel to the future. With our earth raging because of the global warming, Frank's imagination are going faster to come true. In this book, the fremen really value their water, they even have their own water discipline to not waste any moisture of their body (they contains their own sweat and drink it). This scene might be come true if we're not starting to see environmental issue as each of us responsibility.
The ecology of this book is a warning given by Frank.
What I like - The Philosophy
If you have read this book, you must have known the ancestors of Paul. The message here is that no body is truly evil and not all hero are truly good, each of us has evil inside of us and it is only the matter of perspective. The truth is The Atreides and The Harkonnen came from the same roots. But, plainly we might see that The Atreides are the hero, but with Paul freeing the fremen and fight against the Emperor, Paul has threatened the Universe stability. On the other hand, with the Harkonnen's tyranny on Arrakis, the Universe kept steady but the fremen suffers. In this simple example which one do you think play the role of the bad-guy and the hero? me, it depends on which filter-glass we use.
We won't see evil robots or AI going crazy in this book. It is full of flesh and bone and a story about how humanity must survive in a most uncertain and changing times. Frank did not deny the fact that technology will dominate this earth someday and we can't avoid this fact. But, in DUNE Frank has given us a vision of the future that human must learn to live with technology as in Mentat a human formed AI.
What I don't like - Princess Irulan
In every beginning of every chapter, there is always Irulan's saying. In my opinion, these sayings are not important because it gave us spoiler for what might happened in the chapter. Also, Princess Irulan was finally introduced in the last 10 pages and she doesn't plays a big role either. So, I don't know why is her sayings or quotes keep on appearing on every chapter.
What I don't like - The Antagonist or The Harkonnen
At the very beginning of the book, we are introduced to a villain that is brutal and scary. But, moving along with this book, the villain does not play a major part of the book, even he does not affect anything. Frank also made a villain that is easy to hate, he doesn't give the Harkonnen a single token of luck. They are pictured as a fat-ugly-and-love-to-kill person and their dead are very easy without any complicated family drama or fight scene. I am really disappointed in the way Frank sealed the Baron's fate.
What I don't like - The Fight Scene
After reaching the third book, I began to sense a feeling of disappointment. I, as a reader, have brought to a journey with Paul and the Fremen in the first two books. I must admit that the first and the second book was the best-but the third one is dry as hell. It supposed to be the final fight for the Fremen and the Atreides against the Harkonnen and The Evil Emperor but, Frank does not give many rooms for the war scene, suddenly the Fremen and Atreides win. I need a more details about the fight scene or at least give me a 'Hero reprise' feeling.
What I don't like - Women Portrayal
I don't know why I expect much from a book that's written in the 60s by a white male. Of course, this book is very misogynistic. Women here are seen only as a support character. Whether we are seen as an evil manipulator, good manipulator, a baby machine, or a token for our male partner's success.
Chani and Paul relationship is also problematic. Both of them are still young and underage, but how come they have become a parents? Also, after both of them are married, suddenly Chani changed the way she call her husband. She became fully formal towards him and uses word like thy, thee etc. At this point, I'm asking myself 'Am I reading Romeo and Juliet right now?'. I am questioning this decision Frank has made.
What I don't like - The Weird Conversation
There are many conversation in this book, but sometimes the book has indeed a weird conversation. For example, in processing his grief- Paul's - he asked Gurney his quotes of the day. I don't know why he asked him that but pretty sure that is extremely weird. There's a lot more of unecessary conversation that is happening in this book.
Overall, I enjoy reading this book. It is a very thick and hard to read, so make sure you are fully prepared to read this book. I can see how DUNE plays a very big role in the modern sci-fi movie and in my opinion Frank's DUNE is a celebration to human's imagination. If you are fully blind to this book, let me give you a ; this book is a combination of Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and Guardian of The Galaxy.
Here is my final rating for DUNE
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