Dune was a neat read.
There was a couple of really interesting things going on with it. 1. The lack of technology 2. Th political stuff going on 3. “The chosen one” 4. Underground societies
The lack of technology
So in the Dune Universe, there used to be robots. We read quite a bit on robots and AI this year, and in this SciFi classic they've been taken out. The AI became too powerful, and tried to take over. So it was a destroyed and banned, and any attempts to make any new robots is punishable by death. But Dune is an interplanetary adventure. How do they deal with having to travel around in space without robots? Well they use Super-humans who have been consuming the special spice found on Arrakis, the sandy planet covered in dunes. The spice is incredibly valuable, and everyone wants it. What rational person wouldn't? With no robots, Frank Herbert can tell a different kind of story He goes back to old timey things like sword fights and some cool concepts like secret societies like the Ben Gesserit. The Bene Gesserit are a group of women who consumed the spice and were going to bring in someone who would change the world, the Kwisatz Haderach, the supreme being. He could see the past present and future. What does such a powerful character do?
The chosen one
Paul acts surprisingly level headed for a 15 year old whose fate is to be the greatest, most supreme being in existence. Paul follows the monomyth, the template story that all great heroes go through.
Check out this thing I didn't make
Political stuff
You know how the prequel star wars films were really lame political sci fi?
This is really cool political sci-fi.
The whole universe changes command, through a massive war that kills a million billion people. This is also somewhat allegorical to the oil wars going on in the middle east. The spice is oil, and everyone wants it because of how powerful it is.
Underground societies
The Benne Gesserit is a powerful woman only club, which is neat. Except they do witchcraft-y stuff and the savior of the universe has to be a male. So I'm not sure what this says about gender stuff. But they have a way to find the Kwisatz Haderach, which is to make him drink the bile of an Arrakis sand worm. Paul does it, and he goes into a 3 week coma. Everyone else who tried it died painfully.
This is really cool political sci-fi.
The whole universe changes command, through a massive war that kills a million billion people. This is also somewhat allegorical to the oil wars going on in the middle east. The spice is oil, and everyone wants it because of how powerful it is.
Underground societies
The Benne Gesserit is a powerful woman only club, which is neat. Except they do witchcraft-y stuff and the savior of the universe has to be a male. So I'm not sure what this says about gender stuff. But they have a way to find the Kwisatz Haderach, which is to make him drink the bile of an Arrakis sand worm. Paul does it, and he goes into a 3 week coma. Everyone else who tried it died painfully.



