Dune (2020)

Sterling said:

Just got done rereading the 6 Frank books. Didn't follow up with any of the other shit because that's exactly what it is. If you've never read past Chapterhouse, don't. Learning what happens to those characters isn't worth it.

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You literally ruin the series reading that shit too, especially those that are new to the universe. I admit I read one, the rest I just read the plot outline. It's like going from Tolkien to Dragonlance.

Regime said:

Just finished Chapterhouse. I loved it.
I read it in the 90s and just didn’t understand it was to complicated for me then when I was a kid.

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Don't read the House books and stuff from Brian. It's bad. Like Matrix:Revolutions combined with Catwoman and Battlefield:Earth bad.

Cynical said:

You literally ruin the series reading that shit too, especially those that are new to the universe. I admit I read one, the rest I just read the plot outline. It's like going from Tolkien to Dragonlance.

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That is unfair, yeah dragonlance is no Tolkien but it is still fun and enjoyable, this shit is not.

Kovaks said:

That is unfair, yeah dragonlance is no Tolkien but it is still fun and enjoyable, this shit is not.

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Best example I could pull out of my ass in a hurry lol. I read tons of the Dragonlance stuff as a kid, the Raistlin & Caramon trilogy would probably still be a decent read, it was dark enough, if I remember right. I might just pop into a used book store and see if I can find those cheap sometime, and find out how well it aged. I was probably 16 the last time I read that.

Cynical said:

You literally ruin the series reading that shit too, especially those that are new to the universe. I admit I read one, the rest I just read the plot outline. It's like going from Tolkien to Dragonlance.

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Fuck you you son of a bitch! Dragonlance was the diamond of my youth and Raistlin din du nuffin. I think every single RPG character I made for years was named Tanis.

Seriously, although I TREMENDOUSLY enjoyed the Dragonlance books of my youth, I am sure I would get brain cancer re-reading them as an older adult.

I do want to say that Tolkien is a shit read as an older adult as well though, even if it shaped my preferred reading genre for the rest of my life.

But I digress. I have read something like 6 books since I finished the Frank Herbert Dune books, and those 6 books took about as long to read as it took me to read the last Dune book. They are some meaty tomes and require a lot of internal consideration and analysis on the go. I.e. they are not "light" reading.

Edit - as another aside, how do you figure The Thieves World books would have aged over time? I loved them back in the days. All those funny "Myth Adventures" books as well. I was thinking about getting my kid into those Myth books. The Amber series as well, which I believe is somewhat more high-brow than all mentioned so far. This is not the Book thread you idiot, stop it.

Slaanesh69 said:

Edit - as another aside, how do you figure The Thieves World books would have aged over time? I loved them back in the days. All those funny "Myth Adventures" books as well. I was thinking about getting my kid into those Myth books. The Amber series as well, which I believe is somewhat more high-brow than all mentioned so far. This is not the Book thread you idiot, stop it.

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Funny story. A looong time ago, in my late teens to early twenties, when I lived in the French Quarter, I was friends with this group of Tarot readers who worked in Jackson Square. One day, a couple of us went to hang out at one of their boyfriend's house. She introduced me..."This is Robert Asprin." I blinked a few times and was like "Robert LYNN Asprin??!" He nodded. We chatted about his various series's ( and a bit about fencing) and I told him that while Thieve's World and the Myth books were great, I really was hoping for another Phule's company book. Dude was really chill, was a fun afternoon.

Raes said:

Funny story. A looong time ago, in my late teens to early twenties, when I lived in the French Quarter, I was friends with this group of Tarot readers who worked in Jackson Square. One day, a couple of us went to hang out at one of their boyfriend's house. She introduced me..."This is Robert Asprin." I blinked a few times and was like "Robert LYNN Asprin??!" He nodded. We chatted about his various series's ( and a bit about fencing) and I told him that while Thieve's World and the Myth books were great, I really was hoping for another Phule's company book. Dude was really chill, was a fun afternoon.

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While I liked your story just fine I do take issue with your into statement, it didn't make me laugh at all.

Kovaks said:

While I liked your story just fine I do take issue with your into statement, it didn't make me laugh at all.

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That's fair. I kinda meant more funny-weird. The only funny part was my reaction when I found out whose house I was at, and I didn't go into much detail. I figured most people here can imagine what it was like being a young geek who was huge into fantasy meeting one of their favorite authors when you're not expecting it. And I wanted to keep it short, since it's a derail.

I can't wait to see what this movie will be like. I always really enjoyed the old movie. But I have yet to read the books. Now I just kinda keep up to date with reading r a salvatore and greenwood stuff mostly.

Blitz said:

I'm probably not the most qualified person to say this, as there are some people that read way more than I do here, but I have never read anything like Dune. It's hard to put it, but there is so much there that is different. It's "science fiction" but not in your current, common state. It's like post-future brutalism, in a religious fanaticism based world. On the surface it sounds more "boring" than your current traditional sci-fi book. The level of exposition, the ecology, religiosity almost make it an almanac of some sort, which is probably selling it short. I feel like I could ramble awhile and never really properly hit what Dune is, it just feels different.

I also say this as someone who has, so far, only read Dune itself. So I don't know how my opinion would change, but it's a special book. I could see how people maybe wouldn't like it, or think it has aged. It's a hell of a book.

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It's really space fantasy and not science really. It's closer to say Star Wars than The Martian. But yeah, the world building is really amazing.

Dune is good because the rich sense of lore and world building. The story has gravitas, it feels like the universe is meaningful, the circumstances the characters face, great.

With all of that you have something interesting and different. The characters are also nuanced and show growth.

This movie might be the start of something special.

Blitz said:

I'm probably not the most qualified person to say this, as there are some people that read way more than I do here, but I have never read anything like Dune. It's hard to put it, but there is so much there that is different. It's "science fiction" but not in your current, common state. It's like post-future brutalism, in a religious fanaticism based world (and that's like maybe a 10th of it). On the surface it sounds more "boring" than your current traditional sci-fi book. The level of exposition, the ecology, religiosity almost make it an almanac of some sort, which is probably selling it short. I feel like I could ramble awhile and never really properly hit what Dune is, it just feels different. Hyperion may be my favorite science-fiction book so far, but I fairly often catch myself thinking about the imagery, or imagining "Dune".

I also say this as someone who has, so far, only read Dune itself. So I don't know how my opinion would change with the other books, but it's a special book. I could see how people maybe wouldn't like it, or think it has aged, but It's a hell of a book.

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Dune is, by a VERY large margin, the easiest of the books to read. It has the most coherent and progression-based story of all 6 of Frank's Dune books, and delves into the deeper aspects the least.

The farther into the 6 you get, the more philosophy, religion and politics you get. Frank Herbert did a really great job painting these aspects onto and into a sci-fi setting, but he eventually go too bogged down into the details and minutiae. The whole "trapped by seeing through time" theme that dominates a lot of the first couple of books gets mostly tossed aside for politics and religion in the later books. They are still really good, and a ton of the themes and theories parallel a lot of the real politics in Frank's time as well as what developed in the last decade, but it doesn't exactly make for light reading.

Sterling said:

It's really space fantasy and not science really. It's closer to say Star Wars than The Martian. But yeah, the world building is really amazing.

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I thought the "science" and technology in the book was nearly irrelevant - the religious, political and philosophical (the nature of time and prophecy, whether making machines that replicate the acts of man is right, etc) were the core themes. Shit the ability to travel through the stars was predicated on being able to see through time and space.

The old dune boardgame was rereleased this year, too. If you ever want to feel like stabbing your friends irl, it's pretty great.

Kuro The old Dune game was redone and rebalanced in the Twlight Imperium universe a few years back. Is this new Dune game the same rules at the original or a reskin of the updated Twilight Imperium version of the game. Because no so long ago we played the original Dune game and it's pretty rough, because right from the start several factions are very close from winning, so if some people play poorly, the game ends in 2 turns. In the terminology of our board gaming group, the old Dune is not a "fun" game, in the sense that if you play for "fun" not only you will lose, but you will ruin the game for others. You can't play "fun Dune" like you can't play "fun Ghost Stories" or "fun Full Metal Planet"