Book Review: "The Dune Saga" by Frank Herbert

Touted as the "best-selling science fiction franchise of all time", the Dune chronicles is a space opera double-trilogy or hexology set in a future thousands of years from now, where artificial intelligence is shunned and the Imperium of all mankind in the galaxy lives by a single maxim: "Man can not be replaced." After an event known as the Butlerian Jihad ousted the alliance between man and machine (or rather the control of machines over men), humanity came under the control of feudal societies in a region of space known as the Landsraad. Three of these Houses - Atreides, Harkonnen, and Corrino - take center stage as the powers vying for control, with so-called neutral factions - the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild - aligning themselves with whosoever provides them with the geriatric spice Melange, a condiment that grants prescient powers to its wielders such as foresight to the Navigators of the Spacing Guild. The hexology as a whole is brilliantly set, with a writing style unique to Frank Herbert, one that bends the mind and warps one's view of the universe. While contemporary fiction takes us to another place on this world in around a similar era, Dune takes you to another planet in another universe in another time, and truly defines the word "escape".

Let's review the books one by one, shall we? WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

Dune is the first title of the series and is undoubtedly Frank Herbert's magnum opus, itself having won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Science Fiction. Self-called "Science Fiction's Supreme Masterpiece", Dune is a story of love, intrigue, betrayal, and deceit, with themes of religion, environmentalism, economics, and politics woven into the mix. The plot is probably the fastest moving of all the Dune books, where the narrative literally crawls. The writing style emphasizes on the "show, don't tell" approach, although much "telling" happens in conversations between the characters. The content of the book is phenomenal: it literally transported me to a fantastic world in a future far from ours. What hit home for me was the dozen or so references to Islamic and Oriental Theology and Philosophy. The characters are well-developed to the extent that you can imagine them in front of you, and the story does an excellent job at describing the romance behind exploring an alien world and a foreign culture (that of the Fremen). The book's page-turning charm comes not from suspense or plot advancement, but from the beautifully woven universe in the main narrative. Philosophical quandaries abound, and musings on history and religion relate the story to our own experiences. If you can't read the entire series of Dune, the first book is a must as all others somehow depend on the first book and each other to obtain a grasp on the events that translate from book to book.
Content - 5/5
Style - 5/5
Overall - 5/5

Dune: Messiah, the second book, details the rise and fall of Paul Atreides. Much shorter than the first book, the sequel serves primarily to kill off Paul, and in doing so has failed to fully captivate my attention. It does deal with some pretty heady and controversial material (the Holocaust, to name just one of them). The book serves to portray Paul's final days in power and we watch helplessly as it slips from his grasp in a span of just over 200 pages. If Dune raised the bar in science fiction, Dune: Messiah made it sink a little. The writing style is Herbert's usual flair, but the content seemed lacking, namely because of the brevity of the narrative. Dune: Messiah asks an important question: is Paul Atreides really a savior?
Content - 4/5
Style - 5/5
Overall - 4/5

Children of Dune rerouted my doubts to praise. Herbert's third book in this series is a return to form, with the introduction of new characters and factions. If Dune: Messiah was The Empire Strikes Back, this is Return of the Jedi. The tone is darker than the second book, but its premise is one of victory rather than of defeat. It introduces us to the children of Muad'Dib, Leto II and Ghanima, who embark on a quest to purify the Imperial Throne for all of humanity. The style, as always, is top notch, and the political ramifications are felt directly in every single plot twist, of which several exist, right from the beginning. The return of several characters from the first book strengthen the narrative, tying us to how they have dealt with the great political sandstorm that they brewed and plotted.
Content - 4.5/5
Style - 5/5
Overall - 4.5/5

God Emperor of Dune, contrary to its title, is the story about the tragic loss of Leto II's humanity, sacrificing it to become a human-sandworm hybrid, as part of his "Golden Path". His loneliness, longing for companionship, and pains in remembering the times of old (as all of his relatives and friends have passed on) ring sharp bells in this book. The narrative again crawls, and the characters are rather static in development. However, the usual philosophical and political undertones of the Dune universe resound in this book again, this time in different form. Where the first three books looked into what would become of a supposed savior and how power corrupts and attracts the corruptible, this book takes that a step further, where the main character yearns to escape the shackles of leadership. Questions of existence and human nature abound in this otherwise very reflective book.
Content - 4.5/5
Style - 5/5
Overall - 4.5/5

Heretics of Dune is probably the worst of the lot, and the most underwhelming of the Dune series. As the fifth book in the series, it introduces a completely new cast of characters with minor relations to the previous characters in the Dune universe so far. Moreover, the Imperium of Mankind has fractured, and civilization has collapsed. The Lost Ones of the Scattering, an event that occurred as a result of Leto II's death, have returned to the known universe. However, new characters are not its shortcoming. The main problem I had with the book was the writing style: it suffered compared to the previous books. It doesn't live up to Herbert's best. Gone are most of the philosophical and political musings of the individual characters. Otherwise, the book was a very good addition to the series: the plot moved faster than one would expect from a Frank Herbert book, and the antagonists are visceral and terrifying.
Content - 4.5/5
Style - 4/5
Overall - 4/5

Chapterhouse: Dune represents a triumphant conclusion, undoubtedly Frank Herbert's second to his magnum opus, the first book of the series. This sixth book brings the plot unravelled in Heretics of Dune to an apocalyptic close, while integrating - in greater quantities than before - a device Herbert rarely used in his other books: humour. The planet of Arrakis, Dune, has been destroyed by the antagonists of the previous novel, and now they have their sights hunting for the homeworld of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, Chapterhouse. The story focuses on several characters and fleshes them out with a detail not unlike that which has been presented in the first book. Their relationships are on the center stage of the narrative, developing in unpredictable and surprising ways. The conclusion of the book, and the series, leaves off at a cliffhanger, leaving us to fill in the blanks. Nevertheless, Chapterhouse: Dune is a worthy end to the series.
Content - 5/5
Style - 5/5
Overall - 5/5

As a whole, the Dune saga is indeed a triumph of the human imagination. Nowhere in literature have I come across a universe as wondrous and mysterious as Dune... well, not yet, at least. The adventure and mysticism in this series waltzes valiantly with politics, religion, philosophy, environmentalism, economics, and other aspects of social science, art, and history. If you're a fan of "high-minded" science fiction, imaginative narratives, and fantastic adventures, this is a series that you do not want to miss.

Salaam, from Saracen