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Reasons I will not read Dune
Nov. 2nd, 2021 03:35 pmMy parents are big fans of Dune. I grew up hearing about it. I was also a huge Star Wars fan, and quite a lot of the extended universe is cribbed straight from Dune--hello, spice mines of Kessel.* I did try to read Dune once, but gave up pretty quickly.
Now, after watching the new Dune movie—which I genuinely enjoyed!—here are my reasons for not reading the books:
- Dune is a psychedelic sci fi novel from fifty years ago. Not that I don’t read old things—I read old things all the time—but I don’t particularly feel the need to revisit acid trips, the book.
- There is a thing some male sf/f authors do where they create orders of extremely powerful women, and you’re like—cool! Strong women! And then you realize, oh, they’re all secretive and controlling all the men from behind the scenes and have a mystical power only women can have and are unknowable beings and—I don’t think this is actually a compliment. Herbert’s not the only one to do this (hello, Terry Goodkind), but he’s certainly one.
- Space Jesus.
- Eugenics created space Jesus.
- Eugenics space Jesus is immediately recognized as Messiah by oppressed other race that he is not a member of.
- Yes, there is a mystical, powerful order of women, but they can only truly achieve true power by breeding a man. Has to be a man.
- Again, eugenics space Jesus.
The new movie did a lot to make Paul Atreides an actual character with a character arc that I cared about, so when watching Dune (2021) the eugenics space Jesus thing is not the first thing that leaps out at you. (In the David Lynch, though, boy howdy is that kind of the only noticeable feature.)
But I think I’m happy not going straight to the source for this one. Sorry, pass.
*I can now see that's in large part due to Kevin J. Anderson, who wrote large parts of the Star Wars expanded universe, and is also the co-author of the post-Frank Herbert Dune books.** Kevin J. Anderson is the closest thing I have to a nemesis. His SW books broke Star Wars (since everything was canon, at least before Force Awakens). He introduced elements that just fucked things up for all the other authors, that Timothy Zahn then had to come in and justify away. Oh, lightsaber blades shatter on lavaworm scales do they? Shatter? They shatter???
**I remember a rumor when they started publishing these that they'd had to break Frank Herbert's will, which disallowed the continuation of the series. But the internet isn't fact checking that for me, so I will just put that here as a rumor.
Now, after watching the new Dune movie—which I genuinely enjoyed!—here are my reasons for not reading the books:
- Dune is a psychedelic sci fi novel from fifty years ago. Not that I don’t read old things—I read old things all the time—but I don’t particularly feel the need to revisit acid trips, the book.
- There is a thing some male sf/f authors do where they create orders of extremely powerful women, and you’re like—cool! Strong women! And then you realize, oh, they’re all secretive and controlling all the men from behind the scenes and have a mystical power only women can have and are unknowable beings and—I don’t think this is actually a compliment. Herbert’s not the only one to do this (hello, Terry Goodkind), but he’s certainly one.
- Space Jesus.
- Eugenics created space Jesus.
- Eugenics space Jesus is immediately recognized as Messiah by oppressed other race that he is not a member of.
- Yes, there is a mystical, powerful order of women, but they can only truly achieve true power by breeding a man. Has to be a man.
- Again, eugenics space Jesus.
The new movie did a lot to make Paul Atreides an actual character with a character arc that I cared about, so when watching Dune (2021) the eugenics space Jesus thing is not the first thing that leaps out at you. (In the David Lynch, though, boy howdy is that kind of the only noticeable feature.)
But I think I’m happy not going straight to the source for this one. Sorry, pass.
*I can now see that's in large part due to Kevin J. Anderson, who wrote large parts of the Star Wars expanded universe, and is also the co-author of the post-Frank Herbert Dune books.** Kevin J. Anderson is the closest thing I have to a nemesis. His SW books broke Star Wars (since everything was canon, at least before Force Awakens). He introduced elements that just fucked things up for all the other authors, that Timothy Zahn then had to come in and justify away. Oh, lightsaber blades shatter on lavaworm scales do they? Shatter? They shatter???
**I remember a rumor when they started publishing these that they'd had to break Frank Herbert's will, which disallowed the continuation of the series. But the internet isn't fact checking that for me, so I will just put that here as a rumor.
