# Frank Herbert's "Dune"



## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

I read the original novel some years ago and enjoyed it a lot.  (In spite of its apparent homophobia. Or was I just paranoid?)  In any case, I was going to get it on Kindle to re-read, but see that a few reviewers complained about a lot of formatting issues and mistakes.  Then the book was taken down and eventually reposted again.  So can anyone confirm that the edition currently up there is free of errors and formatting problems?

Also, what about Herbert's own sequels to the books?  Are they worth reading?


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I have the revised edition. I haven’t begun to read it yet, but I seriously doubt it will be free of formatting errors, etc. In the last year, I have read very few ebooks from Amazon that are error-free.

In regards to sequels, I've read all of them that Frank Herbert wrote, and while none of them had near the impact that the initial volume did, they were entertaining.

Mike


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

From the reviews it sounds like more than just formatting.  There were apparently whole passages missing.  The publisher pulled it - and then republished it.

And I'm noticing that yes, everything has some formatting errors.  I don't think I've read a single book yet without them.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I don't know where in the version history my download fell, but I did not notice any missing pages. I noticed a few scan errors that resulted in misspelled words, but not particularly more (or less) than many other pre-word-processor era books (and for that matter several recent books   ). The most annoying thing to me was the large amount of space between each paragraph. After I'd gotten well into the book, however, that ceased to be much of an annoyance to me as I got used to it.

In summary, I found my version to less than optimal, format-wise, but good enough that I could still enjoy the overall product just fine. The one part that was disappointing was the afterword by F. Herbert's son, which I thought would be interesting to read. It seemed kind of rambling, and for the amount of verbiage expended, not particularly informative.


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

I love Dune and have read it many times. I haven't gotten the Kindle Edition yet because I've got so many other books to read before I reread something!! 

My opinion on Dune is read the first three ... Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune ... and you can pretty much skip the rest. I'm not even that sure about Messiah and Children!!


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

I've reread the first three books this year. The first is a contender for best science fiction novel of all time. Although not as good as the original, I kind of liked _Dune Messiah_ because it showed Paul without the guise hero. I guess a lot of readers really disliked the book for this fact. _Children of Dune_ was OK, but the "superpowers" of one character bordered on the silly and came close to ruining the book.

Years ago, I listed to the unabridged _God Emperor of Dune_ was not impressed. I never read the last two books written by Herbert and from what I've hear, the books by his son are something truly awful, though they sell well.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Thanks everyone for all the info on the books.  I'll definitely be re-reading the original...but I'm still weary of the rest!


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

DYB said:


> I read the original novel some years ago and enjoyed it a lot. (In spite of its apparent homophobia. Or was I just paranoid?) In any case, I was going to get it on Kindle to re-read, but see that a few reviewers complained about a lot of formatting issues and mistakes. Then the book was taken down and eventually reposted again. So can anyone confirm that the edition currently up there is free of errors and formatting problems?
> 
> Also, what about Herbert's own sequels to the books? Are they worth reading?


Just out of curiousity, in what way do you feel that the work is homophobic?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

geoffthomas said:


> Just out of curiousity, in what way do you feel that the work is homophobic?


I hadn't really thought about it until mentioned in this thread, but I suppose that since the only character I can recall in the book who was noted as having homosexual relations was one of the bad guys (


Spoiler



Baron Harkonen


), it would seem that it associated such behavior with evil. Other than that, nothing jumps to my mind...but then since I happen to be straight, it's likely I'm not as sensitive to such things, perhaps?


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Yes, Baron Harkonen. He's the main villain and he's very explicitly portrayed as gay.


Spoiler



He has a very creepy sexual obsession with one of his nephews and, if memory serves, a young slave boy he rapes and kills.


 He's clearly a sexual pervert and deviant. Being the only gay character in the novel it struck me as not an accident.


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

Geemont said:


> the books by his son are something truly awful, though they sell well.


I have read many of them. At least the first 4 or 5 he released. I wouldn't say that they are awful, but they are definately not the original. But I did enjoy learning some of the history of the Dune universe, how some of these family feuds began.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

DYB said:


> Yes, Baron Harkonen. He's the main villain and he's very explicitly portrayed as gay.
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...


Then again, taken in the context of when it was published (1965), homosexuality was, in fact, popularly considered as a perversion in most mainstream media -- and probably most heterosexual Americans, for that matter. We were in the middle of the (racial) Civil Rights movement while Herbert was writing _Dune_, and LGBT Rights were probably lagging behind racial rights by several years. (In 1965 in Canada, for example, 'Everett George Klippert is arrested for private, consensual sex with men. After being assessed "incurably homosexual", he is sentenced to an indefinite "preventive detention" as a dangerous sexual offender.' widipedia)

This is not to say Herbert was or was not homophobic, but I would suggest taking it in the context of when (and where) it was written before judging him too harshly.


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## Barbara M (Nov 21, 2008)

Homophobia in Dune? I don't remember that at all and I recently reread it.  In what way?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Barbara M said:


> Homophobia in Dune? I don't remember that at all and I recently reread it. In what way?


See replies #8 and #9.


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