What can one say about Dune that hasn't already been said? I personally found the book very interesting. I enjoyed the "culture building" that Herbert undertook with the Fremen, which is something that those who have just seen the movie will have only a taste of. It's intriguing to me what aspects of earth's landscape the author allows into his foreign planet, such as the names of native desert plants and animals. Additionally, it is an interesting touch to insert a Bible into our characters' consciousness so that timely quotations can be conveniently inserted from time to time. I also found the tone of the book to be very striking. There is a humorless aristocratic nature to its characters that lends a haughty distance to the proceedings that I found rather cold and off-putting at times. It ends up having the characters give a lot of commands and pronouncements. I guess perhaps in a world devoid of moisture, there's little room for frivolity. But it makes little sense to criticize a work of art for what it is not. What it is is quite good, and the ecological themes are a wonderful addition to the fantasy genre. It's an undoubted classic, though perhaps one that won't wear quite as well with time as some other works.
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