Absolutely loved this book (even if it did destroy my back riding around with it in my bag â hefty!)!
Dune, the opener, was a breeze and went mostly how I expected (probably because I'd seen the films), but still found new ways to intrigue me. The attention to detail about the ecology of Dune was beautiful and really brought the planet and its people to life. (4 Stars)
Dune Messiah, the second instalment, dealt our protagonist several double-edged swords, made me hate and love him for wielding them poorly, and then wrapped with a gut-wrencher! Even if the time skip and new lore/characters made for a tough start, this was easily my favourite of the three. (5 stars)
Children of Dune, the final part of this trilogy, takes the ecological validity and moral ambiguity which I loved about the first and second parts, and explores them from the perspectives of more characters (and more prescient characters) than have hitherto been explored in the series. I loved that! Sadly, it also contains the most bizarre final 20% of any book I've read, and completely broke my immersion in the process, so it's probably my least favourite of the three. (2 stars)
On the whole, I love Frank Herbert's writing style â it's incredibly descriptive while remaining simple and easy to follow. There isn't a weird jump in space or time without a sneaky lore drop (honestly, these in-between moments felt like dark souls loading screens), which means that you don't have to do gymnastics just to keep track of who or what is where. This, in addition to the compelling story, had me glued to this thing, and I'd finished it in just under 2 months.
(4 Stars)