A review by reese_lanier
Dune by Frank Herbert

4.5

Absolutely incredible. The world and philosophy and overall message of the book is fantastic. The only major complaint I have is the outdated perspective of women and relationships with them being tools for men to achieve their goals (save for the Lady Jessica, who is an autonomous badass who does literally anything she wants despite other people having plans for her). Paul is a great lead character, I love his arc of trying desperately to avoid having a position of power because of his visions, and in the end choosing to accept the power because of its inevitability. That being said, Paul is absolutely not the hero of this story; Frank Herbert does a great job of not making anyone the hero or the villain, it is a story of many competing people with different goals, and means of achieving those goals. The philosophy, ecology, morality, politics, cultures, and cost of everything is so well thought out.