Written as an allegory for the political and ecological milieu it was created in, Dune has aged mostly-well. I haven’t read this since last century, when I was a different person and a lot of the subtleties passed me by. I knew that melange was a symbol for oil and fuel, but the sheer, blatant audacity of the allegory had never really crossed my mind, especially when you consider the status of those that control the means of its production, although guerrilla warfare and suicide missions aren’t looked as being quite so romantic these days..

As a story, though - which is usually all I’m concerned with when reading - it is fantastic. The characters are vivid and strong, the setting is harsh and unforgiving and the plot moves solidly forwards, despite a lot of the intriguing “ha, well I knew that you knew this so I did this” sort of dialogue, which is the reason I only gave the book 4 stars. But I can forgive a deserved classic a fault that I tolerate in other, less-deserving books.