Sci Fi Audiobooks: Ongoing column reviewing classics of sci fi and fantasy as well as current works available in audio format.
Book Summary:
This book takes place in the far-flung future, when humanity has spread out among the stars and an emperor rules over the known universe, with a multitude of feudal lords beneath him holding the planets as their fiefs. House Atreides, under the rule of Duke Leto Atreides, has become quite popular, and Emperor Shaddam IV sees them as a threat. Shaddam decides to hand control of the desert planet Arrakis—more commonly known throughout the empire as Dune—over to Leto. This is one of the most important planets in the empire because it is the only source of the highly coveted spice melange.
Leto suspects this is a trap, and his suspicions are confirmed when the sinister Harkonnens, under the leadership of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen—who previously lorded over the planet—stage an ambush to destroy House Atreides. The Duke’s son, Paul, and his mistress, Jessica, flee from the Harkonnens and eventually find refuge among the noble yet harsh desert people of Arrakis known as the Fremen. There, Paul rises to prominence as he fulfills the messianic prophecies the Fremen had of the Lisan al-Gaib, or “the Voice from the Outer World.” He eventually leads the Fremen against the Harkonnens and the Emperor himself, as he finds himself caught up in a series of prophecies that he labors to resist.
Book Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)
Audiobook Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Bottom Line:
This expansive book is a seminal piece of science fiction that delivers excellent world-building and well-developed characters while also challenging the reader with some moral quandaries. The full-cast adaptation of the audiobook has some format inconsistencies but is mostly enjoyable.
Historical Context:
When Dune was published, the world was going through major changes—socially, politically, spiritually, and most importantly to the book, environmentally. Herbert had been fascinated by attempts to stabilize sand dunes and prevent them from swallowing up population centers and had started doing research on the subject. He was also influenced at the time by Native American beliefs and incorporated some of their spiritual themes, as well as his environmental concerns, into his sprawling book. He examined how ecological systems influence social structure, while also adding in detailed politics, religions, and cultures. The world-building he achieved in Dune was among the most complex of any science fiction author and would go on to have a major influence on the genre.
A Closer Look:
The book summary provided above barely does justice to the rich and fully realized tale Frank Herbert unfolds in the first of his Dune series (he would write five more, and his son Brian Herbert would carry on the series years later). So much of what has now become archetypal in science fiction can be found in this book, and Herbert proved himself a master of the craft as he fleshed out the concepts and characters, instilling a depth and power that many of the imitators that followed never fully grasped.
This book gives us the story of a “chosen one,” prophesied to become an unstoppable warrior and a great leader. Herbert was not the first to pen such a story, but he steered clear of cliché and delivered a fully rounded tale that may be lengthy but never drags or meanders (unlike many of the bloated page-busters on shelves today). It also delivers a cautionary tale on the power of prophecy and the potential dangers of the superhero figure.
Some may take exception to the fact that pretty much everybody in this book is a super bad-ass—not just the warriors, but the children and even the elderly. But that has more to do with the characters it focuses on, and it never detracts from the overall story. The book is very much about heroes—whether physical, spiritual, or a combination of both—and it establishes many of the standards that have become common in the genre ever since. And while it does give plenty of focus to fighting and battles, the story brings in meaningful moral quandaries, along with opportunities for the lead characters to look within themselves and question their own motives and beliefs. There is plenty of action in Dune, but Frank Herbert’s story definitely jogs the brain matter as well.
I would have to say that this book—and the two that follow (Dune Messiah and Children of Dune)—have few equals in science fiction literature and stand as must-reads for the genre. It will take you a while to get through them, but you will definitely enjoy the journey and will find yourself wanting to revisit them on a regular basis.
Comments on the Audiobook:
Over the years, I made several halted attempts to tackle Frank Herbert’s Dune because it’s a pretty daunting book (though maybe not so much compared to the thousand-plus-page tomes more common today), and it definitely feels somewhat inaccessible at the start. However, the audiobook version made it easier to tackle and finally allowed me to discover the wonder of Herbert’s science fiction classic from start to finish. This audio adaptation is a semi-dramatization, though it jumps from full cast to standard narration several times, which proves a bit disconcerting. At some points, separate voice actors read for characters like Leto, Paul, Jessica, the Baron, etc., while at other times, the primary narrator, Scott Vance, acts out the full dialogue and prose from the book. There seems to be no pattern for when you have actors and when you have Vance reading, and at times it switches between the two in the same passage.
Also, some of the same voice actors perform multiple roles but don’t do much to distinguish their voices. For example, audiobook veteran Scott Brick voices both Duke Leto and Stilgar—but with the same voice. This is especially unnerving considering that Vance adds an accent to Stilgar’s voice that Brick does not try to emulate. Mind you, these are mostly nitpicks and do not derail the production, but they do raise the question of audio production vs. audiobook. The former is more of a dramatization and may abridge the novel to fit the format, whereas the latter usually includes every word the author wrote, including the “he saids” and “she saids.” Personally, I prefer the latter because I want to know that nothing has been cut from the author’s words. I don’t mind adding music to enhance the production—as this audiobook does—and I appreciated the additional voice talent, such as the female narrator reading Princess Irulan’s literary quotations. But I typically prefer a single narrator for the core text, rather than multiple voice talents handling different characters. In any case, I still highly recommend this audiobook, as it mostly does a good job of adapting Frank Herbert’s story. It’s widely available through the usual audiobook venues such as Audible.com.
