This was a weird one, taking place so much later than all the others with so much time passed. I couldn’t quite get my head around what Leto II was, even though there were plenty of descriptions, as gross as they all were. I did like the way it ended, that was good, and Siona was a really good strong female character - that’s something this series has done quite well. I was intending to read all the six original Dune novels but if I’m honest, I think I’m done with them now.

I mean, I think it’s fair to say that if I hadn’t bought the complete Dune series within one book, I wouldn’t have gotten to book three, let alone finish it. I find them a really weird series - on the one hand, I kinda like the writing, the dynastic nature of the characters, and the way they are always plotting something. But I wish there was more about the planet itself, the people, who are we actually leading, what is the whole point? There seems to be less and less of that as we go on. Still half of the six originals are complete, so I may as well keep going at this point!

I don’t think I would have read this if I hadn’t picked up a six book digital collection - all the Dune books written by the original author. So it was too easy to finish the last one and move on to this. I usually hate introductions and prefaces that spoil the books but this had some insight from Frank’s son Brian - who has continued the series after his father’s death - and it was actually good to get a bit of context around this and made the reading of it much easier.

I’ve attempted this before but didn’t get past the first couple of pages, this time I was determined to make a better effort - there’s the big film on the horizon and I wanted the inside track. Plus it’s such a cultural phenomenon that it had to be on the list. I got through it this time, which is a bonus, and elements of it were interesting…. but ultimately I did find it pretty dry (pun intended, considering the lack of water on this planet). The characters are all so stiff and hard to invest in, and even the ‘hero’ Paul isn’t particularly sympathetic.

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