I read "Dune" in one sitting when I was in college. Long story short, I had to vacate my dorm room one weekend when the college hosted a series of events at the student union, and I needed a place for a couple hundred co-eds to stay. I served in the security detail that weekend, and had a LOT of free time to kill. So, reading "Dune" was what I did.
That original book was OK. At least it was something different from a lot of the science fiction I had read up to that time.
The books that came after it, however, rapidly devolved into schlock (in my opinion). It became a regular franchise, with several sequels written by Frank Herbert himself, and others written by his son and a co-author. Frank Herbert died in 1986, but "Dune" and its children lives on.
Don't worry about "Ulysses" and its rep. Gibberish is gibberish, and sometimes the emperor doesn't have any clothes. A lot of modern "serious" music is like that as well.
At any rate, that's what I think...
-Dennis
Shame on you for dissing "Dune", one of the great and original sci-fi classics. True, the sequels and his other writing sucked, but Dune was a magnificently detailed work.
-Anonymous
Please don't give up your day job to be a literary critic. So far you're two down.
-Don
I loved "Dune". I thought it was a more challenging and interesting than the accessible "Foundation" series. The worst book I had to slog through was "Moby Dick".
-Gene
I agree with worms (or Shai-Hulud), but the whole "Dune" saga is a masterpiece. I read all 18 books at least once. It is just a matter of taste, like food. Happy reading.
-Lucian