Dune

One of the more useful Veeky Forums charts.

I recommend option 2. When I first read them I did option 4 and tried one of the Brian Herbert books too. It's really only the first two Frank that are much good, though Frank's other books are still far above the Brain books.

Just the ones by Frank. His son and that other guy ruin it if you read too far

The first two.

Definately read the first four. One of the few novels that really drew me in.

youtube.com/watch?v=67ragXpWsAI

I enjoyed Brian's books more than Frank's tbqh

Just the ones by Frank! When you're done, read Red Rising and Golden Son by Pierce Brown.

Option 4. I hated God Emperor on first reading but on a 2nd reading of the whole series it became my favourite book.

...

>that bottom row

I had no idea.

The Brian Herbert series is so high school and comic bookish

I loved the fuck outta butlerian jihad and machine crusades when I was in high school. But they are unreadable because of their lack of nuance.

The dune and god emperor of dune are the most satisfying and stimulating as far as subtext and deeper themes.

Best part of the Brian kja series is Erasmus and his pseudo Dr. Josef Mengele tendencies

God Emperor is brilliant writing and really is the perfect ending to the series. The books after are neat enough but basically read like fanfiction.

First through fourth. 4-th is the best one.

lmao ur last name is pronounced fries

God Emperor of Dune is objectively the best one and should have been a good ending to the series.

I read Dune in high school in the 80's and I have re-read it about 3 times. l like it so much because it shows a world where human reach their highest potential - whether it be the Bene Gesserit, or the Mentats, or the Ixians. When you are young and looking at all the possibilities of your own life and the future, that shit is cash.

Now that I am older and feeble and not good at anything, I see how technology seems to strip Man of his potential. I wonder if alien civilizations see what we call progress as devolution. We are less of humans than we have ever been - weaker, fatter, stupider. We may live longer, and make cool gadgets, but how many of us can speak more than one language? How many of us can survive in nature? How many of us can control oure voices to influence and manipulate people? Greek and Roman rhetoricians used to do that. We don't even fucking try.

>high school and comic bookish
I have to agree with this user, though I've only read the first three. The first is ok I guess but I recall the second and third books being a whole lot of nothing happening covered in pretentious and cheesy dialogue. The series has an extremely profound and deep tone to it that I don't think is justified.

Unless I missed something.

Good chart thank yiu

He was referring to his son's books. And yes, too deep for you.

Anybody got some spice?

The second one is pretty good, actually.
The first one is the best, but; the way the second one is written, it almost seems like the first one is just the set-up. I think you get something out of seeing Paul in his new position and getting to know more about the spacing guild.

Read:

Dune, Messia, [SKIP CHILDREN], God Emperor

And then stop

I would say that the first two are required reading, and represent a self-contained story arc.

If you really like it, read the third and fourth books. They're pretty good, if weird, but the plot twist in the third book makes the ending of book two way less meaningful.

But don't go any further. The last couple of Dune books have almost nothing to do with the original and are of a much lower quality.

thread killer right here

children shows more about how the prescience works, although the plot is a bit retarded

Herbert was a brilliant writer. If you think he's talentless, English is probably not your first language.

literally about to finish dune now
i should read 1-4 yea?

I recommend reading the three Butlerian Jihad books by junior, then Dune and the following books by the elder Herbert.. then if you want you can read the juniors conclusion to the series

Just avoid the prequels to Dune that take place when Leto Attreides was a kid.. they have too many plot holes and contradictions with the Og Dune books

>(OP)
>I recommend reading the three Butlerian Jihad books by junior

Brian you need to stop shilling your books here.

Read the Dosadi Experiment by FH if you find the idea of human evolution interesting.

He creates a world where humans have been bred for social intelligence and are basically quarantined because they are so predatory and persuasive that they are almost a biological weapon. Letting one loose on a planet would end with them as supreme ruler and they would then attempt to conquer more

Even the ones by Frank Herbert aren't worth reading after God Emporer.

If you want to see Dune and don't want to see the decline and fall of Dune, just read the first two books.

It ends with a wacky Zionist quest. I read them all during a period when I had read all the good sci-fi and hungered for more reading material. Like eating the shitty candy leftover after Halloween.

Just don't read anything and watch Jodorowsky's Dune.

Jodorowsky's Dune is only interesting as a portrait of how fucking retarded Jodorowsky is and what an awful movie his version would have been.

Dune is the best.

Dune Messiah is arguably as good, it was the perfect follow up to Dune. The entire book is dealing with the consequences of his rise to power.

Read the first one. If you like it (You will), read the second one. if you like it (It's good), read the third.

I read up to God Emperor (book four) and had to stop there. It was worth it, but I needed a break. I intend to read five and six and then stop.

Only the ones written by Frank are worth it.

Huge Dune fan here—Just read the Frank Herbert stuff. I personally think The God Emperor of Dune is the best book in the series, and one of my favorite literary characters. Almost everyone else I know quits the series at this book however.

If you choose to books 7 and 8 then just consider them as fan fiction. Supposedly they are true to Frank's plot but they definitely suck

He's one of the best writers I've read. With a few exceptions, he never wasted a word.

Also the entire point of the book is preserving Humanity. There are no aliens.

Did you even read Dune?

>How many of us can control oure voices to influence and manipulate people? Greek and Roman rhetoricians used to do that.
Pretty sure modern politicians, actors, presenters etc do it.

>how many of us can speak more than one language?
Imma guess at least a billion or so

>Herbert was a brilliant writer
>He's one of the best writers I've read
Really? I read this stuff in my early teens, but there's nothing from it that stuck in my head as good prose. Seemed workmanlike, unexceptional at best, like most sci-fi- in fact even at that age I remember things seeming clunky (I guess I was comparing it to LotR or something). How do you guys think he's that good, compared to the big names of fiction? Any passages you'd highlight as evidence?

No it isn't.

I agree with this user, good story's but not necessarily well told

I've (very recently) stopped after God Emperor. Very satisfying. Herbert knew how to give his novels very intense climaxes. Don't think I'll bother with the two others he's written, since it's an unfinished trilogy and I feel like the story is pretty much complete with the events of GEoD.

Yes it is. You can't trick me.

Yeah, I've seen people calling Dune good or even great, but the claim that Frank Herbert could be 'the greatest writer' is a new one for me. Would be interesting to see why they'd put him up there with Shakespeare or Joyce...

Never seen this chart before, but yeah it's perfect.

Gotta agree with this user. I was trying to get into western scifi but was hugely disappointed by this so-called the best of scifi. I would suggest anyone in the same position to read PDK instead.

Serious question: Are the Kevin J Anderson ones really that bad? And if so, why do they keep writing them?

Seriously, if Anderson is such a shitty writer, why does he continue to be published?

He and Brian have "written" a shit load of books.

>And if so, why do they keep writing them?
Because they sell, of course.
>Seriously, if Anderson is such a shitty writer, why does he continue to be published?
Ditto.

>x of DUNE
>y of DUNE
>NOTE OF FUCKING DUNE

kek

Read none of them. They're fucking garbage.

>how many of us can speak more than one language?
as if it was something difficult, lmao

Dont get too excited, hes not that major of a character and hes just annoying in the book. Plus he dies before the first book is over so fuck you.

Never read the prequels, Do you mean Leto II or Duke Leto Attreides?

I have a friend who reads very little but one of the things he does read are the Kevin j Anderson dune books. He also used to read the 90s star wars novels. It's basically a recognizable name for science fiction readers who read nothing else.
I've read up to heretics, which was terrible compared to the first four, which were really good, but it's been easily 10 years since then, and my opinion may be nostalgia colored. If you've read other science fiction you'll definitely enjoy them.

this. that movie had fuck all to do with dune and would have been terrible.

reading this now

Any science-fantasy in the same vein? I really liked the middle-eastern science fiction stuff.

Read the first 4. God emperor is different but good

Just finished. Is rly good.

>We are less of humans than we have ever been - weaker, fatter, stupider

Just barely true if we only count the populace of first world countries and average it out.

But if you take a successful individual precisely from this point in time and measure them against a successful person from the Classical antiquity for example, you'll see that
the combination of modern medicine, nutrition, regular exercise, education and social challenges will have produced the superior individual.

In sports, world records are still constantly broken and in science new knowledge is being learned and new fields are discovered and defined at an increasing rate. To top all of this off, we have LESS incentive to do all of this than ever before. We don't need to solve quantum physics to get laid or eat tomorrow - yet we're still trying for it. Now that is some deep nobility you couldn't see from a stone age hunter because he was too busy chasing down his dinner all day. You say that we're not trying to improve ourselves, that's entirely up to you. There's lots of people who like camping, restoring old cars, homebrewing and all sorts of things which can teach you fundamental skills in life.

There's reasons to be upset at the decadence of modern life but your particular argument is weak and you should look inward at the problem and not blame technology.

I agree with all this. Good post user.

People seem to try to link the decadence of modern life with mass consumerism. And then you realize, what's wrong with that? It's better than idealism or a society run by mass delusion.

>how many of us can speak more than one language?
Most humans are multilingual

Awesome:
Dune

Very good:
God Emperor

Good:
Heretics

Meh:
Messiah

Terrible:
Children

Abysmal shit:
Chapterhouse

pls b joke

The same reason Ready Player One got published.

People enjoy shoveling garbage down their throats.

Book of the New Sun.

It's more south american inspired, but it's more than that. Borgesian gaucho inspired sections are only 5% of it, but rural south american life is more prominent, and is nuanced like Dune's pseudo middle easterners.