As a kid who had to catch public transport for 4 hours a day in highschool, I loved reading!!
It is a shame that it took me years and years to get back into the habit. But recently I made a rule to not touch my phone while in bed, and not only had that had the associated health benefits but I also found my love of reading again.
Recently it got announced that a remake of the Dune movie was going to come out in the next few years. This news dominoed into having the Dune boardgame getting a reprinting as well (I believe it has been out of print since before I was born), and that news is what caught my eye. My intro to the franchise was from playing the PC video games from the 90s and I adored them. And so did gamers in general as it became the origin of the Real Time Strategy genre which includes games like Warcraft, which then led to the genre of MOBAs like League of Legends. So thanks to this butterfly effect I think a lot of nerds and gamers the world over owe a lot indirectly to the 1965 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert.
So with the public consciousness putting a spotlight back on Dune, I thought I would give the original book a read. And I am glad I did. My partner was actually the person who borrowed the book from a friend because her boss raves about the series quite a lot (and was a customer of mine in ordering the aforementioned boardgame). But with so much scifi jargon, unique concepts and language in the world of Dune, she got very tired very quickly in flicking to the glossary at the back of the book. Even in the first chapters of the book I noticed how heavy the jargon was but luckily with the two computer games under my belt I was able to weave through the barriers and enjoy the story.
My taste in narratives leans towards those with amazing world building and Dune does that soooo well. The unique world is introduced along with scifi concepts that influence ‘the way things are’ in this universe. As a bonus the novel throws in a healthy dose of political thrills, with secret organisations and feuding houses.
I enjoyed the book to such an extent that I even ended up reading the appendices. And now that I am thoroughly addicted to the spice, I want more!! PLEASE GIVE ME THE MOVIE SOON!! I highly recommend this book and it has jumped into my Top 5 books of all time (though I will have to figure out what my other 4 picks are). So yeah, if you are a fan of scifi or fantasy, and enjoy some world building, give Dune a go.