Dune Frank Herbert audiobook Reviews Summary

Physical Quality

Pros:

• "The dustcover is surreal. The binding is superb and embossed. The blue-green edge dye adds great character."
• "Thick robust CLEAN paper quality completely devoid of smudging, sporting a gorgeous green-sheathed edge."
• "The physical book is good quality. Beautiful cover, good construction, good size, etc."
• "The quality is 10/10, no damages at all whatsoever, and I’m just in love with everything about it, all the art and the texture of the book cover itself."
• "This edition is beautiful and of high quality."
• "The 2005 Ace Trade Paperback is, in many respects, a very quality edition of the book: good paper, well-bound, nice line spacing."
• "It feels and looks great in the hand and it's beautiful and represents the book well."

Cons:

• "The dust jacket had scratches all over it and could easily be damaged if you have oily fingers."
• "Also, a page came unbound from the spine and came out of the book while I was just reading like normal."
• "The boards are sturdy, but the book is so thick there is a lot of play in the spine, which makes it unsteady in the hand."
• "Amazon shipping absolutely DESTROYED my book though!"
• "When we received the book through Amazon, we noted the formatting, size of font and quality of printing is really strange and low quality."
• "It was packaged poorly and had damaged edges."
• "I have noticed at least 5 printing errors while reading so far."

Story and Writing

Pros:

• "This is an enthralling literary masterpiece weaving together many interesting styles all the while highlighting the archetypal human condition."
• "One of the aspects that really stands out more now that I am older is the political intrigue."
• "The book goes into far more detail about the mentats, the Bene Gesserits, the ecology of Arrakis and Caladan, and the thoughts and feelings of each character."
• "The whole universe in which this story takes place is so rich with history."
• "These characteristics and the plot that develops out of them make the story much more cerebral than any film could convey."
• "The universe Frank Herbert built is full of hidden messages and important lessons."
• "The characters and story are so beautifully layered you will keep a piece of them with you no matter how long it's been since you have finished reading this masterpiece."

Cons:

• "His writing is weird, tedious, and cryptic, full of hidden meanings and hard to decipher."
• "This story was hard for me to get into. Many unusual names that were challenging to remember and made the story hard for me to follow."
• "However, this book spent way too much time on mundane world-building and the main narrative did not captivate me."
• "The issue of an interstellar empire and the problem of faster than light travel is almost completely ignored."
• "Some readers will be put off by the unique words of the planetary native language."
• "Occasionally it can be hard to follow along because the story either leaps a bit ahead slightly or makes assumptions."
• "There really doesn't seem to be much conflict throughout the book."

Design and Edition

Pros:

• "It has a gorgeous dust jacket and end papers."
• "Dune also comes alive with beautiful and vivid expressions of changing sceneries and visuals that compel readers to be creative in their imagination without trying too hard."
• "The size/form factor of this Penguin Galaxy edition is perfect and the font looks great."
• "I even like the gold foil on the exterior edge without the cover and the 'fear is the mind killer' embroidering on the hard top."
• "The simple and elegant award-winning hardcover book design by Alex Trochut totally rocks."
• "Dust cover is gorgeous with incredible soft feel."
• "Amazing art on the cover of this one though."

Cons:

• "The cover art is unnecessarily spoiled by an advertisement for the 'motion picture' adaptation of the novel."
• "I hate the silly 'NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE' stamp that is baked into the art."
• "The sprayed edge bleeds into every page."
• "Purchasing the deluxe edition, there are some notable quality issues."
• "The product is not deluxe and is overpriced only having two images on the front and back."
• "I find this edition disappointing and am returning it."
• "It just is not the original."