Dune by Frank Herbert

Dune - Science Fiction Classic - A Must Read.

Ah-h-h-h, how easy it is to parody Frank Herbert's writing style; but few have ever matched his imaginative scope, at least not in the case of Dune.  This is the biggie of Science Fiction: big in its inventiveness, big in the sweep of its action, big in the scale of its ambition.

'A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.'

Where to begin?  This book is about so many things on so many levels.  It can be seen as a tale about monopolies in a far-flung future where humans have colonised the stars - monopolies of military strength, transportation, pharmaceuticals, technology, genetic manipulation and mental training.  They collide in a war centred on the planet Arrakis, also known as Dune; and by the end of the story one of these monopolies is broken and another rendered pointless, changing forever the power structure of the galactic empire. 

Frank Herbert presents the reader with a political situation mired in byzantine court intrigues and centuries-old vendettas.  The parties ranged against one another seek to exploit their enemies' weaknesses and their own strengths.  Their calculations are wide-ranging and made down to the minutest level, and for many of the players their grand strategies are undone in the most unexpected ways by the numerous wild cards that come into play as the action progresses.

Herbert tells his tale in a very idiosyncratic style.  Chapters are preceded by gnomic quotations, there is a lot of reported internal dialogue, the characters say 'Ah-h-h-h' a lot, and it is fun to count the number of times any one of them 'swallows in a dry throat', or that the word 'mouth' is used.  

Even so, Herbert steadily and surely paints a vivid and believable picture of a world utterly unlike our own.  You can never visit it, but you will want to.