My stock recommendation is: The first book is a classic for a reason. However, if you don't like it, stop here. The subsequent books will not change your opinion. In fact Herbert may really not be your thing. (He has a certain unique feel to his writing, I think.)
The rest of the first trilogy is definitely more hurried and rather than "justifiably classic" are merely pretty OK if you like that sort of thing. A lot of people jam up here.
God Emperor of Dune is one of those books that is more fun to read the second time than the first, because the first time you really want the primary plot line to finish up and it feels like it is dragging. It really isn't, the rest of the content is quite worthy and the book would be made worse for removing it, but the first time through it doesn't feel that way. I like it better on re-reads, but this is a lot to ask of a reader. (Another one I feel this way is A Deepness in the Sky by Vinge. It's packed with goodness and I love it, but in the first read the middle half of the book can really drag since the goodness isn't in the "A plot".)
Finally, if you make it this far, Chapterhouse and Heretics are once again quite fun reads and re-reads. But it can be hard to get this far in the first place.
My suspicion is that a lot of people who blanket bemoan all the sequels never made it as far as Chapterhouse Dune. But then, it's perfectly understandable.
Oh, and I'll edit this to include my video recommendations: The classic Dune movie should be considered only loosely related, IMHO. The Sci-Fi (before it was "SyFy") miniseries of the book is good if you've already read the book and you view it as a filmed theatrical production rather than a "movie". Which, IMHO, actually works, as theatrical tropes are a better medium for Dune than conventional movie tropes in a lot of ways, but if you don't know what you're getting in to can be a shock. The miniseries of the second two books is better produced, but IIRC still requires you to have read the story first to really understand it. I definitely don't recommend them as your intro to the series.
Like the comment below, I prefer God Emperor of Dune to Dune. In the first book, the universe is not specced out, the characters don't have enough backstory.
By the later books, you start feeling the expanse of the universe, the incredible loneliness the universes most powerful entity must endure until the golden path is secure.
It was rendered non-canonical by either God Emperor or Chapterhouse, but it's full of interesting stuff if you're the sort that can get stuck on a Wiki-walk. This is probably the most monetarily valuable book in my meager collection, picked up without knowledge of its rarity from a library book sale.
> Finally, if you make it this far, Chapterhouse and Heretics are once again quite fun reads and re-reads. But it can be hard to get this far in the first place.
I loved reading Heretics just a few weeks ago. It is definitely my second favorite book in the saga (the first one obviously being Dune). What I liked so much about it is that there's suddenly a change in setting: more technology, cities, etc. The characters are also great - Teg is by far my favorite character in the whole saga.
Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune really drag the story and it was hard getting past them on the first read, but the second time you read them - especially God Emperor - you see how packed with insights those books are.
Chapterhouse was ok, but that cliffhanger at the end...
I actually find that God Emperor of Dune was my favorite, not Dune itself. I don't recall whether it was Chapterhouse or Heretics, but the scene with the Bene Gesserit in the cave has stood out in my mind for years.
Really, the writing style is the same, and there's a lot of "idea" content in the sequels, especially God Emperor. I really don't feel the Dune universe is any different - but the events of Dune did change the (known) universe, and thousands of years have passed by the time of Chapterhouse.
I would agree that nobody should touch the Brian Herbert books, though.
_God Emperor of Dune_ has the best opening sequence of any book I have read (the wolves chasing the raiders in the forbidden forest), love it!
You really have to read that far to get a sense of how important the Duncan Idaho character is in the Dune universe: in the first book he is just a bit player, but later he becomes central.
I've read the first six. Rereading, I stopped at God Emperor.
I tell people who are thinking about reading it that if they found Dune to be slow and difficult that they should just stop at the first one. It's a lot of world building and politics as it goes on.
I agree. The best part of the series in my opinion, is the political machination. God Emperor probably has the most of that. Messiah is probably the weakest novel in the set in my opinion.
I really liked God Emperor of Dune, and consider it to be the logical ending point of the series. Heretics and Chapterhouse are a very interesting continuation, but feel more like the beginning of a new series based in the same universe (and an incomplete one, at that).
I liked the later books a lot, the plots and story are sometimes very very weird, but the quotes and philosophy are really pretty darn amazing.
All the Frank Herbert sequels are worth reading for those alone, but it took me some effort to get through books 2 and 3. It gets better (but weirder) later in terms of quotes/philosophy/randomness. Plot not so much on occasion, quotes? Very very interesting.
