As the books go on, things get pretty weird, to be quite honest

I really wish I would have stopped reading the series around book two or three. You could tell that when Herbert wrote Dune he had a coherent plan in mind. One of the most beautiful things about it was he had this pre-constructed, complex world and you were just thrust into it without any real introduction. The story was excellent and it kept you interested the entire time. The second book was a decent continuation of the second, but it lacked that feeling of complexity (maybe because by now you have a firm understanding of the world). The third was just okay. I feel like it would have liked it more if I didn't have to compare it to the first two. After that everything just goes to shit. I remember reading the fifth book and having a pain in my chest wondering why the publisher thought this was a good idea. I think the issue was his fan base kept demanding more and more, but he had ran out of ideas. Really sad to see such an amazing book be followed by so much disappointment.