If you like Sci-Fi, Dune by Frank Herbert is an exceptional read. The scale of the story expands from a single man to an entire universe over the course of the series. It explores things from personal, philosophical, religious, and political views. There are great, vicious worms over 400 meters in length, space travel that can only be achieved by beings living inside tanks full of narcotic gas known as Spice, and shape-shifting clones that can perfectly replicate another human. As the books go on, things get pretty weird, to be quite honest, but I personally found them to be very enjoyable.
I'm in the middle of reading this for the first time. I love how calculating the characters are, especially Jessica and Paul. It's fascinating to read how they interpret the subtle mannerisms of other characters and extract information from that. Being able to "read" others is treated like a superpower.
Both Jessica and Paul are trained as Bene Gesserit, which grants them great self-awareness, control, and the ability to read other people very well. The secret sign language that they use to communicate they talk is pretty awesome as well. I have to refrain from spoiling anything, but I really think you'll enjoy all the books.
I find myself coming back to Dune at least once a year, and sometimes more than that. I got a copy as a present a long time ago, and I've appreciated it more and more as time goes on. Frank Herbert put years of research, of his life really, into Dune, and his notes as he expanded his universe are enough for his son and Kevin Anderson to continue his legacy. (Admittedly with not nearly the quality of the original FH books.) However, the current video adaptations kinda suck. One day, someone will do a good film or TV adaptation and it will be awesome. The Spice Must Flow
It's been a year or two since I last read through the series. I'll have to visit it again. Two of my favorite Sci-Fi games were basically spawned by Dune. Warhammer borrowed heavily from Dune and StarCraft did the same with Warhammer. I've no doubt that many other series were influenced by Frank Herbert's work as well. Every time I've gone through the books, I feel like I'm able to pick up on something new and interesting. I have no doubt that this time will teach me something new again.
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. As the books go on, things get pretty weird, to be quite honest
My understanding is his original idea was that the first 3 books were a trilogy and that the four books that were to come after that one were to be set as well, meaning it was actually two stories in the same universe that were tied together. Obviously he only finished 3 of the 4.
Well from the sounds of it I have a new book I am going to read! That sounds like it could be very addicting since it isn't focused on just one part of a story. I am definitely going to give this a try.
Awesome. There's also a prequel trilogy by his son, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson. Don't read those until you go through the main series of books, starting with Dune. I'd only give those three a read if you really enjoy the universe and want to see how everything sort of came to be. They aren't bad, but they definitely aren't written by Frank Herbert, either.