While my friends were reading Herbert and Moorcock, I was reading other science fiction and fantasy, so I missed out on discussing Harkonen and Fremen with them. Excellent book, rich with politics and intrigue and even a few battles. Dune sits on a knife edge, and the plot could have gone either way with equal success - and that fact comes through in Paul's time sense.

I really can't add much to the many great reviews already out there. This book loses nothing with age, and is a worthy read. How far to go in the various sequels may be the only topic of conversation. The knife-edge balance of this perfectly lends itself to games, and I find a burning desire to play Dune (the Avalon Hill board game) and Dune II (one of the first real-time strategy games) and possibly Dune: The Dice Game (newly released, with the great tag line "The Dice Must Flow!").