I like that when Dr. Yueh betrays the Atreides family, each member of the family takes a turn to say some shit like, “Of course, it was Dr. Yueh.”
We’ve known it was Yueh from the start because we’re constantly inundated by his inner thoughts i.e. I sure hope no one knows I’m ratfucking the whole squad to be with my wife again. Phew. No one knows I’m ratfucking the whole squad. Super close one there, since I was talking to someone with literal psychic abilities but it’s okay this time.
Reid has an interesting thought about this that really puts the spotlight on how batshit crazy Frank was when he wrote Dune.
Reid said it feels like Frank thought he had come up with something clever so he’s basically beating you over the head with his little Dr. Yueh betrayal arc. Like, hey, you there, you remember this guy is a sneaky little rat, yeah? Do not forget that. Dr. Yueh is the rat.
It’s funny how we have characters, earlier on, thinking shit like, “Could it be Dr. Yueh? Nah.”
Oh right, it’s halfway clever because Dr. Yueh has “imperial conditioning” which we’re told, in-universe, makes him incapable of betrayal. But we aren’t trained on examples of that actually working so our first instance of imperial conditioning is the guy who broke it and betrayed the people who he supposedly couldn’t betray.
I’m imagining a story about a rich guy who keeps losing his Rolexes and the only person other than him who is in the house is his housekeeper who is bonded and he’s like, Can’t be the housekeeper, they’re bonded. But then we also get thoughts from inside the housekeeper’s head and they’re like, Yeah it’s definitely me I’m stealing Rolexes constantly.
That’s how this whole cringey arc felt to me.
Reid points out that a lot of the flaws stem from Frank showing us the exact details of what a character thinks but nothing about how they feel. They lack real interiority but we know their basic as fuck motives at all times. Worst of both worlds in my opinion.
Reid points out that when they take ‘thopters out to the spice mining fields, Kines (who is totally not Liet) keeps tallying ways in which Paul fits their prophecies but, as usual, does this completely emotionlessly.
I think this is extra lame because Paul is in fact the prophesied Al Jazeera so it isn’t even cute misdirection. It’s just another example of one of Frank’s characters thinking about how neatly this one part of the story clicks into another part of the story.
Feels dry.
Reid mentions how there are cool little details that never really return, like the old busted mining crawler, Old Maria, which they use to punish shitty workers. I kinda like that personally. Or I feel like I’m torn about it.
In my own writing, I tend to cut out little sidenote stuff unless it comes back in a meaningful way so the story eventually feels very stripped down and easy to follow but I would say, with Dune, I like the excess lore.
I think the only part of Dune that keeps me interested is I want to understand the world it takes place in. I find the characters and plot to suck ass.
Reid points out that what I’m talking about is in fact a distinct difference between stuff I write and stuff people like Tolkien or Herbert write. A large part of what the audience wants from Herbert/Tolkien et al is the world, so it’s important they not only think this stuff out but share bits of it.
I think that’s cool.
I love a good world.
I think my favorite part of Mechwarrior and Warhammer 40k is the sense of the scope of the universe. I typically find the gameplay lacking and the narratives in their shitty ass novels is usually really boring.
I think worldbuilding, as a craft of its own, is scoffed at a lot by people and that’s maybe just posturing but I’m not sure. I’m trying to imagine genuine, craft-based reasons why world building seems lame to people.
Probably the idea that a strong narrative/characters is where the propulsion comes from. So people not only want to be recognize for their characters/narrative but also they don’t want to accidentally get shelved next to someone who was up all night dreaming up what differentiates the night elves from the wood elves.
So, posturing.
Reid said he thinks it’s funny that while he’s enjoying Dune, when he writes about it, most of what he says is negative.
That’s true for me too. I’m having a fine time reading it but I have a lot of complaints too.
Props to Frank. It isn’t easy to write a book people will read and also react to strongly enough to have their own thoughts on how they’d do it differently. The opposite of love isn’t hate it’s apathy etc.
Reid makes a good albeit cynical point re: worldbuilding. People maybe scoff at it because they don’t realize it takes work etc, because they don’t do it. Every writer has to create characters, build conflict and so on, but not all writers have to think about the setting as much as say a sci fi or fantasy writer has to. So maybe there’s a little bit of that one principle, I can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s the principle that the more confident you are you can remember the name of the principle on the spot the more likely you are to draw a blank and keep typing anyway.