Book Review #8

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     Well, I finally did it. After years of waiting, I finally have the graphic novel trilogy. They have been releasing about the same time as the newer Dune movies. 

    I watched the older Dune movie as a child, but I don't remember too much of it. And I know some of the memes. I also know that the actual novel these things are based off of is part of a whole series by the author, Frank Herbert. That's really all I knew before diving into these graphic novels.

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    So, I wrote that little blurb up there about a week ago. Now having read them, I can say that I don't really care for them much. 

    Granted, the artwork is beautiful, and I really feel like I'm watching a movie rather than just reading some text on the page. With that said, the artwork was not matched by the story at all, especially in the second and third graphic novel. I found the first graphic novel to be a wonderful little volume and really set some decent expectations for me in the coming days. But now that I've read all three volumes, I can say that the first one was my favorite, but the other two really drag the first one down. 

    As far as the story goes, I can see why Frank Herbert may have felt compelled to write more Dune books to explain how messy things got. Considering this is the first book of a six-book set written by Frank himself (he died while writing the seventh, but that got picked up by his son Brian and another writer named Kevin J. Anderson before they wrote 16 more novels!), I definitely feel like this suffered from "there is another novel" syndrome, which for me is a bummer. I am more of a fan of separate stories that happen to be in the same universe with hints of interconnectedness. 

    Overall, I would recommend this graphic novel set to fans of Dune, but not to newcomers. I am clearly missing a few elements of storytelling that can only be relayed in the actual words of the novel. On the other hand, fans of Dune may find this graphic novel set to be a refreshing iteration on the beloved first book of the series. 

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