Hopefully I won't get crucified for this take, but Dune. I love the Barsoom series, I love Tremors, but Dune did nothing for me. I tried reading it near the end of spring semester in high school, which is arguably a bad time as I was dealing with track semi-final/finals as well as school finals, and after a month of reading less than a page a day, I gave it back to the friend who loaned it to me. That was 12 years ago, though so maybe I should give it another shot.
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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I tried it on audiobook and couldn't finish it. It didn't help that it was one of the ones with 500 different readers for different characters (and very distinctive voices like Scott Brick were different characters in the second book or part or whatever than the first), but while the world was kind of interesting, I really couldn't be grabbed by the story at all.
And I finish almost everything. Especially on audiobook.
I like Dune a lot, but you definitely have to have a certain mindset to get into it. Barsoom and Tremors are really...I don't want to say "not the same genre"...but kinda "not the same genre"?
Dune is NOT an action/adventure book. It has the trappings of one, but you're more likely to get into it if you love anthropology, religious studies, sociology, and philosophy.
Barsoom is pulp sci-fi (which is fine--there's a reason pulps are popular!), and Tremors likewise isn't in the same wheelhouse as Dune either. That's not to say those two can't have aspects of anthropology/religious studies/sociology, etc. as a lot of SFF mixes it up, but Dune is pretty heavy on the intellectual/academic side of things. It is taking theoretical concepts and putting them into motion on a stage via the characters. It's a very measured book that plays out high level concepts with pawns on a stage.
When I think of "books like Dune" I tend to think more of Ursula K. LeGuin or Octavia Butler, in that they start out with a philosophy, and then the characters are set on a stage to play out those philosophical/sociological/etc. musings for the reader.
As far as TV shows: The Expanse and Foundation. I really want to like them but the first 3-4 episodes left me quite meh. Someone tell me it’s a slow start and gets better?
I tend to put more priority to story line vs special effects or action scenes.
As I said elsewhere in this thread, the first couple of episodes of the Expanse are kinda slow. It picks up if you stick with it :)
I'm still mad they ended it early :(
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I actually got stuck on the second book in the Three Body series. I found the first a page turner. Though it is an unconventional book and I can easily see why some would not be into it.