The Yuuzhan Vong story arc in the old Star Wars Expanded Universe wasn't exactly great, and the "nice space vampires" trend-chasing trash that followed was pretty bad, but what a lot of people don't seem to remember, and what I only remembered just now, was that the early villain figure in the Vong arc was some angry Twi'lek lady that was leading what was called the "Diversity Alliance" and was actually an asset of the Vong. Basically, space SJW that wants space diversity is actually a space religious terrorist asset. :sus-torment:
I read something about the further Dune books that made me decide I wasn't going to have a good time with them, so I stopped at the first book. I don't remember the book that clearly since it's been too long, but I remember there being something about the Bene Gesserit fearing something about the male side of their visions and not being able to go there because they're women, and I was like, "Fuck you Herbert, I ain't scared!" It's very gender essentialist when you think about it.
This point in particular is complex. On the one hand yes, it is, but on the other hand the Bene Gesserit are canonically wrong; disproven by the existence of Leto II who is actually able to access that, and it's not because he's special (I mean he is, but it's besides the point) and that Paul / the Bene Gesserit are just too scared to press on that essentialist understanding.
That being said, once you get later than that even, once Herbert starts getting much older, you start seeing themes around sexual control and that I think gets much more into the yikes territory
Getting to God Emperor of Dune I think is critical to having an appreciation for the series, because the other books are setting up things to be subverted in God Emperor.
Paul is not a white savior, he is an incredibly flawed messiah figure; and one of the biggest themes of the series is to beware messiah figures.
Dune: Chapterhouse, aka the book of Sex Combat (?!?).
I love the Dune books dearly (mostly the first 4 tbh), but yeah, my man Frank got randy in his later years.
Yeah Chapterhouse is the only Dune book I've read only once. I wasn't fooling at the top when I said he gets real fuckin weird with it later on
That's fair, but I don't think I'm going to return to the series anyway. I liked Dune, but I didn't love it enough to continue the series or return to the book in the ~15 years since I read it.
Not every book is for every reader!
Though I may come across as one, I'm not an evangelist for the series and don't really recommend it to people because like I said the payoff is so buried in the books.