[Rockingham]

Dune is notable for and sometimes difficult to follow due to its complicated, sprawling story, with a large number of characters, multiple story lines, shifts in narrative perspective, and lack of clarity on many points. The power of Dune is that the effect is to draw one deeply into the story, making for an immersive experience.

Thus Dune is a grown up kind of science fiction, complicated in ways that are uncommon for the genre. For me, the sequels were inferior.

[Amity]

“Dune is notable for and sometimes difficult to follow due to its complicated, sprawling story...”

Huh, I found it complex in the sense of rich and dense, but not at all complicated in the sense of hard to follow. Paul provided a “center” that tied things together, and for me the plot zipped right along, pulling the reader with it.

I remember thinking the sequels sounded a lot less focused, though.