[Talisker]

I never read it. Seemed too boring.

It's brilliant and worth your time. Once the story gets going, don't have anything else you need to do.

[Fightin Whitey]

brilliant and worth your time

Agreed.

I read it several times as a kid, never since. But even back then it seemed to me to allegorize and uncannily predict the power shifts, tangled allegiances and terrible battles over oil (spice).