this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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What’s something you couldn’t get into, but feel like you should? (kbin.social)
submitted 1 year ago by stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
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What’s something that you feel like you should like,, but for some reason can’t get into, no matter how many chances you give it?

For me, it’s The Three Body Problem. It should be right up my alley from everything I’ve heard about it (especially the second book, which looks at the Fermi Paradox and the Great Filter!), but for the life of me, I can’t get past the first chapter at all. I even tried reading it in another language to see if it was the translation that kept me from getting into it, and nope.

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[–] IonAddis@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

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.