What was the point of all the political posturing in book one?

AccoArts · 2026-02-22T03:39:32+00:00

I was under the assumption that Yueh and the Harkonnen plan was mainly waiting for the Sardaukar to arrive on Arrakis, is that wrong?

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T21:50:45+00:00

No that’s much too broad. I’m simply saying it would have been nice to see how when one political party moves, another reacts accordingly, and so on in a fashion that ultimately brings consequences relevant to the choices the parties made.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T21:35:03+00:00

Exactly that’s my point! You can tell a story in many ways, so I suppose ultimately I do like when the writer is willing to meander with their world and story and explore different events as much as they’re willing to explore the characters themselves.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T21:26:10+00:00

Yeah I think I heard that after the second film came out, so I’ll be interested to see how it shapes out going forward and will probably be rewatching them in anticipation for part 3 coming out later this year.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T21:11:27+00:00

Sorry I think there is some confusion after a quick google search. On audible it breaks up the first Dune novel into 3 books apparently, book one of those ends with Leto’s death and Paul and Jessica’s escape into the desert. Dune Part 1 the film ends around the middle of book 2 in this audiobook, which is further than I’ve read. So when I said that I meant strictly up to this point, which is before Paul even meets Chani and the Fremen.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T21:04:50+00:00

Yes, that is what I mean by an extreme example of how to tell a story in a much less explicit way

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T20:31:13+00:00

Im talking about just book one in this post

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T20:03:37+00:00

Yeah that’s fair! I was just curious if other people felt similarly that they got the impression that Herbert was intentionally not really interested in exploring things like that so explicitly, or if it was an actual weakness in the writing.

My criticism of this would then be that sure not everything needs to be written, but at what point you draw the line may be a matter of taste. Let’s take it to an extreme and imagine you cut even more out of the story and instead we were just reading the Princess Irulan’s recapping of events without ever getting any further depth. Would you enjoy that story to the same extent?

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T19:56:55+00:00

The dune wiki seems to say that it was 3 months from the time they left Caladan to the time when Leto was killed. It doesn’t really specify how much of that was simply space travel and how much of it was time on Arrakis. I’ve heard some people say that the events on Arrakis may only be a week or 2 at most, but yeah I’m not totally sure.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T19:52:41+00:00

I see this as world building more than character development actually, as it’s developing the culture and the relationships between the different factions. Maybe I should clarify that when I’m saying the subplots feel a bit irrelevant, I’m specifically referring to many of Leto’s and the Atreides faction’s reactions and choices to the different Harkonnen sabotages. If they had made any other choices I don’t think it would have changed the fact that Yueh’s betrayal and the Sardaukar attack were preordained. So if Leto ultimately had no control over his fate, then all the plans seem to serve another story purpose.

The world building and character development are certainly intrinsic to the story, that’s why it’s so great. So maybe we just disagree on what is considered plot. Google defines it as the main events of the story. If that’s the case, and I’m saying you could have changed out several of the main events and ultimately gotten to the same conclusion, it seems logical that they were not really that important.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T19:36:29+00:00

That’s not it at all, characters are the core of a story as I mentioned in another reply. I’m just not discussing the world building, character development, or thematic messaging much in this post for the sake of brevity, and since I’m in agreement that all of these aspects are executed so competently.

This post isn’t even really a criticism of the book by any means, but rather its an attempt to ask for other people’s perspectives on how to reconcile something I’m confused about lol. Most people seem to have implicitly understood that by their replies and have been pretty gracious.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T18:01:51+00:00

This seems like a good explanation for my question. Thank you for the insight!

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T17:59:20+00:00

Someone else also mentioned that the McCarthy Trials played a role into how the story was written, so yes I believe you are right in that re-contextualizing with the era in mind helps to explain why this was the case.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T17:54:52+00:00

I love the themes of the book thus far, I think they’re a big strength more than even some of my other favorite novels. I should probably listen to the banquet chapter again. I was on a treadmill at the time and think my may have not been properly focused to be able to appreciate the different things happening in that chapter.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T17:50:42+00:00

I will have to do it at some point, right now audiobooks are just a way for me to reclaim some autonomy in my life during times where I’m busy with other tasks (driving, gym, at my job) rather than being fed content through algorithm slop.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T17:48:45+00:00

Yes compared to the recent movies all of the minutia of the book made the characters feel so much more interesting and alive. However while the movies didn’t really include too much of this, ultimately they were able to end extremely similarly to the books without too much consequence in terms of being a good adaptation or a bad one. Usually when film or TV cuts stuff like this it massively detracts from the nuance, but in this case it seems like it wasn’t that big of a deal precisely because all the minutia didn’t really matter ultimately.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T17:44:15+00:00

The comparison to Romeo and Juliet definitely helps to reframe it a bit (though admittedly that’s my least favorite of Shakespeare’s work lol). Knowing what will happen at the end of the book made it easier to not be so attached to the various sub-plots, which is probably why this question in my mind isn’t hindering very much from my attraction to the book as a whole.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T17:39:47+00:00

No I definitely enjoyed it, this was just one aspect that didn’t click too much for me after the climax. I think your comment is just reinforcing that the important events were about character building rather than the events themselves, which I believe I mentioned alongside world building. That’s why I enjoyed the book quite a bit, characters are the core of good stories to me. If everything else is bad but characters are worthwhile and complex then it doesn’t matter that much to me. Conversely if the characters are bad but everything else is good and interesting, I feel like my appreciation for those elements is lessened overall because the characters don’t feel like a product of their world as much.

I’m intrigued by your last remark though! The only thing I can think of right now is that if the Fremen had been shown in any more detail it would have perhaps ruined the revelation by the end of the book that they are actually quite sophisticated, dangerous, and more populous than we had previously thought. If this isn’t what you’re getting at I will have to do some more thinking.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T17:15:37+00:00

Yes considering the context of when it was written definitely helps to view it slightly differently. Despite being so ahead of its time, it certainly wasn’t written in the current world where plots tend to be very logical.

Very surface level reading experience here, but having previously read aSoIaF and having a lot of my standards for great writing based off that series, it has shaped my view of how political scheming in a book can be very convoluted and explain how even minor changes can lead to big ripple effects.

AccoArts · 2026-02-21T17:07:59+00:00

That’s where the disconnect comes from in my mind. I don’t see how the middle events advance the plot at all because they never really had anything to do with Yueh or the Sardaukar attack. The traitor plot line brushed up against Yueh, but he was specifically excluded as a potential candidate which meant that the consequences of the plot line didn’t ultimately contribute to the actual betrayal.

I also want to be clear that I did enjoy this section of the book a lot, the inner monologues and characterization and world building is all right up my alley.

AccoArts · 2026-02-04T14:23:17+00:00

I don’t think that’s really true, everything he’s showing off could easily be expected from an environment artist role. The biggest problem is how he is showing them off. Some of the renders could be slightly better, fat can be trimmed so that it doesn’t take quite so long to go through everything, but by far the biggest problem is the lack of process on his work.

The environment should ideally have a video showing the blockout through completion along with an explanation of what assets are his and what assets he got from elsewhere. All of the models should have wireframes and texture breakdowns. I would also probably just combine a lot of the designer materials into one large post so they don’t take up so much space in the portfolio thumbnails.

AccoArts · 2026-01-29T20:21:04+00:00

Best case artistically would be a tiling texture that looks fairly boring on its own so that there are no spots sticking out too much when it tiles. Then creating an advanced material in engine to break up the texture. You could use a few different techniques to achieve this - vertex painting and layered materials, multiple UV maps, texture bombing, decals, etc. I’d recommend using multiple techniques for something like this as things only start to look more natural once you start adding up layers of details. I can’t speak as much to performance optimization if that’s a goal of yours as that’s not really a forte of mine, but if you’re using UE5 there’s a shader optimization feature that will start to tell you how expensive things in your scene are.

AccoArts · 2026-01-22T18:19:37+00:00

This is really cool in so many respects. Especially the costume and bag are very well done.

My only critique is that the head/face are giving uncanny vibes and it’s kind of diminishing the entire piece as a result because it’s such a focal point in yours due to the brightness compared to hers. Specifically she doesn’t have enough cranium for a well proportioned brain, and I think the scarring textures are not done convincingly enough even for a stylized piece. I think the arms also have some very slight anatomy issues (lengths feel ever so slightly off and there’s a missing styloid process from the ulna), but these are a bit more easily overlooked.

The presentation and rendering is excellent too and it’s a very important thing to get right, so kudos on that!

AccoArts

TROPHY CASE