Shoutout to my cousin who was right about Dune

My cousin told me to skip the first 200 pages of Dune because it's all setup and I'd quit like I did before. I tried again following his advice and got hooked on the actual story after that point. Anyone else have a friend who saved a book by telling you to jump past the boring parts?

2 comments

2 Comments

eva2435d ago

Jumping past 200 pages seems like skipping too much of what makes Dune great. The worldbuilding is slow but it sets up everything that matters later. If you skip all that setup you miss the political backstory and the really cool details about the Fremen and the empire. My cousin tried the same thing with me and I ended up having to re-read it all again because I was totally lost later on. Sometimes you just have to push through the boring parts to get the full experience.

evaperez5d ago

That's honestly a smart move on his part. Some books really do have a huge wall of worldbuilding before the actual plot kicks in, and it's not for everyone. I've had friends do similar things with fantasy series, like telling me which chapters to just skim so I wouldn't put the whole thing down. It's funny how a little shortcut from someone who gets you can make all the difference. A good book recommendation is one thing, but a good "here's how to get through this book" tip is almost better.