Read through book 4, God Emperor of Dune. At that point, “rails” are a distant memory. It’s wild, it’s wooly, it’s a 3 thousand year old worm king writing in his diary.

Book 2 is grim and deflating, 3 picks up the pace again but is really just setup for 4.

After 4, Herbert’s wife passes away and he takes up with his much younger editor. From then on, the books get significantly hornier. YMMV.

Agree that 4 is the fulcrum. If anyone stops at 2 or 3 they are doing themselves a disservice.

I never realized that the change in tone in 5 and 6 were due to a new editor. Interesting, but it makes sense.

I think 5 and 6 were ... fine. But I have trouble pinpointing what they were really about. There is a lot of movement but no direction.

Oh yeah, 5 and 6 are… different. To be clear, by “takes up with” his editor I mean they had an affair.

I hesitate to use the word because afaik Herbert was a widower at the time, but can’t think of a better one that hits the right tone.

Affair is the wrong word:

Affair: a sexual relationship between two people, one or both of whom are married to or in a long-term relationship with someone else. "his wife is having an affair". (Google)

If you’re going to be pedantic, at least be correct:

Websters: “a romantic or passionate attachment typically of limited duration”

Do read Dune Messiah, the sequel to Dune. I believe it was written specifically for those who failed to get the negative implication from Dune. Hence, it was not so well received. It is my favourite in the series (well, maybe after Dune itself), firstly because it is very explicit about the tragic consequences of Paul's jihad, which was only hinted at in the first book, and secondly because of the way that it greatly enriches the literary universe of Dune by filling more details of the various political actors, the Guild steersmen, the amoral technologists of the Bene Tleilax, gholas, the mysterious planet Ix, and so on. And the Dune Messiah is surprisingly short!

You should probably read Children of Dune to round off the trilogy, just to learn the fate of Paul Atreides, although he is not the primary character in that book.

The second trilogy is distinct but the stories are told told in the same setting; enjoyable but not essential.

I will, thanks. I was planning to read book 4 as well, since people are saying that's the best one, can I stop there? Or will I have too many unanswered questions?