Read it when in our equivalent of middle school. Didn't find it at all that "complex", if by "complex" you meant heavy and gruelling to read. Sure, there's some convoluted stuff and heavy political/social commentary in there, but that doesn't make it any less of a damn fine read.

I usually don't read much sci-fi, but Dune is one of the few books of the genre I've re-read.

It is. It's not all that well-written, and it's written as if someone living in the world itself was writing it. And the only reason why you can understand why everyone loves it is to finish it, because Dune is also genious by it's story and by it's world.

i am not saying that its complex to read, But heavy yes,
Gotta say though, It does feel like its written by some guy living in that world.
How are the dune movies ?

Don't. There's such a crazy ammount of plot lines that fill each other and perfectly fit, that movie just doesn't do justice. If you absolutely HAVE TO watch a movie, watch the 2000 Dune.

The Dune movies are horrible; also, only the first 3-4 Dune books are really worthwhile, the rest are pretty meh.

As for it being heavy, I don't know; the first time I read it (by it I mean the first 3 books) it took me around 3 days because the atmosphere and story really grabbed me and kept me tied to it.

Dune was the book that switched me to reading in English when I was around 14 or 15. I've always loved science fiction, but until that point, I'd read it only in Danish. This was a problem, because the Danish market is so small (we're only around 5½ million Danes) that very little sci-fi is translated into Danish. Also, Danish is not a good language for sci-fi (in my opinion) or for much of anything, for that matter.

Anyway, my uncle died, and I inherited a box of his old books, among them Dune in English. I'd heard about it, and thought what the hell, I'd give it a go, even though I'd never read a whole book in English yet at that time, although my English was very good. I never looked back. I went out and got the rest of the series soon after (this was long before the new books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson), and I've been reading almost exclusively in English ever since.

Dune movies - forget.

Dune book are long reads but I wouldn't say that heavy - although its been quite a few years since I read them. Space opera meets political intrigue meets weird ecosystems.

Asimov's Foundation series I found a heavy read first time through - but I was in secondary school (maybe 13/14). Read them several times since and had no problem. Well worth picking up if you want to stretch your mind.

I read it ... ummm ... about 25 years agom I guess I was about 16 at the time. I didn't have trouble finishing it, but I can't tell why; at that time I read about 200-300 sci-fi and fantasy books within a couple of years, and I can't remember a single one that I didn't finish. I did find Herbert's style very dry though, and at times reading through the book was more driven by habit and by the curiosity of how the complex plots would finally end, rather than by enjoying the act. I appreciated the complexity and the philosophical ideas, but I wished he had been a better writer.

Yeah I read it because i heard so many good things about so I picked it up last year and I am bit of a new reader of it. I thought it was brilliant with it's mix of Sci-Fi, Religion, Politics, Philosophy, and you can throw some environmentalism in as well. i also couldn't believe how many good quotes are in there, it is pretty much a uni students dream book to do an essay on cause you can approach it from so many directions.

I truly want to read this book so badly but the requests for this book in my library database is all full. Also, I want to buy this book for my Kindle but I balked at 14.99 price tag plus I read the reviews that Kindle version is really crappy.

I feel like they are trying to deny me to read Dune, dammit.

Frank Herbert Dune books are pretty good. Even the later books (God Emperor, Heretics & Chapter House) which I wasn't keen on initially grew on me a lot when I've re-read them.

Do NOT read anything by Herbert Junior and Kevin J Anderson. Christoper Tolkien treats his father's legacy with great care and love in his editing; Brian Herbert pisses liberally all over everything his father ever wrote by churning out bad fan fiction.

I've read the first three books a long time ago and I don't recall thinking them as heavy reading. There's a lot of sociological, politacal and environmental issues that are an integral part of the story, but they don't weight the narrative down.

Yeap I really enjoyed the original books found the story's thoughtful and interesting

wouldn't touch the next generation of them with a barge pole though

I WOULD touch them with a barge pole, but only to bury them so deep in the mud that they're never seen again.