Dune

While I still enjoyed my time with this incredibly vivid world building and immediate—almost intimidating—sense of absorption via myriad forms of jargon and culture, this is certainly overhyped in being called the greatest sci-fi book of all-time. The characters are for the most part great—and Paul is set up to have some excellent development—but so much time is dedicated to the agriculture, biology, and overall politics of Arrakis, that you wouldn't be blamed for feeling this book's already decently sized length. That said, I did think having finished this prior to the film's release greatly helped and improved my love and respect for Denis Villenueve's adaptation.