I'm a huge fan of the Dune novels (the original ones by Frank, not so much the prequels and sequels by his son). I really really like the new films - both of them. And I agree with you that they are pretty faithful to the novels.

The things that impressed me about them are: a) they managed to catch the vibe of the novels really well, b) they do a great job of making the plot accessible without all the internal monologue exposition that the novels rely on, c) I really liked the pacing, in that they take time to pause and 'breathe' at the right times in the story, and then pick up the intensity when it's right.

As for those other authors, here's what I recommend:

Anathem by Stephenson. Note: it's really slow to get doing, but stuck with it, it picks up as it goes on and it ends really well.
Necromancer by Gibson. Apple TV is actually making this into a miniseries.
Accelerando by Stross
Consider Phlebas by Banks

[–] nuggsy 2 points 11 months ago

I heard the other Dune novels weren't as good. I planned on getting to the 2nd one at some point, just had other stuff I wanted to get to. There's also only three book series I have been able to read back-to-back; The Shardlake Series - C.J. Sansom (history/mystery novels) and The Edge Chronicles - Paul Stewart (fantasy novel series with my favourite illustrator Chris Riddell), Riftwar Saga - Raymond Feist (fantasy).

I'll jot these down, thanks for the suggestions :)