Andre, DUNE rules here IMHO. I grudgingly mentioned the film but the book is masterful.
For those who haven't read it, DUNE takes place about 10,000 years in the future. Shields using the "Holtzmann Effect" are used on everything from starships to people. They won't let fast-moving projectiles pass, so guns are out. If a laser ("lasgun") beam touches the shield, an atomic reaction takes out both fighters. BUT the shields will let a slow-moving object pass.
Therefore, swords and knives have come back into play. The art of knifeplay is based on incredibly fast defensive movements, but the offense is almost entirely based on feints, deception, and hidden blades because you have to slip the knife through the shield slowly. The hero, if there really is a hero, ends up stranded on a hostile desert planet among incredibly tough fighters who can't use the shields. He's a Duke with the best training, so he holds his own, but they think he's toying with their champion at first because he attacks so slowly.
BTW, the knife fighting is the LEAST complicated part of this novel. Give it a read. I promise I'll read Lord of the Rings at the first opportunity.
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"It is not criminals who enter schools and shoot children . . ."
--Ann Pearston, British gun control apologist and Moron
