what do you mean nobody talks about it? they call it "the spice melange" all the time so even if you have no concept of French you know that it's being called a spice.
The Inheritance Cycle uses the same word, and I don't think that has anything to do with "impactfulness." What, to you, does it mean for books to be part of a Cycle? I thought it was another word for "series" tbh
I looked it up, a cycle refers to disconnected body of works that cover the same event such as the siege of Troy. A series refers to a linear body of works that cover different events, such as Dune and most other modern books.
So ya everyone downvoting me is straight up wrong. The op was wrong, and also I was wrong. Go figure.