Children of Dune

By: Frank Herbert

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Simon Vance

Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The sand-blasted world of Arrakis has become green, watered, and fertile. Old Paul Atreides, who led the desert Fremen to political and religious domination of the galaxy, is gone. But for the children of Dune, the very blossoming of their land contains the seeds of its own destruction. The altered climate is destroying the giant sandworms, and this in turn is disastrous for the planet's economy. Leto and Ghanima, Paul Atreides's twin children and his heirs, can see possible solutions - but fanatics begin to challenge the rule of the all-powerful Atreides empire, and more than economic disaster threatens.

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©1976 Frank Herbert (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Ranging from palace intrigue and desert chases to religious speculation and confrontations with the supreme intelligence of the universe, there is something here for all science fiction fans." ( Publishers Weekly)
"A major event." ( Los Angeles Times)

Amazing!

What a fantastic continuation! Shattered my expectations and left me wanting even more! My only complaint is that like the others it sometimes is difficult to track which character is speaking when voiced by the same person.

Not narrated by Scott Brick

The primary narration is done by Simon Vance, who does a great job. For some reason they list brick as primary narrator on a couple of these books when he’s only narrating the introductions to a few of >60 chapters.

Redeems the disappointment of Dune Messiah

Children of Dune redeems messiah in many ways. You need to read messiah to truly grasp Children so the struggle is worth it. Frank Herbert regained his ability to balance his vivid, detail oriented prose with a pace to keep the story moving. Overall a great ending to the first Dune trilogy

such a good series

Really glad I listened to every book in the series. this one took some interesting and unexpected twists and turns, and kept me on the edge of my seat while I was listening. very well done in terms of the actual story and the performance.

Terrible narration

I love the book, but the narration is terrible and has odd pronunciations. Why the fake accents? Sometimes incomprehensible, couldn't finish the audiobook. All the series sounds terrible. Needs a new narration

Excellent story, not so excellent narration

I begin with a caveat: I do not like Simon Vance's narration. I find his pseudo-Middle Eastern accent on nearly every character annoying and it is difficult to tell his characters apart as they all have very nearly the same voice. Additionally, the first two books in the series were performed as more of an ensemble production while this was not. The narration quality detracts quite a bit from what is actually a good story. More's the pity.

The Dune series takes place in the far future (tens of thousands of years) and is an interesting treatise on politics and economics in a far-flung feudal star empire. This is the third (and final) book in the Paul Atreides story. This one focuses on his children and their rise to claim the empire built for them by their father and left in trust to their aunt. It is a good story and well worth the read, which makes Mr. Vance's narration that much worse to hear. The book is definitely worth the read, but listening to Simon Vance makes it a difficult one.

Weird as Mo'adib

This book was hard to start and impossible to stop! It gets weird.... yet intriguing.

amazing story

you must keep reading the series. it only gets better I promise. dune is a must read series

Book three in the Dune saga.

Lots of questions from the first two books get answered, and several we didn't know were questions. Frank Herbert is truly one of the top three SF 20th Century authors.

Things get crazy on Arrakis

Things get pretty nuts in this book. I found many of the plot points frustrating even as I was intrigued. I feel strongly that the characters themselves would have behaved differently but I see in this book Frank Herberts personal struggles that influenced his characters. If you enjoy the first and second books you'll need to read this one to understand Paul and his actions.