Dune

By: Frank Herbert

Narrated by: Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, Simon Vance, Ilyana Kadushin, Byron Jennings, David R. Gordon, Jason Culp, Kent Broadhurst, Oliver Wyman, Patricia Kilgarriff, Scott Sowers

Length: 21 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Long-listed, Audible.com Best of the Year, 2007

Long-listed, Audible.com 100 Audible Essentials, 2007

Audie Award winner, 2008

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, and Charlotte Rampling

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad'dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family—and would bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.

A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction. Frank Herbert's death in 1986 was a tragic loss, yet the astounding legacy of his visionary fiction will live forever.

©1965 Frank Herbert (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC

Critic reviews

Audie Award Winner, Science Fiction, 2008
Nebula Award winner, Best Novel, 1965
Hugo Award winner, Best Novel, 1966

"Unique...I know nothing comparable to it except Lord of the Rings." (Arthur C. Clarke)

"One of the monuments of modern science fiction." (Chicago Tribune)

"Powerful, convincing, and most ingenious." (Robert A. Heinlein)

Pretty Cool Story - Very Original

The story is fantastic.
The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the structure of this audio book.
It is theatrical with many characters (many voices) and then it changes to the main narrator who will also do his own versions of the character's voices.
It would have been better if it was either narrated by one person or a theatrical presentation with many actors, but not both.
I hope that I made this review clear.

Thoroughly Enjoyable!!!

Unlike Issac Asimov's "Foundation", this production of "Dune" is Thoroughly Enjoyable Listening. The full cast production brings the pages of this book to life. The music track is subtle in the background and enhances rather than detracts.

I've been waiting for this for over 5 years and I look forward to the next 6 in this anthology.
If your a lover of "Dune", you won't be disappointed. If not, Try it, good chance you'll like it.

Finally!

I haven't finished yet, but I know that this will stand as one of the best recorded books I have ever listened to. I've been a member for years and have hundreds of titles. The different voices and the production quality make it easy and compelling to listen to.

Not a Sci-Fi fan . . .

I'm not really a Sci-Fi fan but because Dune is on every "must read" list I ever saw, I put it on my "to read" list. I finally got around to it on Audible. I'm still a bit confused by it which is why I don't read Sci-Fi as a general rule. However, I have the physical book as well and, gratefully, it includes a kind of glossary of Herbert's terms which I used frequently. I can't say I came away amazed by the book, although I did enjoy it. I especially loved the analogies and symbolism within the story very much. I watched parts of the 1984 movie as I read which only made it more confusing since it is quite different from the book. For example, I kept waiting for the baron to fly around and act silly with big puss pockets all over his face like he did in the movie. What was up with that?

Every narrator was excellent but my personal preference would have been to let Simon Vance, who is quite capable of all characterizations, read the whole thing, with the exception of the quotes from the princess that I found quite charmingly read by whoever it was.

Although I'm glad I read/listened to it, I don't think I'll be getting the whole series but I'm really glad you Sci-Fi lovers have those to look forward to.

Great novel, well delivered

Dune is a classic of science fiction. It's not a standard "starships-and-lasers" space opera kind of story...it's a more nuanced "politics, assassins and spies" kind of tale.

The story tells of a multi-armed power struggle in a future world which is an interesting blend of mythos, technology and feudal politics. The immediate tale is that of Paul Atriedes, scion of a noble family, and his survival on the desert world of Dune.

I think this is a great story, but be warned: it is a slow-mover. It takes over 20 hours to listen to it; The plot isn't 20-hours complex, but there are diversions to create flavor and imagery of the "Duniverse." (This is how Frank Herbert wrote, in general.)

Several other reviewers have complained (with justice) about the unusual way this is presented. Most of the book is narrated by a single (good) narrator, but some "enhanced" scenes are dramatized by multiple actors. It's a little odd, but if you know to expect it, it's not off-putting. I just wish that the producers could have had multi-voice dramatizations for all of the dialog, instead of just some of it.

A Pleasant Surprise

This is the kind of shock I like. Instead of being disappointed that a story doesn't live up to the impossibly high standard that has been set for it, I was drawn in by this book so much that I hated every time I had to stop without finishing. I didn't really expect to like this book at all but it was great.

Makes you wonder about a place like Mars which has little or no water. What would it take to live there? This book makes an interesting case of what such a life might be like (sans the absence of oxygen), especially in the context of how we take water for granted.

Probably one of the most original and creative stories I've ever read.

Narration distracting

Book is a classic. No question there. I'll comment on the narration. I read the review that explained how the book was narrated, which helped a lot during my listen. But it still threw me when the narration switched back and forth from full cast to single narrator. Be prepared: different narrators for the same character, depending if the section is read by the full cast or by the single narrator.

Too bad the entire book wasn't full cast. Would have been so much better!!!!!

Overcomes the audio weirdness!

I agree with many of the reviewers: changing the actor who is voicing a character is inexplicable. The combo of single narrator and voiced characters did not bother me. The quality of several of the actors did, but it wasn't enough to ruin the experience. Simon Vance is so terrific that the single narration carries it. Blessedly, the amount of time we spend with the lesser-talented actors is limited.

I had never read the book, though I've read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy. I found that while the world was fascinating, the characters did not really move me.

That said, I'm glad I listened to it, though I doubt I'll go on to the sequels.

Incredible book with distracting audio issues.

I loved it, but sometimes voices shift from a full cast to a narrator only unexpectedly, and while both are excellent it can be quite jarring, especially when some actors really make their characters stand out (such as Baron Harknonnen).

Good listen!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes....because it's a good story.

Any additional comments?

Even tho I liked the audio version of this book.... after having watched the movie, a friend loaned me her hard bound copy of the book....which included a dictionary of "their language" I became sooo hooked....I bought every new soft cover that came out, following Paul's journey..........but, I never bought the final book.....it started going waaaaaaay out in left field, and I found it hard to understand! But this listen is very good!