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)

Fabulous experience

Fascinating and creative story. Well performed although I felt it needed a few more actors.

Masterful in all regards

Frank Herbert's Dune is a classic and arguably the best piece of Science Fiction ever put to paper. The voice actors did a phenomenal job at exploring the rich tapestry of political intrigue and prophecy that permeates the story. The first book in the Dune series is a simple story in a very complicated universe. On it's face, it is the story of a young man caught in the worst of circumstances. Uprooted from his ancestral home, the young Paul of House Atreides must contend with the treacherous Harkonnens, who are set on destroying him and his family. The only escape being the unforgiving desert of Arrakis. A environment so harsh that it will suck the water from your body. Bestowed with his wits and terrible purpose, Paul faces the unforgiving world of Dune.

This made me actually like Dune

I read Dune once in high school and couldn't really grasp what made it so good. Listening to it now, I really enjoyed and embraced the story. My only complaint is that the voice readers should have been consistent throughout the whole book (sometimes voice actors swap characters, most chapters only have the narrator reading dialogue) but what content is there is fantastic!

absolutely stunning!

There are few books one reads that they know they will read again and fewer still that they will reread often.

this is one of those books that I will revisit throughout the rest of my life.

So many voice changes...

Great story. Enjoyed thoroughly. The one confusing part was the change of a character’s voice. From one chapter to the next.

great story, inconsistent narration

Great story. However they kept changing whether or not the primary narrator or the voice cast spoke characters and the narrator didn't put exactly the same voice as the cast did. It either needed to be read only by the narrator or have the casted voice so the character throughout. The whole cast was great, just needed consistency.

Loved it in my youth, love it still

It was like visiting with an old friend after many years of estrangement. Lovely performance of one of the best sci fi novels ever

Excellent narration

Narrator kept the book very interesting. Sound effects added were excellent as well. Story was just amazing.

Good book. Ok performance

I liked the book but as others have pointed out it was performed by an ensemble. This wouldn’t have been bad if they always had the same person performing the same character to provide continuity but they had different people read chapters so the voices of the characters changed. I would have perfected a version of the book read by a single person.

Excellent listen, except for the gaps

Fantastic performances all around for one of the better sci-fi moves ever written. Might actually listen to the whole series, against nearly all advice I’ve seen. Each voice actor brought a unique presence to their character, and the background sound worked well for me. My only ding on performance would be the spots (perhaps the unabridged spots?) where they change voices. You miss the Baron when it’s supposed to be his voice and isn’t; it threw me back out of the book, instead of bringing me deeper inside.