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)

A Dramatization. Not an Audiobook.

The book is amazing. Frank Herbert built a layered, complex universe that few have done and does it in an entertaining and thoughtful way. The performance on the other hand is sadly horrible. In general I love Scott Brick and the others here. However the dramatization is just bad. How on Earth do you decide it's ok to have different actors voice the same characters? Even in the same chapter?!?

Finally got to reading this

I liked it, gonna listen to the next one now. The movie absolutely does not give the book any justice.

classic sifi

one of the fundamentals to sifi lovers. but the voices for the same character change multiple times. The performance is great when other voice actors chime in, but it's inconsistent and draws you out of the story.

Good Story, not great performance

This version has made a bizarre choice of mixing actors and reader voices, often having sections where there are two voices for the same character, making it a little hard to determine which character is speaking at times. There is also the most annoying and terrible use of bass/drums during many of the story moments involving the baron, the sound is nearly painful and very drawn out and monotonous that it very much takes away from those scenes. I would not recommend this version of the book, perhaps another with only a single reader and no pointless music.

Dune as it should be

Would you consider the audio edition of Dune to be better than the print version?

This audio version actually does create an interesting athmosphere for listening. You will be absorbed by the story and the ones who tell it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Duke Leto.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

They are superb actors who really bring this story to life.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Dune, Arrakis, desert planet.

Any additional comments?

It is really an audioplay, not a audiobook. Its a great listen of a great story and I loved every minute of it, moreso because of the athmosphere created by sound and voice from the very start.

As great as it was when first read

Read it in the sixties, loved it then and still do. I have all the Dune. books but my eyes are weak now so listening to them works now.

Loved that there were different voices and music, but not perfect

Great that they brought in different voices/music, but lack of consistency does bring you out of the story a bit

A Sci-Fi epic never to be forgotten.

Absolutely delightful listen. Narration is great despite the same characters having different voice actors at times. The breadth of the Dune universe will leave you in awe. Character development is amazing. Frank Herbert has created a beautifully detailed and captivating tale of adventure, destiny, cunning, and deceit.

Presently..amazing!

very good narration and voice actors. Story was really good. strong characters and world building.

Great book, Exceptional performance

The book stands on its own. It is well written, complex without being muddied, tells a consistent sci-fi story without breaking all of its own rules, and is interesting and left me wanting more. However, the performance by the narrator really takes you there. I was reluctant to use audiobooks because I didn't want to hear anyone else's interpretation of the story. It's why I only watch movies after I have read the book. But this narrator was really great and I enjoyed his interpretation of the author's words. Hud reading really invokes the feelings and the cadence of the story.