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 must read!!!

Wanted to read it before the movie came out and boy was I happy. What an amazing read. Truly epic story and very well written. The voice actors were terrific. Will definitely read the rest of the saga.

good book

great book, some characters had 2 voice actors which was confusing some of the time.

Voice work inconsistent...

Loved the fully voiced cast, but it occasionally switched who was voicing a particular character (also occasionally sections had a single narrator doing all voices)which made it difficult to pickup on characters who were currently speaking.

Another nitpick is that the novel was clearly written with too many "he saids" etc. this is really not pleasing to the ear when every single line of dialogue is followed by he/she said. more modern audio productions have done this better. Just something to be aware of, not a huge deal.

Dune

Worth persevering with the story, its easy to see how seminal this novel to science fiction.

Enchanting, Creative. A Scaffold of Modern Sci-Fi

Dune is a classical epic in every sense of the term, with perhaps one of the most creative and intricate sci-fi universes ever conceived. Frank Herbert's elegant blend of Arthurian Knight's tale and modern political thriller, set within a hard science fiction landscape, not only works, but captivates. If the first law of good fiction writing is world building, Dune could certainly set the bar.

One of the most creative qualities of Dune is its technological re-imagining of the medieval. Lords, ladies, dukes, peasants, and assassins of legend are spread to countless fiefdoms among the planets. Kings, princes, and psychic witches endeavor to control and expand their realms through political manipulation, poisoning, biological prophecy, and war -- their crusaders riding in legions aboard massive star-ships. Dragons of old come in the form of extraterrestrial fauna -- colossal, ravenous worms tunneling beneath an endless desert.

Perhaps the most exciting re-imagining is in the processes of battle within the novel. Tense swordplay and knife-fights are justified with a twist on a sci-fi staple -- energy shields in Herbert's universe make lasers nearly obsolete. The result is a culture of war in which hand-to-hand combat is a necessity, forcing characters to get up close and personal with their adversaries. Paul, our primary protagonist, is a prince trained from birth in this form of fighting, and it's always exciting to see him exercise his well trained abilities. Though readers should still expect some laser beams and projectiles to ultimately remain an important element of the war games.

Herbert's story itself aside, one of the primary values of this story will only speak to the true lovers of sci-fi, sci-fi-fantasy, and fantasy creation. Reading Dune is like reading the architectural plans to every modern sci-fi story. In this book are the echoes of the future Star Wars, Ender's Game, The Forever War, and on, and on... and it's a real treat to see the fiction roots of so many beloved modern classics.

The only aspect that comes through a bit awkward with this audio rendition is an odd balance between classical narration and voice acting. While the narration and actors' performances in themselves are superb, for several characters, the separate renditions of voice can be quite disparate. The gluttonous Lord Harkonnen, for example, is read by the voice actor at a low bass -- evoking a speaker that is hardened, steely, and threatening. Whereas the narrator gives Harkonnen a more obese, oafish, spoiled-lord type of villain -- his jowls audibly flapping when he's angered. Again, both of these are excellent performances, but the effect on the imagination of the reader can be the difference between, say, Darth Vader in one scene, and then King Henry in the next.

Incredible production

Brought the book to life in a way that was absolutely memorizing. I loved this book before and love it even more now

Extremely well told!!! Literary perfection!!!

Title speaks for itself! LOVED IT!
This reading is a mastery of the story and characters. Well done.

Really excellent production

From the ambient music, the actors and overall style, this is the best production of one of the SiFi most beloved classics.

Not as good as I had remembered it

I read the first 5 books in the ‘70s and ‘80s and in my mind they were outstanding. This book is good, but I can’t agree that it’s “the best science fiction novel of all time.” Buyer’s guide: It depends on what you read SF for—Dune has more science and less personal drama than Foundation (which is not to say that either is lacking, only that they focus on different aspects of SF).

But what made this listen horribly distracting is that it is PARTLY dramatized. I was not pleased when the book started off with a different voice for each character. But then it switched to a verbatim reading with the narrator covering all the dialogue. And it switched back and forth many times. I would estimate that the dramatization format covered between 1/5 and 1/3 the book. The frequent changes were horribly distracting. If you have time to read the book, I would recommend that you stay away from the audio...but if the format wouldn’t annoy you, then have at it.

great product

I love this story and was nervous about all the voices but was very satisfied. Great story, great audio book