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)

One of the canons of Science Fiction

For this review I am going to mostly ignore the fact that this is an audiobook: the production is first rate and in this case that means one can concentrate on the novel, not the actors.

How do you review a massive novel such as Dune?

I will let the reputation of the book assure you of its quality and literary value.
Bear in mind that this is the best selling science fiction novel of all time.

What I would like to explain is my opinion of why this novel is important.

Frank Herbert with this novel was the first science fiction author to create a properly believable world entire.

The level of detail is astounding, from the carefully worked out machinations of the various political forces in the universe to the equally meticulous ecological cycle of the planet Arrakis.

With such dilligence and the use of devices such as quoting from highly convincing yet non-existent books Herbert fully pulls off the trick of making the reader (or listener) accept the milieu of the novel without question.

This unprecedented feat accomplished Herbert then uses this fully realised background to achieve his second great accomplishment; soft science fiction.

Up until this point (1965) nearly all science fiction had been about the technology. For example two of the great previous SF authors, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke had always felt the need to explain how their fantastical devices worked.
This is known as hard science fiction.

Herbert by contrast says "okay, you believe in my universe. Now heres the important bit: the people".
In short this novel brings the hitherto neglected literary facets of character and human interaction properly into science fiction and the genre would never be the same again.

great novel, poor production

Dune is a classic of science fiction - relying on character development and an intriguing plot instead of techno-magic to capture the reader. So the book is outstanding. The reading of the book is also very well done. The problem was in the production (as others have mentioned) - it switches between a traditional audio book (one person reading everything) and a dramatization (different actors reading different characters) without rhyme or reason. The Baron Harkonen is read most often by a talented, deep voiced actor, however sometimes in the next chapter or page the narrator takes over. It can be very confusing (especially if you never read the book). Unfortunately this problem continues on in Dune Messiah, the second book in the series. One really has to wonder: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

Absolutely Wonderful Version - WELL DONE!!

Being a big fan of the book, the movie and sci-fi in general I had high hopes for this audio book and it didn't let me down one bit. Many of the words and names in the book are tongue twisters and the readers (actors) did a splendid job in voicing tham. This was closer to a radio play than an audio book. This is the best audio book I have listened to and can't wait to listen to the rest of the series.

Satisfying Adaptation of a Sci-Fi Classic!

I first read my now well-worn paperback copy of Dune in middle school and became a lifetime Frank Herbert fan. I've seen the movie and mini-series adaptations as well. This first book in his now classic series is still my favorite, and I found this multi-reader adaptation satisfying. While there were places in the narrative that I might have wished were interpreted differently, overall the characters were presented as individuals, the cultures of Caladan, Geidi Prime, and Arrakis were explicated, the rivalry between the Atriedes and the Harkonnens was developed, and the climax on Arrakis was appropriately intense. If you like Frank Herbert and love "Dune," I think you will enjoy this audio book.

Classic Science Fiction but Odd Narration

This is a classic of science fiction. I would suspect that it somehow an inspiration of the original star wars series. I am not a hugh science fiction fan, but I enjoyed it because it seemed to be both a science fiction book and a book set in the middle ages, You have Dukes, Counts, Emperors and other titles of nobility. They are continually scheming against each other in search of power, One character, the Duke actually reminded me of Jaba the Hut from Star Wars because he is so obese.

The one odd thing with narration which other people have commented on, is that different narrators are used for the same character. It throws you off. Scott Brick whose voice I always recognize is Paul, the main character sometimes and other times not. There is also a weird echo chamber voice almost like Darth Vadar.

Although this is a series, I probably won't continue on. The book comes to a satisfactory ending and there is no "cliffhanger" like so many other series. I suspect it was written as just a single book in mind. So you can listen to this one book and call it quits, especially when the last books in series are actually written by Frank Herbert's son.

I am in awe of this book!

So over the years I've read the book at least 6 times. This is my 3rd time listening to the audio version. The audio version is nothing short of superb.

In my opinion this book is the greatest science fiction book of all time and my favorite book period!. It stands the test of time. The ideas this book puts forth is amazing and Frank Herbert was a genius.

What I love about Dune is that Frank Herbert was able to communicate complicated ideas for anyone to understand. I am a huge sci-fi geek and sometimes I have a hard time understanding all the ideas and plots the author is trying to communicate. Not so with this book.

I envy those who are about to read it for the first time. It gets better with each reading.

Now we need a decent movie!!

Best of both worlds

I generally prefer audio books compared to dramatized audio plays most of all as the last are generally abridged. But an unabridged audio book using a cast and music to bring even more athmosphere is just great. I would love to see more productions like this. I won't deny though that it would be even better if there was character continuity.

Interesting story, but sudden ending

I read this at the recommendation of friends. I did so without being ruined by the old movie which Sting starred in.

I don't wish to spoil it for anyone, so I'll just say I found the premise very interesting - the world (my favorite part of any fantasy venture) was well developed, as were the adaptations and attitudes of the fictional native people who inhabited it. The "villians" were mocked a little to heavily for me by the author - as in, this is told from a third person perspective, but the author's animosity towards him (and his family) was apparent. Far be it from me to tell a real writer how to write, but this bothered me. Had this story been told in the 1st person, this would've been totally understandable... Other than that, it was an entertaining read, but not the transformative insight into the human condition I've been searching for... But then again - I might be too thick headed. I read where Einstein cited "The Brothers Karamazov" as a catalyst for his deep fascination with the world and the human condition, but I read it and all I could think was "Who sews money into the collar of their shirt after murdering their father?"... Like I said, I'm pretty dense... I also found the end to Herbert's story pretty abrupt - not season 8 of Game of Thrones abrupt - but a touch hurried with the fate of Princess Irulan understood, but somewhat bewildering. Mua' Dib spent the entire story remaking tradition but in the final chapter is going to submit to convention and assume the Imperial throne by marriage? For real? I'm hoping the second book makes this more understandable.

Absolutely breathtaking story!

The story told in this book captured my interest immediately. The depth of lore and imagination that brought this world together is truly amazing. And the performance, it really brought this story together.

A Classic but not captivating enough...

...for me to continue the series. Mr Herbert's writing is beautiful and one of the best I have ever read. The characters are excellent and well developed. But the plot is not that interesting for me. It could be because a lot of writers have borrowed from Herbert's writing and remixed more interesting plots.

The narration also is one of the best on audible yet. With a star cast and unique voices, the production quality with background music and effects is incredible.