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)

Good book bad performance

This book and the story it self are wonderful it pulls you in for the long haul and has a great plot. However the performance is very sub par. Every character has 2-4 voice actors reading for them it constantly changes. For example the main character Paul is read by at least 3 different people randomly through out the story. It gets confusing and annoying.

Disjointed use of additional voice actors

I really enjoyed the story and Simon Vance's narration. The additional voice actors were inconsistently used so that at times a character was voiced by Vance and at times by another actor. That difference was distracting for me and took away from the overall experience.

Worth it

I read too many reviews and spend too much time deciding if I'll like the narrator. This purchase was worth it

A Whole New Universe

Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic Dune is one of the most highly regarded works of its genre, and with good reason. It’s one of the most immersive and profound science fiction stories ever told. Herbert’s opus is poignant and resonant, prescient and increasingly relevant to our world. It is however also slow and deliberate. While Herbert’s style is undeniably immersive, it can at times become tedious or plodding. Dune was always one of those books I would try to read but never stay invested enough to finish. Twice I tried to read it and both times I was defeated by its glacial pace. Fortunately, with this audiobook I was invested from word one and stayed invested all the way to the end.
Instead of a single monotonous narrator, we get something more akin to a radio drama than your typical audiobook. There’s a really great cast who do wonders elevating the material even further and giving the story and the reader the extra energy required to finish the epic first book in the Dune saga. I’m so glad I was able to find this audiobook, I feel like a whole new universe has opened up to me. I needed a series to enjoy until Winds Of Winter came out and I think I’ve found it. I loved this audiobook adaptation and can’t wait to continue the series from here.

Dune Audiobook *** WOW ***

This is THE BEST multi-cast presentation I've ever heard. Not a word left out of the book but as you listen you would think there were many additions to the dialog. Listening to it brings me back to when I first read Dune (late '60s).

I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Good story weird changing narrators.

I read this book in 1979 and it made a great impression on me. I thought I would give it a listen and see if it stood up over time. It did. And engaging story that gets a little slow in a couple of spots but other than a speed bump or two maintain it's momentum and paints a fascinating picture.

The Ultimate Dune

I didn't know what to expect when getting this audio novel. I was suprized when I was brought into a whole production of audio bliss. This Dune audio novel has been brought into a new era, it features music, diffrent voices for characters and a tone to keep the imagination flowing. I was impressed with the flow and how well it was composed. I cannot wait to listen to the whole series.

2021 Movie is a good introduction

I have been recommended to read Dune many times. It isn't my first time trying the series but being unable to get into the Dune series. The audiobook series really helped with the reading part. The movie helped in making the series make sense. Those who recommended the series did state that it can be hard to get into the series and they were not wrong. Thankfully a great movie was made finally of this really good series. Still got to read the other books. Many things make sense now too.

Epic story, but some confusion with voices

If you could sum up Dune in three words, what would they be?

Enthralling Epic Escapism

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I was hooked from the first word. It was great to have a different reader for each character, but at some points they seemed to switch the narrator for a character which totally changed the effect of the story - the voice didn't match up with the character you had created in your minds eye. Disappointing, but the overall story was still brilliant. Thoroughly recommended.

Disjointed performance

Some sections were narrated by the main narrator. Some sections had voice actors for individual roles. Both were good, but the lack of consistency threw me off.

Other than that, it was a solid and enjoyable listen.