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)

Dune

Any additional comments?

Written by Frank Herbert, narrated by Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, Simon Vance, Iliana Kadushin. This unabridged version of Dune is 21 hours in length, book one in a series. Narration is fun – lots of readers! Only one element of narration confusion, it seems a single character is read by more than one narrator.

In the style of the time it was written, 1965, Dune is verbose, loquacious, and long-winded. But, that was popular at the time … think James Mitchener, John Jakes, James Clavell, etc., big sweeping novels. Such is Dune, but contrary to his contemporaries, Frank Herbert is deep into Science Fiction with Dune. There are many, many reviews – like over 20K – ergo, there is little I will add.

There are a handful of books that are must reads if one is to consider themselves well versed in a variety of genres, i.e., To Kill a Mockingbird, The Old Man and the Sea, many more. If you want to include SciFi in a well-rounded literary mind – include Dune.

A plethora of characters – considerable re-winding. The story is confusing, especially to a reader not fully open-minded to inventive world-building and considerable stretching of the imagination.

If you enjoy SciFi, you will enjoy and must read Dune. If you do not enjoy SciFi, skip it.

Must-Read Timeless Science Fiction Odyssey!

An ever-present challenge facing the science fiction fantasy genre is telling a timeless story in a timeless world. Sometimes technology in our own real world catches up with a past author’s imagined science fiction world, and it can unfortunately demystify the fantastical elements of the story. I’m pleased to say, this is not so in Frank Herbert’s Dune! This is truly an epic science fiction odyssey that stands the test of time over 50 years later. Herbert’s imaginative vision for his story is full of intrigue, compelling characters, and a fantastical universe of worlds, factions, conflict, and power. Great voice acting performances all around!

I was worried about the audio but...

After reading reviews about the audio I was concerned. I should not have been. The book was excellent and the performance was unique for an audio book. It's mostly narrated by one person and occasionally some scenes move into a full cast audio style. I found it enjoyable and not at all distracting.

I think some of the negative reviews are actually due to Herbert's writing style. The world he builds is complex and he doesn't take the time to define each word or concept. I had to look up certain characters or concepts when they are first introduced into the book to keep up. It is worth the effort. The story is excellent and foubdational to the SciFi genre.

Great book, Odd audio version

DUNE, itself, is a classic, and one of the pillars of Science Fiction.
This audio book version is, unfortunately, not the best. Different actors/voices are used, seemingly randomly, throughout the book, making it confusing to know who is supposed to be speaking.They should either have one narrator throughout, or use the same actors to represent the same characters, consistently throughout. There are also frankly odd bursts of music at times which are both unnecessary and distracting.

Great story

It's a great but the problem with having multiple voice actors is when they change it takes you out of the story.

Excellent Story. Excellent Reading

They brought together a wonderful collection of Narrators and brought to life a story that was excellent to begin with. You are enveloped in this Dune world and the characters and individual stories come together into a wonderful audiobook.

Highly recommend.

Not my favorite presentation of a Great book

The Dune is a classic and amazing work. This was not my favorite way to experience a book I’ve read many times. I much prefer the reading presentation done with the Prequel series written by Herberts son.
As an actor and director, if this was to be dealt with as an acted presentation rather than a dramatized read, there were things that absolutely missed in the casting of the voice actors.
It’s not enough to cast “different voices”. Think about the characterization of those voices. The freman voices need to all sound like desert born native voices. And the voices of Atreides Battle Hardened Warriors can’t have wimpy voices. Vocal Characterization is critical. It’s not about “reading” in their normal voice, is about creating an authentic character.

All in all, I was able to set aside my challenges with the presentation, to relive at least some of the grandeur of the story. This would have been easier if the story telling would have flowed like the well performed play, they had wanted to approximate.

Great story!

Overall a really great book. There is a lot of characters and names, but you can track enough of the story to still enjoy it even if you dont track every single mention of every name.

One of the best Sci Fi books ever written!

Love this Universe. This was the 10th time going through this book. Deep and engaging.

Great Book and Performances but...

The "but" is that different actors with very different voices would play the same character (epecially the barron) in different parts of the the book. Confusing, but overall an entertaining listen.