The Road to Dune

By: Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

At long last, millions of Dune fans can now hear the unpublished chapters and scenes from Dune and Dune Messiah. 

The Road to Dune also includes the original correspondence between Frank Herbert and famed editor John W. Campbell, Jr.; excerpts from Herbert's correspondence during his years-long struggle to get his innovative work published; and the article, "They Stopped the Moving Sands", Herbert's original inspiration for Dune. 

The Road to Dune features newly discovered papers and manuscripts and also "Spice Planet", an original 60,000 word short novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, based on a detailed outline left by Frank Herbert. The Road to Dune is a treasure trove of essays, articles, and fiction that every Dune fan will want to add to their collection.

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©2005 Herbert Properties LLC (P)2005 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Frank Herbert must be turning in his grave

I feel scammed. Brian Herbert and KJA have no respect for Frank Herbert's great art.

Fascinating Dunes

As a dedicated "Herberts'/Anderson" fan I found this audiobook, to say the least, fascinating and informative. I'm so very gald that "Spiceworld" never made it to publication in novel form, we would never have had "Dune" nor would have Frank Herbert become, at least not at that time, a household name or a very revered SF author. "The Road to Dune" is a great listen and I am pleased to have added it to my collection. I really enjoyed the "Dune" short stories, the possibilities are endless for the imagination, one can visualize any number of volumes based on any give character. Imagine "Erasmus Tales", if you would :)

Reality Check

I have to give this book a reality check rating. If you are a hardcore Dune fan, there is much background information here about the creation of Dune that is interesting. The actual novel and stories, however, are not that good. I actually found the brief commentaries by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson more interesting than any of the actual content. As long as you know this going in and set your expectations accordingly you may enjoy it.
The narrator of these audiobooks is also not one of my favorites, his reading is so earnest in tone it becomes annoying after a while (at least to me).

Short stories

the short stories start at 3:09:41 this time corresponds to page 405

Dune's lost or missing extras

It is always nice to see/hear what hit the cutting room floor. With these bonus content you get some other insight to the dune universe.

enjoyable backgrounder...

as a fan of the Dune series, I enjoyed this book as a backgrounder on the creation of the series, and learning a bit about earlier visions Herbert had for various characters and story lines.

Doesn't live up to its promise

I had this on my wish list for ages, but the bad reviews made me hesitate to purchase it. The bad reviews were right. There is some interesting background info here about Frank Herbert's process for writing and publishing the Dune series, and it was cool to see some of the discarded ideas for plot development and some of Frank's actual writing that got cut. But that content makes up a pretty small percentage of the book. The remainder is the reimagining of Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson using Frank's notes, and it's pretty terrible writing. I had intended to include a couple of quotes to illustrate my point, but to do that I would need to listen to it again and I can't force myself to do that. If you are a fan of Frank Herbert but you dislike the writing of Brian and Kevin, be aware that this book is more a product of the latter and doesn't have much of the feel of Frank Herbert's writing style at all. A different narrator might have made it more palatable, but Scott Brick's overwrought delivery was painful. In the end, I regret this purchase and I'm grateful for Audible's return policy.

Must read for serious Dune fans

wonderful background on Frank Herbert and excellent narration, by Scott Brick, on several short stories.

good background

some of the material that was cut from the originals was rightfully left out. however it's great to hear all the background and some of the prototypes. this is a must read for anyone who loves behind the scenes type stories and the dune series.

The Road To Dune (Unabriged)

Anything that comes from the Herbert's or Mr. Anderson is exelent. This reminds me of the special features disk that seems to come behind every new movie, except better. This book gives insight into the mind of Frank Herbert.