Dune: Book One in the Dune Chronicles

Frank Herbert

May 2007 · Macmillan Audio · 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, and Scott Sowers

About this audiobook

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.

Ratings and reviews

the first two book are a WORK of art but THE third lost me😞. the whole Jihad plot after 9-11 is a bit to much and makes these books outdated. plus the ending shows to much cruelty to women and the plot towards THE princess and the hole i deal of not letting her have children is a bit to much for this day in age. second the plot line in the third books jumps forward by YEARS with no warning and no major battles are told just puff at the end? over all not a bad read but pass its time.

I loved the book. I just wish I didn't miss key parts because it would get garbled and distorted at times. I thought this may have been my internet connection but no matter when I went back to those parts they were always distorted. Couple with the reading of the book suddenly stopping for no reason. Suffice to say unless it were free I would not purchase another audio book due to the poor quality of the play back and not due to the books excellent content.

Whatever audio issues there were have been fixed. The story is fantastic. It's one of the best "world-building" sci-fi novels out there. 4 out of 5 stars for the audiobook for one reason. While the voice acting is great, it's also confusing because it's inconsistent. More than half the time, the narrator is reading the characters' lines, and he does voices the them as well. If it's your first time hearing the story, it's confusing if it's a different character or not.

About the author

Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma, Washington, and educated at the University of Washington, Seattle. He worked a wide variety of jobs-including TV cameraman, radio commentator, oyster diver, jungle survival instructor, lay analyst, creative writing teacher, reporter and editor of several West Coast newspapers-before becoming a full-time writer.

Scott Brick first began narrating audiobooks in 2000, and after recording almost 400 titles in five years, AudioFile magazine named Brick a Golden Voice and "one of the fastest-rising stars in the audiobook galaxy." He has read a number of titles in Frank Herbert's bestselling Dune series, and he won the 2003 Science Fiction Audie Award for Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. Brick has narrated for many popular authors, including Michael Pollan, Joseph Finder, Tom Clancy, and Ayn Rand. He has also won over 40 AudioFile Earphones Awards and the AudioFile award for Best Voice in Mystery and Suspense 2011. In 2007, Brick was named Publishers Weekly's Narrator of the Year.

Orlagh Cassidy is the winner of the 2009 Best Voice in Children & Family Listening and the 2008 and 2011 Best Voice in Mystery & Suspense. She's narrated for Jacqueline Winspear, James Patterson, Erica Spindler, Beth Harbison, and Frank Herbert, among others.

Euan Morton's narration credits include Christopher Moore's Fool and Sacre Bleu, Neil Gaiman's Stories, Eoin Colfer's Benny books, and Frank Herbert's Dune and Chapterhouse Dune. Morton's breakthrough role was appearing as Boy George in the musical Taboo, which earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. He reprised the role on Broadway, earning Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Award nominations, as well as the Theatre World Award (for Outstanding Broadway Debut). Morton's other stage performances include Leaves of Glass, Sondheim on Sondheim, and Cyrano De Bergerac.

Simon Vance is the critically acclaimed narrator of approximately 400 audiobooks, winner of forty-one AudioFile Earphones Awards, and a six-time Audie recipient. He was the winner of the 2012 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator, and was named the 2011 Best Voice in Biography and History and the 2010 Best Voice in fiction by AudioFile magazine. Simon was named a "Golden Voice" by Audiofile Magazine, and Booklist Magazine named him their "Voice of Choice".

Ilyana Kadushin is best known for her narration of the Twilight audiobook series, and has worked on other audiobooks, including The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Post Grad and Dune, which won an Audie Award. Her other voice work includes national commercials, animation, and popular video games such as Lord of the Rings.