Dune: Volume 1

Frank Herbert

Aug 2003 · Dune Book 1 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

• DUNE: PART TWO • THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert • Starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Léa Seydoux, with Stellan Skarsgård, with Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem

Frank Herbert’s classic masterpiece—a triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time.

Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of Paul Atreides—who would become known as Muad'Dib—and of a great family's ambition to bring to fruition mankind'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.

Ratings and reviews

This is a great read. A very quick read for 800 pages. I could write a couple pages on the arc of a would be hero who is little more than an opportunistic upstart. Paul is not the hero of this story. I'm not sure there is one. Certainly not the Lady Jessica (whom I don't trust). Perhaps, only perhaps Paul's father, Leto. But even he wishes to subjugate a people who are merely means to an end of greater wealth and power. I like that these are not good, altruistic characters. No, they are human characters. This is what makes the book work so well. I look forward to the next journey.

Fascinating concepts and world building, clunky prose and terribly stilted dialogue. FH's writing steadily improves over books 1-3 (Dune, Messiah and Children) and later books in the series are much less of a slog than the first. Absolutely worth reading, this is a phenomenal book given its historical context and is full of great ideas even if it's mechanically lacking.

Frank Herbert, who wrote the Dune series between 1965-1984, was one of the greatest sci-fi writers of the 20th century, he passed in 1986. Dune emerses you in the hero struggle between worlds, powers and age. For those complaining of the "jihad" theme "post 9-11"; and the 'role of women' as 'outdated,' did you read the original published date? Herbert wrote and released Dune in 1965, so your opinion is based on criticism of events that happened 35 years later; as well as societal & cultural shifts that happen beginning 6 years later.

About the author

Frank Herbert is the bestselling author of the Dune saga. He 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.

In 1952, Herbert began publishing science fiction with “Looking for Something?” in Startling Stories. But his emergence as a writer of major stature did not occur until 1965, with the publication of Dune. Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune followed, completing the saga that the Chicago Tribune would call “one of the monuments of modern science fiction.” Herbert is also the author of some twenty other books, including The White Plague, The Dosadi Experiment, and Destination: Void. He died in 1986.