Title Dune Author Frank Herbert Cover Art John Schoener Publisher Ace - 1990 First Printing 1965
	Title Dune Messiah Author Frank Herbert Cover Art --- Publisher New English Library - 1986 First Printing 1969
	Title Children of Dune Author Frank Herbert Cover Art --- Publisher Berkley - 1977 First Printing 1976
	Title God Emperor of Dune Author Frank Herbert Cover Art --- Publisher Ace - 1987 First Printing 1981
	Title Heretics of Dune Author Frank Herbert Cover Art --- Publisher Ace - 1990 First Printing 1984
	Title Chapterhouse: Dune Author Frank Herbert Cover Art John Schoenherr Publisher Ace - 1987 First Printing 1985
	Title Dune: Graphic Novel Volume 1 Author Frank & Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson Illustrator Raul Allen, Patricia Martin Publisher Harry N. Abrams - 2020 First Printing Harry N. Abrams - 2020
	Title Dune: Graphic Novel Volume 2 Author Frank & Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson Illustrator Raul Allen, Patricia Martin Publisher Abrams ComicArts - 2022 First Printing Abrams ComicArts - 2022
	Title Dune: Graphic Novel Volume 3 Author Frank & Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson Illustrator --- Publisher --- First Printing ---
	Title The Road to Dune Author Frank & Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson Cover Art Stephen Youll Publisher Tor - 2005 First Printing Tor - 2005
	Title Hunters of Dune Author Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson Cover Art Stephen Youll Publisher Tor - 2006 First Printing Tor - 2006
	Title Sandworms of Dune Author & Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson Cover Art Stephen Youll Publisher Tor - 2007 First Printing Tor - 2007
	Category Science Fiction Warnings None Main Characters Paul Atreides, Lady Jessica, Alia, Duncan Idaho, Stilgar, Leto, Ghanima, Siona, Teg Main Elements Galactic Empires Website ---

Dune

Dune Messiah

Children of Dune

God Emperor of Dune

Heretics of Dune

Chapterhouse: Dune

The Road to Dune

Hunters of Dune

Sandworms of Dune

Dune - I first read this for high school, it was on our summer reading list. I've loved it ever since, one of my favorite books of any genre. Now high school was a while ago so with the movie coming out, and having collected most of Brian Herberts followup books, I thought I would use 2022 to read them all, and thus turned my entire year into an SF based one. I was a little afraid of the Suck Fairy though. She got her pixie dust all over A Wrinkle of Time after all. Turns out I needn't have worried.

Of course I'm older now so noticed different things. First, my favorite part always was all the complex political maneuverings. But now I was surprised how often we had scenes where characters sat down together and explained all their nefarious plots, but it was like watching Columbo, even though you knew who the murderer was, it was still interesting to watch everyone else figure it out.

Another thing that has changed since I read the book was the events going on in the Middle East. Thus the Fremen living in the desert, driven by religion and supersition, using Islamic terms (among others actually but those stood out), and of course the core Jihad, I had to wonder what was the chance that 10,000 years from now all those beliefs and customs would survive. I mean sure we know about Ancient Greek and Egyptian gods, but nobody worships them anymore, we just use them for our own purposes, like Hermes on delivery trucks. And those are at most half that age, how much will we remember in another 5,000 years, with a massive war in between and everyone scattering to the stars? But whatever, I have a soft spot for reading stories about desert people, even though they are invariably based on our own nomads, maybe exactly because they are.

Umm...but yeah...there are Fremen called Stilgar and Chani, Farok and Harrah...and Geoff. I mean English names survive, we've got Paul after all, that's like calling something exotic like a dragon, "Joe". Sorry, couldn't help point that one out :)

But that was the only stretch. The turning of humans into computing machine, gholas, the Bene Gesserit, the Guild Navigators, all these things fascinated me because in 10,000 years, who knows how our technology will change us (note 10,000 years is not enough to for evolution to create Face Dancers for example, we had to be changed, whether it be by Spice or genetics). Although oddly enough for science fiction, this story isn't all all about the tech, the tech allows it to span across the galaxy, but this is story about powerful people and their ability to outwit each other. Also, the worldbuilding is literally epic, spanning millenia. Frank Herbert is basically science fiction's J.R.R.Tolkien, he not only created a story here and now, he had a whole history and multiple cultures worked out.

And the protagonist, he's got all these super-prescient powers, he's also a mentat, he's been trained as a Bene Gesserit, and the Fremen have been prepped by their very religion to welcome him as his messiah...but even with all that training in politics and life and death, he doesn't know that the frick he's doing, and he's desperately trying to move the pieces on the chessboard such that the whole universe doesn't spontaneously melt down because of him. Dying doesn't help since a religious war needs a martyr to latch onto, its easier to do something in someone's name if they aren't there to disagree about what you meant when you said such-and-such. If he really was in control it would have been so much less interesting to read. In one way, its the now-cliched young adult "chosen one" trope, Paul was just a teenager after all, just taken to a whole other level of depth, because Paul isn't clueless, he's got all these amazing skills that he's already mastered, but this was bigger than anything he could have been prepared for.

Anyway, there's a reason this is both a Hugo and Nebula award winner, and tops many lists, even non-SF ones for "must read". I can see how some people won't like it, same as some people can't get through Lord of the Rings, it's not a light read and there is a lot to take in. But for those who love that, this can't help but be one of your favorites.

Dune Messiah on the other hand...well, let's put it this way. Herbert wrote Dune as a standalone. It sold well, publishers said give us more, and Herbert gave in. This one has virtually no actual action, it's all secret meetings to bring down Paul and his dealing with his visions and the terrible Jihad he forsees in the future. I still enjoyed it, as I mentioned I like that political intrigue stuff, but I can see why people stop after the first book. No shame in that. However if want to find out what happens to Paul, you need to read this. And if you make it through this one, well, you'll probably want to find out more. Kind of like people (like me) who end up reading the Silmarilion, then end up working their way through everything else Tolkien wrote. You can't get enough of the world, and you there is SO much more to know.

Children of Dune - Hmm, I'm not sure what I think of this one, its where the Dune series starts veering into the weird. Whe have the twins, born not just aware but with access to the memories of all their ancestors, ancestors who would like nothing more than to live again in flesh and blood, even if it means possessing their own decendant. And while the twins stuggle with this, their aunt Alia has struggled and failed to achieve the same (although...she shouldn't have access to her male ancestry, that was what made Paul special, but Alia's grandfather made too good a villain to pass up I guess) and now wants the Empire for herself. A lot of scheming, a lot of politics, a lot of tests to see if someone is human or not, and someone who becomes not human. Let's just say this isn't a light read, you really need to pay attention and even then I'm sure everyone will have moments scratching their head trying to figure out what just happened! However there's something about this complexity that just makes it a compelling read. My one real problem...you can't just terraform a planet that fast. I mean nine years have passed, and there are trees everywhere, trees take decades to grow to full size, even in wet and fertile environments, but this rush towards greenery was important to the plot. I had the same issue with Red Mars, I guess even in a series that will span millenia it's a bit much to ask reader to wait for things to take their course!

God Emperor of Dune - I remember finding this book particularly weird when I first read it, but I've read a lot weirder since and instead found this tale of Leto's metamorphosis fascinating, imagining what it would be like to turn into a near immortal sandworm, but still had vaguely human-like arms and hands. I'll admit to not really understanding the Golden Path, which was kind of the point, but watching the evolution of Arrakis, as it turns green and the Fremen become "museum Fremem", basically there so tourists can see what Arrakis was three thousand years before. The great race of people that brought Paul his victory now reduced to a mockery. And isn't that what we are doing to so many of our cultures now? Tourist going to watch Hawaiian hula dances come to mind. Here I enjoyed Leto's interactions with Ducan, Moneo, Hwi, Siona and others. A truly sympathetic monster, doing evil in the hopes of ultimately doing good.

Heretics of Dune - Another millenia and a half has passed. At which point I began to wonder, it's been nearly 5 thousand years since the first Dune book and everything is still kind of the status quo? You still have the Bene Geserit, the Guild, the Tleilaxu, Ix. Arrakis (now Rakis) has some of it's desert back, but those most closely resembling Fremen are just the poor living on the fringes of society, don't think anyone even talks of Fremen anymore, museum or otherwise. Those were the only ones lost in the passing centuries. But then I thought about it some more, the Jewish religion is some five thousand years old, and the Bene Gesserit are nothing if not a religious order of sorts, though one aware of manipulating religion to control the masses, as opposed to a true religion. Ix and Tleilax are their own planets, with services that still serve a purpose to they survive. And the Guild can never truly disappear so long as there is interplanetary travel. So maybe yes, it makes sense. And the Duncans, who would have thought in the first book that he'd still be around 5 books in (and this being a re-read, I know he shows up in the last one too). Paul, Leto, the drivers of the story, and poor Duncan, cloned over and over again, as a witness to the changes.This is also one of the most action packed books of them all, told from the point of view of the Bene Gesserit. We also learn a lot more about the mysterious Tleilaxu which are, for some reason, Islamic (strangely the Fremem gave off stronger vibes of that, but then a desert people would immediately make that connection). And we are introduced to Miles Teg, an Atreides descendant and a character I particularly liked.

Talking of bloodlines, the Atreides claim (and Paul/Leto should know having access to all their ancestors) to be descended from the House of Atreus, that is Agamemnon and Menelaus of the Trojan War. Having spent all last year delving into Homer's epic and various retellings, it was an interesting link for me. And maybe explained why the Atreides bloodline was so interesting, they were descended from mythological characters! Of course they had superpowers :)

But something that Herbert seems to forget, you can't have Atreides blood without Harkonnen. With the Baron as Paul's grandfather, he has literally as much Harkonnen blood as he has Atreides (we don't know either of his grandmothers though, maybe Atreides lines were strengthened through them). So you'd wonder that seeing as the Atreides traits are breeding true through all the millenia that some of the Harkonnen ones would show up from time to time? Yeah, you'd try to breed it out, but you'd think some recessives might pop up occasionally?

Chapterhouse: Dune - This book continues where Heretics leaves off, and unfortunately leaves many new interesting threads hanging. Like why is Duncan having visions of a gardening couple, who and what are they? Where do they end up when everyone leaves? Do the sandworms make a comeback? Unfortunately Herbert passed away after this book, so we'll never really know what he intended. But years later, his son found someone who he felt could help him finish this off, and they began an epic task of filling in the past and wrapping up the future. Thus far they've written at least 3 times as many Dune books as Herbert did, and they are all on my to-read list for the year. Will see if the son can do his father's work justice, and where that many books warranted.

May 2022

The graphic novel adaptation is excellent. The artwork is beautiful. It intentionally sticks close to the book, using actual text where possible. And the attention to detail impressed me to no end. Jessica's eyes are green, the mentat's have sapho stained lips, and you'd think this would be hard to get wrong (but the House Atreides graphic novel adaptation proved otherwise), those addicted to spice have blue-within-blue eyes, and the sandworm was terrifyingly impressive. Perhaps the Baron could be a little fatter, and the thopters weren't how I pictured them, but those are minor complaints. After all Dune isn't an action book, it has action in it but a lot of time people just sit around and talk with each other, and that can be hard to translate to a graphic novel where you want to see things happening, you're not just listening anymore. I borrowed this from the library but I'm seriously contemplating investing in my own copy, and that's no idle statement, graphic novels are expensive so I almost never actually purchase them.

July 2022

The Road to Dune - Sometimes these companion books are boring, but I really enjoyed this one. It starts with Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson filling out an outline they found for "Spice Planet". Let's just say I'm glad some of the names changed. Leto Atreides was Jesse Linkam which just isn't the same. Jessica is Dorothy Mapes (I keep picturing the actual Mapes, the elderly Fremen maid being married to Leto, ick). Bit pieces were the same, a lot of the worldbuilding was missing (no wormriders!) but was still fun to read. Then came a few letters, always interesting when a hugely famous book gets rejected over and over again, until a publisher that specializes in car repair manuals decided to take the risk. Crazy no? Then came some discarded chapters and scenes, many of which conflict with the final story but still interesting to see how the story evolved. And at the end, four short stories by Brian and Kevin. Three are related to the Legends of Dune trilogy so I'll review them there, but the one related to the core Dune books, A Whisper of Caladan Seas. was the best of the four. I felt it was a beautiful tale about the Atreides soldiers that were trapped in the caves during the Harkonnen attack on Arrakeen. Nice to give these "redshirts", the ones that die without even being named, a chance to tell their story too.

September 2022

I was a little wary, I mean finally finding out how the story ends is a big deal and it could be badly messed up. But reading Hunters of Dune, I enjoyed it as Duncan and the other members of the no-ship that escaped in Chapterhouse: Dune try to find a safe haven. Now, I have to admit, if the author's weren't working off of an outline that Frank Herbert himself came up with, I'd have been rolling my eyes a bit at bringing back certain characters (let's just say the concept of a ghola can allow a lot of literary freedom), but watching your favorite characters with mixed up ages playing with toy blocks in a nursery was amusing. But then we get to Sandworms of Dune and things get a little wonky (not that Frank Herbert couldn't get a little weird so who can say what did or didn't come out of the outline versus his son's imagination). In the end, the Enemy turns out quite obvious...but only if you read Brian Herbert's other novels. If you'd read only Frank's original you'd be left scratching your head goin "Who?". Again though...Frank intended to write that Butlerian Jihad novel with his son, so it's not all yanked out of nowhere. But when everyone decided to live happily ever just because they saw the light, it was a little hard to believe the ending. I did like the twist on the Kwisatz Haderach though, and explained much as to how that secondary character was not nearly secondary at all, something I had already determined from the first six books and here had confirmed.

Thus in the final analysis, I was happy to find out how it ended, after all Chapterhouse ended on a cliffhanger, the absolute worst ending! Would it have been better had Frank written it? Well, there's something about Frank's style but to be honest after six books I was getting annoyed with characters spending most of their time analyzing the movement of someone else's eyebrows to determine their intention. Herbert & Anderson can drag things out a bit, I don't think it could be one book but may 100 pages less each would have stopped me feeling like I just wanted to get to the end already, which spoils any reading experience.

But yes, you must read the Legends of Dune trilogy if you want to understand the big reveal (and I guess by saying that I'm revealing it but...well, you need to know that trilogy is a must read...otherwise the big bad guy is someone you've never heard of before, and there's no fun in that).