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Dune cover art

Dune

Written 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
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Publisher's Summary

Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, 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 Maud'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

What the critics say

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)

Editorial Review

Get transported to another world in the epic fantasy sci-fi saga, Dune, a great story compared with books like The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, or Game of Thrones.

Discover the epic mystical adventure that is Dune. This fantasy and science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert has all the tropes and makings of a true classic in its genre. Frank Herbert’s Dune is mesmerizing and moving, full of adventure, wonder, heroism, and other worlds. The story follows the tale of the main character Paul Atreides of the house Atreides, and his mother, Lady Jessica, a member of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. Taking place on imaginary desert planets such as Arrakis, home of the fremen and leader Stilgar, and Caladan, political drama and betrayal unfold as noble houses fight for rule of the known universe. Mix these big ideas with new worlds and dangers such as giant sandworms, melange ‘spice’ and an epic battle of Corrin, and you get the action and adventure of The Dune novels- some of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time.

Herbert writes excellent world-building, creating a complex and dynamic universe in which his many characters - who themselves are deep and rich - operate. He has been hailed as one of the greatest writers of the sci-fi genre, propelling the style into a new era of epics and mystery with Dune. The novel has sparked great fandoms, followings, and rave reviews, inspiring the 2021 Dune movie adaptation. The box office hit featuring Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner, Arrival). Former film adaptations include the 1984 version by David Lynch. The film Dune: Part Two is expected to be released in 2023 and recounts the story featured in the latter half of the original book.

This audiobook adaptation is a masterpiece narrated by an entire cast of voice actors, including Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, and Simon Vance. Along with their cast members, they bring to life the dramatic moments and critical scenes with this excellent narration. This adaptation even won an Audie award on its release for its standout narration performances. Get caught up in the wonder and magic of this mystical world, brought to life by the dynamic and clear voices of the cast, from the characters of Baron Harkonnen (of infamous House Harkonnen) to Duncan Idaho and Gaius Helen Mohiam. A true must-listen for any fantasy or science fiction fan, a cannot miss legendary book. The Dune series also includes prequels and sequels in Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, Hunters of Dune, Sandworms of Dune and various other titles from the Dune Universe.

Featured Article: 20 Best Sci-Fi Audiobooks for Exploring New Worlds

There is no genre that lends itself better to audio narrative than Science Fiction does. There is a magic that transports listeners to new worlds of wonder and mystery that is heightened by expert voice actors and narrators. A great writer can create an imaginative new world or dystopian civilisation, but it is up to the narrator to bring this world to life around you. We’ve gathered together 20 of the top science fiction audiobooks ranked not only for their stories but for the emotive and compelling narrative performances. Let these award winning tales and voices carry you away to worlds unknown.

What listeners say about Dune

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great story... but inconsistent voices?

Great sci-fi story. Rich & deep. My only issue was with the narrators... there are a bunch of different voices for different characters, but they change between chapters. So one voice you get to know for one character, is all of a sudden gone in the next chapter, or even once, the voice plays a different character. So, that was less than ideal.

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98 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • TJ
  • 2018-11-15

Very confusing production

This was a decent audiobook, but the production decisions made it super confusing. First off, there would be different parts in the book where the SAME character would be voiced by DIFFERENT people. Why???
Second, the division into 18 “tracks” makes zero sense since the actual book chapters start and end at random spot within the each “track,” with some chapters continuing over multiple “tracks.”
Overall the voices/reading was great and the music was a nice touch, but the production decisions make this a very confusing listen.

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71 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Story is excellent, audiobook is frustrating

This audiobook is billed as "full cast", but that's only the case half the time. The other half, the characters are voiced by the narrator. Both the cast and the narrator are excellent, but the switching back and forth is incredibly frustrating and took me out of the story so many times.

It's a particular problem with the "Baron" character. The actor plays the character like a large muscly supervillain, and the narrator voices him like Winston Churchill. If they'd just picked one and stuck with it, it wouldn't be a problem. It's not even like they ran out of money half way through and had to can the actors because it switches back and forth constantly. They probably tried to voice as much as they could afford and just picked the most important scenes to use the actors, but man was it a bad choice.

Either way, the story is incredible. If you can overlook the voice acting, you'll have a great time. Otherwise, find a different version.

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Different voices used for the same character

Awesome story. Really enjoyed the narrative. Note that for some odd reason they use a different voice actor for the same character. Very difficult and confusing to follow. Apart from that, this is a great book

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Dune is such a classic for good reasons

Excellent book, amazing story; it's no wonder Dune has a cult following

The performance in this audiobook was excellent, my only criticism would be that, even thought voice actors were available for all major characters, it seems half the time they were not used but instead the narrator would fake a voice to mimic them

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Lack of consistency is jarring.

The shifting voices in the narration are off putting and confusing at first, but the quality is such that by the end of Book 1 it no longer serves as a detriment beyond a lament of "what if the whole book was this good?".

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Full cast vs narrator

I hesitated downloading this book based on the reviews that say the performance is confusing: it’s a mix of Full Cast performances and a narrator who takes on all the roles. In all, I didn’t find it as confusing as apparently other did; however, the narrator gives a richer reading.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent production

I was skeptical after reading all the reviews saying that the narration was difficult to follow but I'm glad I purchased it. It is true that the voices for the characters change, but there is a clear rhyme and reason to it. The book is narrated by a single reader, with dramatic moments taken over by a full cast. It is not hard to grasp the concept. I don't understand why so many found it confusing. I thought it was well done and I enjoyed the elements of drama the music and cast added.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Lack of coherent actors

The story is breathtaking, but the voice acting flicks between one guy, and 5 people. The deep voice of the baron is sometimes a thing, sometimes it's just the one main guy.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • MJN
  • 2021-03-28

I’m sorry, this isn’t a good book.

The story was predictable right from the first chapter, the dialogue and character behaviour makes me wonder if Herbert every interacted with other humans, and the obsession with Christ like prophecy is just cheap. Paul has zero depth, says something generic, and then all characters around him gawk and say “wow now he’s a man I could follow.”

But, it was good for its time right? No, it wasn’t. People have been producing fantastic literature for thousands of years. This is just a neat concept with poor execution.

On top of that this audiobook feels like it’s on shuffle because they made the incredibly odd decision to merge two entirely separate productions into a single book.

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5 people found this helpful