Canis Firebrand

I am interested in reading the Dune series.

I know that Frank Herbert wrote the books a while ago and that his son has out 2 "prequel" books.

Should I read the prequels first before starting in on the Dune series proper?

renaldow

I wouldn't bother reading his son's books first. Frank's series is meant to stand alone, and it does very well.

adamblast

I haven't read the prequel books by his son, so it wouldn't be fair for me to dismiss them entirely out of hand. Still, I think it's almost always better to read books in the order written, rather than some later chronological order.

I can't stand that they're re-ordered the Narnia books chronologically, for instance.

Prequels are usually written due to the phenominal success of some original work. The original is almost always better, and deserves to be read first.

[Edited by adamblast on 06-26-01 at 04:25 PM]

Tuan Jim

If you're going to read the Dune books, read the original series first. If you read the prequels first, then when you get to Dune, you won't necessarily be able to follow all the theological, scientific and social points he's trying to make. The prequels are great scifi novels, but they don't have any of the various commentary to them that made the original series a true masterpiece.

Tuan Jim

Giantrobo

The new book by the son is great and it does change some facts but for most part things are faithful.

I'm waiting for HOUSE HARKONNEN to get to paperback. So don't dismiss them.

RandyC

I have heard the son's books are good. Still, I think the books should be read in the correct order.

You don't need to watch The Phantom Menace before seeing Star Wars...or watching Fire Walk With Me before Twin Peaks.

KnightLerxst

I would say read the original series before the prequels.

I have read every book except Chapterhouse and House Harkonnen. After Children of Dune Herbert got a little to "out there" in my opinion. Infact I hated God Emperor of Dune, reading that book was very tedious in my opinion.

House Atriedies was a fine book in my opinion and a very enjoyable read. His son used Herberts notes to craft the book. Admittedly it is in a different style, but I think it suites the prequels being that the universe of Dune seems to be much simpler prior to Paul.

Eric F

Yes, the new books are pretty good if you're really into Dune.

As for the reading order, read the originals first because there are huge spoilers in the prequels which throws all the elements of the original series into them, while Frank Herbert introduces them gradually over the series. So things you might read about in the prequels might not show up until book 3 or 4 of the main series.

Quack

Any new thoughts on this?

I wanted to start checking these out and giving them a whirl. I hear they're kind of tough to get into, and wonder if someone as dopey as myself will have a hard time reading them.

Hokeyboy

Read the first, original, classic DUNE by Frank Herbert. This is simply one of the greatest novels of all time. One of my hands-down, all time favorites. It ends definitively and conclusively on its own.

Then end right there. The sequels are fucking terrible.

I actual preferred reading the preqeuel trilogy "House Atreides", "House Harkonnen", and "House Carrino" to ANY of the sequels. Not in the same league as the original, but a fun, entertaining read.

mgbfan

Wow, ignore this advice. This is not a personal slight at Hokeyboy, but anyone who tells you that the prequels (little more than fanfic tripe) are in any way equal to any of the originals is to have his opinion nodded at and smiled at politely, then promptly ignored. The writing in the Brian Herbert/Kevin Anderson titles is amateurish beyond what you'd imagine. The dialog is as bad as it gets (severely disappointing, considering that Frank Herbert's dialog is one of the high points of the saga). Treat anything not written by Frank Herbert as pointless and not worth the time.

Dune is the book to read. Start there, absolutely, no doubt. There should be no discussion to this point. It's the best of them and also the book where it all started. There's no reason to start anywhere else.

To my experience, and to that of many others in online forums since online forums have discussed such things, the first, third, and fifth books of the Dune saga are the best. For whatever reason, the even-numbered books don't do as well. The later books are hard reading. They're not as easily accessible as the first. But that doesn't mean that they're not good; it just means that it's not beach reading.

But ... read Dune. If you want to keep going, read Dune Messiah, followed by Children of Dune. And so on. When you finish Chapterhouse: Dune, stop reading. You'll be tempted to try the Brian Herbert/Anderson stuff. Resist. It's trash.

Josh-da-man

The only "Dune" you really need to read is plain old Dune. You can stop there. Go ahead and read the sequels and prequels if you feel like you need to, but you won't be missing much if you don't.

How many Dune books are BH and KJA up to these days? Isn't it something like twelve? With even more trilogies planned?

Good God, the old man pitched a fit when Iron Maiden wanted to name a song "Dune." I wonder what he would think of all of this.

Hokeyboy

Don't listen to him. He's bangin' a tranny.

OK but seriously, we can all agree that the first is the only ESSENTIAL book. Reading Book 2 you'll notice a SHARP drop in quality, both in story AND in storytelling. The clean, beautiful prose in the original is made murky and ponderous in the sequels. Overwritten like Hell. Avoid, avoid, avoid. All of them. None of the sequels are worth a shit.

Ginwen

Other than the first book, I just listened to all the "original" sequels and a few of the later sequels as books on tape. If your library has them (or maybe CDs) I think that was a great way to go if you have a long commute like I do.

And no, don't read the prequels first. In my opinion 99.9999% of the time it's better to read books in the order they are written, and with Dune even more so as the prequels are nowhere near as good as the first book.

mgbfan

On that we agree. But lumping Frank Herbert's sequels in with the BH/KA trash, no, no, no!

Deke Rivers

ive read dune twice quite awhile ago..then recently read Dune Messiah and thought it felt like a bad sequel..got about 1/3 of the way into Children of Dune and just lost interest..as far as the prequels..they are like comic books in comparison to the original

Philzilla

I agree with those two but I think the series gets better with the last three

Supermallet

I love Dune. Great, great multilayered book. I recommend reading the first four: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune. That tells a complete story and the last two barely even feel like Dune books. Dune is the best, Dune Messiah is rough but worth getting through to get to Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune, the latter of which is very close to being as good as the original. I refuse to read the prequels because Kevin J. Anderson is a total hack.

Hokeyboy

By the time Herbert got to the Secret Hidden Jews of the Universe, I wanted to punch myself in the face with my own face.

Liver&Onions

What do you guys think of www.goodnightdune.com? How does it fit in the series?

milo bloom

One current era Dune book I can recommend is the "Road to Dune" compilation book. The majority of it is Frank Herbert stuff, that's been compiled by his son and KJA. There's a ton of "deleted" scenes, stuff that was cut for length back when Dune was originally serialized in a SF magazine and there's also a great little novella called "Spice Planet". It's written by BH and KJA, but based on Frank's original notes for the Dune story. It's massively different than how the original Dune novel turned out, but it's a brisk read and well worth your time to read at least this part.

The compilation also includes several of the new short stories that BH and KJA wrote for their new novels, collected in one place for those who want them in one place.

milo bloom

If I had the arts and crafts skills, I would figure out how to print that out and make a board book out of it for my little one.

Hokeyboy

I despise both arts AND crafts.

But that sounds kinda cool.

mgbfan

Damn straight he is. And what's worse, he's probably less of a hack than Brian Herbert. What a horrible twosome to inherit the Dune universe.

Supermallet

Yeah...the last two books had some good ideas, but I think they suffered greatly by being put in the Dune universe. You know something's wrong when the only recognizable character left in the series is an 8,000th generation clone of Duncan Idaho. Also, if cloning is anything like make copies of VHS tapes, Duncan Idaho by that point should be a gibbering idiot only capable of drooling and masturbating in public.