0 Reactions

Dune (novel)

Dune AuthorFrank HerbertCover artistJohn SchoenherrCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishSeriesDune seriesGenreScience fictionPublishedAugust 1965PublisherChilton BooksMedia typePrint (hardcover & paperback)Pages412Followed byDune Messiah
Dune is a 1965 science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award in 1966 and it won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. It is the first installment of the Dune saga; in 2003, it was described as the world's best-selling science fiction novel.

Dune is set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefs. It tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the planet Arrakis. While the planet is an inhospitable and sparsely populated desert wasteland, it is the only source of melange, or "spice", a drug that extends life and enhances mental abilities. Melange is also necessary for space navigation, which requires a kind of multidimensional awareness and foresight that only the drug provides. As melange can only be produced on Arrakis, control of the planet is a coveted and dangerous undertaking. The story explores the multilayered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice.

Herbert wrote five sequels: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune. Following Herbert's death in 1986, his son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson continued the series in over a dozen additional novels since 1999.

Adaptations of the novel to cinema have been notoriously difficult and complicated. In the 1970s, cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to make a film based on the novel. After three years of development, the project was canceled due to a constantly growing budget. In 1984, a film adaptation directed by David Lynch was released to negative response from critics. The book was also adapted into the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2003 sequel Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (which combines the events of Dune Messiah and Children of Dune). A second film adaptation directed by Denis Villeneuve was released on October 21, 2021, to generally positive reviews from critics. The series has been used as the basis for several board, role-playing, and video games.

Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-life nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan.

Plot
Duke Leto Atreides of House Atreides, ruler of the ocean planet Caladan, is assigned by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV to serve as fief ruler of the planet Arrakis. Although Arrakis is a harsh and inhospitable desert planet, it is of enormous importance because it is the only planetary source of melange, or "spice", a unique and incredibly valuable substance that extends human youth, vitality and lifespan � the official reason for its high demand in the Empire. More significantly, it is through the consumption of spice that the Guild navigators are able to obtain their extraordinary mental capabilities. Shaddam sees House Atreides as a potential future rival and threat, and conspires with House Harkonnen, currently in charge of spice harvesting on Arrakis and longstanding enemies of House Atreides among the other Great Houses of the Landsraad, to destroy Leto and his family after their arrival. Leto is aware his assignment is a trap of some kind, but refusal would mean fleeing the empire as a hunted renegade.

Leto's concubine Lady Jessica is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusively female group that pursues mysterious political aims and wields seemingly superhuman physical and mental abilities. Though Jessica was instructed by the Bene Gesserit to bear a daughter as part of their breeding program, out of love for Leto she bore a son, Paul. From a young age, Paul has been trained in warfare by Leto's aides, the elite soldiers Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck, while Thufir Hawat, who serves as the Duke's Mentat (people with superhuman intelligence), has prepared him for becoming a cunning political maneuverer; Jessica has also trained Paul in what Bene Gesserit disciplines she can. His prophetic dreams interest Jessica's superior, the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam. She subjects Paul to the gom jabbar, a deadly test that causes blinding pain as part of an assessment of the subject's humanity. To her surprise, Paul manages to pass despite being exposed to more pain than any others before him.

Leto, Jessica and Paul travel with their household to occupy Arrakeen, the stronghold on Arrakis formerly held by House Harkonnen. Leto learns of the dangers involved in harvesting the spice, which is protected by giant sandworms, and negotiates with the planet's native Fremen people, seeing them as a valuable ally rather than foes. Soon after the Atreides' arrival, Harkonnen forces attack, joined by the Emperor's ferocious Sardaukar troops in disguise. Leto is betrayed by his personal physician, the Suk doctor Wellington Yueh, who delivers a drugged Leto to the Baron Vladimir Harkonnen and his twisted Mentat, Piter De Vries. Yueh, however, arranges for Jessica and Paul to escape into the desert, where they are presumed dead by the Harkonnens. Yueh replaces one of Leto's teeth with a poison gas capsule, hoping Leto can kill the Baron during their encounter. Yueh is murdered by De Vries upon delivering Leto, while the Baron narrowly avoids the gas, which instead kills Leto and De Vries. The Baron forces Hawat to take over De Vries' position. While he follows the Baron's orders, Hawat works secretly to undermine the Harkonnens.

After fleeing into the desert, Paul realizes he has significant powers as a result of the Bene Gesserit breeding scheme, inadvertently caused by Jessica bearing a son and his exposure to high concentrations of spice. In visions, he foresees futures in which he lives among the planet's native Fremen, and is also informed of the addictive qualities of the spice. It is revealed Jessica is the daughter of Baron Harkonnen, a secret kept from her by the Bene Gesserit. After being captured by Fremen, Paul and Jessica are accepted into the Fremen community of Sietch Tabr, and teach them the Bene Gesserit fighting technique known as the "weirding way". Paul proves his manhood and chooses the Fremen name Muad'Dib, while Jessica opts to undergo a ritual to become a Reverend Mother by drinking the poisonous Water of Life. Pregnant with Leto's daughter, she inadvertently causes the unborn child, Alia, to become infused with the same powers in the womb. Paul takes a Fremen lover, Chani, and has a son with her, Leto II.

Two years pass, and Paul's powerful prescience manifests, which leads the Fremen to consider him their messiah, due to the Bene Gesserit's Missionaria Protectiva. Paul recognizes that the Fremen could be a powerful fighting force to take back Arrakis, but also sees that if he does not control them, their jihad could consume the entire universe. Word of the new Fremen leader reaches both Baron Harkonnen and the Emperor as spice production falls due to their increasingly destructive raids. The Baron encourages his brutish nephew Glossu Rabban to rule with an iron fist, hoping the contrast with his shrewder nephew Feyd-Rautha will make the latter popular among the people of Arrakis when he eventually replaces Rabban. The Emperor, suspecting the Baron of trying to create troops more powerful than the Sardaukar to seize power, sends spies to monitor activity on Arrakis. Hawat uses the opportunity to sow seeds of doubt in the Baron about the Emperor's true plans, putting further strain on their alliance.

Gurney Halleck, having survived the Harkonnen coup and become a smuggler, reunites with Paul and Jessica after a Fremen raid on his harvester. Believing Jessica to be a traitor, Gurney threatens to kill her but is stopped by Paul. Paul did not foresee Gurney's attack, and concludes he must increase his prescience by drinking the Water of Life, which is fatal to males. Paul falls into unconsciousness for several weeks after drinking the Water, but when he wakes, he has clairvoyance across time and space: he is the Kwisatz Haderach, the ultimate goal of the Bene Gesserit breeding program.

Paul senses the Emperor and Baron are amassing fleets around Arrakis to quell the Fremen rebellion and prepares the Fremen for a major offensive against the Harkonnen troops. The Emperor arrives with the Baron on Arrakis; their combined troops seize a Fremen outpost, killing many including Leto II, while Alia is captured and taken to the Baron. She remains defiant, putting her trust in her brother. Under cover of an electric storm, which shorts out the Emperor's troops' defensive shields, Paul and the Fremen, riding giant sandworms, assault the capital while Alia assassinates the Baron and escapes. The Fremen quickly defeat both the Harkonnen and Sardaukar troops.

Paul faces the Emperor, threatening to destroy spice production forever unless the Emperor abdicates the throne. Feyd-Rautha attempts to stop Paul by challenging him to a ritualistic knife fight, during which he attempts to cheat and kill Paul with a poison spur in his belt. Paul gains the upper hand and kills him. The Emperor reluctantly cedes the throne to Paul and promises his daughter Princess Irulan's hand in marriage. As Paul takes control of the Empire, he realizes that while he has achieved his goal, he is no longer able to stop the Fremen jihad, as their belief in him is too powerful to restrain.

Free books android app tbrJar TBR JAR Read Free books online gutenberg

Load Full (0)