The Great Dune Trilogy: The stunning collector’s edition of Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune (Dune sequence, 1-3)

Frank Herbert's Dune is a collection of books that have always left me a little intimidated. I've never been a great reader and find myself getting easily lost with books that have too much information. I find it hard to process and is the main reason why I never got round to reading these books. But with the new film coming out, doing a bit of reading on the behind the scenes of the 1984 David Lynch film, I thought I would finally give the original Dune trilogy a shot. The original book was published all the way back in 1965. The original publication was a two part story in Analog magazine. It was officially released as a book by Chilton Books and has since become one of, if not the most famous science fiction novel ever written. The version I acquired is published through Gollancz and is a large hardback book featuring Dune (1965), Dune Messiah (1969) and Children of Dune (1976). The book as a whole is 912 pages long, features the three books, all four Appendix, The Terminology of the Imperium and Cartographic Notes For Map. It's a heft beast of a book. The cover whilst nicely designed with a cool golden sandworm on a black leather backdrop, still looks a little on the cheap side. It's a nice idea on paper but leaves a little to be desired. The spine of the book is also a slight issue. I found the pages didn't bend too well and made for the first and last one hundred pages to be a bit awkward to read, especially on my adjustable book stand. Considering the hefty weight of the book, I certainly wasn't going to hold it whilst reading. This made for a bit of a problem but one that I pushed through. As for the story itself. Well, if I were to right a small overview of the story of these three books, this review would be horrendously long. Lets just say that the book features lots of political and family issues. There's plenty of back stabbing as well as issues with religion, false idols and the issue of drug induced hallucinations. There's a lot going on here and considering how dense it is, I think Frank Herbert managed to get the story across perfectly. There were very few occasions where I felt a little lost. With a good use of wording and the way the chapters are spread out, you can get a dose of information and plenty of time to soak it all in before moving on. It gives this book great pacing and makes it surprisingly easy to read. My favourite part of the book is without any doubt, it is the world building. Each faction have their unique traits. Their clothing, their vocabulary, the way they walk and portray themselves amongst others. It's all very well done. Even the use of secondary and lesser characters have a lot of depth to them. The planet itself, Arrakis as a world feels just as alive and unique as characters like Stilgar, Paul Atreides and the Baron. The way Herbert describes the different environments from Sietch Tabr, Arrakeen, the endless desert etc is so intense that you could so easily imagine yourself being there. In terms of quality, I would say that Dune is by far the best book of the three and shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. It's extremely focused and Herbert clearly knew what story he wanted to tell and how to go about doing it. Dune Messiah is a very good but short follow up. It's considerably more bleak than the first book and really brings a downer to everything that happened previously (no spoilers). It's a really good read, acting more like an extension of the first book rather than a full novel in itself. Children of Dune is a much stronger affair with the Atreides story going in a completely different direction. It's a longer, more detailed and more philosophical story compared to its predecessor. There's a lot going on in this one, it's a fantastic way to round off the story of Paul, his family and the people of Arrakis. I won't even deny the fact that I am far from qualified to do Frank Herbert's Dune justice in this review. I'm a fairly simple person who hasn't got the right grasp of the English language to properly emphasise just how good this book is. Up until now, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Homer's Odyssey were my favourite books. That was until now. I think Dune has everything I love about science fiction and scratched that itch caused by blasphemous nonsense like the Disney Star Wars trilogy and Star Trek Discovery. It's a very clever, very well written and extremely detailed story that I would call a must own. Some might find it a bit over whelming, others will just sink into it and never come out of their spice trance. I am the latter. My mind hasn't stopped processing the information I got from Dune and I don't think I ever will. I am glad I got over my fear of this book. After all, fear is the mind killer.

I've re-read this trilogy after 30 years and enjoyed it as much, if not more. Frank Herbert's masterful skills immerse the reader in an alien fictional world- although water is precious. Dune is a desert planet. Read this as an adventure story and you'll love it. The author gives you multifaceted characters with subtle emotional and political intelligence and each development in the plot, brings satisfaction and anticipation to the reader. This book is heavy and large , so I used cushions to support its reading , in bed! After each part, I set it aside, to read something else. Like chocolate or fine wine, I didn't want to over indulge. Don't be intimidated by its size. You won't want to stop reading. And finally, I found myself thinking of the world I live in; political schemes and machinations. "Observe the plans within plans within plans." Putin anybody? John le Carré's Smiley? Like all great science fiction, thus trilogy is so much more. You've seen the film, now read the book.

good read, kept storyline and interest all the way through. I hadn't read a book in years but found it hard to put this one down.

Well many people before me have praised Dune as the greatest SF novel ever and I do not disagree, the following novels had more mixed reviews but you cannot help being dragged into Frank Herbert disfunctioal distant future (not much as changed then). Anyway superb stories, go and read if you haven’t already (perhaps miss sequels,completely different writing style). Now to this volume containing the first three novels, I have no complaints, other people have complained about missing and upside down sections, I haven’t found any. Print size, well maybe a bit small but there’s a lot of words to get in one volume, how much do you want it to weigh and I found quite readable and I’ve worn glasses for my sight all my considerable life. I admit I bought to joint other books in my black library collection and it looks very smart too, but all in all well worth the price Amazon were charging and I’ve no regrets. You maybe able to get better editions but you will pay a lot more and this one is really good value for money for a hardback edition of the first three novels.

these are beautiful, massive ,sturdy, strong tomes. will take years to read, but well worth the effort. they have a pride of place in my collection of hard backs

Bought as a gift

I read this many, many years ago. I decided to reread it after watching the 2 recent movies of the novel. The earlier movie from the 1980s was a travesty. Rereading the book, the new movies omit a lot and play free and loose with the timelines but they're ok. They can't compete with the book which is a gem. I suppose it's sci-fi, but not of the Star Wars genre; it's just set a long time in the future. It's more of a family saga.

For a series like this I wanted a durable and well made hardcover edition. Purchased 'new' via Amazon, the condition seen in the photos is exactly as it arrived, as yet unread, it has only been waiting on the bookshelf! The binding glue appears to have been insufficient or missing, the spine puckered along the left edge as a result. I've only noticed it today now that books 4-6 are arriving soon.

Great novel. Some long repetitive chapters. But good.

Książka cudowna piękne wydanie w twardej oprawie Dune najlepsza Trylogia polecam tylko w Amazone dobrze zapakowane szybka dostawa 🙂

Product arrived in good quality and the series itself is just absolute peak. What more can I say? I cannot wait to immerse myself into this world