I’m thinking of reading the Dune series by Frank Herbet. In fact, I already have the first 2 books. My questions are this.
There are six books total. Was there supposed to be a seventh?
Are there going to be three prequels written by his son or more?
Is Muad’ib in all the books?
I don’t know if there was supposed to be a seventh book.
I thought there was going to be at least 3 prequels, don’t know about more.
Muad’dib is NOT in all the books. I think he’s only in the first 3 (and maybe the prequels).
What Athena said except:
IIRC he is (sort of) in some later books. Just not the way you might expect him to be.
I seriously doubt he’s in the prequels since Paul doesn’t become Muad’dib till late in the book Dune. Before that he’s a teenager on Calladan(?)…the Atreides home planet.
Congratulations on getting past Dune Messiah. I personally found that book to be boring…especially after Dune. Children of Dune was ok and I gave up on the fourth one (God Emperor of Dune?). I don’t remember why now. The prequels might be interesting though.
This list came from the website http://www.dunemessiah.com/
WARNING! Some spoilers below the list of novels!
Dune - 1965
Dune Messiah - 1969
Children of Dune - 1976
God Emperor of Dune - 1981
Heretics of Dune - 1984
Chapterhouse: Dune - 1985 (Chapterhouse: Dune is the final book in this epic story)
Dune: House Atreides (1999) and Dune: House Harkonnen (2000) were ritten by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. They are prequels to the original novel, and it looks like there are going to be more.
Paul M’uadib is pretty much non-existant by the 3rd novel; the main characters in “Children of Dune” are (surprise!) his two sons. “God Emperor of Dune” takes place 1000 years after CoD; the onlycharacters from the earlier books are Leto II (Paul’s son) and a revived Duncan Idaho. Leto II bites it in GEoD, leaving Duncan as the last “man” standing for the last two novels.
Yes, it was long rumoured that Frank Herbert had intended to write a 7th Dune novel. It will in fact be written. His son Brian and some other guy have been writing Dune Prequels. When they are finished with the third prequel, they plan on writing the 7th novel based on notes left behind by Frank.
After that, there is supposed to be a trilogy set at the time of the Butlerian Jihad. Check out http://www.dunenovels.com/ for all the info.
I think the whole original series is great. A MUST read for anyone into speculative fiction. The first prequel was so bad I threw the book away. I won’t read the rest.
Yes, there was supposed to be a seventh. Once Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson finish the third prequel, they claim they will write the sequel to Chapterhouse. It will be based on notes that Frank Herbert left in a safe deposit box, which Brian discovered after his father’s death.
[IMHO]Hang in there for the later stuff. The first half of Messiah is rough going, but the ending makes it all worth it. And Heretics is the best book in the bunch (except for the orig. Dune).
I was unimpressed with House Atreides (and therefore haven’t bothered to read House Harkonnen). One big reason is because half of the book is cribbed from the Appendix of Dune.[/IMHO]
[insert obligatory simulpost apology here]
Oops…
I was confusing Paul with his son in the later books. It is Leto II who has interesting (or wierd depending on how you look at it) things happen to him. As I said I didn’t finish GEoD so I didn’t know Leto II’s fate and just assumed he continued on for awhile.
In short…don’t listen to me. Please continue with your regularly scheduled thread.
Well, Dune is definitely a classic. The sequels are potboilers at best (Children of Dune) and God-Awful at worst (God Awful . . . Emperor of Dune).
Herbert and Anderson just signed a contract for three more novels.
If you can find a copy, check out The Dune Encyclopedia. It’s a well-written source of background material on Herbert’s world.
Prepare to become a complete “duneatic”.
It was a son and a daughter, non-identical twins…Leto, male, & Ghanima, female.
<---------eyes narrowed, sipping recycled body fluids, cleaning fingernails with crysknife…watching…reading…watching…
Paul was a fairly important character in “Children of Dune”, it’s just that he is going by a different name, and it’s not immediately realized who he is.
I too found #4 a bore.
I have 2 copies of the Dune Encyclopedia and I’m willing to sell one for $250, based on what I’ve seen on Ebay, but since I’m a nice guy I’ll give dopers the first shot at it.
Geez, is that thing really so sought after? I’ve got a copy lying around somewhere. What’s driving the price up?
Holy crap! Dad has a first run of the Dune Encyclopedia! I didn’t realize they were worth anything.
–Tim