Sisterhood of Dune

Sisterhood of Dune, a 2012 science fiction novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, takes place in Frank Herbert's Dune universe. It opens the Great Schools of Dune prequel trilogy, which follows the Legends of Dune trilogy. The story is set eighty years after the human military defeated the thinking machine armies of Omnius in *Dune: The Battle of Corrin* (2004). In this era, the newly formed Bene Gesserit, Mentat, and Suk Schools, along with the Spacing Guild, face danger from independent anti-technology forces rising in the wake of the Butlerian Jihad. The Great Schools of Dune trilogy, first mentioned by Anderson in a 2010 blog post, details the origins of these organizations, which play key roles in the original Dune novels. The 2024 television series *Dune: Prophecy* is based on the broader Great Schools of Dune trilogy and original notes by Frank Herbert, not solely on this novel.

**Plot** By the novel’s time, the Butler family, using the royal name Corrino, has established a fragile grip on the human-occupied universe. Emperor Salvador Corrino rules from the planet Salusa Secundus, assisted by his brother and advisor Roderick, but their authority is challenged by Manford Torondo, a charismatic leader of the anti-technology Butlerian movement. Torondo, who lost both legs in a bomb blast decades earlier, leads Swordmaster Anari Idaho and millions across the Imperium in a crusade to purge humanity of convenient technologies, often exploiting religious fear. Opposing him is the ruthless businessman Josef Venport, who controls nearly all space travel. With advice from his wife Cioba and great-grandmother Norma Cenva—who discovered how to create space-folding Navigators—Josef schemes against his remaining rivals and secretly funds a group of scientists who harbor personal grudges against the Butlerians, salvaging old cymek technology to pursue their vendettas with Torondo. On the planet Kepler, war hero Vorian Atreides tries to protect his neighbors from slavers. He secures Imperial protection for his world, but Emperor Salvador and Roderick, fearing his celebrity could spark a rebellion, send him into deeper exile. On Lankiveil, the Harkonnen family lives humbly, far from their ancestors’ glory, after Vorian Atreides disowned the disgraced Abulurd Harkonnen.