Prelude to Dune

Did You Know?

• Dune itself won the 1966 Hugo Award and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel.
• Brian Herbert and Anderson also published Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), sequels to Frank Herbert's final novel Chapterhouse: Dune.
• In 2011, Publishers Weekly called the expanded series 'a sprawling edifice that Frank Herbert's son and Anderson have built on the foundation of the original Dune novels.'

Prelude to Dune

The Prelude to Dune trilogy consists of Dune: House Atreides (1999), Dune: House Harkonnen (2000), and Dune: House Corrino (2001). The series begins four decades before the events of Dune, with Crown Prince Shaddam plotting to succeed his aging father Elrood IX, young House Atreides heir Leto becoming close with the ruling family of the technology world Ix, and the Bene Gesserit scheming to create the Kwisatz Haderach. As the series progresses, Leto becomes the new Atreides Duke, Shaddam becomes emperor and aligns with the Bene Tleilax in their takeover of Ix to develop synthetic spice, and the Bene Gesserit punish Baron Vladimir Harkonnen for raping one of them with a disease that slows his metabolism.

The Baron then plots revenge against the Bene Gesserit. The Spacing Guild, having found the Tleilaxu synthetic spice fatal to its Navigators, forces Shaddam to capitulate to the Landsraad, with Leto playing a role in forcing Shaddam to sign humiliating peace accords, confirming his status as the emperor's leading rival. Dune: House Atreides debuted at No. 13 on the New York Times Best Seller list, rising to No. 12 in its second week. Dune: House Harkonnen debuted at No. 11 and rose to No. 8, while Dune: House Corrino debuted at No. 8.

John Snider of SciFi Dimensions described the prequels as "pulpy" but noted they make Frank Herbert's stories more accessible to general audiences. In May 2020, Boom! Studios acquired comic and graphic novel rights to Dune: House Atreides, producing a 12-issue comic adaptation written by the original authors, followed by adaptations of Dune: House Harkonnen (12 issues, 2023) and Dune: House Corrino (8 issues, 2024).

Legends of Dune

The Legends of Dune trilogy, set over 10,000 years before Dune, chronicles the universe-spanning war against thinking machines known as the Butlerian Jihad. The books are The Butlerian Jihad (2002), The Machine Crusade (2003), and The Battle of Corrin (2004). The series begins more than a millennium after immortal cyborgs called the Titans seized control of the universe in cymek bodies, then accidentally relinquished control to an artificial intelligence named Omnius.

Omnius and the Titans rule 500 Synchronized Worlds cruelly, while a handful of free planets are united under the League of Nobles. The death of Serena Butler's young son at the hands of the independent robot Erasmus sparks the Butlerian Jihad, leading to a nearly century-long human victory at the Battle of Corrin. The Jihad gives rise to the Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild, Sardaukar, Landsraad, and House Corrino, whose Padishah Emperors rule for 10,000 years until Dune.

Dune: The Butlerian Jihad rose to No. 7 on the New York Times Best Seller list in its second week; The Machine Crusade debuted at No. 7; and The Battle of Corrin reached No. 9. John Snider of SciFi Dimensions called the AI characters "cartoonish" and "little different than Harkonnens with metal faces."

Heroes of Dune

A third novel, Princess of Dune, was released on October 3, 2023. The series was intended to fill in the story between Frank Herbert's early Dune novels. Half of Paul of Dune takes place between Dune and Dune Messiah, as Paul's Jihad rages, Shaddam seeks his throne, and Princess Irulan builds the legend of Muad'Dib; it also chronicles Paul's early years between Dune: House Corrino and Dune: The Duke of Caladan. The Winds of Dune covers events between Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, as well as between the prequel sections of Paul of Dune and the original Dune.

The final two planned novels, The Throne of Dune and Leto of Dune, were postponed in July 2010 due to plans for the Great Schools of Dune trilogy. Princess of Dune focuses on Chani and Irulan, set two years before the events of Dune. In Paul of Dune, Paul's childhood lessons in political intrigue are juxtaposed with his struggle to secure control of the empire as his Fremen armies bring rebel worlds to heel. In The Winds of Dune, Paul's disappearance into the desert leaves a power vacuum, and his advisors struggle to determine the empire's path. The Winds of Dune rose to No. 15 on the New York Times Best Seller list in its second week.

Great Schools of Dune

The Great Schools of Dune trilogy is a sequel to the Legends of Dune trilogy, set nearly a century after the Battle of Corrin. The books are Sisterhood of Dune (2012), Mentats of Dune (2014), and Navigators of Dune (2016). The series chronicles the early years of the Bene Gesserit, Mentat, and Suk Schools, as well as the Spacing Guild, as they are threatened by anti-technology forces gaining power after the Butlerian Jihad. In Sisterhood of Dune, the anti-technology Butlerian movement under Manford Torondo scours the universe to cleanse humanity of convenient technologies, threatening Emperor Salvador, the Sisterhood on Rossak, and the Mentat School on Lampadas.

Space travel tycoon Josef Venport plots to salvage machinery for his business empire. Mentats of Dune finds Gilbertus Albans managing his Mentat School under the Butlerians' watch, while Raquella Berto-Anirul rebuilds the Sisterhood School on Wallach IX. Venport places a trade embargo on planets embracing Torondo's movement. Sisterhood of Dune debuted at No. 23 on the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list; Mentats of Dune debuted at No. 17. Publishers Weekly called Sisterhood a "shallow but fun blend of space opera and dynastic soap opera."