Dune
Co-winner of the first Nebula, Hugo winner, and the bestselling SF novel of all time.
Book Entry · Science Fiction
What is Children of Dune about?
Paul's twin heirs, Leto and Ghanima, born with the ancestral memories of all their forebears, must outmanoeuvre their aunt Alia — possessed from within by the genetic ghost of Baron Harkonnen — and a blind Preacher come out of the desert speaking heresy with a familiar voice. Leto's solution, the fusion with sandtrout that begins his transformation into something no longer human, sets up the Golden Path: survival for the species at the cost of everything personal. Dense, strange and the point where the saga commits fully to its four-thousand-year argument.
Why it matters
The first SF hardcover bestseller in publishing history, completing the original trilogy and pivoting the series towards God Emperor of Dune's grand inhumanity.
Where does it sit in the series?
Herbert's six-volume epic of Arrakis: spice, sandworms, jihad and the terrible price of prescience, continued posthumously by other hands.
In the Guide from Dune:
- Dune (1965)
- Dune Messiah (1969)
- Children of Dune (1976)
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