Dune
Co-winner of the first Nebula, Hugo winner, and the bestselling SF novel of all time.
Book Entry · Science Fiction
What is Dune Messiah about?
Twelve years on, Paul Muad'Dib is emperor of the known universe and his jihad has killed sixty billion people. Herbert's sequel is deliberately smaller and crueller: a conspiracy of Bene Gesserit, Tleilaxu and Spacing Guild closes around Paul, baited with a ghola resurrection of his dead friend Duncan Idaho, while Paul walks a prescient tightrope where every path costs more than he can bear. Fans expecting triumphant adventure were furious, which was precisely the point — the book exists to detonate the hero-worship the first volume had accidentally invited.
Why it matters
The essential corrective that completes Dune's argument about charismatic leaders; its rehabilitation is now complete, and Villeneuve's third film takes it as source.
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)
Read next
Foundation
Cornerstone of the future-history tradition; Hugo for Best All-Time Series (1966).
The Player of Games
Widely recommended as the ideal Culture entry point and a fixture of best-space-opera lists; its empire-as-game conceit is one of SF's perfect metaphors.