Recommended - Hugo Winner - Nebula Winner



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Herbert, Frank
DUNE [d1]
book-date: 1965
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GRADING:
Ace
1999?
22nd?
Paperback
John Schoenherr
$6.99
VG+ or better

Dune - one of the best SF books of all time, and winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel of the year. Frank Herbert mixes religion, politics and ecology in an interesting and provocative fashion. The book is a combination of 2 serials from Analog. The first part of the book: "Book I," was "Dune World" in 3 parts (December 1963 through February 1964), and was nominated for a Hugo award (as that serial.) The second two parts of the book: "Books II & III" appeared as "The Prophet of Dune" in 5 parts (January through May 1965.)

For those unfamiliar with the plot - here's the flap-copy from the first hardcover, which gives a reasonable summary or set-up:

The Duke must exchange his lands. Instead of his own lovely domain, rich and well-watered, he and his wife and son must move to and accept a barren desert, where a drop of water is worth its weight in platinum.

Why? The all-powerful Emperor fears Duke Leto—fears his strength, his popularity, his growing wealth. And the Duke has other enemies, notably the great rival house of Harkonnen, led by Baron Vladimir, the living symbol of evil.

A page of medieval history? Not quite. Duke Leto Atreides is moving from a planet, which he owns, to another planet, which he has been given in exchange. The Emperor, Shaddam IV, is Emperor of the known Universe, not a country. And Duke Leto's son, Paul, is not a normal noble heir. In fact, he is so little normal in any way that he happens to be the possible key to all human rule, power and indeed knowledge!

The Duke's lady, Paul's mother, is unusual as well. She is the creature of the Bene Gesserit, the strangest religious matriarchy ever conceived, whose aims are also universal rule. And the answer to all questions is a world, the world called Dune, the planet Arrakis, which produces the drug of immortality, Melange, as its sole export. The world of sand, rock, and heat, where roam savages armed with deadly weapons, who kill for drops of water.