Frank Herbert Dune Series Order

[Rita Seliba]

Onthe recommendation of a highly respected paid subscriber, I began reading the Dune series this month. This isn\u2019t my first time engaging with Frank Herbert\u2019s masterwork of science fiction; my dad was a huge fan and he tried to get me into it years ago, but it didn\u2019t stick for a number of reasons. Frankly, I feel as though the reason it has had such a large impact on me this time around has been my familiarity with the study of ancient history. That\u2019s why it has shocked me to find out that little scholastic work has been done to make concrete connections between Herbert and the inspirations he has taken from the ancient world. Sure, it\u2019s an often-repeated refrain that the author took inspiration from Edward Gibbon, but few specifics, if any, are ever mentioned. It is unfortunate that I have only gotten two books deep into the series at time of writing, as from what I understand these parallels only grow deeper as the series progresses, but for now my first pass through will suffice to meet my weekly self-imposed word limit. If this article only serves to whet your appetite, I\u2019m sure there will be periodic follow-ups as the year progresses, as I don\u2019t intend to put this series down any time soon.

A word of note before we begin: it would take very little effort to gesture towards half a dozen individual words or phrases that look and sound like Latin on a surface level and call my job done (Bene Gesserit comes directly from Latin, Atreides from Greek myth, etc.) but such matters would become boring almost instantaneously. For now, I\u2019d like to focus on deeper narrative connections. I don\u2019t want my readers to think I\u2019ve missed these unintentionally for this article. That being said, if you can think of any examples that fall into either category, please mention them in the comments below.

I have watched both Lynch\u2019s and Villeneuve\u2019s adaptations of the first book in the series, and it shocks me that it took reading the book to connect the Gom Jabbar test to Mucius Scaevola\u2019s famous act of partial self-immolation.1 Both, of course, are tests of one\u2019s fortitude; Scaevola puts his right hand in the fire in order to prove that the Romans are hardened men who can tolerate whatever Lars Porsenna throws at them, while the Reverend Mother claims that those resistant to the box\u2019s pain are \u201Chuman,\u201D rather than animals. I would venture a guess that reading the word \u201Cright hand\u201D in the book was what led me to finally make the connection and inspire this article, but who knows.

The Sardaukar\u2019s role as imperial guard is about halfway between that of the Persian Immortal and the Praetorian Guard. Again, just from a little cultural osmosis, I understand that later down the line the Sardaukar begin to operate not necessarily in the interest of the emperor, but rather stay faithful to House Corrino. Other than operating politically independent from the crown, the other major influence from the Praetorian Guard is the general structure and the names of the units. That being said, those cohorts would typically be made up of veterans, and only inside Rome at that. The Immortals served both as imperial guard and heavy infantry (at least according to Herodotus). This discrepancy between behaviors mostly comes from the era that both these civilizations thrived in; Rome had more wealth and time to train their children, so the luxury of those exclusive duties could be afforded to them.

In some ways, Paul\u2019s rise to fulfill the prophecy of jihad is something he stumbled backwards into. House Atreides had traveled to Arrakis with the intent to conquer and/or \u201Ccivilize\u201D it. We, as members of a postcolonial world, draw certain violent connotations to that rhetoric, but in this case both Leto and Paul use their mutual enemy of House Harkonnen as a way to build rapport, and suffer no bloodshed in their takeover. Cyrus the Great\u2019s Persian empire pulled a similar stunt, in that the Neo-Babylonian empire kicked the Jews out of Jerusalem, and Cyrus let them back in and rebuilt the temple after conquering Babylon. He never became an interplanetary prophet like Paul, but Isaiah records that he received the blessing of the Abrahamic God.2 Two centuries later, Alexander the Great similarly understood the power that reverence to local religion would have on his leadership, and he made sacrifices to the Egyptian pantheon in order to be accepted as pharaoh.3 It\u2019s not exactly clear to me how much Paul believes in his role as Kwisatz Haderach; on the one hand, he routinely attributes his visions to the consumption of spice, but on the other he\u2019d had oracular dreams before arriving to Arrakis. Regardless, he allows religious fervor to spread across the galaxy in his and his sister\u2019s name following the precepts of the Bene Gesserit missionaries that had spread the Missionaria Protectiva centuries earlier.

Furthermore, we can expand on this idea of religion as a means of mass population control through the lens of the Roman world. Gibbon famously states that, \u201CThe various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.\u201D4 Indeed in the second book, we see tourism increase on Arrakis because of the zealots making the Hajj. If we take mentats to be a stand-in for philosophers, the ghola Hayt objects to Paul\u2019s claim to the natural law of heaven to Alia. As for the final aspect of this quote, the Bene Gesserit\u2019s entire raison d\u2019etre was to create a messianic figure that operated under their control.

There are a few more areas I hesitate to tread into. For one, I\u2019d like to explore where the ancients believed the limits of oracular power were, and how that is represented in Paul talking about how he isn\u2019t able to see \u201Cbeyond the dunes.\u201D Additionally, the whole cultural background of apotheosis would seem to be more of a Leto II thing from my current understanding through cultural osmosis, so any comparisons to Augustus probably ought to wait until I get a few more books deep. There\u2019s something else itching at the back of my mind about Idaho/Hayt and working for the enemy at the same time as one\u2019s own forces, but all I can come up with right now is Alcibiades and that\u2019s a huge stretch as-is. For now, I think this article shows merit for further investigation and proper academic rigor at a later date.

With audiences fired up by the recent release of Dune: Part Two, many viewers are ready and willing to dive head-first into Frank Herbert's acclaimed science fiction universe through its original series of books. For those brave souls willing to take on this adventure, an exhilarating literary journey awaits, albeit with much ground to cover. Initially published in 1965 by an automotive publisher after facing rejection from more than 20 mainstream publishers, Frank Herbert's Dune has become the world's best-selling science fiction novel.

Dune's monumental success spurred Herbert to expand the narrative with a handful of sequels, resulting in six books by his death in 1986. That number might seem manageable, but that's before adding the 17 other books in the series that his son, Brian Herbert, co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson. There's no other way to look at it; that's a staggering number of entries, and it's natural for a reader to feel overwhelmed about where best to begin.

Fortunately, there are two distinct approaches: reading the story in chronological order or the order in which the books were published. Here's how to navigate both methods and journey through the Dune universe.

Updated on June 28, 2024, by Arthur Goyaz: The first Dune book is considered a sci-fi masterpiece, welcoming readers into a fascinating and often prophetical universe. However, the series has over 20 books. It's hard to get lost in its confusing timeline, and the movie and TV adaptations don't make the Dune series easier to follow. This list was updated to add more information and to reflect CBR's current formatting standards.

Focusing solely on Frank Herbert's original series of six books is a popular choice for readers seeking a traditional reading order to the Dune universe. The first installment that Herbert penned, titled Dune, introduced readers to the transformative hero's journey of Paul Atreides and his quest to become the supreme religious leader of the Fremen. The novel pioneered transgressive sci-tropes for its futuristic yet archaic scenario, working as a standalone book despite setting the path for a long-running book series. In addition, it gained the reputation of being an unadaptable work of art until Denis Villeneuve came up with the idea of splitting the first Dune book into two parts.

The second novel, Dune Messiah, picked up twelve years after the first novel's events and explores the consequences of Paul's rule. Nine years later, Children of Dune chronicled the lives of Paul's offspring, twin siblings Leto II and Ghanima, who became leaders after the Muad'Dib's disappearance into the wastelands of Arrakis. God Emperor of Dune jumped an astounding 3,500 years into the future from there, depicting Leto II's reign while transformed into an immortal, giant sandworm.

Following Leto II's death, Heretics of Dune presented a fresh storyline involving the Bene Gesserit sisters confronting a new cosmic threat, the Honored Matres. Finally, Chapterhouse: Dune served as the concluding volume of Herbert's original series, presenting a story in which Arrakis had been destroyed, and the fate of the Empire rested in the hands of the Bene Gesserit.

Once Frank Herbert passed away in 1986, his son, Brian Herbert, and science-fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson continued expanding the Dune universe through prequels and sequels. While these additions have ensured the series's longevity, it can be difficult to discern in what order the series should be read chronologically.

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