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How to Read the Dune Books in Order
Gearing yourself up to read all 26 novels in the sci-fi series? Here's how to do it right
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Like so many giant sandworms, there are a few different strands of the Dune epic to wrangle. But don't worry: before long you'll be confidently saddling it up and riding off into the sunset.
So there's Frank Herbert's original run of six Dune stories, three of which sit in the Rise of Atreides storyline, one set later during the reign of the God Emperor and two in the aftermath of his downfall. Then after Herbert died in 1986, his son Brian hooked up with the sci-fi novelist Kevin J Anderson – who's also written spin-offs for Star Wars, the X Files and Superman – to put together a new run of prequel stories, some of which draw on unpublished material from Frank Herbert's archive.
There are absolutely loads of them, and trying to make head or tail of what the right order to read them in can have people reaching for their dart guns. You can read them in the order they were released, or you can rejig them so you're spinning through the thousands of years of the Dune odyssey in the timeline of the universe itself. Some fans reckon going with the House Atreides series by Herbert and Anderson before running through the rest of their works and finally catching up to Frank Herbert's original run. Some start with Dune and then take a slightly more weaving, jazzy path through things.
All have their merits, but if you're just about to take your first bump of spice you're best off doing Frank Herbert's original run of novels first, and expanding your Duneiverse from there. Here's the order in which they were released, and where they'll take you.
Dune by Frank Herbert
Denis Villeneuve's two Dune films cover what happens in Herbert's first book, which follows the grappling between powerful Houses Atreides and Harkonnen on the spice-producing planet Arrakis. A young, floppy-haired chap called Paul emerges as the man to lead the planet, and later the galaxy, into a new dawn.
Dune: Messiah by Frank Herbert
Paul's ascension to an emperor of almost unlimited power brings with it the question of whether any one man should have all that power. (Spoiler alert: he shouldn't.) As Herbert writes: "No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a hero."
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
The timeframe shifts nine years into the future and the focus onto Paul's kids Leto and Ghanima, whose gifts in prophecy make them a target for the rulers of the Empire.
God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
Right, bit of a leap forward here: we're suddenly 3,500 years after Children of Dune, and Arrakis is now a lovely verdant paradise, and Leto is still about but he's a kind of man-sandworm hybrid thing. It's sent him a bit funny though, and there's a rebellion on the horizon.
Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
And as soon as Arrakis got some foliage, it's back to being a desert again. But there's hope in a young woman called Sheeana, who is prophesied to repair the Empire and bring back the good times.
Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert
The last completed work by Frank Herbert wanders from Arrakis (also known as Rakis, at this point) to the planet of Chapterhouse, where the Bene Gesserit are breeding sandworms and planning to get a hold of spice production. This final work has a lot of essential Herbertisms in it. "It is not that power corrupts," he writes, "but that it is magnetic to the corruptible."
House Atreides by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
Frank Herbert died in 1986, but 13 years later came the first of his son Brian's prequels with Kevin J Anderson. The first of the Prelude to Dune trilogy takes things back to Paul Atreides' father Leto, and events set 35 years before the first Dune. An attack on the planet Ix sends Leto to his homeworld Caladan, where he begins his rise.
House Harkonnen by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
Eighteen years later, tussles over plans to make synthetic spice – and undermine the influence of Arrakis – set off a series of extremely gnarly murders, assassination attempts and brutalisations.
House Corrino by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
It all comes to a head as Duke Leto Atreides tries to claim Ix and the Great Spice War kicks off. And, most importantly, the infant Paul is born.
The Butlerian Jihad by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
Bit of a heel-turn here: we're 10,000 years before the events of Dune at the opening of the Legends of Dune trilogy which draws on Frank Herbert's notes for a putative Dune 7. It's all about a war between free humans and sentient machines, and the first story centres Serena Butler, human resistance fighter.
The Machine Crusade by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
We're in the thick of the crusade here, 20 years after the last book. The machines are right back in the fight, but we also see the first stirrings of the group who will later become the Fremen.
The Battle of Corrin by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
A century on from the beginning of the Butlerian Jihad, everything is coming to a boil – and you'll know how it all pans out from the original Dune stories – as the machines attempt to use biological weapons to wipe out the last humans. But they've got spice in their back pocket.
Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
To tie off the hanging threads left by Chapterhouse, the first of the Herbert-Anderson sequels went back to Frank's notes and follow the humans who were on the run at the conclusion of Chapterhouse as they try to gather their forces again.
Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
And everything's wrapped up here, with the final battle between humans and machines. Plus: seaworms.
Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
Partly nestled in the chronology between Dune and Dune: Messiah as Paul Atreides gets stuck into the Fremen jihad and partly exploring the 12-year-old Paul's young life as the feud between House Moritani and House Atreides turns bloody.
The Winds of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
Set after Dune: Messiah, Paul Atreides has disappeared into the desert leaving a vacuum behind him and the line of succession up in the air. There's a bit of a gap between this second story in the Legends of Dune trilogy and the next – grab Princess of Dune if you want to wrap it up.
Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
The Great Schools of Dune is a sequel trilogy to Legends of Dune, and starts 80 years afterwards. The machines are gone, and in their place faiths and big politics have started to rise.
Mentats of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
Butlerian forces who aren't keen on the idea of folding machine-like thinking into human life take the fight to the Mentat School which shelters a secret thinking machine. It gets bloody.
Navigators of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
There's loads here on the origins of the Bene Gesserit and other schools which are threatened by the rise of movements which hate the idea of any tech-led influence in human society in the finale of the Great Schools of Dune trilogy.
The Duke of Caladan by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson
The most recent Herbert-Anderson trilogy focuses on Leto Atreides and how he clawed his way to the top of galactic politics. The Caladan Trilogy is a nice way in if you've only read Herbert's original Dune run.
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