Dune Books In Order – Frank Herbert’s Sci Fi Masterpiece

Dune has been in the spotlight recently as the movie – starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Jason Momoa – premiered recently. But did you know that Dune actually started out as a book series? Don’t worry though, we’ve got everything you need to know about Frank Herbert’s Dune the book series right here. So, sit back and get lost in the epic world of Dune.

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Dune Books In Order

The following are the Dune books in chronological order:

Dune The Book Series: dune
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Dune – Book 1

On the desert planet Arrakis, Paul Atreides is heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world. The only thing of value is the ‘spice’ melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. It’s a prize worth killing for. And when House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined.

Frank Herbert Dune Books
Dune The Book Series: dune messiah
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Dune Messiah – Book 2

Paul Atreides is better known and feared as the man christened Muad’Dib. As Emperor of the known universe, he possesses more power than a single man was ever meant to wield. Worshipped as a religious icon by the fanatical Fremen, Paul faces the enmity of the political houses he displaced when he assumed the throne. And even as House Atreides begins to crumble around him, the true threat to Paul comes to his lover, Chani, and the unborn heir to his family’s dynasty.

Dune The Book Series: children of dune
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Children Of Dune – Book 3

The Children of Dune are twin siblings Leto and Ghanima Atreides, whose father, the Emperor Paul Muad’Dib, disappeared in the desert wastelands of Arrakis nine years ago. Like their father, the twins possess supernormal abilities. Thus making them valuable to their manipulative aunt Alia, who rules the Empire in the name of House Atreides. But Alia’s rule is not absolute as she faces treason on two fronts.

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God Emperor Of Dune – Book 4

Millenia have passed on Arrakis and the once-desert planet is green with life. Leto Atreides is still alive but far from human. To preserve humanity’s future, he sacrificed his own by merging with a sandworm, granting him near immortality as God Emperor of Dune for the past thirty-five hundred years. And his rule is not a benevolent one. A rebellion is rising.

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Heretics Of Dune – Book 5

The Empire has fallen into ruin. The great Scattering saw millions abandon the crumbling civilization and spread out beyond the reaches of known space. The planet Arrakis has reverted to its desert climate. Now the Lost Ones are returning home in pursuit of power. A girl named Sheena rises to prominence in the wastelands, sending religious fervor throughout the galaxy.

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Chapterhouse Dune – Book 6

The remnants of the Old Empire have been consumed by the violent matriarchal cult known as the Honored Matres. Only one faction remains a viable threat to their total conquest – the Bene Gesserit, heirs to Dune’s power.

Dune Sequels

Hunters of Dune and the concluding volume, Sandworms of Dune, bring together the great story lines and beloved characters in Frank Herbert’s classic Dune universe, ranging from the time of the Butlerian Jihad to the original Dune series and beyond. Based directly on Frank Herbert’s final outline, which lay hidden in a safe-deposit box for a decade, these two volumes will finally answer the urgent questions Dune fans have been debating for two decades.

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Hunters Of Dune (Dune Sequels Book 1, The Dune Sequence Book 7)

At the end of Chapterhouse: Dune–Frank Herbert’s final novel–a ship carrying the ghola of Duncan Idaho, Sheeana (a young woman who can control sandworms), and a crew of various refugees escapes into the uncharted galaxy, fleeing from the monstrous Honored Matres, dark counterparts to the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. The nearly invincible Honored Matres have swarmed into the known universe, driven from their home by a terrifying, mysterious Enemy.

As designed by the creative genius of Frank Herbert, the primary story of Hunters and Sandworms is the exotic odyssey of Duncan’s no-ship as it is forced to elude the diabolical traps set by the ferocious, unknown Enemy. To strengthen their forces, the fugitives have used genetic technology from Scytale, the last Tleilaxu Master, to revive key figures from Dune’s past—including Paul Muad’Dib and his beloved Chani, Lady Jessica, Stilgar, Thufir Hawat, and even Dr. Wellington Yueh. Each of these characters will use their special talents to meet the challenges thrown at them.

Failure is unthinkable–not only is their survival at stake, but they hold the fate of the entire human race in their hands.

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Sandworms Of Dune (Dune Sequels Book 2, The Dune Sequence Book 8)

At the end of Frank Herbert’s final novel, Chapterhouse: Dune, a ship carrying a crew of refugees escapes into the uncharted galaxy, fleeing from a terrifying, mysterious Enemy. The fugitives used genetic technology to revive key figures from Dune’s past–including Paul Muad’Dib and Lady Jessica–to use their special talents to meet the challenges thrown at them.

Based directly on Frank Herbert’s final outline, which lay hidden in two safe-deposit boxes for a decade, Sandworms of Dune will answer the urgent questions Dune fans have been debating for two decades: the origin of the Honored Matres, the tantalizing future of the planet Arrakis, the final revelation of the Kwisatz Haderach, and the resolution to the war between Man and Machine.

The Schools Of Dune

The Schools Of Dune is another Dunetrilogy. It is set in the same universe as Frank Herbert’s Dune but it is written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Is is a prelude to Dune and is set 10,000 years before the main Dune books. There are three books in the series

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Sisterhood Of Dune (The Schools Of Dune Book 1)

It is 83 years after the last of the thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler established himself as the first Emperor of a new imperium. War hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on Salusa Secundus, flying off to parts unknown. Abulurd Harkonnen, convicted of cowardice, was sent away to live on gloomy Lankiveil, and his descendants continue to blame Vor for the downfall of their fortunes.

Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School as the first Reverend Mother. Descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva have built a powerful transportation company using mutated Navigators who fly “spacefolder ships”.

Gilbertus Albans has established a school on bucolic Lampadas teaching humans to become Mentats. Even so, decades after the defeat of the thinking machines, anti-technology fervor continues to sweep across the human-settled planets, with powerful fanatical groups imposing violent purges…

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Mentats Of Dune (The Schools Of Dune Book 2)

Gilbertus Albans has founded the Mentat School, a place where humans can learn the efficient techniques of thinking machines. But Gilbertus walks an uneasy line between his own convictions and compromises in order to survive the Butlerian fanatics, led by the madman Manford Torondo and his Swordmaster Anari Idaho. Mother Superior Raquella attempts to rebuild her Sisterhood School on Wallach IX, with her most talented and ambitious student, Valya Harkonnen, who also has another goal—to exact revenge on Vorian Atreides, the legendary hero of the Jihad, whom she blames for her family’s downfall.

Meanwhile, Josef Venport conducts his own war against the Butlerians. VenHold Spacing Fleet controls nearly all commerce thanks to the superior mutated Navigators that Venport has created, and he places a ruthless embargo on any planet that accepts Manford Torondo’s anti-technology pledge, hoping to starve them into submission. But fanatics rarely surrender easily . . .

The Mentats, the Navigators, and the Sisterhood all strive to improve the human race, but each group knows that as Butlerian fanaticism grows stronger, the battle will be to choose the path of humanity’s future—whether to embrace civilization, or to plunge into an endless dark age.

dune books in order
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Navigators Of Dune (The Schools Of Dune Book 1)

The story line tells the origins of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood and its breeding program, the human-computer Mentats, and the Navigators (the Spacing Guild), as well as a crucial battle for the future of the human race, in which reason faces off against fanaticism. These events have far-reaching consequences that will set the stage for Dune, millennia later.

The Legends Of Dune

The Legends Of Dune is also written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Frank Herbert’s son worked on these novels alongside Kevin J. Anderson, using Frank Herbert’s own notes to continue the Dune story. There are three books in the series.

Decades after Herbert’s original novels, the Dune saga was continued by Frank Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert, an acclaimed SF novelist in his own right, in collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson. Their New York Times bestselling trilogy, Dune: House Atreides, Dune: House Harkonnen, and Dune: House Corrino, formed a prequel to the classic Herbert series that was acclaimed by reviewers and readers alike. Now Herbert and Anderson, working from Frank Herbert’s own notes, reveal a pivotal epoch in the history of the Dune universe, the chapter of the saga most eagerly anticipated by readers: The Butlerian Jihad.

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The Butlerian Jihad (The Legends Of Dune Book 1)

Ten thousand years before the events of Dune, humans have managed to battle the remorseless Machines to a standstill . . . but victory may be short-lived. Yet amid shortsighted squabbling between nobles, new leaders have begun to emerge. Among them are Xavier Harkonnen, military leader of the Planet of Salusa Secundus; Xavier’s fiancée, Serena Butler, an activist who will become the unwilling leader of millions; and Tio Holtzman, the scientist struggling to devise a weapon that will help the human cause. Against the brute efficiency of their adversaries, these leaders and the human race have only imagination, compassion, and the capacity for love. It will have to be enough.

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The Machine Crusade (The Legends Of Dune Book 2)

The first battle was a victory. But the war is just beginning . . .

Earth is a radioactive ruin. But the initial campaign of the Butlerian Jihad has given new hope to mankind. Serena
Butler, whose murdered child has become a symbol for oppressed humanity, inspires a war against the thinking computers led by Xavier Harkonnen and Vorian Atreides.

But four of the Titans – murderous machines with human brains and human cunning – still remain. And the universal computer mind, Omnius, still wields most of its power.

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The Battle Of Corrin (The Schools Of Dune Book 3)

It has been fifty-six hard years since the events of The Machine Crusade. Following the death of Serena Butler, the bloodiest decades of the Jihad take place. Synchronized Worlds and Unallied Planets are liberated one by one, and at long last, after years of struggle, the human worlds begin to hope that the end of the centuries-long conflict with the thinking machines is finally in sight.

Unfortunately, Omnius has one last, deadly card to play. In a last-ditch effort to destroy humankind, virulent plagues are let loose throughout the galaxy, decimating the populations of whole planets . . . and once again, the tide of the titanic struggle shifts against the warriors of the human race. At last, the war that has lasted many lifetimes will be decided in the apocalyptic Battle of Corrin.

In the greatest battle in science fiction history, human and machine face off one last time. . . . And on the desert planet of Arrakis, the legendary Fremen of Dune become the feared fighting force to be discovered by Paul Muad’Dib in Frank Herbert’s classic, Dune.

The Heroes Of Dune

The Heroes Of Dune is another series set in the Dune universe written by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert. There are two books in the series.

Frank Herbert’s Dune ended with Paul Muad’Dib in control of the planet Dune. Herbert’s next Dune book, Dune Messiah, picked up the story several years later after Paul’s armies had conquered the galaxy. But what happened between Dune and Dune Messiah? How did Paul create his empire and become the Messiah? Following in the footsteps of Frank Herbert, New York Times bestselling authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are answering these questions in Paul of Dune.

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Paul Of Dune (Heroes Of Dune Book 1)

The Muad’Dib’s jihad is in full swing. His warrior legions march from victory to victory. But beneath the joy of victory there are dangerous undercurrents. Paul, like nearly every great conqueror, has enemies–those who would betray him to steal the awesome power he commands. . . .

And Paul himself begins to have doubts: Is the jihad getting out of his control? Has he created anarchy? Has he been betrayed by those he loves and trusts the most? And most of all, he wonders: Am I going mad?

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The Winds Of Dune (Heroes Of Dune Book 2)

With their usual skill, Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have taken ideas left behind by Frank Herbert and filled them with living characters and a true sense of wonder. Where Paul of Dune picked up the saga directly after the events of DuneThe Winds of Dune begins after the events of Dune Messiah.

Paul has walked off into the sand, blind, and is presumed dead. Jessica and Gurney are on Caladan; Alia is trying to hold the Imperial government together with Duncan; Mohiam dead at the hands of Stilgar; Irulan imprisoned. Paul’s former friend, Bronso of Ix, now seems to be leading opposition to the House of Atreides. Herbert and Anderson’s newest book in this landmark series will concentrate on these characters as well the growing battle between Jessica, and her daughter, Alia.

The Caladan Trilogy

The Caladan Trilogy is another series written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson. It is set directly before the events of Frank Herbert’s main Dune series. There are three books in the series.

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The Duke Of Caladan (The Caladan Trilogy Book 1)

While Leto tries to raise Paul to be a worthy leader, a deadly new drug from the deep forests of Caladan spreads and kills … a dark stain on Atreides honor.

At the same time, a revolutionary movement seeks to destroy the Corrino empire that has stood for ten thousand years. With increasing desperation, this rebellion turns to acts of unspeakable violence. And one rebel leader will stop at nothing to recruit Leto to their cause.

Can Duke Leto survive with his legendary honor—and his family—intact? 

The Duke of Caladan tells the intertwined stories of some of the most revered characters in science fiction.

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The Lady Of Caladan (The Caladan Trilogy Book 2)

In the year before DUNE, House Atreides is torn apart, caught in power plays among the Imperium, the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the CHOAM Company, and House Harkonnen. 

Lady Jessica, mother of Paul and consort to Leto Atreides, is torn from her home and her family. Her choices will shape an empire, but first the Lady of Caladan must reckon with her own betrayal of the Bene Gesserit. Refusing to become a pawn, she must decide if her loyalty to the Sisterhood is more important than the love of her own family.

Duke Leto must stand up to corruption and disgrace, refusing to become a pawn in a violent uprising bent on bringing down Emperor Shaddam IV.

Paul, the heir to Caladan, stands with his friends and protectors—Duncan Idaho, Gurney Halleck, and Thufir Hawat—and he must learn to become a true leader before House Atreides spirals out of control.

Meanwhile, complex schemes in the sprawling, corrupt Imperium are accelerating, pulling Lady Jessica, Duke Leto, and Paul on a collision course with destiny.

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The Heir Of Caladan (The Caladan Trilogy Book 3)

He is Paul Atreides. The son of Duke Leto and Lady Jessica, the heir of Caladan. He will become the fabled Muad’Dib.

Before he set foot on the sands of Arrakis, Paul was forged into the young man who would become a great leader, a hero … even a tyrant. Just as he turns fifteen years old, Paul is faced with turbulent crises on Caladan—political turmoil, as well as the unraveling of his family.

Young Paul is left to serve as the steward to Caladan, his beloved and beautiful world … and in preparation for that, the young man has been trained in mental acuity by the warrior Mentat Thufir Hawat, pushed to the extremes of his abilities by the faithful Swordmaster Duncan Idaho, and taught in natural science by the Suk Doctor Wellington Yueh, who harbors his own dark secret.

Paul must meet every challenge, grow and become strong enough to protect a world … but the heir of Caladan does not know that these trials will shape him into the man who will conquer an entire Imperium.

Frequently Asked Questions

What order should the Dune books be read in?

Here is the recommended reading order for the Dune Books:

  1. Dune
  2. Dune Messiah
  3. Children Of Dune
  4. God Emperor Of Dune
  5. Heretics Of Dune
  6. Chapterhouse Dune 

Is Dune a trilogy or 6 books?

Dune is not a trilogy, there are six books in the Dune series. They are as follows:

  1. Dune
  2. Dune Messiah
  3. Children Of Dune
  4. God Emperor Of Dune
  5. Heretics Of Dune
  6. Chapterhouse Dune 

Are there 3 books in Dune? Is Dune a trilogy?

Dune is not a trilogy, there are six books in the Dune series. They are as follows:

  1. Dune
  2. Dune Messiah
  3. Children Of Dune
  4. God Emperor Of Dune
  5. Heretics Of Dune
  6. Chapterhouse Dune 

Which Dune book should I read first?

The first Dune book by Frank Herbert to read is Dune, which is the first book in the series.

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