Dune

Description

Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune, one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written. Melange, or 'spice', is the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world Arrakis. Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe. When stewardship of Arrakis is transferred to his house, Paul Atreides must travel to the planet's dangerous surface to ensure the future of his family and his people. But as malevolent forces explode into conflict around him, Paul is thrust into a great destiny beyond his understanding. And in this game of power, only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Frank Herbert was born in 1920. His colourful and varied career included stints as a radio news commentator and jungle survival instructor. He is best known for creating the world of DUNE, which became the bestselling science fiction novel of all time. It won great acclaim, as well as the Hugo and Nebula awards, establishing Frank Herbert as a master of modern science fiction. He died in 1986. His son, Brian Herbert, has now begun a new series of Dune novels, Prelude to Dune in collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson . The first novel to appear in the new series is House Atreides, published by Hodder & Stoughton. www.dunenovels.com

A sweeping work of science-fiction that helped define the genre and bring it to the mainstream * The Independent * Adapted from Frank Herbert's 1960s opus, Dune is dense, moody and quite often sublime - the missing link bridging the multiplex and the arthouse * The Guardian - 5* * This new adaptation of the 1965 Frank Herbert novel ... it's science-fiction at its most majestic, unsettling and enveloping * Daily Telegraph * Dune is this generation's Lord of the Rings trilogy ... firmly grounded in Herbert's book. The author's story of feudal nobles waging war over Arrakis, the only source of a powerful drug known as spice, is thick with conflicting ideas that academics are still unpacking today * The Independent * Dune: science fiction's answer to Lord of the Rings * The Guardian * Dune, more than 50 years after it was first published, is a story that speaks to the issues of our time * BBC Science Focus * Astonishing in its scope and thought-provoking in its breadth of themes, Dune is an unforgettable fantasy adventure like no other * Woman & Home * Astonishing in its scope and thought-provoking in its breadth of themes, Dune is an unforgettable fantasy adventure like no other * Isabelle Broom, womanandhome.com, Best Fantasy Books of All Time *