Dune Universe

Karellen · 06-25-2023, 06:51 AM

In 1998 I started reading the original Dune novels. I made it up to God Emperor of Dune and then gave up. It was not a series that I was enjoying.

Over the years, because I had the original books, family and friends had been gifting the extended Dune novels by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, but I could not bring myself to read them. Some of these books have been sitting on my bookshelf for over 20 years, unopened.

Three months ago, I thought I would give them another try. And I was determined to read them in the correct storyline order.
The Universe comprises 6 original novels, 17 extended universe novels and 12 short stories.
The following spoiler lists all the books in the Dune Universe in their correct storyline order. The only exception is Princess of Dune as it is not yet released, so it is a bit of a guess as to where it fits in.

A total of 3,730,824 words...

Spoiler:

I have to admit that the extended universe stories were better than I expected. I have always been a fan of Kevin J. Anderson (well, up until he dropped sci-fi and moved into fantasy), so I had no problems with his novels.
I breezed right through the first 24 books quite easily and found them very enjoyable.
Book 25, Paul of Dune, was a bit of a letdown. It seemed a bit confused. There were two storylines across two timelines, but there was no real connection between them. It was like two stories had been written, then minced together. They should have been separated and released as two novelettes.
Into the original novels, I started to struggle a bit. At first I wasn't sure if I had simply had enough of the Universe, or whether the stories themselves were not enjoyable. Dune Messiah, was a struggle, along with Children of Dune and Gods Emperor of Dune.
Then I slammed into a wall with Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune. I really struggled through these, but I forced myself to continue as I was so close to the end.
The final 4 books I was able to pick up the pace again, and enjoyed them.

Has anybody else read the full Dune Universe?

kyrilson · 07-05-2023, 09:24 AM

I haven’t, I have only read Dune itself. I really liked it a lot, but never got around to reading the other 5 by Frank Herbert. I’ve heard they get worse as you go and I’m not interested in diminishing returns like that. I have been curious about the rest and the extended universe. Your timeline is helpful, I might try to start at the beginning and read through them. Another fun project to try. 😊. My current project is reading a NYT bestseller from each year of my existence.

JSWolf · 07-05-2023, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyrilson

I haven’t, I have only read Dune itself. I really liked it a lot, but never got around to reading the other 5 by Frank Herbert. I’ve heard they get worse as you go and I’m not interested in diminishing returns like that. I have been curious about the rest and the extended universe. Your timeline is helpful, I might try to start at the beginning and read through them. Another fun project to try. 😊. My current project is reading a NYT bestseller from each year of my existence.

Have a look here. It's a chronological list of the Dune books and short stories. It differentiates short stories from novels and look good too. Plus you can download a PDF version to print and/or to refer to.

https://dunenovels.com/chronological...-of-dune-books

Karellen · 07-05-2023, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Have a look here. It's a chronological list of the Dune books and short stories. It differentiates short stories from novels and look good too. Plus you can download a PDF version to print and/or to refer to.

https://dunenovels.com/chronological...-of-dune-books

That was the basis for my list, but I found there were 4 stories out of order, so my list above corrects that.

Plus that link includes two short stories (Blood and Water, Fremen Justice) that are not short stories, but a marketing release of the first chapter of two upcoming novels.

And being an older list, there are 2(?) novels missing.

Cactus Chef · 07-05-2023, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyrilson

I haven’t, I have only read Dune itself. I really liked it a lot, but never got around to reading the other 5 by Frank Herbert. I’ve heard they get worse as you go and I’m not interested in diminishing returns like that.

Not universally agreed upon. Many people think God Emperor of Dune is better than the original and the best in the series.

The last two that Frank Herbert wrote weren't bad, either. I'd be curious to see what the last one would've been like had he finished it himself.

I've not kept up with Brian Herbert's extended universe crap, because he strikes me as a hack.

JSWolf · 07-05-2023, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karellen

That was the basis for my list, but I found there were 4 stories out of order, so my list above corrects that.

Plus that link includes two short stories (Blood and Water, Fremen Justice) that are not short stories, but a marketing release of the first chapter of two upcoming novels.

And being an older list, there are 2(?) novels missing.

Would you mind redoing your list as a formatted list (word processing) and mark which are short stores and which are full novels? Thanks.

Once you've done that and posted it, I can compare the two lists and contact them about the errors.

Karellen · 07-05-2023, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Would you mind redoing your list as a formatted list (word processing) and mark which are short stores and which are full novels? Thanks.

Once you've done that and posted it, I can compare the two lists and contact them about the errors.

Sure, I'll do that some time today.

Another question...

Some of the short stories were made publicly available for free on TOR website.
eg... https://www.tor.com/2016/11/01/dune-red-plague/

I turned these into epubs. Can I post them in the E-Book Uploads section of the forum?

kyrilson · 07-05-2023, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karellen

Sure, I'll do that some time today.

Another question...

Some of the short stories were made publicly available for free on TOR website.
eg... https://www.tor.com/2016/11/01/dune-red-plague/

I turned these into epubs. Can I post them in the E-Book Uploads section of the forum?

Ooh,that would be amazeballs.

And yeah, an indication of novel/short story would be helpful. I'm still trying to figure out that first one (Hunting Harkonnens) I suspect it is a SS. I was going to look on the high seas after work if I can't buy it anywhere.

kyrilson · 07-05-2023, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyrilson

Ooh,that would be amazeballs.

And yeah, an indication of novel/short story would be helpful. I'm still trying to figure out that first one (Hunting Harkonnens) I suspect it is a SS. I was going to look on the high seas after work if I can't buy it anywhere.

I just found that and a bunch of other short stories in Tales of Dune,a collection. It's "free" on Kobo plus so I can grab that.

Karellen · 07-05-2023, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Would you mind redoing your list as a formatted list (word processing) and mark which are short stores and which are full novels? Thanks.

Is this what you are after?

Spoiler:

I've marked the short stories only. Obviously the unmarked are full novels.

Some notes...

Princess of Dune has since been added to the dunenovels.com list
Blood of the Sardaukar occurs in Dune at the end of chapter 18
A Whisper of Caladan Seas occurs in Dune at the end of chapter 20
Fremen Justice is not a short story. It is a promotional release of Chapters 6, 10 and 22 of House Harkonnen. (Not House Corrino as stated in the dunenovels.com list.
Blood and Water is not a short story. It is a promotional release of Chapters 21 and 34 of House Harkonnen
Treasure in the Sand- Even though no dates are given in the novel, this short story reads better straight after Sea Child. It definitely does not "takes place immediately before Sandworms of Dune" as stated in the dunenovels.com list.

Karellen · 07-05-2023, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyrilson

I just found that and a bunch of other short stories in Tales of Dune,a collection. It's "free" on Kobo plus so I can grab that.

Ok.
Sands of Dune , The Road to Dune and Tales of Dune contain most of the short stories.

I ended up separating the short stories into individual epub's so I could sort them correctly in Calibre and my Libra2

kyrilson · 07-05-2023, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karellen

Ok.
Sands of Dune , The Road to Dune and Tales of Dune contain most of the short stories.

I ended up separating the short stories into individual epub's so I could sort them correctly in Calibre and my Libra2

How do you do that? I might try that. I'm clueless with epub editing. Willing to learn though

HLS · 07-06-2023, 09:14 AM

I made it threw to the book where Leto II the God king died. have not started the next book yet. They are too long so i am waiting till i make my goal for the year then start it

JSWolf · 07-06-2023, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karellen

Is this what you are after?

Spoiler:

I've marked the short stories only. Obviously the unmarked are full novels.

Some notes...

Princess of Dune has since been added to the dunenovels.com list
Blood of the Sardaukar occurs in Dune at the end of chapter 18
A Whisper of Caladan Seas occurs in Dune at the end of chapter 20
Fremen Justice is not a short story. It is a promotional release of Chapters 6, 10 and 22 of House Harkonnen. (Not House Corrino as stated in the dunenovels.com list.
Blood and Water is not a short story. It is a promotional release of Chapters 21 and 34 of House Harkonnen
Treasure in the Sand- Even though no dates are given in the novel, this short story reads better straight after Sea Child. It definitely does not "takes place immediately before Sandworms of Dune" as stated in the dunenovels.com list.

Yes, this will do. Thank you.

HLS · 07-22-2023, 05:57 PM

I stopped at God Emperor of Dune i hope to read the next one soon

06-25-2023, 06:51 AM	#1
Karellen Wizard Posts: 1,118 Karma: 4911876 Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2	Dune Universe In 1998 I started reading the original Dune novels. I made it up to God Emperor of Dune and then gave up. It was not a series that I was enjoying. Over the years, because I had the original books, family and friends had been gifting the extended Dune novels by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, but I could not bring myself to read them. Some of these books have been sitting on my bookshelf for over 20 years, unopened. Three months ago, I thought I would give them another try. And I was determined to read them in the correct storyline order. The Universe comprises 6 original novels, 17 extended universe novels and 12 short stories. The following spoiler lists all the books in the Dune Universe in their correct storyline order. The only exception is Princess of Dune as it is not yet released, so it is a bit of a guess as to where it fits in. A total of 3,730,824 words... Spoiler: Code: <ol> <li>Hunting Harkonnens</li> <li>The Butlerian Jihad</li> <li>Whipping Mek</li> <li>The Machine Crusade</li> <li>The Faces of a Martyr</li> <li>The Battle of Corrin</li> <li>Sisterhood of Dune</li> <li>Mentats of Dune</li> <li>Red Plague</li> <li>Navigators of Dune</li> <li>Imperial Court</li> <li>Edge of a Crysknife</li> <li>House Atreides</li> <li>House Harkonnen</li> <li>House Corrino</li> <li>Wedding Silk</li> <li>Princess of Dune</li> <li>The Duke of Caladan</li> <li>The Lady of Caladan</li> <li>The Heir of Caladan</li> <li>Dune</li> <li>Blood of the Sardaukar</li> <li>A Whisper of Caladan Seas</li> <li>The Waters of Kanly</li> <li>Paul of Dune</li> <li>Dune Messiah</li> <li>The Winds of Dune</li> <li>Children of Dune</li> <li>God Emperor of Dune</li> <li>Heretics of Dune</li> <li>Chapterhouse: Dune</li> <li>Sea Child</li> <li>Treasure in the Sand</li> <li>Hunters of Dune</li> <li>Sandworms of Dune</li> </ol> I have to admit that the extended universe stories were better than I expected. I have always been a fan of Kevin J. Anderson (well, up until he dropped sci-fi and moved into fantasy), so I had no problems with his novels. I breezed right through the first 24 books quite easily and found them very enjoyable. Book 25, Paul of Dune, was a bit of a letdown. It seemed a bit confused. There were two storylines across two timelines, but there was no real connection between them. It was like two stories had been written, then minced together. They should have been separated and released as two novelettes. Into the original novels, I started to struggle a bit. At first I wasn't sure if I had simply had enough of the Universe, or whether the stories themselves were not enjoyable. Dune Messiah, was a struggle, along with Children of Dune and Gods Emperor of Dune. Then I slammed into a wall with Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune. I really struggled through these, but I forced myself to continue as I was so close to the end. The final 4 books I was able to pick up the pace again, and enjoyed them. Has anybody else read the full Dune Universe? Last edited by Karellen; 07-05-2023 at 07:12 PM.

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07-05-2023, 09:24 AM	#2
kyrilson Fanatic Posts: 538 Karma: 13511506 Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Cleveland, OH Device: Voyage, Oasis, Kobo Glo HD,iPad Pro, Sony 350 and T2	I haven’t, I have only read Dune itself. I really liked it a lot, but never got around to reading the other 5 by Frank Herbert. I’ve heard they get worse as you go and I’m not interested in diminishing returns like that. I have been curious about the rest and the extended universe. Your timeline is helpful, I might try to start at the beginning and read through them. Another fun project to try. 😊. My current project is reading a NYT bestseller from each year of my existence.

07-06-2023, 09:14 AM	#13
HLS Wizard Posts: 2,042 Karma: 15107670 Join Date: May 2017 Device: Sage, Scribe, Boox Note 2 Plus, iPad Pros and Samsungs S6,S7,S8	I made it threw to the book where Leto II the God king died. have not started the next book yet. They are too long so i am waiting till i make my goal for the year then start it

07-22-2023, 05:57 PM	#15
HLS Wizard Posts: 2,042 Karma: 15107670 Join Date: May 2017 Device: Sage, Scribe, Boox Note 2 Plus, iPad Pros and Samsungs S6,S7,S8	I stopped at God Emperor of Dune i hope to read the next one soon

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