Dune
- By: Frank Herbert
- Narrated by: Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, Simon Vance, Ilyana Kadushin, Byron Jennings, David R. Gordon, Jason Culp, Kent Broadhurst, Oliver Wyman, Patricia Kilgarriff, Scott Sowers
- Series: Dune Saga, Book 12, Dune, Book 1
- Length: 21 hrs and 2 mins
- Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction
Publisher’s Summary
Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Javier Bardem, Dave Bautista, Stellan Skarsgård, and Charlotte Rampling.
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Maud’dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family – and would bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.
A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.
Frank Herbert’s death in 1986 was a tragic loss, yet the astounding legacy of his visionary fiction will live forever.
©1965 Frank Herbert (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC
Ben Scott –
Poor performance of an exceptional book
Any number of reviews will tell you the importance of Dune, the depth and detail that Frank Herbert has taken to craft a thrilling story, amazing characters and a universe that in 2015 is still unique.
This review however, sets to highlight that this reading of Dune is exceptionally bad. The book is read mostly by a single person (altering his voice for different characters, if only slightly) but bizarrely will have characters such as Jessica and Paul be taken over by other narrators seemingly at random parts of the story with seemingly no consistency on who is ‘playing’. More confusingly a narrator for one key character, such as Leto Atreides will return later with exactly the same voice (that is to say, not altering it at all) to play a different character.
This performance is disruptive and simply not good. Either have it read by a single narrator or have some consistency with who is reading each character. The most egregious case of this was halfway through a chapter in which two key characters were talking, a small break takes place, and it returns with new narrators for these characters. Why?
The story isn’t ruined however. The performers are true to the words of the book and it will not inhibit your ability to get the genuine experience but at times it is jarring and confusing.
150 people found this helpful
angus –
it’s not unabridged
wow I feel like an idiot. I thought that it was an unabridged reading. I wish there was a full copy of this book that I could listen to because I love the story.
64 people found this helpful