The Great Dune Trilogy (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Frank Herbert
- First Published: 1963
- Type of Work: Novels
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—galactic empire
- Time of Work: The 57th year of the Padishah Emperor, Shaddam IV (102d century c.e.) through the following five thousand years
- Setting: Primarily Arrakis (the planet called Dune and later Rakis) and Chapterhouse
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Science fiction, Epic
- Subjects: Dictators, Maturation or coming of age, Power, personal or social, Politics, Love or romance, Nature, Revolutions, Extrasensory perception or powers, Future, Other worlds, Space flight or travel, Religion, Obsession, Substance abuse, War, Good and evil, Loyalty, Rulers, Drug addiction or addicts, Drugs, Science fiction, Christ figures or saviors, Reincarnation, Deserts, Superman or superbeings, Worms
- Locales: Arrakis (fictive), Dune (fictive)
The Plot
The Dune series can be seen as a set of three two-volume novels. The first involves the family of Paul Atreides, its battle for the planet Arrakis, and Paul’s coming of age as the messianic Muad’Dib. The second concerns the life of Paul’s son Leto II, from childhood to his ascendancy as God Emperor of Dune. The third deals with the ongoing machinations of the Bene Gesserit (an ancient society of women devoted to mind and body control and eugenics) in their attempt to control the sociopolitical environment of the Dune universe millennia later, as well as the...
[The entire page is 1815 words long]
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