Greetings, reader!
For the third time, I'm doing a theme month about literature, because I moonlight as a massive bookworm when having time off from being a massive movie/TV nerd, so I have a lot to say about these subjects as well. I'm kicking off Literature Month III with a ranking of the books in Frank Herbert's Dune franchise. I originally wanted to read all of the prequels, pre-prequels, interquels, paraquels, pseudo-sequels, fictional histories and semicanon comics completed by Herbert's son Brian after his death, but after reading the first few, I realized it just wasn't worth it even for my completist nature (The Butlerian Jihad was conceptually interesting, but making it over 700 pages long is borderline criminal). Anyways, the six Dune books that were finished by Frank Herbert in his lifetime are awesome, so here's my ranking!
Note to readers: for each book, I've written one spoiler-free paragraph so that those who haven't read the books, but are considering it and want to hear my take, can do so without being spoiled. And then another spoiler-containing paragraph for those who have read the books and want to hear my take in full detail. I hope you enjoy!
(Also, for those interested: I got 14 out 23 correct in my Oscar predictions! Not my best score, but not my worst either. At least I got the Sharknado bet right once again).
6. Heretics of Dune (1984)
WITHOUT SPOILERS: None of the six original Dune books are bad, so even Heretics has its strengths and is most definitely worthwhile for readers like myself who really want to dive deep. But, yeah, it has its reasons for being ranked last. While I admire Herbert's way of imagining new story directions up until the end, it must be said that he had used up his most genius and groundbreaking ideas in the first four books, all of which are wildly different from each other, so Heretics is the first one to feel a bit repetitive. Yes, it takes place after yet another huge time jump, but the themes of the franchise start to feel a bit recycled, and the new characters aren't as interesting and fleshed out as the major characters in the earlier instalments.
SPOILERS: Yeah, the jumbling between plotlines is a bit messy here, and the "woah, we've jumped THOUSANDS OF YEARS into the future to follow a totally reshaped world order" narrative doesn't hit as hard as it did the first time. Still, there's plenty to enjoy - the stuff with the Honoured Matres is cool, Duncan Idaho continues to be as iconic as he is unlikely in the role of the saga's true protagonist, and hats off for that ballsy ending - I didn't expect to be shocked when this familiar with the saga, yet the destruction of the planet formerly known as Arrakis/Dune caught me truly off guard.
5. Chapterhouse: Dune (1985)
WITHOUT SPOILERS: Most fans seem to rank the fifth and sixth books below the first four in solidarity, yet the order between the two varies (and from what I've gathered, preferring Heretics over Chapterhouse is a bit more common, so I'm in the slight minority here). Largely, the books share both strengths and weaknesses, but I found the story a bit more engaging here - many things that were set up in a convoluted manner in Heretics really come together here. I also like Chapterhouse as an ending for the saga - yes, it wasn't meant to be the final one as Herbert intended to do a follow-up but passed away before completing it, but even if it's by accident, I think this closes the larger story in an unconventional yet poetic manner.
SPOILERS: So, yeah, how about that ending! While I recognize that Herbert intended it as an obvious cliffhanger, it's weird and uncanny how well it works as an unintentional but brilliant ambiguous ending for the whole saga. The Dune universe had undergone so much shocking change during its milennia-spanning plot, that a conventional wrap-up conclusion would've felt tacky and wrong. Having the Bene Gesserit survivors lose a key battle and escape, with Sheeana and Duncan with them, is an open-ended note with just the right amount of hope, while playing into the cyclical nature of the saga's narrative and themes.
Also, I can't for the life of me figure out what I think of the subplot with Space Israel and the new sci-fi Jewish diaspora. Frank Herbert is one of my all-time favorite authors, but he was a bit far out there near the end.
4. God Emperor of Dune (1981)
WITHOUT SPOILERS: Oh man, I'd like to rank the polarizing cult-classic fourth book even higher, but it just doesn't quite stack up as a whole when compared to the original three, despite being in a class of its own when it comes to the psychedelic, ultra-creative "how does a human mind even come up with this" side of the franchise. Yes, from the setting of the story (I won't spoil how many years after the previous book this one picks up on, but no matter what you guess, I reckon it's more), through its central character (I can't spoil that one either as the character's very existence has a lot to do with major events from earlier books), to the framework of the narrative (like 90 per cent of the book is just characters having philosophical dialogues with each other), this book really goes on some levels. It's one of the trippiest books I've ever read, and a brilliant way to keep the saga going.
SPOILERS: If you know, you know. What other author would end his trilogy with the original protagonist's son evolving into some sort of Lovecraftian worm-God-man hybrid, thus setting up a sequel where thousands of years have passed and the structure of the fictional universe is entirely changed, only for said worm-God-man hybrid to still be vibing around? Also, Siona Atreides is the last truly great character that Herbert came up with. Also, the dialogue where Moneo tells the Duncan Idaho ghola that he is the descendant of a different Duncan Idaho ghola is one of the most mind-bending moments in all science fiction. Hats off.
3. Dune Messiah (1969)
WITHOUT SPOILERS: The second-ever Dune book, which will be adapted into a Denis Villeneuve movie in 2026 (GET HYPE!), is a great one. I know that many fans would rank it second or even first, and I think that me being just slightly less enthusiastic about Messiah in my ranking has to do with something I'll go further into in the spoiler paragraph- basically, I think that the themes for which the second book is praised the most are already present in the first book albeit more subtly, and for me the gap between reading the books was so long that I had already reflected on those themes to a point of major appreciation before reading Messiah, so there wasn't all that much new and mind-blowing thematically here. That being said, it's just a fantastic book - I love how the events are so small-scale yet so large-scale at once, as we follow a limited group of characters in limited settings to the point of almost feeling like a play, yet with the knowledge that what they end up deciding and doing will impact the lives of billions and billions in the Dune universe.
SPOILERS: Yeah, the thing I was referring to was the whole "Inversion of the archetypical hero trope" theme. I've read a lot of Dune rankings that put Messiah first, and a common theme in them appears to be that the reader more or less saw the first book as a heroic tale, in which case Messiah did all the heavy lifting for the dark twist of Paul Atreides' ultimate nature and legacy and the pitfalls of the charismatic leader. I can see why that would hit so hard. I had read Dune twice (and with years to reflect and analyze in between) before reading Messiah, so my appreciation for the between-the-lines antihero themes in the first book already was so high that it hit slightly less hard when the same things are spelled out further in Messiah.
2. Children of Dune (1976)
WITHOUT SPOILERS: The third Dune book is f**king amazing and severely underrated. While it may not be as revolutionary as Dune, as deep-dialogue genius as Dune Messiah or as philosophically trippy as God Emperor of Dune, it works on a level that really works for a reader like myself - namely, the plot is utterly, insanely addictive. Everything that happens, every new plotline, every new story direction, every new bit of worldbuilding, makes for endless fascination, making Children of Dune one of the most adrenaline-rush page-turners I've read.
SPOILERS: Princess Wensicia's plot to assassinate Paul's children and install Farad'n as a new leader? Brilliant. Alia going crazy as the late Baron Harkonnen gets to her consciousness? Give me more. The sightings of the mysterious Prophet who may or may not be a somehow-somewhat-alive Paul Atreides? Chills and thrills. Leto faking his death and traveling to the mythical Jacurutu to realize his destiny? Some of the best and most intriguing science fiction out there.
1. Dune (1965)
WITHOUT SPOILERS: Yeah, I had to be basic and put the original at first place. While there are individual aspects that books #2, #3 and #4 do even better than the first, and a part of me would like to put Children of Dune in first place, there's just no getting around the fact that this book, as a whole, is just such a well-rounded masterpiece. It's the crown jewel of science fiction literature, and a huge part of why the later books work so well is that Dune provided them with 10/10 compelling worldbuilding, introducing us to a fictional universe filled to the brim with creative concepts, exciting locations and complex power dynamics.
SPOILERS: The banquet sequence, where we follow a group of characters, all of whom have their own agendas and agendas within agendas, subtly trying to outsmart each other in veiled and layered dialogue, with no one saying what they really mean but rather everyone playing their own game, is some of my all-time favorite literature. The water merchant, the smuggler, the banker who may or may not be a spy, Kynes with his plan to reshape the planet's ecosystems, it's all so good. Everything else as well.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I continue Literature Month III with a ranking of all the 33 instalments in all of the 6 book series I count as all-time favorites: The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Dune, The Dark Tower, A Song of Ice an Fire and Percy Jackson.
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