[Legends of Dune 01] • Prelude to Dune 01 House Atreides

THE EPIC PREQUEL TO "DUNE" ""DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES" is a terrific prequel, but it is also a first-rate adventure on its own. FrankHerbert would surely be delighted and proud of this continuation of his vision."-Dean Koontz

Frank Herbert's "Dune" chronicles became an enduringclassic and the most popular science fiction series of all time. Working from recently discovered files left by his father, Brian Herbert and best-selling novelist Kevin J. Anderson bring us Dune: HouseAtreides, the prequel, which captures all the complexity and grand themes of the original work while weaving a new tapestry of great passion and momentous destiny into a saga that expands the tale written byFrank Herbert more than thirty years ago.

Complex, brilliant, and prophetic, Frank Herbert's award-winning Dune chronicles captured the imaginations of millions of readersworldwide-and transformed their perception of what the future could be. By his death in 1986, Frank Herbert had completed six novels in the Dune series. But much of his vision--vast, sprawling, andmultilayered-remained unwritten. Now, working from recently discovered files left by his father, Brian Herbert and bestselling novelist Kevin J. Anderson collaborate on a new novel, the first volume in theprequel to Dune-where we step onto planet Arrakis...decades before Dune's hero, Paul Atreides, walks its sands. --

Beginning nearly four decades before"Dune," House Atreides introduces pivotal characters, alliances, base treacheries, and bright hopes that form the foundation of "Dune." On the planet Arrakis, an agingtyrant sits on the Golden Lion Throne and rules all of the known universe, while his son grows dangerously impatient for the crown. A quasi-religious order of black-robed women move their secret breeding program onemomentous step closer to creating a god-child they call the Kwisatz Haderach. And a minor family among the nobility, House Atreides, chooses a course of honor that will bring it to destruction at the hands of its mortalenemy, House Harkonnen-or take it to new heights of power.

Here is the rich and complex world that Frank Herbert created in his classic series, in the time leading up to the momentous events of"Dune." As Emperor Elrood's son Shaddam plots a subtle regicide, young Leto Atreides leaves his lush, water-rich planet for a year's education on the mechanized world of Ix; a planetologist named PardotKynes is dispatched by the Emperor to the desert planet Arrakis, or Dune, to discover the secrets of the addictive spice known as melange; and the eight-year-old slave Duncan Idaho is hunted by his cruel masters in aterrifying game from which he vows escape and vengeance. But none can envision the fate in store for them: one that will make them renegades-and shapers of history.

Covering the decade whenShaddam wins his throne, the teenager Leo Atreides becomes unexpectedly the rule of House Atreides, and Pardot Kynes uncovers one of the planet Dune's greatest secrets, House Atreides stands next to"Dune" in its power and scope. While this new novel solves some of "Dune"'s most baffling mysteries, it presents new puzzles springing from the sands where one day Paul Muad'Dib Atreideswill walk. But now, in the years before Paul's birth, an unforgettable new epic begi