A superb production of a sci fi classic!

I won't dwell on the book itself - it is for many the highwater mark of the sci fi genre; superbly written, richly detailed, boiling with wonderful ideas and concepts, and giving an impression of historical depth that (almost) rivals Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Rather, I'd like to comment on the audio presentation. Potential listeners should have no hesitation in downloading this immediately! Simon Vance is the main reader, and - as always! - his reading is of the highest calibre - clear, faultless pronounciation, and with a fine balance of character voicing without over-acting. Although it's billed as a full-cast reading (from the superb Audio Renaissance team), the full cast are only used on some chapters, while Simon Vance reads many chapters solo. And while I love the Audio Renaissance team, I actually found the solo Vance chapters even better. A very highly recommended listen! And what great news that the sequels will be available over the upcoming months!

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280 people found this helpful

Excellent novel - *almost* excellent audiobook.

This was my first time reading Frank Herbert’s most classic of sci-fi novels, in preparation for Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation hitting big screens imminently as of the time of writing.
At first, I was afraid that the book would be an impenetrable slab of science fiction fantasy gobbledygook that I wouldn’t be able to get into, but soon enough it struck me that the key to unlocking the book’s accessibility was with a simple phrase: it’s “Game Of Thrones” in space. And once I thought that, it all clicked right into place.
The book is visionary, prescient, influential, and all that good stuff.
The audiobook, however, isn’t quite as accomplished.
See, I was reading the text simultaneous to listening to it, and there are some… issues.
Simon Vance is a great narrator, and the voice cast are all great, too. But the problem is that the ostensible claim of this being a “full cast recording” is stretching the truth somewhat. In actuality, maybe 20-30% of the recording uses the full voice cast for different characters, while the remaining vast majority of the recording is just left to Vance to read everything on his lonesome. What’s weirder is that the production alternates rather randomly between these two modes, so that some chapters have characters’ dialogue performed both by Vance AND the allocated cast members, creating whiplash and confusion if you’re not reading along to orient yourself with who’s speaking. (e.g. The delicious, computer-pitched silky deep baritone American performance by Scott Brick of Baron Harkonnen, appearing in the same chapter alongside Simon Vance’s jowly British pensioner version of the same character.)
Also, there are literally HUNDREDS of discrepancies between the text, and what Vance reads, where it gets to the point that it’s unclear if Vance is misreading/misspeaking/omitting loads of words that the editors never caught, OR if he’s reading a different, error-riddled version of the text entirely.
If you go into the audiobook experience knowing this ahead of time, and you’re willing to accept it, then there’s still some immersive enjoyment to be had with this rendition of the novel.
And remember:
Fear is the mind-killer, y’all!

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5 people found this helpful

Excellent reading

This is a very good book and the reading is one of the best I have heard so far using a variety of people to produce the voices and the readers express the characters well.

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2 people found this helpful

Fear is the mind killer

It's difficult to not give 5 stars to this as it's such a classic sc-fi read, George Lucas later pinched the basic plot for his Star Wars saga. There's a great cast of characters to meet, all well represented vocally, this is one book to totally immerse yourself in. Is it as good as it's hyped up to be? Well, not entirely for me, Herbert does like to think himself as something of a sage a bit too often for my liking, it's almost his 'bible' at times and can get a bit pious in a zen-like way. If I'd read it as a teenager, I'd probably have thought it the best thing ever, but as an adult I take it all with a small pinch of salt, but go with the swing of it and you'll enjoy it. A story most people will get something out of, sci-fi fans or not.

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1 person found this helpful

fairly good

The story itself is good however it can be quite slow in places and I found it quite difficult to keep listening. In places it did feel like it was dragging a little.
The narration by Simon Vance was amazing however some chapters had the rest of the crew and personally I found the extra narrators to be distracting and much preferred the solo chapters.

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1 person found this helpful

One of those I’ve always wanted to read

This was my first audio book, and I was quite surprised how much I enjoyed it. The performances were great, although too brief. I expected the whole cast to voice every part, but it was just certain key scenes. The narrator was fantastic. The book itself was brilliant, throughout. Certainly not what I would say is an “easy” read but i see why it’s deemed a classic.

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1 person found this helpful

Superb production.

Superb production as if a radio play with narration.
Anyone who enjoyed the 2021 film but wish to know the “back story” I would thoroughly recommend this audiobook to.

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1 person found this helpful

brilliant book

the constant change of voices really ruin this book.
there's no time gap for the characters to change their voices so much

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1 person found this helpful

One small gripe

I'm not going to bore you with the back story of how the book was written, or the plot itself, it's Dune, you either know of it, or are about to know it.

I enjoyed the story, very original idea, world building (and in hindsight you see just how many things ripped it off, but that's not for here). The audio book was very well produced, and acted out, but my one small problem with it was that the narrator does the voices for the characters for the bulk of the reading, while the other actors come in every few chapters.
One of my favourite (and one of the most important) characters in the whole book is read entirely by him alone, and I found it took a lot of the tension out of the narrative. In saying that, I did enjoy the audio book.

I'm glad to have finally read Dune, and would recommend people listen to the audio book if they are having trouble getting through the story, or if they are revisiting the book, this is a great way to refresh yourself with it.

Now onto Dune Messiah!

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1 person found this helpful

enacted like a play

Where does Dune rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

it's a classic, so it has to rank high.

Who was your favorite character and why?

all the characters are great for different reasons; it's just a great book, that's why it's lasted.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances? How does this one compare?

there are many 'narrators'. sadly, there are a couple of criticisms. the baron switches from 'john earl jones' to 'ian mckellen', which is to say the least a little perturbing the first couple of times it happens. this happens, less noticeably, with other characters too. it would have been better a better experience for the listener to have kept the voices consistent. thankfully though, scott brick didn't do any long sections.

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