PRELUDE TO DUNE
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 Pardot Kynes 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 a terrifying 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
HOUSE ATREIDES
An aging
tyrant 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 one momentous step closer
to creating the god-child they call the Kwisatz Haderach. And a minor family
among nobility, HOUSE ATREIDES, chooses a course of honor that will bring it to
destruction at the hands of its mortal enemy, HOUSE HARKONNEN-or take it to new
heights of power.
Covering the decade when Shaddam wins his throne, the teenager Leto Atreides becomes the unexpected ruler of HOUSE ATREIDES, and Pardot Kynes uncovers one of the planet Dune's greatest secrets, HOUSE ATREIDES captures the grandeur and drama of Frank Herbert's epic. And 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 Atreides, the hero of DUNE, will walk. But now, in these years before Paul's birth, an unforgettable new epic begins . . .
HOUSE HARKONNEN
At last Shaddam sits on the Golden
Lion Throne, his precarious position as ruler of the Known Universe dependent on
producing a male heir. But his leadership is further threatened by the ambitious
Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, whose insatiable thirst for dominance leads him to
plot against some of the most powerful forces in the Imperium, hoping to elevate
his own ruthless House to unprecedented heights of power. His primary targets:
House Atreides and the mysterious Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. The Sisterhood are
unaware of this threat as they prepare to culminate the work of centuries in the
creation of a god-child who will sweep away emperors, houses, and history itself
in a terrifying new order of religious tyranny.
The desert world Dune, the machine world Ix, and countless other conquered planets groan under the numbing slavery of cruel new masters determined to exploit their resources -- most notably the addictive spice melange found only on Dune. But small bands of renegades begin to fight back, lighting the spark of freedom against overwhelming odds. New, unexpected heroes arise: young and resourceful Liet-Kynes on Dune, wily and patient C'tair on Ix, and unyielding Gurney Halleck on Giedi Prime, driven to vengeance against his Harkonnen overlords.
For Leto Atreides, grown complacent and comfortable as ruler of his House, it is a time of momentous choices: between love and honor, friendship and duty, safety and destiny. Leto has finally produced an heir to House Atreides, Victor, and will make whatever choices necessary to protect the young boy and ensure his legacy as Duke. Ultimately, however, for House Atreides there is just one choice -- strive for greatness or be crushed.
HOUSE CORRINO
But Duke Leto Atriedes, grief-stricken yet
unbowed by the tragic death of his son Victor, determined to restore the honor
and prestige of his House, has his own plans for Ix. He will free the Ixians
from their oppressive conquerors and restore his friend Prince Rhombur, injured
scion of the disgraced House Vernius, to his rightful place as Ixian ruler. It
is a bold and risky venture, for House Atreides has limited military resources
and many ruthless enemies, including the sadistic Baron Harkonnen, despotic
master of Dune.
Meanwhile, Duke Leto's consort, the beautiful Lady Jessica, obeying the orders of her superiors in the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, has conceived a child that the Sisterhood intends to be the penultimate step in the creation of an all-powerful being. Yet what the Sisterhood doesn't know is that the child Jessica is carrying is not the girl they are expecting, but a boy. Jessica's act of disobedience is an act of love -- her attempt to provide her Duke with a male heir to House Atreides -- but an act that, when discovered, could kill both mother and baby.
Like the Bene Gesserit, Shaddam Corrino is also concerned with making a plan for the future -- securing his legacy. Blinded by his need for power, the Emperor will launch a plot against Dune, the only natural source of true spice. If he succeeds, his madness will result in a cataclysmic tragedy not even he foresees: the end of space travel, the Imperium, and civilization itself. With Duke Leto and other renegades and revolutionaries fighting to stem the tide of darkness that threatens to engulf their universe, the stage is set for a showdown unlike any seen before.
