Dune Messiah: Book Two in the Dune Chronicles

Frank Herbert

Sep 2007 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Scott Brick, Euan Morton, Simon Vance, and Katherine Kellgren

About this audiobook

The bestselling science fiction series of all time continues! Frank Herbert's second installment explores new developments on the desert planet Arrakis, with its intricate social order and its strange threatening environment. Dune Messiah picks up the story of the man known as Maud'dib, heir to a power unimaginable, bringing to fruition an ambition of unparalleled scale: the centuries-old scheme to create a superbeing who reigns not in the heavens but among men. But the question is: Do all paths of glory lead to the grave?

Ratings and reviews

A bit of a step down in scale and tone from the first book. Doesn't quite have the same sense of wonder. The new additions to the world are interesting. The Bene Tleilax are morbidly fascinating. The performances are good but while not as jarring as the constant character voice changing in the first one, still could be more consistent.

If this has been the first book I would have never continued the series. This was not what I was expecting, or hoped for. not my cup of tea...

I didn't think it was possible to love a sequel just as much as the original. I loved the first audiobook because there were so many new phenomena with each chapter, and this book somehow kept it going. Was hesitant to buy because this audiobook is much shorter than the original, and it doesn't have the wide array of voice cast. Butt it was a phenomenal addition to the series.

About the author

Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma, Washington, and educated at the University of Washington, Seattle. He worked a wide variety of jobs-including TV cameraman, radio commentator, oyster diver, jungle survival instructor, lay analyst, creative writing teacher, reporter and editor of several West Coast newspapers-before becoming a full-time writer.

Scott Brick first began narrating audiobooks in 2000, and after recording almost 400 titles in five years, AudioFile magazine named Brick a Golden Voice and "one of the fastest-rising stars in the audiobook galaxy." He has read a number of titles in Frank Herbert's bestselling Dune series, and he won the 2003 Science Fiction Audie Award for Dune: The Butlerian Jihad. Brick has narrated for many popular authors, including Michael Pollan, Joseph Finder, Tom Clancy, and Ayn Rand. He has also won over 40 AudioFile Earphones Awards and the AudioFile award for Best Voice in Mystery and Suspense 2011. In 2007, Brick was named Publishers Weekly's Narrator of the Year.

Katherine Kellgren has recorded over 200 audiobooks and won four Audie Awards, three ALA Odyssey Honors, and eight AudioFile Earphones Awards. In 2011, Kellgren was named the Best Voice in Young Adult & Fantasy, and she won the Audie award for Best Female Narrator in both 2013 and 2014. Kellgren has also appeared onstage in London, New York and Frankfurt. She has recorded numerous plays and dramatizations of novels for the radio, including winners of the Peabody Award. She is a graduate of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In naming Kellgren a "Golden Voice," AudioFile magazine noted that she is a "marvel with accents...she is definitely a narrator to keep an ear out for." She lives in New York City.

Simon Vance is the critically acclaimed narrator of approximately 400 audiobooks, winner of forty-one AudioFile Earphones Awards, and a six-time Audie recipient. He was the winner of the 2012 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator, and was named the 2011 Best Voice in Biography and History and the 2010 Best Voice in fiction by AudioFile magazine. Simon was named a "Golden Voice" by Audiofile Magazine, and Booklist Magazine named him their "Voice of Choice"
A graduate of the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, Euan Morton's breakthrough role was appearing as Boy George in the musical Taboo, which earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. He reprised the role on Broadway, earning Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Award nominations, as well as the Theatre World Award (for Outstanding Broadway Debut). He also won an Obie Award for starring in Measure For Pleasure at The Public Theatre. Euan's other stage performances include Leaves of Glass, Sondheim on Sondheim, and Cyrano De Bergerac.

Euan Morton's narration credits include Christopher Moore's Fool and Sacre Bleu, Neil Gaiman's Stories, Eoin Colfer's Benny books, and Frank Herbert's Dune and Chapterhouse Dune. Morton's breakthrough role was appearing as Boy George in the musical Taboo, which earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. He reprised the role on Broadway, earning Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Award nominations, as well as the Theatre World Award (for Outstanding Broadway Debut). Morton's other stage performances include Leaves of Glass, Sondheim on Sondheim, and Cyrano De Bergerac. He lives in New York City and Arlington, Virginia.