#4 in Classics
Dune
- 605
- Pages
- about 11 h
- Reading time
- Film 2021 +3
- On screen
- NYT bestseller · 4 weeks on the list, peaked at #3
- Hugo Award for Best Novel
- Nebula Award for Best Novel
- Seiun Award for Best Translated Long Work
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Our view
This is science fiction built like a political epic: ruling dynasties, conspiracy, revenge and religion all pull at the story. Some readers say that what one takes from it depends on who is reading, and they warn that the first hundred and fifty pages are dense. Past them, they add, the novel gives up something new on every return.
Worth knowing Before it was a book it ran as two serials in Analog magazine (1963–65), and after many rejections the hardcover came from Chilton, a publisher best known for car repair manuals. It won the first Nebula for best novel and shared that year’s Hugo. Keep a finger in the glossary at the back for the first chapters. The story is complete in itself; the much shorter Dune Messiah deliberately questions its ending.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Dune is a 1965 epic science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966. It is the first installment of the Dune Chronicles. It is one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels.
Reading order · Dune
Full order & progress →
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 4 times — from 1984 to 2024.
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.6 across 6,680 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 98% of the weight and the score stays at 8.8 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it. A further +0.20 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.6 | 441 | 7% |
| Hardcover | 8.6 | 6.2K | 93% |
Frequently asked
How long is Dune?
It has 605 pages — longer than 80% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 8.3 and 8.8, closest to this book.
