In Series Order

Series lists, title by title, each year checked against Open Library

Book series · Frank Herbert

Dune books in order

Frank Herbert's 6 Dune novels, in the order they were published, 1965 to 1985.

Years in this list are first-publication years from Wikipedia. Open Library is used to confirm that each book is catalogued and to show the earliest edition it lists; it does not change the year.

Publication order

  1. 1 Dune 1965
  2. 2 Dune Messiah 1969
  3. 3 Children of Dune 1976
  4. 4 God Emperor of Dune 1981
  5. 5 Heretics of Dune 1984
  6. 6 Chapterhouse: Dune 1985

The six Dune novels written by Frank Herbert, in the order they were published. The prequels and sequels written later by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are not on this page.

Story order

The order of the story and the order of publication are the same for this series.

From the table in Wikipedia, “Dune (franchise)”, citing DuneNovels.com. Its heading and the rows for the books above:

In-universe chronology
TitleDate
Dune (Book I: Dune)1963–1964
Dune (Book II: Muad'Dib)1965
Dune (Book III: The Prophet)1965
Dune Messiah1969
Children of Dune1976
God Emperor of Dune1981
Heretics of Dune1984
Chapterhouse: Dune1985

Novellas and companion books

The Road to Dune

The Wikipedia article describes this work in two places, and the two descriptions differ. Both are quoted here; we do not choose between them.

"The Road to Dune" (set during Dune Messiah, after chapter 6 and before chapter 24)
In 1985, Frank Herbert wrote an illustrated short work called "The Road to Dune", set sometime between the events of Dune and Dune Messiah.

Where to start

We found no source we use that says which book a new reader should start with, so the lists above keep to publication order and do not pick one.

Checked against Open Library

How each title was checked against Open Library is on the method page.

The later books by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

Frank Herbert died in 1986. Wikipedia describes what came after:

Beginning in 1999, his son Brian Herbert and science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson published several collections of prequel novels, as well as two sequels that complete the original Dune series (Hunters of Dune in 2006 and Sandworms of Dune in 2007), partially based on Frank Herbert's notes discovered a decade after his death.

Sources

More series in order