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Dune (Original Series)
1965
The Dune universe spans tens of thousands of years of human civilisation in a far future where humanity has spread across the galaxy but banned all computers, robots, and artificial intelligence following an ancient conflict known as the Butlerian Jihad. In place of thinking machines, humanity has developed extraordinary mental and physical disciplines - the political prescience of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood, the mathematical genius of human computers called Mentats, and the space-folding navigation of the Spacing Guild. At the centre of everything is the spice melange, a substance found only on the desert planet Arrakis that extends life, expands consciousness, and makes interstellar travel possible. Control of the spice means control of the universe, and the struggle for Arrakis drives the politics, wars, and religious upheavals that define Frank Herbert's six original novels. The series begins as political intrigue and ecological science fiction, evolves into a meditation on power, prescience, and the dangers of messianic leadership, and ultimately spans millennia of human transformation.

Dune (Original Series)
1969
Twelve years after the events of Dune, Paul Atreides rules as Emperor of the Known Universe - but the jihad fought in his name has killed sixty-one billion people across hundreds of planets. Dune Messiah is the bitter second act that Dune's triumph demanded: a story about the terrible cost of fulfilling a messianic destiny. Paul is trapped between his prescient knowledge of the future, the conspiracies of enemies who want him destroyed, and the growing realisation that the religious fervour he unleashed cannot be controlled. Shorter and more introspective than its predecessor, Dune Messiah dismantles the hero it spent the first novel building, challenging readers who wanted Paul to simply be a saviour.