All 23 Dune novels, laid out in chronological canon order

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OSCAR ISAAC as Duke Leto Atreides in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “DUNE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, Chiabella James /

7. Dune: House Atreides (1999)

This next trilogy is called Prelude to Dune. House Atreides is set some 35 years before the events of Dune and catches up with characters like Leto Atreides, Vladimir Harkonnen and Shaddam Corrino as younger men before they came to power. Naturally, there's lots of back-and-forth scheduling between Leto and Vladimir. There's a reason the two are rivals in Dune.

8. Dune: House Harkonnen (2000)

Set years after the events of House Atreides, House Harkonnen catches up with our main players as they grow into the men we remember from Dune. Emperor Corrino is getting worried about the Harkonnens illegally stockpiling spice, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is growing debilitatingly obsese (the result of the Bene Gesserit punishing him for crossing them), and Duke Leto meets up with Lady Jessica, the mother of Paul Atreides. Initially, the Bene Gesserit plant Jessica within Leto's household as a way to control him, but she ends up falling for him, and he her.

9. Dune: House Corrino (2001)

We jump ahead again for the conclusion of this trilogy. This time, Lady Jessica is pregnant will Paul, Emperor Shaddam is trying to get the great houses dependent on his synthetic form of spice, and Duke Leto sponsors an assault on the planet of Ix, the one planet in the Imperium that still uses computerized technology.

ZENDAYA as Chani in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “DUNE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, Chiabella James /

10. Princess of Dune (2023)

We are tantelizeingly close to the events of Dune at this point, but Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have more prelude to do. This book revolves around two of the most important women in the life of Paul Atreides: Chani the Fremen fighter and Princess Irulan, daughter of Emperor Shaddam IV Corrino. We see what they were up to a couple of years before Dune proper.

11. Dune: The Duke of Caladan (2020)

We're still leading up to the start of Dune here. The Duke of Caladan helps us get to know Duke Leto II when he was the ruler of Caladan, a rainy world very much unlike the parched planet of Arrakis, aka Dune. In this book, Leto's enemies are starting to suspect that he's rising above his station, which sets the stage for the events of Dune.

12. Dune: The Lady of Caladan (2021)

This book takes place in the same period as The Duke of Caladan. Paul is born but is just a boy living on the forest planet of Caladan. Predictably, The Lady of Caladan focuses on the Lady Jessica, Paul's mother. Her Bene Gesserit handlers are none too pleased that Jessica bore a son for Duke Leto when she was instructed to bear only daughters. The Bene Gesserit foresee danger coming as a result of this choice. We know they're right.

13. Dune: The Heir of Caladan (2022)

The final book in this trilogy focuses on young Paul Atreides, who learns about leadership as his parents navigate a political minefield. The book ends with Duke Leto being given the fiefdom of Arrakis, which finally takes us to the beginning of Dune proper.

Alright, at long last, we come to where it all began:

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