Three stars for general audience, 4 stars for fans of the Dune series who are interested in the early alternative draft of the first book, and an exploration of the extra bits: deleted chapters, publisher correspondence etc. What struck me is how similar the books were even though the final version was much richer and many characters are renamed. The early version was also quite a bit shorter and not as engrossing as the final work, but many of the themes are there from royal intrigue, feuding noble houses and a mysterious ecology on the desert planet but also more focus on the addictive spice drug. It all makes more sense knowing that Frank Herbert started down the Road to Dune with his interest in an article on controlling the growth of sand dunes which never was published.

great companion to Dune

I enjoyed this book as a Dune enthusiast. (BTW, I bought this book from Kevin J Anderson.)

Loved reading the deleted scenes from Herbert's original trilogy. If you are a Dune fan this is a great window into Frank Herbert and how the original book got published.

One of the Dune RPGs was my very first computer game, back in 1992. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_%28... I own the VHS 1984 movie and the DVD miniseries. To put it mildly, I really like the series. Yet it's been over a decade and a half since I last read the whole series back to front and since that time Frank Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson (whose work I admire) have written seven move books in the series with two more planned. So I've decided to reread the entire series again.

This book was quite fun to read because (amongst other things) it showcased Frank Herbert's original draft of Dune. Apparently, Frank Herbert wrote the story. He then took the manuscript, tossed it into a box and rewrote the entire thing from scratch. Reading the original version, with differently named characters, changed character motivations, and completely different plot points, was just a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the book and I reccomend it to any other Dune fans.

I found this book very inspiring! A real transatlantic tunnel would be exciting. I really enjoyed the unusual time frame it was set in and I believe this style might be referred to as Steam Punk.

Il libro è una collezione di materiale interessante, una specie di Tolkenarium di Herbert. Serve anche a capire la brillantezza e l'unicità dei primi due libri di Dune, con scelte finali dell'autore che coinvolgono molto più delle alternative presenti in questo libro.
Inoltre, per chi vorrebbe provare a pubblicare, è un incitamento: Dune è stato rifiutato 15 volte, prima di essere pubblicato da parte di una casa editrice locale che si occupava di manuali agricoli.

I mostly picked up this book to read the original novella that was then formed into the Dune universe that I love so much. On that point it's a brilliant work that is as beautiful as Dune and only made better by its predecessor! Mr. Herbert drew me in and kept me interested. The road to Dune portion is very hard to read but I loved reading it and seeing how dune came about. For any due hard fan, this work is a must, if it's a passing fancy for you I'd say read the story and skip the rest.

I mean this was my last Dune. Will not pursue the other books. I've already read more than 99% people about this series. So I'm happy.

Clearly a greedy cash grab by Brian. I was expecting some "director cut" extras for the first two books but it's an unedited unpolished first draft of Dune with different names and events I didn't finish and some chapters edited out EARLY by Frank, not cut by editors. They are incoherent and often the information was put somewhere else in the books or pointless. Then there are a few short Novels by Brian that are blend and made me not want to read further than the 6 original books. Unfortunate.

The main attraction for this book is an alternate version of the main book "Dune". It provides some context and stage for Herbert writing the original tome and some of the subsequent volumes. I was surprised to thoroughly enjoy the retelling of the original story with small plot shifts and name changes. Beyond that, additional content was added to describe Herbert's preparation in writing and his efforts to get the book published. If you're a fan of the Dune series, you need to pick this book up.

This book is composed primarily of sort pieces of fiction comprised of an alternative story line for Dune from Frank Herbert's notes, deleted chapters and scenes from Dune and Dune Messiah and four short stories tied into the prequels to Dune written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. It will only make sense if you have read the appropriate books from the Dune series and are a fan of the series.