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The Dune Storybook

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Young Paul Atreides, son of a powerful family from the planet Caladan, may be the looked-for leader who will save the desert planet Dune, source of a precious spice which gives people strange mental powers.

64 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 1984

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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for rebeca ravara.
249 reviews
July 21, 2024
baseado no romance de frank herbert enquanto igualmente adaptado de um argumento escrito por david lynch, este livrinho serve por uma bela introdução ao mundo do dune dos anos 80. ajuda-me certamente a perceber mais destes filmes pois não tenho a paciência de ler toda a lore. mas pronto. whatever
Profile Image for Jessica.
Author 27 books5,934 followers
March 16, 2013
The Dune Storybook . . . or as I like to call it: Gateway to Dune. My sister loved Dune (book and movie, and still does) , but I was too young to read the book or see the movie when it first came out. But my mom got this from the library, and I devoured it. I was obsessed with the pictures, I had a crush on Kyle MacLachlan, I was totally into the culture of Arrakis. I think I was about 9 or 10 at the time. This lead me to seeing the movie when I was 11, and reading the actual book when I was barely 12. Changed my life. Years later my husband found me a copy of this at Powell's in Portland, and I was delighted to find that it had been written by Joan Vinge, whose Cat books (PSION, CATSPAW) had been my favorites as a teen!
Profile Image for Cathy.
9 reviews5 followers
September 11, 2007
I got a copy of this when I was a kid. And right after I read it, I read it again. And again. This book got me interested with the Dune novels when I was just around 12, and it got me raiding my dad's stash of sci-fi books. I think Dune would be officially my first sci-fi novel ever read, and thats thanks to this storybook.
Profile Image for Ben.
87 reviews10 followers
December 30, 2025
I am in the late-year stage of unabashed cramming of some last-minute shortish books and wrapping up a few that I was almost done with in order to still try to “meet” my Reading Challenge that ambitiously increases by 1 each year. No year thus far have I failed this badly, but oh well.

Well, what an odd sub-genre this is: that of the longish picture book synopsis of a just-released film. Like, aside from the mid-quality stills from the movie and ONE cool concept-art image that I don’t remember from the film, this has no merits. It is merely a novelty (now-vintage) memorabile. Either watch the film (which is not essential, though I do have a love for its weird charm), or better yet, read the AMAZING sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert, one of the Top 10 best of all time. But you DON’T need to read this “Storybook” paraphrase of the screenplay.
Profile Image for Tyler Dowdell.
38 reviews
August 1, 2019
This is a barebones adaptation of David Lynch’s Dune and it does a well enough job at summarizing the events of the film. However, I can’t help but wonder who this book was for. It wasn’t meant for fans of Frank Herbert’s novel, and it’s very wordy for a children’s storybook. At the same time not wordy enough to be put out as a “junior novelization” that have become prevalent with big blockbuster movies. . So I’m not sure who the target audience is for this book. But it makes a fun addition to your Dune collection or David Lynch collection.
Profile Image for Alexandra Maia E Silva.
438 reviews
August 12, 2020
Livro tristemente esgotado
Versão muito reduzida do original
Mas gostei muito e lembrei-me de muitas coisas do filme.
Com uma linguagem própria como acontece com os livros de ficção científica
Muitas vezes as ideias são paralelas, ou com pts de semelhança
Nesta leitura lembrei-me de Isaac Asimov e tb da guerra das estrelas
68 reviews
January 11, 2024
This book is an artifact from another era; a novelization of movie aimed at 10–12-year-olds. This was published just before VHS tapes became common in most households, so a book like this would have been the only "on demand" version of the story. As someone who has watched Lynch's Dune far too many times, it was amusing to read an adaptation of Lynch's story (not Herbert's Dune).
Profile Image for Sean Chick.
Author 8 books1,108 followers
January 21, 2022
I sometimes read old story book adaptations of films. Its neat seeing camera perspectives not used in the movie as well as cut scenes in the narrative since quite a few storybooks were written with the shooting script. This is also from an age when people did not care about "spoilers" since there was no Internet. The idea of surprising an audience was not a fad until arguably The Sixth Sense. This is no exception, in fact it has lots that did not make it into the 1984 theatrical cut, a sure sign of why that one had its share of narrative issues. That said, even then this was not the best adaptation, in part because the images shown did not match the text. How many times did one need to see the Baron?

Of course that this book exists is one reason Dune flopped in 1984. They thought they had Star Wars, and accordingly pumped out merchandise, from toys to a board game and of course this book. It was not meant to be. Perhaps though one reason Dune became a cult film is that later, unshackled by producers wanting another Star Wars and with the expanded TV cut being pumped out on the air waves (its better but the best is the spicediver edit), Dune could breath a little and find its audience.

So far, The Empire Strikes Back remains the gold standard. This is decent given the material, but the images chosen are perplexing at times.
Profile Image for Rivka.
19 reviews2 followers
January 7, 2009
I admit that Frank Herbert's Dune series is one of my favorite reads. To review or comment on just one book in the genre is simply an incomplete assessment. Frank Herbert has done what so many authors attempt but rarely accomplish. Allow me to elaborate.

We live in a multi faceted, multi dimensional world. Everyone we interact with has their own story, just as rich and full as our own. So often when a tale is told it is presented one dimensionally. One person's story, one story view. But Herbert (and now his son Brian) has taken the time to fully develop not only all of his major characters, many of his minor ones, but also flesh out the political, religous and ecomomic stratums of multiple worlds. All of this is masterfully woven into a chronicle that spans generations. Multiple story lines have been lain into this cloth, each read creating a richer and more colorful tapestry.

If you are looking for an escape, a way to be someplace else entirely different from your own life.. step into Herbert's world. Pick any of the books in this series & be swept away.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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