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  • God Emperor of Dune

  • By: Frank Herbert
  • Narrated by: Simon Vance
  • Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (479 ratings)

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God Emperor of Dune

By: Frank Herbert
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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Publisher's Summary

More than 3,000 years have passed since the first events recorded in Dune. Only one link survives with those tumultuous times: the grotesque figure of Leto Atreides, son of the prophet Paul Muad'Dib, and now the virtually immortal God Emperor of Dune. He alone understands the future, and he knows with a terrible certainty that the evolution of his race is at an end unless he can breed new qualities into his species.

But to achieve his final victory, Leto Atreides must also bring about his own downfall.

Don't miss other titles in the Dune series.
©1981 Frank Herbert (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic Reviews

"A fourth visit to Arrakis that is every bit as fascinating as the other three - every bit as timely." ( Time)
"Rich fare...Heady stuff." ( Los Angeles Times)

What listeners say about God Emperor of Dune

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

A change of pace

I found this book to be quite different from the first three instalments in the Dune series. The cast of characters is much more focused. It also felt “smaller”, by which I mean it seemed the wider universe intruded less on the story.

Speaking of the story, it did not engage me as much as the first three books did. I found the relationships between the main characters strange, particularly Leto and Siona. The book also ends fairly abruptly.

The narration was good, and I much prefer the consistent use of a single narrator over the mixed approach the other titles take.

If you’re already a fan of the series, of have become enthralled, you’ll buy this book. For me personally however, it really didn't grab me. I found the first three books much more satisfying.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Way way too much pretentious philosophy

It seems that almost half the book was pretentious philosophy. Apart from that, the story was ok, but still not a good as the earlier books.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

A Very Distinct Decline.

Give this one a pass.

I really liked Dune, tolerated Messiah and liked CoD.

God Emperor, however, is worse than each and every one. There are few characters and none of them are interesting. There's not much of a plot, and none of it is interesting.

Gone is the Dune you loved. Pretend it ended with CoD.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

All round brilliance.

After a lackluckster second book, Frank Herbert set a new standard with the third and fourth in the series.

God Emperor was as thrilling and grand as the original Dune and the originality stands alone as a titan of sciencr fiction.

The narration was fantastic as always. Multiple actors, real emotion in the lines.

One of the best reads ever in my opinion.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

my favorite of the series so far!

its funny when you see a series going on and on you expect that it would lose its capture but this book was amazing and has me look forward to continuing listening to the series 😊

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen

Great sequel to the continuing Dune saga. Good to get into in the audio book format

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Dense, meandering and self glorifying

Having audioread the earlier books over the past month, I was compelled to continue and complete the story. This book significantly is half baked philosophical dialogue and little action by the characters. It was disappointing.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Utterly beyond belief terrible!!!!!

This is absolutely the worst, most utterly boring and tedious science fiction book I have read. If you are reading the Dune series do yourself a favour and skip this one. Just read an online summary and go on to the next book in the series. I can’t believe this was ever published.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Kim
  • 31-12-2023

Brilliantly narrated

An excellent rendition of the classic Herbert book by a great series of narrators. I highly recommend this version to all lovers of the Dune series.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

It’s alright

Sad worm monologue.
Takes a while to get interesting, Only in the ending does it pick up speed. Worth listening to continue the story

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