Dune: House Atreides
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| Dune: House Atreides | |
 US 1st ed. cover art |
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| Author | Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Stephen Youll |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Prelude to Dune |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Spectra |
| Publication date | 5 October 1999 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 624 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-553-11061-6 |
| Followed by | Dune: House Harkonnen |
Dune: House Atreides is the first book in the Prelude to Dune prequel trilogy to the Dune series, set before the events of Frank Herbert's original works. Co-authored by Frank's son Brian Herbert and science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson, the novels draw from notes left behind by Frank Herbert after his death. [1] [2] [3]
[edit] Plot summary
The novel begins on the planet of Arrakis, 35 years before the events of the original Dune. The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen has just taken over the governorship of Arrakis (also called Dune) from his younger brother Abulurd, who has allowed spice production to decrease heavily. The Baron sees an opportunity for large profits and begins to store up illegal spice hoards.
On the Imperial Capital planet Kaitain, the young planetologist Pardot Kynes has just arrived from his homeworld of Salusa Secundus for an audience with the Padishah Emperor, his majesty Elrood Corrino IX. The old Emperor is giving Kynes the mission of going to the only known source of melange, Arrakis, in order to find out how the precious substance is produced. Meanwhile, the Crown Prince Shaddam and his minion Hasimir Fenring are plotting against Elrood. Shaddam is not getting any younger, and it seems that the already 157-year-old Emperor could rule for another 50 years. Shaddam decides to poison his father in order to speed up his succession to the throne.
Duke Paulus Atreides in the duchy of Caladan is planning on sending his young son and heir Leto to the court of Earl Dominic Vernius on Ix in order to study politics with the Earl's son Rhombur. Leto's mother, the Lady Helena, does not like the idea. Not only is she a very religious woman, but her father is also the Count Richese, who is the main rival of the Earl Vernius.
The Bene Gesserit are getting closer to their quest to breed the Kwisatz Haderach; only three generations remain. The next step is to send the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam to Giedi Prime, the Harkonnen home world, in order to conceive a child with the Baron Vladimir. This child would in turn be married to Leto Atreides to produce the eventual mother of the Kwisatz Haderach. The Baron is initially not interested, but after being blackmailed with the secret of his spice hoards, he has sex with Mohiam and a daughter is conceived.
Meanwhile, the young Harkonnen slave boy no. 11368, Duncan Idaho, is trying to escape the forests of Giedi Prime, where the na-baron Glossu Rabban is trying to kill him as a part of a game he and his friends are playing. Duncan finally manages to escape the planet, boarding a heighliner en route to Caladan.
Pardot Kynes arrives on Arrakis and begins his duties there. He starts to dislike the Harkonnen rule there, and is getting more and more interested in the native Fremen of the desert and the possibility of terraforming the planet. Pardot is discovering more and more proof that some time, long ago, Arrakis was covered with giant oceans, and gets curious about what changed the climate to what it is today.
Leto finds himself at home at the Earl's home at the Grand Palais of Ix. Not only has he found an equal in Prince Rhombur, but he has also fallen in love with the Earl's daughter, Kailea. But all is not perfect on the planet Ix. The suboids building the heighliners in the depths of the cave cities of Ix are becoming more unsatisfied with their living conditions and the blasphemy of their work.
Emperor Elrood himself is beginning to show signs of senility from the slow-acting poison Fenring had administered. A Tleilaxu delegation arrives and they begin discussing the possibility of producing melange in laboratories; Elrood becomes very interested in this "Project Amal". The Tleilaxu have one demand in exchange for allowing the Emperor to invest in the project: he must give them military support in their takeover of the planet Ix, which they claim has the technological and industrial resources necessary for their experiments. The Emperor, who is already feuding with the Earl of Ix, is willing to give them a hand.
After saving three Fremen youths in the desert from Harkonnen troops, Pardot is taken to a Fremen sietch. The leaders (naibs) decide after a long debate to execute him. But as the chosen assassin encounters Pardot and hears about his plans for a possible terraformation of the planet and the hope this vision gives, the would-be assassin kills himself instead. Seen as a sign, the Fremen name Pardot a prophet. Pardot stays with the Fremen, marries a Fremen woman and together they have a son named Liet.
The Harkonnen offspring born on Wallach IX is not at all what the Bene Gesserit were expecting, and is too weak to produce the mother of the Kwisatz Haderach. They have no other choice but to go back to Giedi Prime to blackmail the Baron for another Harkonnen daughter. The Baron is ready for them and impregnates Mohiam through a violent rape. Mohiam avenges the assault by giving the Baron an incurable disease which over time will make the Baron obese, destroying his beautiful body.
Ix is suddenly attacked by a joint Tleilaxu/Sardaukar army. Leto, Rhombur and Kailea are sent to the Atreides homeworld of Caladan, while the Earl and his Lady decide to go their own way as renegades through the Imperium. The Tleilaxu establish a government on Ix, renaming the planet Xuttuh.
Leto and the Vernius heirs are welcomed to Caladan by Duke Paulus even though Lady Helena is skeptical of being host to the heirs of a House which has violated the decisions made in the Great Convention after the Butlerian Jihad: Thou shall not build a machine in the likeness of the human mind! She begins plotting against her husband, the Old Duke. Meanwhile, the young Idaho has reached the grand Ducal Capital of Cala City on the West Continent. After an audience with the Duke Paulus, the boy is welcomed in his Court to work in the stable.
Back at Wallach IX, another Harkonnen daughter is born. She is given the name Jessica, meaning wealth in an ancient language. She is to be the grandmother of the Kwisatz Haderach if the breeding program goes as planned.
One evening at a bullfight, the Duke's favorite game, the Old Duke is killed by a drugged Salusan bull. Duncan is accused as a Harkonnen spy of having drugged the bull. Leto knows of course that it is his own mother, Helena, who was behind the assassination, and sends her to the monastery of The Sisters In Isolation on the Eastern Continent to avoid gossip. Leto becomes the new Duke Atreides.
On the other side of the galaxy, the Padishah Emperor Elrood IX has died. Shaddam has finally reached the Golden Lion Throne and is soon to be crowned Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV of the Known Universe. He throws a grand coronation ceremony on Kaitain and invites nobles from across the Imperium, among them the new Duke Leto and his guests the Vernius heirs, but also Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.
The Baron, however, has a plan. A Richese scientist in his service has just discovered a new function of the Holtzman effect that can make a ship totally invisible, and undetectable by sensors. With this new technology, the Baron sends his nephew Glossu Rabban to attack a Tleilaxu delegation and make it look like an attack from the Atreides.
Upon landing on Kaitain, Leto is taken to prison for the attack on the Tleilaxu ship. The Crown Prince is sure that the Atreides are responsible for the attack, but thinks that it was probably aimed at House Corrino. If anyone inspected the motivation for the attack they would discover the help the Tleilaxu got from Elrood IX, which would mean a political scandal throughout the Landsraad. The Crown Prince does not want to tarnish his popularity, a bad start for his political career. He therefore frees the young Duke, allowing the Vernius heirs to remain his guests. Shaddam is crowned Emperor by the High Priest of Dur; for the first time in 138 years, the Imperium has a new ruler.
This leaves unanswered questions in the minds of many of those involved. Duke Leto is puzzled as to who actually attacked the Tleilaxu, and Shaddam is curious about what Leto might want from him.
On Dune, the Fremen are uniting in ways never seen before with the dream of making their home into a lush, green paradise through the knowledge and assistance of Pardot "Umma" Kynes.
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