by Tom Huddleston

Frances Lincoln, out now

An in-depth exploration of the rich and diverse influences behind Frank Herbert and his novels.

For a universe as wide and rich as established by Frank Herbert in his Dune novels, it’s inevitable that there are already a myriad of guides and companions written about the in-universe worlds and characters, but Tom Huddleston’s is the first real-world analysis of the author’s influences that I’ve come across, and surprisingly easy it is to read too.

We discover that Herbert spent six years researching Dune, studying over 200 works of non-fiction, meaning that there was plenty for Huddleston to uncover. This book features Dune as well as its Herbert-penned five sequels, but not the latter expansions written by his son Brian and Kevin J Anderson.

After a useful biographical section on Herbert the man, we travel to desert planet Arrakis and learn about the ecological concerns of ‘desert creep’ and apocalyptic ecology that flavoured the world nicknamed Dune. Elsewhere in this chapter we learn about the Arabic and Native American influences on the Fremen and just what narcotics the spice Melange was based on.

Other sections look at planets Caladan, Giedi Prime and Kaitain, with individual chapters on key characters and organisations. And while some of the influences were pretty evident from the outset, they’re explained with great clarity and many, relevant colour illustrations, including stills from the 1984 and 2021 movie adaptations of Dune.

An epilogue called Dune World looks at the subsequent movie, TV and audio adaptations, and there’s a detailed bibliography to set you on course for further reading.

Verdict: An excellent overview of Dune’s influences, written with clarity and a clear love of the subject. Even die-hard fans will come away with detail that’s new to them. 9/10

Nick Joy

 

https://amzn.to/3F1ZdIL