The Folio Society is publishing Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune
The Dune saga continues
One of my favorite science fiction books of all time is Frank Herbert's Dune, and over the last couple of years, I've gathered up a small pile of different editions of the series. One of my favorites is the Folio Society's edition from 2015, with art by Sam Weber and an introduction by Michael Dirda.
It's a gorgeous book, and I was pleased to see the publisher follow up with the second installment of the series, Dune Messiah in 2023 and Children of Dune in 2024, both of which featured art from Hilary Clarcq. Folio Society will continue the series with a new edition of the fourth book, God Emperor of Dune.
Folio says that its edition will be available in October 2025 and will see a switch-up with artists: Grace Aldrich, who previously worked on the company's edition of Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke. It hasn't released pricing yet, but the prior editions have ranged from $115 to $150.
The Dune series gets progressively weirder as it goes.
Herbert kicked off his saga in 1963 when he serialized Dune in Astounding Science Fiction, telling the story of Paul Atreides as he arrives on the planet Arrakis, only to have his entire family killed by a rival family who take control of the planet. Prophesized by the indigenous Fremen population as their messiah, Paul is thrust into revolution to retake the planet, ultimately toppling the entire galactic empire.
Dune Messiah picks up 12 years later, with Paul now in charge of a galactic jihad that has killed billions of people, and he's trying to come to terms with the toll and direction that he's steered humanity in. He ultimately rejects his role and power, heading off into the desert to escape his legacy. In Children of Dune, we pick up the story of Paul's twin children, Leto II and Ghanima, who're dealing with their legacies as Arrakis begins to transform into a more habitable planet.
Andrew Liptak
God Emperor of Dune takes the weirdness up a notch: Leto II has become a human-sandworm hybrid and has ruled for 3,500 years, and controls the remaining spice that made Arrakis the most valuable planet in the universe, becoming more powerful and despotic.
Herbert continued the series with two additional books, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune, and left another unfinished at the time of his death, which his son and coauthor Kevin J. Anderson finished and published as two novels, Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune in 2006 and 2007.
Presumably, we'll see Folio finish out the rest of the series with new editions of Herbert's final two books at some point in the future.