Children Of Dune by Frank Herbert and God Emperor Of Dune by Frank Herbert.
01/06/2003 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 

pub: Gollancz. 426 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99. ISBN: 0-575-07490-6. Gollancz. 454 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99. ISBN: 0-575-07506-6.

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With a second TV series based on Frank Herbert's 'Dune' books just come out, it can hardly be surprising to have this pair of books out again.

I can't recall a time that I haven't seen one edition or other of any of the 'Dune' books in the bookshops.

If your editions are getting ragged or you're young and collecting the set, then you'll obviously be picking these up.

With all these editions, I'm surprised any enterprising publisher hasn't considered releasing a book featuring all the 'Dune' covers over the years as they'd make an interesting selection of art.

'Children Of Dune' picks up on Paul Atreides' twin children, Leto and Ghinima, and how they maintain their domination of their empire.

It also sees the change in Arrakis, turning it from desert to arable and the terrible consequences on the native sand-worms and the melange spice.

The solution of this carries over into 'God Emperor Of Dune' where the near-immortal Leto has been ruling for three thousand centuries.

This really is galactic empire building at its best. Other authors since Frank Herbert owe their respects to this series of books and is often viewed as one of the granddaddies to learn the most from.

It brings a whole new dimension to epic with interesting and dimensional characters with a lot of intrigue to back it up. One can only hope that the second TV series can live up to the printed page.

If you haven't discovered this book series yet, don't forget there's the first two books, 'Dune' and 'Dune Messiah' to dig into before these two.

GF Willmetts