The Dune prequel series is a sequence of novel trilogies written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

[11] The Prelude to Dune series begins four decades before the events of Dune, with an eager Crown Prince Shaddam plotting to succeed his aging father Elrood IX, young House Atreides heir Leto becoming close with the ruling family of the important technology world Ix, and the Bene Gesserit scheming behind the scenes to create the Kwisatz Haderach.

The series takes place over 10,000 years before the events of the 1965 novel Dune, and chronicles the universe-spanning war against thinking machines that would eventually become known as the Butlerian Jihad.

The books in the series are: The series begins more than a millennium after a group of immortal, militant cyborgs calling themselves the Titans seized control of the entire universe in indestructible cymek bodies and then accidentally relinquished control to an artificial intelligence program called Omnius.

The Jihad also gives rise to the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild, the Sardaukar army, the Landsraad, and House Corrino, whose Padishah Emperors rule the universe for the next 10,000 years until the events of Dune.

[21] John Snider of SciFi Dimensions found the Legends of Dune prequels as having "cartoonish" AI characters that were "little different than Harkonnens with metal faces.

[29] However, in a July 2010 blog post Anderson announced that these novels had been postponed due to plans by Herbert and Anderson to publish a trilogy (later known as Great Schools of Dune) about "the formation of the Bene Gesserit, the Mentats, the Suk doctors, the Spacing Guild and the Navigators, as well as the solidifying of the Corrino imperium.

[33] In The Winds of Dune, Paul's disappearance into the desert has left a power vacuum, and his closest advisors struggle to determine what path his empire should take.

Now, the fledgling Bene Gesserit, Mentat and Suk Schools, as well as the Spacing Guild, are threatened by the independent anti-technology forces gaining power in the aftermath of the Butlerian Jihad.

[46] The books in the series are: In Sisterhood of Dune, the anti-technology Butlerian movement is gaining momentum under the leadership of the popular Manford Torondo.

He and his forces are scouring the universe to cleanse humanity of its reliance on convenient technologies, destroying any machinery they can find.

Torondo's growing power threatens the Corrino Emperor Salvador, as well as the Sisterhood on Rossak and the Mentat School on Lampadas, each of which harbors secret technology.

Space travel tycoon Josef Venport also plots to salvage machinery which he believes can be useful in his business empire.

To secure his control of interstellar commerce and strike a blow against the Butlerians, Venport places a trade embargo on any planet which embraces Torondo's movement.

"[36] Jon Michaud of The New Yorker wrote in 2013, "The conversion of Dune into a franchise, while pleasing readers and earning royalties for the Herbert estate, has gone a long way toward obscuring the power of the original novel.