If the conspiracies around Alia’s regency, Jessica’s return to test loyalties, and the Atreides–Corrino–Bene Gesserit chess match hooked you in Children of Dune, you’ll love the razor-edged statecraft in The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Baru infiltrates an imperial bureaucracy the way Jessica slips through priestly ranks, turning audits and treaties into weapons. The way Farad’n is reshaped into a political instrument will echo in how Baru molds herself—and others—into tools for a long game that’s as brilliant as it is brutal.

If the Qizarate’s rise under Alia and the tension between Leto II’s prophecy and institutional religion fascinated you in Children of Dune, Hyperion dives into faith’s sharpest edges. Father Paul Duré’s encounter with the cruciform and the Shrike cult mirrors how doctrine can both sanctify and consume. As Leto II embraces a terrifying destiny, the pilgrims in Hyperion grapple with sacred narratives that demand sacrifice, pitting personal conviction against political necessity.

If Leto II’s realization that saving Arrakis’s sandworms means restraining the planet’s greening—and that ecology is destiny—gripped you in Children of Dune, Red Mars is a masterclass in planetary stewardship. The arguments between “Reds” and “Greens” over Mars’s future mirror the Fremen rifts over water and the desert. You’ll recognize the same wrenching trade-offs Jessica and Stilgar face when scientific vision, culture, and environment collide on a planetary scale.

If Leto II’s willingness to become something inhuman for the Golden Path—and Alia’s compromises under possession—left you haunted in Children of Dune, Use of Weapons offers another unforgettable study in necessary evils. Cheradenine Zakalwe, like Duncan Idaho caught between loyalties, is a weapon wielded by masters of manipulation. The revelations about his past hit with the same moral whiplash as learning what Leto becomes to shepherd humanity.

If Leto II’s prescient Golden Path—the idea of steering humanity across ages—was your favorite part of Children of Dune, Foundation is the blueprint for such grand designs. Hari Seldon’s psychohistory echoes Leto’s long view, with crises unfolding like the conspiracies around Ghanima and Farad’n’s political betrothal. Watching a civilization nudged from the shadows will scratch the same itch as seeing Leto orchestrate outcomes from behind the mask of inevitability.