Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman Narrator: Steve West
Also by this author: Between Two Fires, The Lesser Dead
Published by Blackstone Audio on October 2nd 2012
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 14 hours 25 minutes
His extraordinary debut, Those Across the River, was hailed as “genre-bending Southern horror” (California Literary Review), “graceful [and] horrific” (Patricia Briggs). Now Christopher Buehlman invites readers into an even darker age—one of temptation and corruption, of war in heaven, and of hell on earth…
And Lucifer said: “Let us rise against Him now in all our numbers, and pull the walls of heaven down…”
The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm—that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict.
Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission: to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.
As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.
This Census-Taker by China Mieville Narrator: Matthew Frow
Also by this author: King Rat
Published by Random House Audio on January 12th 2016
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 4 hours 5 minutes
For readers of George Saunders, Kelly Link, and Karen Russell, This Census Taker is the poignant and uncanny new novella from award-winning and bestselling author China Miéville. After witnessing a profoundly traumatic event, a boy is left alone in a remote house on a hilltop with his increasingly deranged parent. When a stranger knocks on his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation are over—but by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? Is he the boy’s friend? His enemy? Or something altogether other?
Neil Gaiman does an brilliant job narrating his own work, and I feel the audiobook for The Ocean at the End of the Lane greatly benefits from his performance. It’s always re-assuring when you have the author narrating because you know absolutely every little inflection and nuance in speech is exactly as they meant the story to be read. I was mesmerized by this short book, which left a much stronger impression than many longer novels.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman Narrator: Neil Gaiman
Also by this author: InterWorld, Fortunately, the Milk . . .
Published by Harper Audio on June 18th 2013
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 5 hours 48 minutes
Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.
Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.
A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.
After I purchased The Three by Sarah Lotz in audio format, a fellow reader then told me the format likely wouldn’t lend itself well to audio. Yikes, not what I want to hear, but I could understand his concerns when he explained them (The Three is told through a series of diary entries, internet chats, newspaper articles, etc). Well, the people in charge of this audiobook did an absolutely fantastic job. I was able to follow everything quite easily, and I quickly became completely absorbed in this creepy book that follows three plane crash survivors.
The Three (The Three, #1) by Sarah Lotz Narrator: Andrew Wincott, Melanie McHugh
Also by this author: The Three, Day Four
Published by Hachette Audio on May 20th 2014
Genres: Horror
Length: 13 hours 55 minutes
Four simultaneous plane crashes. Three child survivors. A religious fanatic who insists the three are harbingers of the apocalypse. What if he's right?
The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors ruled out, there doesn't appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage.
Dubbed 'The Three' by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioural problems, presumably caused by the horror they lived through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children's behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardians begin to question their miraculous survival...
The Water Knife is a very interesting book (that is not for the squeamish) where water is in very short supply. It is just as violent, gritty and grim as any grimdark fantasy I’ve read (so it’s not for everyone). Really, just a fantastic listen.
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi Narrator: Almarie Guerra
Also by this author: The Water Knife
Published by Audible Studios on May 26th 2015
Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction
Length: 14 hours 5 minutes
In the American Southwest, Nevada, Arizona, and California skirmish for dwindling shares of the Colorado River. Into the fray steps Angel Velasquez, detective, leg-breaker, assassin and spy. A Las Vegas water knife, Angel "cuts" water for his boss, Catherine Case, ensuring that her lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert, so the rich can stay wet, while the poor get nothing but dust. When rumors of a game-changing water source surface in drought-ravaged Phoenix, Angel is sent to investigate. There, he encounters Lucy Monroe, a hardened journalist with no love for Vegas and every reason to hate Angel, and Maria Villarosa, a young Texas refugee who survives by her wits and street smarts in a city that despises everything that she represents. With bodies piling up, bullets flying, and Phoenix teetering on collapse, it seems like California is making a power play to monopolize the life-giving flow of a river. For Angel, Lucy, and Maria time is running out and their only hope for survival rests in each other’s hands. But when water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only thing for certain is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink.
Listening to Guy Gavriel Kay’s prose is just … wonderful. It is easy to follow, not flowery at all, yet has a beautiful feel to it. The Lions of al-Rassan is currently my favorite of this books I’ve read, so it gets the pick. My guess is that all of his books are wonderful in audio.
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay Narrator: Euan Morton
Also by this author: The Lions of Al-Rassan, Tigana
Published by Audible Studios on June 19th 2012
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 19 hours 44 minutes
The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan -- poet, diplomat, soldier -- until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.
Meanwhile, in the north, the conquered Jaddites' most celebrated -- and feared -- military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, driven into exile, leads his mercenary company south.
In the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan, these two men from different worlds meet and serve -- for a time -- the same master. Sharing their interwoven fate -- and increasingly torn by her feelings -- is Jehane, the accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond.
Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is both a brilliant adventure and a deeply compelling story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when hardening beliefs begin to remake -- or destroy -- a world.
Bite by K.S. Merbeth Narrator: Stephanie Willis
Also by this author: Bite, Raid
Published by Hachette Audio on July 26th 2016
Genres: Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction
Length: 9 hours
Kid is trying to survive in a world gone mad.
Hungry, thirsty and alone in a desert wasteland, she's picked up on the side of the road by Wolf, Dolly, Tank and Pretty Boy - outlaws with big reputations and even bigger guns.
But as they journey across the wild together, Kid learns that her newfound crew may not be the heroes she was hoping for. And in a world that's lost its humanity, everyone has a bit of monster within them...
Station Eleven may not be as fast paced as some others I’ve listed, but it is a beautifully told story in a rather frightening world.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Narrator: Kirsten Potter
Also by this author: Station Eleven
Published by Random House Audio on September 9th 2014
Genres: Science Fiction
Length: 10 hours 41 minutes
An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear. Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur's chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible flu begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them.
Twenty years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten's arm is a line from Star Trek: "Because survival is insufficient." But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave.
Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.
The Falconer (The Falconer, #1) by Elizabeth May Narrator: Susan Duerden
Also by this author: The Falconer (The Falconer, #1)
Published by Audible Studios on May 6th 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Steampunk
Length: 10 hours 24 minutes
One girl's nightmare is this girl's faery tale
She's a stunner.Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title—and drop-dead beauty.
She's a liar.But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. she's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense the sìthíchean—the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans—and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them.
She's a murderer.Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons—from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols—ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.
She's a Falconer.The last in a line of female warriors born with a gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder—but she'll have to save the world first.
The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller combines romance and action, steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read.
My list would be remiss if I didn’t include the Blackthorn and Grim series, first book is Dreamer’s Pool. With multiple narrators, it is very easy to follow and the story is just wonderful. I particularly love the narration for Grim, who is both strong and powerful, yet soft and quiet. This narration captures this perfectly.
Dreamer's Pool (Blackthorn & Grim, #1) by Juliet Marillier Narrator: Scott Aiello, Natalie Gold, Nick Sullivan
Also by this author: Dreamer's Pool, Tower of Thorns
Published by Audible Studios on November 4th 2014
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 17 hours 44 minutes
Award-winning author Juliet Marillier "weaves magic, mythology, and folklore into every sentence on the page" (The Book Smugglers). Now she begins an all-new and enchanting series that will transport readers to a magical vision of ancient Ireland...
In exchange for help escaping her long and wrongful imprisonment, embittered magical healer Blackthorn has vowed to set aside her bid for vengeance against the man who destroyed all that she once held dear. Followed by a former prison mate, a silent hulk of a man named Grim, she travels north to Dalriada. There she'll live on the fringe of a mysterious forest, duty bound for seven years to assist anyone who asks for her help.
Oran, crown prince of Dalriada, has waited anxiously for the arrival of his future bride, Lady Flidais. He knows her only from a portrait and sweetly poetic correspondence that have convinced him Flidais is his destined true love. But Oran discovers letters can lie. For although his intended exactly resembles her portrait, her brutality upon arrival proves she is nothing like the sensitive woman of the letters.
With the strategic marriage imminent, Oran sees no way out of his dilemma. Word has spread that Blackthorn possesses a remarkable gift for solving knotty problems, so the prince asks her for help. To save Oran from his treacherous nuptials, Blackthorn and Grim will need all their resources: courage, ingenuity, leaps of deduction, and more than a little magic.
I love that Neil Gaiman does narrates his audio books. He has a great voice and I imagine he becomes really involved. I’m very tempted to read The Graveyard Book for that reason even though I’ve already read it. I also think I could listen to the Marillier books. I imagine it’s almost like listening to a story being read.
I wish I had known about this TTT! I’m such an audiobook fiend, I can probably think of many good ones 🙂
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