Narrator Eunice Wong's voice fills with urgency as a tiny group of survivors struggles to escape a drowned Manhattan. Nonie, 13, tells the story from some years in the future, but Wong does not let this reassure listeners one whit as Nonie, her sister, their father, and Keller, an adult friend, fight their way through what Nonie calls "the world as it is." While Wong adopts a tone of vulnerability for Nonie's dialogue, she deepens her voice for the adults, occasionally injecting a tone of forced reassurance that fools neither Nonie nor listeners. She missteps with the adoption of a differentiated yet unconvincing accent for Keller, a Black man from outside of Chicago. Listeners who muscle past that will experience a world that suggests the spirit of author Octavia Butler.
Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
Duration: 8 hrs, 45 mins
DD ISBN: 9781250381323
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Dive in, the future’s strange.
Dan John Miller narrates this one-of-a-kind audiobook, a dystopian collection of reminiscences, with a special type of panache. World's Edge is a mosaic work, meaning that no one chapter necessarily follows the previous one. This makes it easy to pick up and put down. Rather than giving distinct voices to characters, the soft-spoken and gentle yet deep-voiced Miller sounds like he’s telling tales of how the world got here, leaving the interpretation up to listeners. The audio quality is incredibly high, with just a slight hint of reverb adding to the future-historic atmosphere.
Dive in, the future’s strange.Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2026
Duration: 5 hrs
DD ISBN: 9798899745447
Publisher: Recorded Books Inc.
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2026
Eunice Wong's calm, deliberate narration accentuates what author Yume Kitasei does best--meticulous world-building. In a not-so-distant future, three sisters are growing up in a time when the oceans have risen, food is scarce, and multinational corporations rule the land and islands. When the two younger sisters discover a cryptic message from the older sister, they set off in a small sailboat across uncharted waters, slipping by pirates and mutant fish as they head for the sister's last known location. Environmental disasters, questionable scientific research, and the sisters' own tangled relationships abound. But no matter how apocalyptic the future, families will survive, and that is the affirming message Wong's voice so deftly reflects.
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
Duration: 11 hrs, 30 mins
DD ISBN: 9781250415615
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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