Embarking on an otherworldly adventure? Let a skilled narrator help guide your way. A good narration gets to the heart of the characters in even the most imaginative scenarios, connecting their struggles to our own right here on regular old Earth. Featuring vivid performances, these new science fiction and fantasy audiobooks are worth hearing.
Two narrators perform the stories in Rebecca Roanhorse’s new speculative fiction collection River of Bones and Other Stories (Simon & Schuster Audio, March 3). As our reviewer writes, Shaun Taylor-Corbett and Kamali Minter “capture listeners from the jump, conveying a range of Indigenous identities and experiences and spotlighting mixed-race and queer characters as they navigate an oppressive world.”
If Roanhorse is new to you, then her story collection is a great jumping-off point to explore more of her work. The title story, “River of Bones,” features Kai, a charming and mysterious young healer. It’s set in the universe of the Sixth World series, which begins with Trail of Lightning (Audible Studios, 2018) and continues with Storm of Locusts (Audible Studios, 2019), both narrated by Tanis Parenteau. Taylor-Corbett was also part of the ensemble cast on all three volumes of Roanhorse’s Between Earth and Sky trilogy, which won a Hugo Award for best series. This epic fantasy about gods and humans, inspired by pre-Columbian civilizations, begins with Black Sun (Simon & Schuster Audio, 2020).
In Cameron Sullivan’s debut, The Red Winter (Macmillan Audio, Feb. 24), Rory Barnett aptly balances dread with dry humor as he delivers the first-person narration of a monster-hunting professor—as well as that of his literal inner demon—while Imogen Church narrates addendum chapters from the point of view of a succubus. Our review raves, “Together, they elevate the supernatural intrigue and psychological tension, keeping listeners fully engaged.”
Narrator Nina Yndis maintains protagonist Gerta’s sweet nature as she faces magical challenges in T. Kingfisher’s The Raven and the Reindeer (Podium Audio, March 3), a retelling of the Snow Queen fairy tale. This new recording of Kingfisher’s 2016 novel earned an Earphones Award thanks to the way “the Nordic cadence of Yndis’ narration enhances the charm of this fairy tale.” And Yndis’ animal characters, especially the Raven, ooze with personality.
Author John Chu is a Nebula and Hugo Award–winning writer of short stories and novelettes. His debut novel, The Subtle Art of Folding Space (Macmillan Audio, April 7), is a mind-bending blend of physics and family drama. The plot involves the “skunkworks” that keeps our universe functioning and the people who help to maintain it. But the core of the story is the relationship between Ellie and her older sister, Chris. Narrator Katharine Chin guides listeners through their prickly, painful interactions, which dredge up family trauma as they each grieve their mother’s death in very different ways. Chin also nails Chris’ accent, a product of having grown up in Taipei and then Buffalo, which Chu describes as sounding “like a panhandler in 1930s New York.” You could try to imagine that accent if you were reading the book in print, but Chin’s performance lifts it right off the page.
Jennifer Dowell is the audiobooks editor.
