New Reviews: Science Fiction

Narrator Luke Daniels brings to life an exciting military sci-fi perfect for fans of The Expanse series. In the aftermath of an interplanetary war, animosity remains even as the antagonistic civilizations that were involved strive to recover. Daniels's clear, precise enunciation keeps even the technical jargon manageable, and his portrayals of characters and delivery of... Read More

Benjamin Fife takes on a massive task as narrator of these Mormon steampunk stories. Because steampunk requires a major suspension of disbelief, having a narrator who grounds the stories is vital. Fife is up to the task. As the characters in the tales do mind-bending actions such as reanimating Brigham Young and battling automatons, Fife keeps his composure and simply narrates... Read More

Frankie Corzo narrates this novella about a woman who has been given three wishes. The story is set two years after the end of the world. Marisol, an award-winning playwright and premed student, is portrayed with a careful determination as she meticulously plots her wishes to restore the world and prevent future catastrophe. Richard, previously a theater critic and now a... Read More

GraphicAudio provides perfect voices and sound effects for their latest adventure tale as Captain Marvel returns to space, along with super-friends, to free women from enslavement on a far-off planet. The sound effects, which sometimes mimic sirens--to the confusion of listeners who are driving--are effective, though they could be toned down a bit. The author pays homage to... Read More

Narrators Tim Reynolds, John Curless, Moira Quirk, James Langton, and Rendah Heywood work together to bring this thrilling Red Rising installment to life. Darrow and his allies continue to face the fallout of their fight to win a system-wide war, and the stakes are only getting higher. The story revolves around a caste system based on race, which demands narrators who can... Read More

Nneka Okoye narrates a melancholy character study focused on six teenage astronauts who journey to another planet. Earth is dying, and England's advanced space agency sends a team to a nearby hospitable planet. The journey will take more than 20 years and is recounted through the viewpoints of the specially trained teenagers. Okoye's youthful delivery of narrative and distinct... Read More

Natalie Naudus narrates a sprawling space opera with elan, moving with ease from Earth to the farthest reaches of an alternate dimension. Vivian Liao, a wildly successful tech genius on the brink of her biggest achievement, is suddenly and shockingly pulled from the world she knows into an alternate, far-future timeline. While Viv could easily come across as bossy and... Read More

Three talented narrators--Edoardo Ballerini, Dominic Hoffman, and Amy Landon--share the task of voicing these nine sci-fi stories. The theme of Ted Chiang's thought-provoking collection is technology and its sometimes unexpected impacts on society. The works touch on the topics of time travel, fate versus free will, and artificial intelligence, among others. The narrators... Read More

Malcom Hillgartner narrates a vast and expansive epic spanning the modern day and reaching into a technological afterlife. After a routine procedure, Richard "Dodge" Forthrast is pronounced medically dead, and his brain is scanned and stored in the cloud. Once technology advances, his brain is turned back on; thus, the Bitworld is created--a digital heaven for humanity.... Read More

This audiobook, narrated by the supremely talented January LaVoy, reimagines Little Red Riding Hood as a postapocalyptic tale. An unstoppable virus wipes out most of humanity. Red, a young woman with a prosthetic leg and survival knowledge based mostly on movies, treks hundreds of miles through the woods, toward her grandmother's house and refuge. But rounding up survivors... Read More

A culture clash between humans and aliens is brought to life in the narration of Janina Edwards and Ron Butler. On the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, an interconnected community of families, friends, and lovers must adjust to the sometimes violent presence of the Ynaa, an advanced race of aliens who arrive on a mysterious research mission. Edwards and Butler... Read More

Narrator Cara Gee perfectly evokes the weary drawl of a battle-hardened soldier in this intricately constructed science fiction audiobook. The listener follows Dietz (first name unknown) through her mandatory training in the Corporate Corps. She learns to follow orders, to kill, and to cross the galaxy as a beam of light in order to fight the enemy that attacked her planet and... Read More

P.J. Ochlan narrates a short story in which a White House staffer tries to find out where the president's brain has gone. After a series of scans reveals that the presidential skull is empty, his staff scrambles to discover its final resting place. Ochlan's wry narration is well suited to the story, while offering a hint of constrained humor. The work is short but filled with... Read More

This audiobook is such an star-spanning adventure that it requires three narrators to animate it. Kyla Garcia portrays Zahra, who leads a secret mission to claim House of Wisdom, an abandoned exploration vessel, to be the new home for her persecuted people. Vikas Adam portrays Jas, the only survivor of the disaster that shut down the ship a decade earlier. Kimberly Farr capably... Read More

Narrator James Fouhey serves up a delicious feast of a performance in this unusual combination of science fiction, philosophy, and food. When teenaged Kenna stumbles onto the opportunity for a meal at the greatest restaurant in the universe, he doesn't know that it will upend his entire existence. Fouhey gives his all to the melodramatic action of a high-stress space kitchen.... Read More

Yara Shahidi tackles the narration of this audiobook for comic legend Stan Lee. A young genius hacker homeschooled by her father and eager to reach out to the larger world finds a surprising connection with a YouTuber who was struck by lightning and given the ability to control electronics. Shahidi capably voices the young superheroes but stumbles over the narrative. Even... Read More

Listeners require a skilled docent such as narrator Stefan Rudnicki to help them fully absorb this audiobook of Delany's masterwork. This dense slab of science fiction is crammed with characters, both alien and human, with fluid gender identities, and populated with planets near and far. But Rudnicki's melodious rumble makes this lengthy journey--which threatens to be... Read More

Emily Woo Zeller and Cynthia Farrell's dual narrations emphasize the divergent personalities of two time-traveling protagonists. Coolly portrayed by Farrell, Red sneers as she sees Blue, her foe, across a burning field. Red realizes that her attempt to alter the future was foiled by Blue, an agent of the opposition in an ongoing war that moves through time. Then, Red receives a... Read More

In this sprawling apocalyptic audiobook, people in the U.S. are infected with a mysterious sleepwalking sickness. The sleepwalkers increase steadily in number as they march inexorably west across the country, and attempts to stop them by force produce grisly results. Narrators Dominic Hoffman and Xe Sands portray the many characters who converge around the sleepwalkers, trying... Read More

Narrator Ewan Chung tells a story set in the future in China. On Silicon Island clans fight for supremacy in the booming electrical- waste-recycling industry. Listeners hear the tales of different members of the various caste systems as they navigate this harsh and deadly environment. Chung's performance is hamstrung by the text itself. Because this audiobook has been... Read More

Narrator Katharine McEwan is the voice of Rivka Anoa, a magistrate who travels among the stars meting out justice. Thanks to some special abilities, she is able to determine the guilty from the innocent, combining the roles of judge, jury, and executioner into one. McEwan does an adequate job articulating the character's sass and groan-worthy sense of humour as she puts... Read More