Download the Top 100 Audiobooks in Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

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Title: The Hunters Haunt

Author: Dave Duncan

Narrator: Derek Perkins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-29-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

A blizzard savaged the mountain peaks, but at an inn called the Hunters' Haunt, travelers found safe refuge, a cozy room, and a roaring fire. All but Omar, the Trader of Tales - against whom the innkeeper had been nursing a grudge. But before he could pitch Omar out into the storm, his other guests proposed a contest: if Omar could top a roomful of their tallest tales, the storyteller could win his room and board.

For Omar the stakes were life and death. That gave the contest some spice.

So as winter winds whipped about the little inn, lies and truths and fabulous fabrications swirled before the blazing hearth. The innkeeper and his pretty sister; the merchant and his blushing bride; the dowager and the crusty captain of her guard; the scribe, the maid, the minstrel: they all poured out their tales, and Omar wove them together. Before they knew it, their very lives were intertwined, and their separate stories were spinning relentlessly to a single conclusion no human could have foretold!

Members Reviews:

Love both Omar books

Love both Omar books. Thought it was very clever to make the story be a tale of telling stories. Good plot, engaging, and enjoyable characters. Sadly, I donât think Dave will write a third. Iâd be buying it instantly if so. A rose red city is also another idea he should build on.

Five Stars

Great book

Possibly even better than Reaver Road

Possibly even better than Reaver Road. One of Duncan's best, up there with Hero and A Man of His Word.

A group of people stuck in an inn by bad weather tell some stories to pass the time. And they all add up to one big surprise, all the more amazing because Duncan assembles it right under your nose.

Omar Strikes Again.........

Hunters' Haunt is the Second (and sadly only other) time Omar, the teller of tall tales, appears in Duncan's books. It can be read as a 'stand alone book' or before or after REAVER ROAD (the other Omar book), which as a huge Duncan fan I would of course recommend buying as well. The book is set in the backdrop of Omar literary telling tales to save his life with a story competition against the other guests in a snowbound inn. The book is very cleverly written and while I suppose it could be considered one of his early works, it still delivers the high quality of this much underrated (at least in Europe!) Author. I have tried pestering Duncan by email to extend his GREAT GAME series but he calmly replied that whilst it might be a good idea commercially, he felt, as an Author, he had explored that world as far as he should and it would only dilute the story if he carried on. (I hope you're reading this David Eddings & Raymond E Feist, stop now, please!) So I guess there is no point in wishing for just one more Omar book? To summaries: Great book, buy it. If you have yet to read a Duncan book, start here!

Readable

The second book in this duology has Omar, trader of tales, ending up at an inn where he doesn't want to be. He had done some things at the inn before that had really teed off the owner. There several travelers trapped there by a snow storm. As Fritz, the owner, tries to take Omar outside to do him in, a challenge develops. Omar will be pitted against the rest of the guests in tale telling contest. If he wins he is free, if he loses Fritz gets him. Good reading, simple plot with many interlinking tales.

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Title: The Window

Subtitle: I Know Where They Went

Author: Dana Hollister

Narrator: Dana Hollister

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-07-12

Publisher: Dana Hollister

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Jim and Christine have been exploring the canyons of southern Utah for, well, forever. Their goal: find an authentic, fully intact Anasazi Indian pot. But on this trip something goes strangely unexpected and they find themselves...somewhere...that resembles southern Utah as it was nearly a thousand years past...and the Anasazi are alive and well, as if they never ever vanished.

Before Jim and Christine resume their everyday lives back in the Old World, they engage in a journey of wilderness adventure entailed with episodes of risk and rescue, which includes bringing their new Anasazi friends, Atewa and Star, back with them for the medicine needed to save a dying people.

Members Reviews:

That Ah-tee-wa, is one funny Anasazi!

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book. It was fun, lighthearted, had entertaining adventures and I just smiled and had fun, while I was listening to it. That Ah-tee-wa, is one funny Anasazi! As a reference, this book sort of reminded me of an Indiana Jones story and come to think of it, this story would be a fun movie, too. Blake Lively would be the perfect Christine!

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Title: Wake

Author: Amanda Hocking

Narrator: Nicola Barber

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-23-12

Publisher: Macmillan Digital Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 10 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The Watersong Series takes you deep into a new world . . .Beautiful. Fearless. Dangerous. They're the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Thea, and Lexi have caught everyone's attention, including the eye of practical Harper. But it's her sister, Gemma, they've chosen to be part of their group. Sixteen-year-old Gemma seems to have it all - carefree, pretty, and falling in love with the boy next door.

But her greatest passion has always been the water. She craves late night swims under the stars, where she can be alone yet belong to the sea. Lately she's had company. Penn, Thea, and Lexi spend their nights dancing, singing, and partying on the cove - and one night Gemma joins them. When she wakes up groggy on the beach the next morning, she knows something has changed. Suddenly Gemma is stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. As she uncovers the truth about her new mythical powers, Gemma is forced to choose between staying with those she loves or entering a dark world brimming with unimaginable secrets.

Members Reviews:

A new take on sirens

This is a story that is not exactly perfect and the main girl Gemma can act a bit like a spoilt brat at times and does not always seem to understand that her sister has given up a lot for her. The relationship between the sisters is something that is very believable but Harper and the boy next door are meant to be best friends and it doesn't always seem that way.

For me I would like to hear about the bad girls of the story what motivates them and why they stay loyal to each other. Very little is known about them and it just seems a bit strange that no one wonders about them.

It's still a good story but while it has a bit of Greek mythology inside the story it has been changed to make the book more believable I believe is the word I am looking for.

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Title: Some Kind of Fairy Tale

Author: Graham Joyce

Narrator: John Lee

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-25-12

Publisher: Orion Publishing Group Limited

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 7 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Some Kind of Fairy Tale is a very English story. A story of woods and clearings, a story of folk tales and family histories. It is as if Neil Gaiman and Joanne Harris had written a fairy tale together.

It is Christmas afternoon and Peter Martin gets an unexpected phone call from his parents, asking him to come round. It pulls him away from his wife and children and into a bewildering mystery. He arrives at his parents house and discovers that they have a visitor. His sister, Tara. Not so unusual you might think, this is Christmas after all, a time when families get together. But 20 years ago, Tara took a walk into the woods and never came back - and as the years went by with no word from her, the family, unspoken, assumed that she was dead. Now she's back, tired, dirty, dishevelled, but happy and full of stories about 20 years spent travelling the world, an epic odyssey taken on a whim. But her stories don't quite hang together, and once she has cleaned herself up and got some sleep, it becomes apparent that the intervening years have been very kind to Tara. She really does look no different from the young women who walked out the door 20 years ago.

Peter's parents are just delighted to have their little girl back, but Peter and his best friend, Richie, Tara's one-time boyfriend, are not so sure. Tara seems happy enough, but there is something about her... a haunted, otherworldly quality. Some would say it's as if she's off with the fairies. And as the months go by, Peter begins to suspect that the woods around their homes are not finished with Tara and his family....

British narrator John Lee has read audiobooks in almost every conceivable genre, from Charles Dickens to Patrick O'Brian, and from the very real life of Napoleon to the entirely imagined lives of sorcerers and swashbucklers. He has won numerous Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards, and he was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile in 2009. Lee is also an accomplished stage actor and wrote and co-produced the feature films Breathing Hard and Forfeit.

Members Reviews:

Twinkle, twinkle, it's a STAR!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I couldn't stop listening. I was hypnotized.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tara.

What about John Lees performance did you like?

The narration was so good, I hardly noticed it.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The characters.

Any additional comments?

Download it. Your imagination will thank you.

Excellent writing and great narration

'Some Kind of Fairy Tale' is such a beauiful audiobook. It is well writen, with vivid discriptions of both scenery and characters alike. John Lee's melodious voice brings added depth to the story that could probably not be achieved in print. Both the writer and he reader carry you away quickly into the tale, capturing your imagintion, and making you not want to press the pause button!

A real page turner

I really enjoyed this book. Loads of mystery and a rivetting "read" which I recommend highly. Only a couple of things bothered me: Firstly there were a lot of Americanisms in a book based in the English midlands: trunk instead of boot; schoolyard for playground were a couple. A minor point but it did grate a little.

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Title: The Stubborn Dead

Author: Natasha Hoar

Narrator: Emma Taylor

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-26-12

Publisher: Carina Press

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 13 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Rachel Miller thought her next job was a run-of-the-mill haunting. As a member of the Order of Rescue Mediums, it's her duty to release trapped spirits from the earthly realm. But when called to client Sylvia Elkeles's house, she finds a wraith who doesn't act like he should.

The Order considers the wraith an extreme threat and Rachel may be forced to use a barbaric ritual to free hima ritual that comes with a heavy personal price. If she fails to humanely release the wraith, she'll have her supernatural abilities bound.

When Janus Ostaralocal supernatural mob bossshows up demanding her attention, and Sylvia keeps secrets that may place Rachel in mortal danger, she doesn't need her abilities to know something darkly sinister is at play.

Between uncovering Sylvia's disturbing motives, and avoiding Janus, Rachel has enough on her hands without dealing with a wraith who may not realize he's supposed to be dead....

Members Reviews:

Great New Series!

I loved this book! It started out strong and kept hold of me until the last word. I really enjoyed the author's take on ghosts and the paranormal, and the people that deal with them.

Well done! I'd rec this book to those who love ghosts, the paranormal, and strong female lead characters.

A promising start to a great sounding series!

The only complaint I have is that it is too short! I want to know more about what is going to happen to all these very interesting characters that have been introduced to in this book. The concept of the book is not new but Natasha Hoar does a wonderful job of making old new again. I read ALOT so I love it when I find a book that really interests me enough to read in one sitting!

A terrific read

The Stubborn Dead is an enjoyable short novella about Rachel Miller, a ghost buster who wouldn't like me to call her that. Her correct title is a Rescue Medium. She's good at her job, which entails releasing trapped spirits from the earthly realm, but in The Stubborn Dead, she meets a challenge - a dangerous wraith who doesn't act like he should.

Sylvia Elkeles, the client who engaged Rachel's services is obviously hiding something and it may be something that could tip the scales between life and death for Rachel.

From the blurb

The Order [of Rescue Mediums] considers the wraith an extreme threat and Rachel may be forced to use a barbaric ritual to free him-a ritual that comes with a heavy personal price. If she fails to humanely release the wraith, she'll have her supernatural abilities bound.

Add a local supernatural mob boss with a romantic interest in the heroine to the mix and things get more complicated. Rachel eventually uncovers the disturbing truth about Sylvia and her relation to the wraith who may not realize he's supposed to be dead.

This is a well constructed mystery with interesting, well rounded characters. Rachel is easy to like, but my favourite character at the end is actually the wraith. Although clues are left like a trail of breadcrumbs, I never picked the full truth until it was revealed because I'd never come across anything quite like it before. That's no mean feat in today's market bulging with urban fantasy.

The romance is very low key, so the book is suitable for young adults as well as adults and makes a great read for those times when you don't want to get embroiled in a longer work.

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Título: Invisibles (Volume 1)

Subtitular: Spanish Edition

Autor: Oscar Estrada

Narrador: Oscar Estrada

Formato: Unabridged

Duración: 6 hrs

Idioma: Español

Fecha de publicación: 06-05-12

Editor: casasolaeditores

Calificaciones: 5 de 5 de 1 votos

Categorías: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Resumen del editor:

6 horas de narración del autor con ligeros efectos especiales. Invisible cuenta la historia de Elena no quería irse del país y a los 70 años tuvo que emigrar a los Estados Unidos para buscar a su nieta. Tomy, la amiga bruja, encontrará la fórmula mágica para hacerse invisible y le ayudará a pasar al otro lado de la frontera.

En una historia que une la más cruda realidad de Centro América, desde la pobreza extrema que obliga a la migración, pasando por la persecución estatal y las dictaduras; hasta llegar a un mundo lleno de magia y fantasía, en donde los cuentos de los abuelos se mezclan con las mentiras oficiales, Invisibles nos cuenta la historia de una familia de mujeres que encuentran en el amor la fuerza que necesitan para sortear las barreras que los estados imponen a las personas, líneas divisoras que al igual que Elena y Tomy son: Invisibles.

Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish.

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Title: Area 51: Nosferatu

Author: Robert Doherty

Narrator: Erik Bergmann

Format: Abridged

Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-20-12

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The shadows of history are their home. The blood of humans is their sustenance. Now the future belongs to them....

It began at the dawn of history, when a darkness rose from deep within an Egyptian tomb. For thousands of yearslong before earth was plunged into an intergalactic battle for its survivalfour deathless creatures sowed seeds of destruction and chaos. Surviving on the spilled blood of warriors and innocents from ancient Greece to the ashes of Nazi Germany, the creatures have played a role in conflicts great and small. Now, bound by their common ancestry, separated by their own devious ambitions, and armed with mankind's own modern tools of destruction, the deathless ones know that their time has comeand they have been called together by one brilliant leader. His name is Nosferatu. His vision is to become a god on earth. His ultimate weapon will be a Holy Grail, a force that no mortal man can defeat... but his deadliest enemy may be one of his own.

Members Reviews:

not a fan of the undead

This book did not fit in the ark of the narrative of Area 51. I was barely able to finish it. The story goes in a completely different direction which fits in nicely into the horror genre. I wish I had stopped reading when my stomach began to turn. I am annoyed and unhappy that this blood soaked horror of a story was forced into the Area 51 saga.

Area 51: Nosferatu

This manuscript involved too many iconoclastic ideas. Most people do not believe in "vampires" and the key to the invasion of the different humanoid

races lies in the the chambers that allow rejuvenation by imprint from a disk that is updated until a new clone must be used. (A possible idea).

The off the wall idea is that some of the aliens have a factor in their blood that allows them to extend their life by infecting a non-alien, and utilizing that blood

periodically to extend their lives.

This makes the whole manuscript have a bad image after a few chapters.

I think Mr.Mayer needed to publish or perish and this was the result. This was not the same class as his other books in this series. Thus I rated it one star.

Undead

Weird store of undead mixed with history which makes one wonder truth or not. Love story that shows how powerful true love can be. Gross parts but good flow. The ending is the best. If you like science,history,technology and vampires this is a must read.

A sleeping pill

A large portion of the story deals with a vampire running around the desert and other places looking for a meal by sucking blood from unsuspecting people and going into hibernation for hundreds of years to have body parts grow back.

The author tries to make it possible that these guys have been leaders of countries for centuries but no one seems to notice that they don't age. I realize it is a sci-fi story but I found it to be dragged out a little to much. I have read eight of this authors works and liked them very much but this one could have been shorter. I bought another of his works last night and it seems to have a little more action already.

Titled the same and shows next in the series. ..

...yet a whole new book. The first books in this series were good. I enjoyed them fairly well. Then I got to this book. This book has nothing in common with the prior books in the series except basic names.

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Title: Chasing the Dragon

Author: Nicholas Kaufman

Narrator: Alex Foster

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-24-11

Publisher: Iambik Audio Inc

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Centuries ago, St. George fought and killed a dragon - or so the legend goes.

The truth is somewhat different. George failed in his mission, and the Dragon still walks the Earth, protected by an undead army, hiding in the shadows and slaughtering men, women, and children for its prey. Each of George's descendants through time has been tasked with killing the Dragon, and each has failed.

Twenty-five-year-old Georgia Quincey is the last of the line - the last, best hope for defeating the Dragon once and for all. But Georgia is also an addict, driven to the warm embrace of the needle by the weight of her responsibility and the loss of everything and everyone she has ever loved. Tracking her nemesis to the small town of Buckshot, New Mexico for their final showdown, Georgia is about to discover the truth about the Dragon, a terrible secret that could put all life on Earth in peril.

Members Reviews:

an exciting adventure with a message

I powered through this book in a hurry because I enjoyed it so much! It takes a new look at an old story, is exciting an adventuresome and teaches us something about people today. How can you beat that?

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Title: Iron Council

Subtitle: New Crobuzon, Book 3

Author: China Mieville

Narrator: Damian Lynch

Format: Unabridged

Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-08-11

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

It is a time of revolts and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming metropolis to the brink. In the midst of this turmoil, a mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places. In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope, an undying legend. In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon's most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the Iron Council.

Critic Reviews:

"Miéville has reshaped modern fantasy, as readers of the award-winning Perdido Street Station and The Scar know very well, and he's done so by rejecting epic romance à la Tolkien for what one might call Zolaesque magic naturalism. Miéville's signature city, New Crobuzon, is populated by the human, the insectoid, the genetically remade, and altogether teems with the kind of grotesques one associates with Bosch paintings, the gnarly art (both verbal and pictorial) of Mervyn Peake or the night-club scene in Star Wars. There are no generic happy endings here." (The Washington Post)

"China Miéville's new novel takes place in the same world as Perdido Street Station and The Scar, a kind of steampunk milieu furnished by clockwork engines (here we see the invention of the phonograph), electrified by magic ("thaumaturgy"), and populated by an improbable variety of sentient life-forms. It tells the story of industrial action on a railway - which, this being fantasy fiction, is more colourful than a day of commuter misery at Waterloo." (The Guardian)

"Full of warped and memorable characters, this violent and intensely political novel smoothly combines elements of fantasy, science fiction, horror, even the western." (Publishers' Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Excellent story, shame about the narration

I didn't enjoy Railsea as much as I'd hoped, but Iron Council was everything I've come to expect from China Mieville. What almost completely ruined it for me, though, was the narration. Mieville utilises an excellent and broad vocabulary, but unfortunately the narrator approached many of the words as someone who had never heard them before and therefore pronounced them with seemingly random inflection and phonics. I can thoroughly recommend the book, but it's one to read until a new actor is found do so for Audible.

Even with the best will in the world....

If this book wasnt for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

I am a bit of a Mieville fan having loved "The city and the city" and the first two New Crobuzon books to bits. I came to this willing to plunge into any wierdness that China proposed. I had saved it up for my holidays for over 6 months after I purchased it, smuggling it with me like a precious pleasure postponed. I got halfway through and I had to give up and I am confused as to exactly why. The politics that other reviewers mention did not frighten me nor the experimental nature of it. I was looking forward to more Mieville challenges.

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Title: Gods Behaving Badly

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Marie Phillips

Narrator: Tom Sellwood

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-29-11

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fantasy: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Being a Greek god is not all it once was. Yes, the 12 gods of Olympus are alive and well in the 21st century, but they are crammed together in a London townhouse - and none too happy about it. And they've had to get day jobs: Artemis as a dog-walker, Apollo as a TV psychic, Aphrodite as a phone sex operator, Dionysus as a DJ.

Even more disturbingly, their powers are waning, and even turning mortals into trees - a favorite pastime of Apollo's - is sapping their vital reserves of strength.

Soon, what begins as a minor squabble between Aphrodite and Apollo escalates into an epic battle of wills. Two perplexed humans, Alice and Neil, who are caught in the crossfire, must fear not only for their own lives, but for the survival of humankind. Nothing less than a true act of heroism is needed - but can these two decidedly ordinary people replicate the feats of the mythical heroes and save the world?

Members Reviews:

Great fun

I originally picked up this book because I loved the premise - Greek gods, no longer used or needed are living out a droll life in modern day Hampstead, England. Nobody believes in them anymore and when you're immortal - well, there's only so much you can do before you've done it all - several times. And of course, I always love stories of immortality - goes right up there with invisibility. I gobble the stuff up.

So while I was eager to read the book, unfortunately I wasn't able to get to it right away until recently when I noticed my husband was reading his way through Rick Riordan'sThe Heroes of Olympus, The, Book One: Lost Heroseries. With renewed interest, I felt like I was sharing a literary journey with my beloved - while he reads about the half human son of Poseidon trying to discover his heritage and power in a Harry Potter-esque way - I was reading a slightly more um, adult version about the Greek Olympian gods.

Since they are no longer the deities they once were and have fallen out of the limelight, the gods have picked up some occupations to keep themselves busy - Eros is a born-again Christian and attends church regularly - even is considering joining the priesthood - which causes some confusion, Dionysius runs a seedy bar is rather a hot DJ and serves plenty of his famous wine, Aphrodite, true to her nature as the goddess of lust, has taken on the job as a 1-866 phone sex performer - which is hilarious when she takes a call in the middle of a conversation. Artemis, no longer able to hunt, is now a professional dog walker and seems to be the most grounded of the group, which then brings us to Apollo....well - aside from chasing Aphrodite and turning mortal women into trees, he's starting his own TV show that taps into the latest trend of TV Psychics.

Enter into their domain a meek but very mortal housekeeper named Alice with her new-found boyfriend Neil and suddenly everything is turned upside down. Alice and Neil go where no mortal has gone before - and live to tell about it.