Funny Fantasy and Sci fi Audiobooks

The Colour of Magic, the first novel in Terry Pratchett’s wildly imaginative Discworld series, takes the listener on a remarkable journey. The magical planet of Discworld is supported by four massive elephants who stand on the back of the Great A’Tuin, a giant turtle swimming slowly through the mysterious interstellar gulf. The adventure begins when an eccentric expedition sets out to explore the planet. The group, including an ineffective wizard and a naive tourist (whose luggage moves on its own little legs) encounters dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and, of course “The Edge” of the planet.

The color of magic is the opening book to one of the best series ever written. It is light hearted and fun to read. The subtle and sometimes not so subtle pokes at the fantasy genre make it interesting enough to avid readers of fantasy.

This is awesome. It is like binge watching Futurama while playing a hyper real video game full of violence and insanity. If that doesn’t sound like your thing, I am sorry I can not fully explain the brilliant madness that is Wong’s Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits.

In a prosperous yet gruesomely violent near future, superhero vigilantes battle thugs whose heads are full of supervillain fantasies. The peace is kept by a team of smooth, well-dressed negotiators called The Men in Fancy Suits. Meanwhile a young girl is caught in the middle and thinks the whole thing is ridiculous.

Zoey, a recent college graduate with a worthless degree, makes a reluctant trip into the city after hearing that her estranged con artist father died in a mysterious yet spectacular way. There she finds that her scumbag dad had actually, in the final years of his life, put his amazing talent for hustling to good use: He was one of the founding members of the Fancy Suits and died in the course of his duties. Zoey is quickly entangled in the city’s surreal mob war when she is taken hostage by a particularly crazy villain who imagines himself to be a Dr. Doom-level mastermind. The villain is demanding information about Zoe’s father when she is rescued by The Fancy Suits. She reluctantly joins their cause and helps finish what her old man started, tapping in to her innate talent for bullshit that she inherited from her hated father. And along the way, she might just have to learn how to trust people again.

There’s a reason We Are Legion, We Are Bob was named Audible’s Best Sci-Fi Book of 2016. Unique, hilarious, and utterly addictive, Dennis E. Taylor’s debut novel kicked off an Audible-wide obsession among sci-fi diehards and new listeners alike.

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it’s a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.

Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he’ll be switched off, and they’ll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.

The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad – very mad.

Listener-favorite narrator Ray Porter (14, The Fold) brings the many Bobs into being in all their glory, delivering a performance that listeners have described as “outstanding,” “nuanced” and a “dizzying tour de force.”

According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch – the world’s only totally reliable guide to the future – the world will end on a Saturday.

Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea…The armies of Good and Evil are amassing, the Four Bikers of the apocalypse are revving up, and everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not particularly looking forward to the coming rapture – having thoroughly enjoyed life on earth amongst the mortals.

If Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they’ve got to find and kill the Antichrist. There’s just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him…

One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very strange and startling place.

A message appears on the moon. It is legible from Earth, and almost no one knows how it was created. Markus West leads the government’s investigation to find the creator.

The message is simple and familiar. But those three words, written in blazing crimson letters on the lunar surface, will foster the strangest revolution humankind has ever endured and make Markus West wish he was never involved.

The message is “Drink Diet Coke”.

When Coca-Cola denies responsibility, global annoyance with the beverage-industrial complex becomes indignation. And when his investigation confirms Coca-Cola’s innocence, Markus West becomes one of the most hated men on Earth.

Later, five miles above the White House, a cylinder is discovered floating in the night. It is 400 feet tall, 250 feet in diameter, and exactly resembles a can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup. Nearly everyone thinks the cylinder is a promotional stunt gone wrong, just like the lunar advertisement. And this is exactly what the alien in the cylinder wants people to think.

Ralph, an eccentric extraterrestrial who’s been hiding on the moon, needs Markus’ help to personally deliver a dark warning to the White House. Ralph has a big heart, a fetish for Andy Warhol, and a dangerous plan to save the world.

Looking upon the cylinder, Markus realizes we are not the ones in control. The unexpected guest becomes the host, and somehow humans never belonged: “We are the homeless orphans peeking through the banquet window. We are the frills of the universe gazing upon something unspeakably more central than ourselves.”

By Joe Abercrombie, Narrated by Steven Pacey

There are three books in this series, click on it below to get a free audible trial through Amazon, or read more below.

The First Law series for audiobook is one of the best epic fantasy series I’ve had the pleasure to listen to. These books are dark. Very dark. If your humor is as black as mine, and you don’t mind if a character gets an axe to the head occasionally, then this series is for you.

The series is narrated by Steven Pacey. Pacey, is an incredible narrator. I don’t think Joe Abercrombie could have asked for anyone better. At times it’s hard to believe it’s one man creating all those voices. Pacey does a great job of bringing the characters to life, with expert pace and varied narration, he makes this good book series into an epic audiobook serie

By Scott Lynch, Narrated by Michael Page

This is the first book in a number released by Scott Lynch following the story of orphan Locke Lamora and his adventures in his less moral dealings as a con man. The story is fantastic, absolutely fantastic. Think Ocean’s Eleven, but in ancient venice, an ancient venice that was once home to ancient aliens who left much of their structures behind. This isn’t traditional high fantasy though. It will appeal to high fantasy lovers, but also to people who have never read fantasy in their lives. It is, in short, stupendous.A word of warning however, the story is very crude. I have learn’t many insults which is intend to make use of, including ‘you look like hammered shit’, which was a favorite of mine. The biggest warning however is that this story is addictive. You will learn to care about these characters and want to know what happens next. I am testament to this having listened to three books of this series in three weeks.

The books are narrated by Michael Page. One of the greatest things about this series for audiobook is the narration. Michael Page gives us a performance to die for, one that i consider the best I have heard – bar maybe Steven Pacey’s rendition of the first law series. Michael Page’s character diversification, accents, and dramatization is mind blowing. For example, Locke is a con man, he is constantly in disguise changing accents and names. Michael Page’s consistency was insane and with out it, this book could have been very confusing for listeners.

By Scott Meyer, Narrated by Luke Daniels

Magic 2.0 is just so original and clever! I do wonder what would have happened if one of the great Sci-Fi authors had thought of this idea. Either we could have gotten this amazing, complicated story with a wonderfully detailed world, or it wouldn’t work at all because they would try and over complicate it. I think the beauty of this story is in its simplicity and light heartedness. I don’t think the ideas would work as well if the author was too serious about it all.

By Dakota Krout, Narrated by Vikas Adam

For eons, conquering dungeons has been the most efficient way to become a strong adventurer. Although not everything is as straightforward as it seems. Several questions have always plagued the minds of those who enter these mythical places of power: why are there so many monsters? Where do the amazing weaponry and heavy gold coins come from? Why does the very air fill with life-giving energies?

Cal has all of the answers to these age-old questions, for a very simple reason. He is a Dungeon Heart, a soul forced against his will into a magical stone. After several lonely years, Cal was able to regain sentience, allowing him to form new memories while slowly growing a dungeon around himself. With help from a friend, Cal learned how to create monsters and traps, increasing his power and size quickly.

When a threat to his existence rears its head, Cal decides that he will do anything to stay alive and become stronger. Unfortunately for treasure-seekers, the fastest way for Cal to achieve his goal…is to eat anyone that enters his depths.

By Daniel O’Malley, Narrated by Katy Carmichael 

This book is hilarious, it’s frequently silly sense of humor, and it’s well-conceived main character.

“The body you are wearing used to be mine.” So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her. She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Checquy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain.

She also discovers that she possesses a rare and deadly supernatural ability of her own. Filled with characters both fascinating and fantastical, The Rook is a richly inventive, suspenseful fantasy. An astonishing debut from a brilliant new voice.

By Neal Stephenson, Narrated by Jonathan Davis

Weaving contemporary imagery with Sumerian myths and virtual reality, this fast-paced novel of life in the near-future information age offers a hip vision of what’s right around the corner in cyberspace.

By Rob Grant, Narrated by Chris Barrie

Awakening from a drunken spree in a London pub to find himself on one of Saturn’s moons, Lister joins the Space Corps and boards the Red Dwarf, determined to return to Earth