Top list: Fantasy and Sci-Fi

"Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom.

Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!

As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.

A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.

He must live for more.

Performed by Stewart Crank, Jenna Sharpe, Jon Vertullo, Ian Russell, Richard Rohan, Julie-Ann Elliott, Andrew James Spooner, Laura C. Harris, Kay Eluvian as Roque, Amanda Forstrom, Andy Clemence, Bradly Foster Smith, Chris Davenport, Colleen Delany, Danny Gavigan, David Cui Cui, David Engel, Dylan Lynch, Elena Anderson, Elizabeth Jernigan, Eric Messner, Gabriel Michael, Holly Adams, Ian Putnam, James Konicek, John Kielty, Julie Hoverson, Karen Novak, Ken Jackson, Lucy Symons, Marni Penning, Matthew Bassett, Michael John Casey, Mike Carnes, Nanatte Savard, Nazia Chaudhry, Nhea Durrosseau, Nicole Perez, Peter Stray, Rana Kay, Scott McCormick, Shanta Parasuraman, Stephanie Németh-Parker, Steve Wannall, Todd Scofield, Wyn Delano, Yasmin Tuazon and Zeke Alton."

"The sexy, action-packed first dramatized audiobook adaptation in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series from Sarah J. Maas. Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At least, he's not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking series that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable listen.

Performed by Melody Muze, Anthony Palmini, Henry W. Kramer, Ann Flandermeyer, Gabriel Michael, Debi Tinsley, Natalie Van Sistine, Karenna Foley, Scott McCormick, Bradley Foster Smith, Karen Novack, Christopher Graybill, Terence Aselford, Matthew Bassett, Michael John Casey, Nora Achrati, Yasmin Tuazon, Alejandro Ruiz, Steve Wannall, and Shanta Parasuraman."

Winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award

Winner of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award

One of TIME's 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

"The magic of Earthsea is primal; the lessons of Earthsea remain as potent, as wise, and as necessary as anyone could dream."—Neil Gaiman

Suzanne Wright continues Harper and Knox's story in this sizzling follow-up to Burn. Contains mature themes.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot series – from the iconic collection I, Robot to four classic novels – contains some of the most influential works in the history of science fiction. Establishing and testing the Three Laws of Robotics, they continue to shape the understanding and design of artificial intelligence to this day.

Two centuries have passed since Elijah Baley’s actions on Aurora sent settlers from Earth to new worlds all over the galaxy.

The Spacer planet of Solaria has been abandoned by humans, though countless robots remain. When settlers arrive to salvage them, something unthinkable happens – the robots attack.

Accompanied by Gladia Delmarre and the robots Daneel and Giskard, a descendant of Elijah Baley sets out for Solaria to investigate, a quest that will lead them to a vast, catastrophic conspiracy and a revolution in the Three Laws of Robotics.

The final novel of the Kilo-Five Trilogy by #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss—part of the expanded universe based on the award-winning video game series Halo!

2553. With the thirty-year-long Covenant War finally over, the Office of Naval Intelligence faces old grievances rising again to threaten Earth. Angry and bitter colonists—still wanting to settle scores from an insurrection put on hold for three decades—crave justice…as does a man whose life was torn apart by ONI when his young daughter was abducted for the SPARTAN-II program. Black-ops squad Kilo-Five now find its collective loyalty tested beyond the breaking point when the father of their Spartan comrade, still searching for the truth about her disappearance, prepares to glass Earth’s cities to get an answer. How far will Kilo-Five go to stop him? And will he be able to live with the truth when he finds it? The painful answer lies with someone long dead, and a conscience that still survives in the most unlikely, undiscovered place…

The follow-up to the hugely popular science fiction action-adventure All Systems Red Artificial Condition continues The Murderbot Diaries, a science fiction series that tackles questions of the ethics of sentient robotics. It appeals to fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans. "As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure." It has a dark past-one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself "Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more. Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don't want to know what the "A" stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue. What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.

The shadows are in my blood.

I can feel them crawling through me, slithering under my skin and taking me hostage. But the darkness within me isn't nearly as bad as the darkness that lives around me.

The four Celestial Heirs will stop at nothing to destroy the lives of me and my sister. But they haven't figured out yet, that we're the strongest creatures they've ever known.

And when that secret comes out, we need to be ready to face them as well as any other cruel Fae who rises against us.

It’s us or them. And it damn well won’t be us.

Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!

Performed by Khaya Fraites, Jessica Schleigh, Gregory Linnington, Julian Dailey, Jon Vertullo, Ryan Dalusung, Gabriel Michael, Rayner Gabriel, Lydia Kraniotis, Karenna Foley, Daniel Llaca, Kelly Baskin, Shravan Amin, Stephanie Nemeth-Parker, Crystal Lee, Amanda Forstrom, Su Ling Chan, Michael Glenn, Tyler Hyrchuck, Kit Swann, Nannette Savard, Robb Moreira, Joey Sourlis, KenYatta Rogers, Richard Rohan, Bradly Foster Smith, Emlyn McFarland, Drew Kopas, Ken Jackson, Laura C. Harris, Matthew Bassett, Nora Achrati, Yasmin Tuazon, Jeri J. Marshall, Eric Messner, Aeri Weaver, and James Konicek.

The million-copy bestselling series about a cosy Japanese cafe that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s heart-warming Before the Coffee Gets Cold, translated from Japanese, explores the age-old question: what would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

In a cosy back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

Prepare to meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the cafe’s time-travelling offer in order to:

- confront the man who left them

- receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by Alzheimer's

- see their sister one last time, and

- meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the cafe, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

‘This book broke my heart, took the pieces, and put them back together in a messy and beautiful way. . . '

-@well.read.woman on Instagram

Continue the beautifully moving storytelling with Tales from the Cafe, Before Your Memory Fades, Before We Say Goodbye and Before We Forget Kindness.

The angel of death locked me in one of his castle rooms, surrounded by books and delicious food. Not bad, right? Except for the loneliness, and the lust-fueled dreams that torment me every night—specifically dreams of Samael. And did I mention a psychotic ghost keeps trying to kill me? Because no one else believes me about that. Now, I’m desperate to get out of the castle and hunt down the murderous Free Men who led to my imprisonment. Samael wants to destroy them too. We have the same goal but don't trust each other. When distrust shifts into passion, it only makes things more complicated. Despite what we feel, we’re destined to be enemies. If we can’t rewrite our fates, we’ll lose each other forever—and one of us will end up dead.

America is a police state, and it is about to be threatened by the most hellish enemy in the world: insects. First published in Galaxy magazine in 1973 as "Project 40," Frank Herbert's vivid imagination and brilliant view of nature and ecology have never been more evident than in this classic of science fiction.

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty.

Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.

They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth.

But a storm is coming … and not everyone can survive its wrath.

"Red Rising hit the ground running and wasted no time becoming a sensation. Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom.

Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!

As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.

A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.

He must live for more.

Performed by Full Cast; Stewart Crank, Jenna Sharpe, Jon Vertullo, Ian Russell, Richard Rohan, Julie-Ann Elliott, Andrew James Spooner, Laura C. Harris, Kay Eluvian, Amanda Forstrom, Andy Clemence, Bradly Foster Smith, Chris Davenport, Colleen Delany, Danny Gavigan, David Cui Cui, David Engel, Dylan Lynch, Elena Anderson, Elizabeth Jernigan, Eric Messner, Gabriel Michael, Holly Adams, Ian Putnam, James Konicek, John Kielty, Julie Hoverson, Karen Novak, Ken Jackson, Lucy Symons, Marni Penning, Matthew Bassett, Michael John Casey, Mike Carnes, Nanatte Savard, Nazia Chaudhry, Nhea Durrosseau, Nicole Perez, Peter Stray, Rana Kay, Scott McCormick, Shanta Parasuraman, Stephanie Németh-Parker, Steve Wannall, Todd Scofield, Wyn Delano, Yasmin Tuazon and Zeke Alton."

'Brilliant' – Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher series.

Now a major Apple TV+ series starring Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly.

Jason Dessen has been abducted. His life has been stolen. To get it back, he will go on a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could have possibly imagined. Dark Matter is a relentlessly surprising alternate-universe sci-fi thriller from Blake Crouch.

'Are you happy in your life?'

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakes to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before the man he's never met smiles down at him and says, 'Welcome back.'

In this world he's woken up to, Jason's life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

In this other life, Jason has created a box. Transport into infinite alternate universes – every possible outcome of his life, one behind each door. In this other life, Jason chose a door. And he stole the life he wanted.

If Jason Dessen wants his life back, he will have to find it among infinite possibilities. And he will have to battle a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe: himself.

From the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Ready Player One.

NOTICE TO STAFF: There has been a disturbing increase in cheeriness, sprightly behavior, and overall optimism. Please resume your former dark, ominous terrors at your earliest convenience. —Mgmt

Evie Sage has never been happier to be the assistant to The Villain. Who would have thought that working for an outrageously handsome, evil overlord would be so rewarding? Still, the business of being bad is demanding, the forces of good are annoyingly persistent, and said forbidding boss is somewhat . . . out-of-evil-office.

But Rennedawn is in trouble, and all signs—Kingsley's included—point to catastrophe. Something peculiar is happening with the kingdom's magic, and it's made The Villain's manor vulnerable to their enemies . . . including their nemesis, the king.

Now it's time for Evie to face her greatest challenge: protecting The Villain's lair, his nefarious works, and maybe the entire kingdom. No pressure, Evie.

It's time to step out of her comfort zone and learn new skills. Like treason. Dagger work. Conspiring with the enemy. It's all so . . . so . . . delightfully fun.

But what happens when the assistant to The Villain is ready to become his apprentice?

Contains mature themes.

Tara West presents Book 1 in the Court of Fae and Firelight series. Contains mature themes.

Perfect for fans of Raven Kennedy and Thea Guanzon, Rebecca Robinson’s thrilling romantasy debut combines high-stakes political intrigue and a steamy, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.

All her life, Vaasa Kozár has been sharpened into a blade.

After losing her mother—her only remaining parent—to a mysterious dark magic that has since awakened within her, Vaasa is certain death looms. So is her merciless brother, who aims to eliminate Vaasa as a threat to his crown. In one last political scheme, he marries her off to Reid of Mireh, a ruthless foreign ruler, in hopes that he can use her death as a rallying cry to finally invade Reid’s nation. All Vaasa has to do is die.

But she is desperate to live. Vaasa enters her new marriage with every intent to escape it, wielding the hard-won political prowess and combat abilities her late father instilled in her. But to her surprise, Reid offers her a deal: help him win the votes to rise in power, and she can walk free. In exchange, he will share his knowledge about the dark magic running through her veins—and help keep it at bay.

This proposal may be too good to refuse, yet Vaasa and Reid’s undeniable attraction threatens to break the rules of their arrangement. As her brother’s lethal machinations take form, everything is at stake: Vaasa must learn to trust her new husband, but how can she, especially when their perfect political marriage begins to feel like the real thing?

“Start with Douglas Adams’s comic science fiction (A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and J.R.R. Tolkien’s alternative worlds, mix in James Ellroy’s gritty realism and Jonathan Swift’s unflinching satire and, if you’re lucky, you’ll get something like Terry Pratchett’s Thud!” —Wall Street Journal

City Watch Commander Sam Vimes must solve the murder of a prominent dwarf or watch as Discworld is plunged into a bloody civil war in Terry Pratchett’s delightful Discworld satire, a brilliant tale of prejudice, ancient feuds, and tender fatherhood. This new recording of THUD! is narrated by actor Jon Culshaw (Dead Ringers and the Doctor Who audiobooks). Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace) stars as the voice of Death.

Long, long ago, in a gods-forsaken hellhole called Koom Valley, trolls and dwarfs met in bloody combat. Centuries later, each side still views the other with simmering animosity that has been heightened of late because of one Grag Hamcrusher. The influential dwarf has been fomenting unrest among a section of Ankh-Morpork’s citizenry—a volatile situation made far worse when the petite provocateur is discovered bashed to death . . . with a troll club lying conveniently nearby.

If he doesn’t solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office. But more than one corpse is waiting for Vimes in the eerie, summoning darkness of a labyrinthine mine network being secretly excavated beneath Ankh-Morpork’s streets. With war-drums beating ever louder, Vimes must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin, and brave any darkness to find the solution. And the darkness is following him, pulling him deep into the muck and mire of superstition, hatred, and fear—and perhaps all the way to Koom Valley itself.

Until six o’clock every day, when without fail, the Commander goes home to read Where’s My Cow?, with accompanying farmyard noises, to his little boy. Because there are some things you must do.

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Thud! is the 7th book in the City Watch collection and the 34th Discworld book.

The City Watch collection in order:

Guards! Guards! Men at Arms Feet of Clay Jingo The Fifth Elephant Night Watch Thud! Snuff

Ruby Dixon presents Book 14 in the Ice Planet Barbarians series. Contains mature themes.

"The sexy, action-packed first dramatized audiobook adaptation in the #1 New York Times bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series from Sarah J. Maas. Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.

At least, he's not a beast all the time.

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking series that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable listen.

Performed by Melody Muze, Henry W. Kramer, Gabriel Michael, Natalie Van Sistine, Debi Tinsley, Bradley Foster Smith, Alejandro Ruiz, Christopher Graybill, Julie Hoverson, Karenna Foley, Eric Messner, Anthony Palmini, Steve Wannall, Rose Elizabeth Supan, Mort Shelby, Laura C. Harris, Michael John Casey, Scott McCormick, Richard Rohan, Karen Novack, Nora Achrati, and Nanette Savard."