Quail Recommends: Fantasy

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

Emily Wilde: Book #2

By: Heather Fawcett
Narrated by: Ell Potter & Michael Dodds
Length: 12 hours 4 minutes

“Mysterious faeries arrive at our curmudgeonly (yet lovable!) professor Emily's university, throwing her world into a danger she didn't know existed. Enchanting with a little edge, I didn't want the story to end. The audiobook is incredible (accents! drama!), highly recommend! Read more

Godkiller

By: Hannah Kaner
Narrated by: Kit Griffiths
Length: 12 hours 54 minutes

“I have not been sucked into a fantasy this quickly in a quite long time. And by quickly, I mean by the end of the prologue. Kissen is the best, deadly-with-a-sword grump. There's a little god of white lies. The baker who reluctantly returns to the role of knight. The disability rep is spot on. It's queer! It's intense! It's fantastic! It's your... Read more

Fourth Wing

Empyrean: Book #1

By: Rebecca Yarros
Narrated by: Rebecca Soler & Teddy Hamilton
Length: 21 hours 22 minutes

“Violet Sorrengail was everything but a warrior when her mother, who happens to be a ruthless commander of dragon warriors, forces her into altering her decided path by joining the Rider Quadrant of Navarre. As she is thrown into ruthless training with her mother’s sworn enemy Xaden Riorson, she must adapt the skills she learned preparing to be... Read more

Starling House

A Reese's Book Club Pick

By: Alix E. Harrow
Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
Length: 12 hours 25 minutes

“Come for the gothic horror romance small-town-with-a-dark-past drama... Stay for the dreaming house, its grumpy selfless warden, and the terrified brave woman fed up with everybody's bullshit. An empathetic book about a few people and their desires. Also, monsters! Read more

The Book That Wouldn't Burn

The Library Trilogy: Book #1

By: Mark Lawrence
Narrated by: Jessica Whittaker
Length: 22 hours 27 minutes

Two strangers find themselves connected by a vast and mysterious library containing many wonders and still more secrets, in this powerfully moving first book in a new series from the international bestselling author of Red Sister and Prince of Thorns.

The boy has lived his whole life trapped within a book-choked chamber older than empires and... Read more

Babel

Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of The Oxford Translators' Revolution

By: R. F. Kuang
Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi & Billie Fulford-Brown
Length: 21 hours 45 minutes

“Finishing a book like this is equal parts pleasure and pain: pleasure in that reading something as striking and beautiful as this is everything a reader hopes to feel in a book juxtaposed by the pain of something beautiful ending and leaving these characters behind in the pages. There are few books that have brought tears to my eyes (I can still... Read more

The Third Daughter

Betrayal Prophecies: Book #1

By: Adrienne Tooley
Narrated by: Rebecca Lee
Length: 8 hours 32 minutes

A sweeping YA fantasy about legacy, betrayal, sisterhood, and politicizing emotion in the quest for power—all balanced by a slow-burn LGBTQ romance.
 
For centuries, the citizens of Velle have waited for their New Maiden to return. The prophecy states she will appear as the third daughter of a third daughter. When the fabled child is finally... Read more

A Magic Steeped in Poison

The Book of Tea: Book #1

By: Judy I. Lin
Narrated by: Carolyn Kang
Length: 11 hours 11 minutes

Judy I. Lin's sweeping debut A Magic Steeped in Poison, first in a duology, is sure to enchant fans of Adrienne Young and Leigh Bardugo.

I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother."

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the... Read more

The Children of Húrin

By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Christopher Lee
Length: 7 hours 51 minutes

Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Húrin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to... Read more

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi

A Novel

By: Shannon Chakraborty
Narrated by: Lameece Issaq & Amin El Gamal
Length: 16 hours 59 minutes

“An absolute must-read for fantasy fans, one of the best audiobooks I've ever read. The author's stated goal of 'entirely historically accurate except for the plot' means that this is an incredibly well-executed historical fantasy placed in an area and time period that is extremely rare from a non-Eurocentric point of view. The actual writing... Read more

The Surviving Sky

Surviving Sky: Book #1

By: Kritika H. Rao
Narrated by: Sharmila Devar & Pranshu Mishra
Length: 18 hours 23 minutes

High above a jungle-planet float the last refuges of humanity—plant-made civilizations held together by tradition, technology, and arcane science. Here, architects are revered deeply, with humanity’s survival reliant on a privileged few.

If not for their abilities, the cities would plunge into the devastating earthrage storms below.

Charismatic... Read more

In the Lives of Puppets

By: TJ Klune
Narrated by: Daniel Henning
Length: 15 hours 22 minutes

“In this creative retelling of Pinocchio, T. J. Klune weaves together an eclectic cast of characters into a family bound by love and connection. Despite being an amalgamation of both robots and humans, the bonds that everyone in the book feels for one another are clear and, at times, heart wrenching. One of my favorite aspects of this book is its... Read more

Tress of the Emerald Sea

A Cosmere Novel

Secret Projects: Book #1

By: Brandon Sanderson
Narrated by: Michael Kramer
Length: 12 hours 26 minutes

“This cozy, quirky, clever fantasy lives up to its inspiration - what if in The Princess Bride, Buttercup was the one who went after Westley? In the course of attempting to save her noble true love from the evil Sorceress, a window washer runs away from home, dares life and death at sea, joins a dangerous crew, and unlearns a whole lot about... Read more

The Fall of Númenor

and Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth

By: J.R.R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Brian Sibley & Samuel West
Length: 10 hours 51 minutes

J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth, collected for the first time in one volume. J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a ‘dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told’. And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of... Read more

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

Emily Wilde: Book #1

By: Heather Fawcett
Narrated by: Ell Potter & Michael Dodds
Length: 12 hours 5 minutes

“Emily Wilde is a serious Dryadologist and probably the best in her field. Her colleague Wendell Bambleby is...not. Or at least, he certainly doesn't live up to her high academic standards. He's too posh, too lazy, to fickle, and come to think of it, maybe a little too much like the fairy folk they study. Is Wendell harboring a secret? Or maybe... Read more

Legends & Lattes

A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes

Legends & Lattes

By: Travis Baldree
Narrated by: Travis Baldree
Length: 7 hours 18 minutes

“This book is an absolute gem. It's like a cozy blanket for the soul—a light, fluffy read that doesn't take itself too seriously. And that's precisely why I adore it! The perfect blend of fantasy and everyday coffee shop charm makes it a truly enchanting experience. The author's creativity in expressing the world of coffee and pastries adds a... Read more

The Hobbit

Lord of the Rings

By: J.R.R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Andy Serkis
Length: 10 hours 24 minutes

“The Hobbit is about as classic fantasy as you can get. How do you add to the merit of such an amazing story? You have Andy Serkis narrate it. Andy brings new life to the story, and makes returning to Middle-Earth all the sweeter. Read more

Fairy Tale

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Seth Numrich & Stephen King
Length: 24 hours 4 minutes

“This book and the performer are equally brilliant! Seth Numrich knocks it out of the park with this not-so-typical Stephen King novel. Read more

The Ten Thousand Doors of January

By: Alix E. Harrow
Narrated by: January LaVoy
Length: 12 hours 20 minutes

“This is the type of book that you can totally immerse yourself in, and when you reemerge, the world will feel like it has more magic and possibility than it did before. It is best read on a wet and dreary day, with lots of blankets around and a kettle full of tea. When you are finished, you will remember it like an old friend, as if you took an... Read more

Foundryside

A Novel

The Founders Trilogy: Book #1

By: Robert Jackson Bennett
Narrated by: Tara Sands
Length: 19 hours 34 minutes

“Foundryside is the first book in Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Foundry trilogy. Not only did this book get me out of my reading slump, it was a book that I just couldn’t stop listening to. The cover grabbed my attention and the story surpassed every expectation that I had. Foundryside is about a well-trained thief, Sancia. She’s good at what she... Read more