Our Favorite Black History Month Reads!

The Fifth Season

The Broken Earth: Book #1

By: N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 15 hours 27 minutes

“The Fifth Season is an amazing, dark, and gripping work that will hook you from the first sentence. I cannot express to you how much this book stunned me. Robin's narration is well paced and engaging. While I wish this was a book for everyone to listen to, it isn't; destruction, trauma, and rage follow the women and girls who tell their stories.... Read more

Children of Blood and Bone

Legacy of Orisha: Book #1

By: Tomi Adeyemi
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 17 hours 44 minutes

“Children of Blood & Bone, is a story told in a world where magic no longer exists. Years ago, this was not the case. Once, magic and the Gods were celebrated. Now, Diviners (those with Maji blood, but no magic) are treated poorly, and all the Maji have been killed. One of those including our main protagonist, Zélie’s, mother. Determined to... Read more

Black Leopard, Red Wolf

The Dark Star Trilogy: Book #1

By: Marlon James
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Length: 23 hours 59 minutes

“An ambitious read of epic proportions! African mythology, history and James' phenomenal imagination come together to make an adventure tale like no other. Engrossing! Daring! Beautifully strange! Read more

Jackal

A Novel

By: Erin E. Adams
Narrated by: Sandra Okuboyejo & William DeMeritt
Length: 10 hours 29 minutes

“Jackal is a social horror novel that is forever going to be mentioned in the same breath as Get Out, and that is incredibly well deserved. In Johnstown, PA, if you heard something or saw something in the woods? No you didn’t. Ignore the shadow, and it can’t get you. When it calls your name, don’t turn. When it snaps a branch next to you, don’t... Read more

Riot Baby

By: Tochi Onyebuchi
Narrated by: Tochi Onyebuchi
Length: 3 hours 46 minutes

Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor’s son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven’t happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her... Read more

The Ballad of Black Tom

By: Victor LaValle
Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
Length: 3 hours 9 minutes

People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there.

Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his black... Read more

Lone Women

A Novel

By: Victor LaValle
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Length: 9 hours 10 minutes

“Victor LaValle gets better and better with every new novel. A master of literary horror, he takes literal monsters and ghosts - in this case in the historical context of early 20th century Montana homesteaders - and uses them to reflect back on our contemporary society and all of its metaphorical monsters and ghosts. In the harsh and solitary... Read more

A Master of Djinn

Dead Djinn Universe: Book #1

By: P. Djèlí Clark
Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar
Length: 15 hours 37 minutes

“Fatma el-Sha’arawi is one of the most talented agents in Ciaro’s Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities. Though it is 1912, she has worked her way up the male-dominated agency with a combination of raw magical talent, wit, and force of will. When a room of men burnt to a crisp with no sign of fire shows up, Fatma is put on... Read more

The Reformatory

A Novel

By: Tananarive Due
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Length: 20 hours 51 minutes

“I am in awe of Tananarive Due. A horror story set in Jim Crow Florida, The Reformatory is the kind of book that I will never ever forget, no matter how many years have passed. It’s clear that Due poured her heart and soul into this story, her efforts manifesting in vivid storytelling, impeccably researched history, and characters so fully... Read more

Legendborn

The Legendborn Cycle

By: Tracy Deonn
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Length: 18 hours 54 minutes

“A young black girl saving the day, sign me up! Bree’s journey to find out more about her family history and find her place in the world kept me engaged throughout. Loved the Arthurian legend tie-in. Secret societies always bring so much drama (in a gossip-y way). Read more

Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

By: Temi Oh
Narrated by: Nneka Okoye
Length: 14 hours 19 minutes

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet meets The 100 in this unforgettable debut by a brilliant new voice.

A century ago, scientists theorised that a habitable planet existed in a nearby solar system. Today, ten astronauts will leave a dying Earth to find it. Four are decorated veterans of the 20th century’s space-race. And six are teenagers,... Read more

The Water Dancer (Oprah's Book Club)

A Novel

By: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Narrated by: Joe Morton
Length: 14 hours 14 minutes

“Ta-Nehisi Coates understands something big and he understands it better than anyone else right now. The Water Dancer led me on a journey up and down the landscape of American slavery with a narrative that feels like The Book of Exodus meets, well, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Over 400 pages I have cried, I have laughed, I have been educated, and I have... Read more

Akata Witch

Nsibidi Scripts

By: Nnedi Okorafor
Narrated by: Yetide Badaki
Length: 8 hours 49 minutes

“Akata Witch is a must listen. I loved the way that I could identify each character by their voices that were distinct and different. The story is powerful and Sunny's journey to discover her magical powers is a roller coaster of excitement as she figures out her role in the secret society. It is a must listen! Read more

The City We Became

A Novel

The Great Cities: Book #1

By: N. K. Jemisin
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 16 hours 12 minutes

“Enthralling and just a half step away from reality. The audio book performance adds a depth and resonance that transforms the text giving an already incredible read tangible texture. Read more

Kindred

By: Octavia E. Butler
Narrated by: Kim Staunton
Length: 10 hours 54 minutes

“The novel is narrated by Dana,  a Black writer  is transported from 1976 back to a slave plantation in the Antebellum South, where she meets two of her ancestors: the White son of the slave owner, and a young free Black woman, who is eventually trapped,  enslaved and made his concubine. Dana struggles to survive in this hostile world, and has to... Read more

Binti

Binti: Book #1

By: Nnedi Okorafor
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 2 hours 30 minutes

Nnedi Okorafor's Binti is the w inner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novella!

"Robin Miles’s terrific narration creates a stellar audiobook. (Pun intended.)"—Modern Mrs. Darcy on Binti

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher... Read more

Out There Screaming

An Anthology of New Black Horror

By: Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams
Narrated by: Jordan Peele & Full Cast
Length: 14 hours

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The visionary writer and director of Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates this groundbreaking anthology of all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation.

“Every piece is strong and... Read more

Parable of the Sower

Earthseed: Book #1

By: Octavia E. Butler
Narrated by: Lynne Thigpen
Length: 12 hours 2 minutes

“Prescient, brilliant, challenging; a book everyone should read, probably multiple times in their lives as N.K. Jemisin suggests. Read more

The Changeling

A Novel

By: Victor LaValle
Narrated by: Victor LaValle
Length: 14 hours 1 minute

“Mesmerizing . . . a dark fairy tale of New York, full of magic and loss, myth and mystery, love and madness.”—Marlon James, author of the Dark Star trilogy

NOW AN APPLE TV+ SERIES STARRING LAKEITH STANFIELD • ONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF ALL TIME

Winner of an American Book Award, a Locus Award for Best Horror Novel, a British Fantasy... Read more