Immortality, Multiverses, and Vampires: Fan-Favorite Audiobooks

Jacqueline Holland has created an epic story of family, both found and made in this gripping debut. Collette LaSange has dealt with the consequences of her grandfather’s decision to turn her immortal — like him — for over a century. Her lonely life becomes wrinkled as her hunger grows; a dark presence from a century ago lurks in the shadows; and a gifted young boy from the elite school she runs in upstate New York holds purchase on her heart. Narrator Saskia Maarleveld does a marvelous job with Collette as a young girl as she moves across Europe, seamlessly conveying the subtle way Collette’s accent changes over time and her distress as her life slowly unravels. 

I’ll always remember Addie LaRue and her sweeping story of heartbreak and connection. Addie makes a deal with the wrong god and is cursed to walk the earth leaving no mark in her wake. Moving from the 1700s to the 21st century, she’s learned enough tricks to survive while existing as a stranger in the mind of every person she meets. Until one boy remembers her. Golden Voice narrator Julia Whelan’s remarkable talent secured the audiobook as a finalist in the 2021 Audie Awards for Best Fantasy. Whelan is a master at crafting distinct voices for each individual character, and she deftly moves from past to present without a slip of the tongue.  

Matt Haig brings another thought-provoking story to life through Nora Seed, who literally opens a book to a different timeline of her own life. We get to listen in as she learns more deeply who she is in this messy world. British actress Carey Mulligan’s talents earned the audiobook an Earphones Award and a nomination as a 2021 finalist for an Audie Award for Best Fiction. Mulligan doesn’t go over the top for character voices; instead, her unwavering melody keeps the episodic structure from going stale. As Nora struggles with what meaning her life holds, Mulligan’s narration ensures that the character doesn’t come off as whiny, instead reminding us that this is a core question most ponder at some point in our lives.  

Besides Dracula, this may be the most iconic vampire story ever told, read by the Golden Voice narrator Simon Vance. Vance effortlessly flows between characters, using a haughty tone and a slight lisp — is that his canines growing we hear? — for those undead, and a jauntier tone for anyone alive. The palpable horror felt by other characters when meeting these centuries-old vampires sent chills up my spine due to Vance’s ability to embody every voice in unique and nuanced ways.  

The Historian was the 2006 Audie Award Finalist due to its incredible narrators. There are six, each at the top of their game, reading in conjunction with each other as we traverse continents in search of Vlad the Impaler. The variety of accents reminds us where in the world we’re visiting without impeding the listenability. Music — sharp chords at times, cinematically sweeping at others — helps separate section breaks when the tale moves from present to the past and back again. As the title suggests, the story is full of history, not only worldly but familial as well. I sat on the edge of my seat as we reached the thrilling climax, in turns hoping to find Vlad and urging the characters to retreat.  

Young Domek Myska is part of the Lamplighters’ Guild, a group tasked with keeping the city’s lamps burning through the night to protect from supernatural predators — even while some of the most dangerous inhabit the upper echelon of society. Though Lady Ora Fischerová may have sworn off human blood to satiate her hunger, not all her kind have. And more disturbing are the rumors of a “cure” for their sunlight allergy, potentially giving them the ability to walk among the living again. This is deftly narrated by Pete Cross, who expertly voices the gentlemanly Domek and soft-spoken Ora, along with a plethora of side characters in a wide range of accents. He has the most fun with the sentient essence of a will-o’-the-wisp, where subtle voice distortion is used to capture its other worldliness.  

Jane Lui’s melodic voice lends a lovely dream-like quality to Lydia’s story as she battles her blood thirst while drooling over all the food she can’t try. Claire Kohda gives us a light twist on the traditional vampire tale with Lydia, a young woman who has only known life as a vampire, though she hasn’t spent centuries as one (yet). I’ve never considered a vampiric story to be “coming-of-age” but that’s exactly how Kohda frames it. Lydia is unsure of her place in the world — as any 23-year-old often is — while juggling a new internship, a sick mother living in a nursing home, and her unquelled hunger for blood. She has a long future ahead to find a new perspective and live the life she truly wants.  

My confession: I wasn’t swept up in the mythology retellings along with everyone else. I may be late to the party on Circe but the Earphones Award and AudioFile Magazine’s Best Audiobook Winner for 2018 are rightly earned here. Perdita Weeks’s lilting accent is perfectly suited for a story about Greek Gods. The whole audiobook feels as though you’re sitting at your Nana’s knee, listening to the most fascinating story of her secret life. Weeks recites the tale as if from memory, at times sounding exasperated and annoyed, just as Circe sometimes was. The lush imagery from Madeline Miller is made all the more visceral by Weeks’s talented voice work.