Best Sci Fi Audiobooks

Competition was fierce for best sci-fi audiobook in 2021. Excellent works such as The World Gives Way and The Extinction Trials were just two vying for the title. But this… The End of Men is a masterful and incredibly thoughtful portrayal of a world where men are all but wiped out by a pandemic. Told through multiple first-person accounts, the audiobook leans into the format with no fewer than eleven narrators.

The Martian puts the science smack bang in the centre of the fiction. Wil Wheaton delivers a 5 star performance as Mark Watney, an astronaut left stranded on Mars. Meanwhile author Andy Weir not only provides incredible detail of the mechanics of it all, but manages to make it riveting. Because every detail is vital in the attempts to Bring. Him. Home.

Feel all the feelings in this epic dystopian sci-fi audiobook where children are forced to fight to the death. Can Katniss Everdene survive the Hunger Games? And can she bring down the brutal dictatorship that imposes them on the people of Panem? Brimming with vivid, vibrant imagery, this audiobook feels more like a movie in your mind.

Enter the hallowed halls of Hailsham. At a glance, this bucolic English school seems an idyllic place to learn. But note the small differences. Don’t overlook that nagging feeling that something is amiss. Tissues at the ready. This gets emotional.

Obviously, there are a multitude of bests one could attribute to Margaret Atwood’s chilling vision of a misogynist dystopia. Best cautionary tale for one. So why best casting? Because the audiobook is read by none other than the TV version of Offred herself, Elisabeth Moss and boasts further star power in the form of Bradley Whitford and Amy Landecker. I can’t help but feel that the ability to draw these big names is emblematic of the ever-growing status of audiobooks. As an aside, it’s worth noting that Atwood herself wouldn’t approve of this being on the list at all as she maintains it’s not futuristic in any way. I’d disagree.

Sci-fi plays well with other genres, not least of which is comedy. In this Yhatzee Crowshaw absurdist delight, the Ministry of Occultism - yes that’s a thing in this universe - finds itself in several gelatinous spots of bother including visitors from other worlds, a magical murderer and a public relations nightmare.

In 1984, Orwell achieved a Shakespearian infiltration of the English language. Terms like “Thought Police” and “Big Brother” have become ubiquitously synonymous with authoritarian leadership, even by those unfamiliar with this powerful portrayal of hell on Earth. The thing is, most people who have read the book did so at school. I highly recommend listening to one of the many audiobook versions. May I suggest the version by Stephen Fry.

Oh, Ready Player One, you unashamed celebration of geekdom. I see you. Teeming with 80s pop culture references and set in a fantastical gaming world, the audiobook takes things to the next level by having it read by sci-fi royalty, Wil Wheaton.

At under five hours long, this is a nibble of an audiobook, but it more than earns its place on this list. Narrator Daniel Weyman delivers a gloriously understated, very British performance bursting with irony.

From the man behind Blade Runner, The Man in the High Castle and many more science fiction gems comes Ubik. This frenetic time travelling tale is chock full of quirky characters, extravagantly performed by Luke Daniels.

Ever read an apocalyptic tale only to think, that would never happen? Well, John Birmingham is determined to show exactly - exactly - how it can happen in Zero Day Code. And it is scarily convincing.

From Eureka to Stargate, Dr Who to Star Trek, sci-fi has brought us some of the best teams and friendships. Enter Peter Cline’s 14, where a group of tenants slowly come together to fight the forces that blight their very strange building.