For more fantasy with a magical bent, check out the paranormal fantasy titles available at Audible.

Epic Fantasy Meets Dark Fantasy in Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer Series

Attempting to sum up the Lightbringer series succinctly is like trying to push a mountain through the eye of a needle. Words like “sprawling” and “epic” come close to capturing Brent Weeks’ masterstroke series, but even they come up shy.

Following Gavin Guile, and later his son Kip Guile, the series centers on “drafters” who use magic to turn light into a powerful physical substance called Luxin. That’s about the barest summary we can give of a series this narratively complex and thematically rich. Weeks is a master of world building, blending dark elements and high fantasy, and you really just have to listen to the series to get the full picture.

Luckily, the final installment The Burning White was released this past Fall, so the series is perfectly binge-worthy. If you want to immerse yourself in a truly idiosyncratic fantasy vision, hit play on the first title The Black Prism and we’ll see you back in a few weeks!

Don’t worry: when you get back, we’ve got even more epic fantasy stories for you to enjoy!

Superhero Fiction Meets Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy in Brandon Sanderson’s The Reckoners Series

You love superhero fiction. You love fantasy. But have you listened to a series that captivatingly combines the two? If not, then let us introduce you to Brandon Sanderson’s fantastic The Reckoners series.

In a post-apocalyptic world, a mysterious object known as the Calamity has burst just outside earth’s orbit, emitting waves of radiation that have imbued a small fraction of humans with superpowers. These new superheroes, called Epics, could have been the saviours humanity needed – but instead they got power hungry.

Beginning with the amazing Steelheart, we follow David, a normal human resident of Newcago (formerly Chicago), as he takes up the cause of fighting the repressive superheroes – not just to avenge his father’s death, but to put an end to their rule once and for all. For this and many more superhero fantasy audiobooks, visit the Audible website.

Literary Fantasy Meets Science Fiction in N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth Series

Each of the three titles in N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth series scooped up the Hugo Award for Best Novel – the first time in history someone’s won the prestigious award three years in a row. It doesn’t surprise us, really; all three titles are phenomenal.

The series takes place in the distant future, when Earth is once again home to a single supercontinent and wracked by climate disasters. Only Orogenes, a group of magical people with the ability to control the weather, can help save people, but they can also cause weather disasters. Subsequently, the Orogenes are hated and feared, taken from their homes as children and brutally subjugated. The Broken Earth series follows three separate Orogene women as they struggle to survive, their paths eventually colliding.

Blending literary sensibility with fantasy elements, Jemisin weaves a story about oppression, marginalization and climate change that is both an allegory for our time and a transportive feat of fantasy world building. It’s the kind of genre bending we’re here for.

Canada’s own Margaret Atwood put it this way, “Well of course people cross genres all the time. You could have… some galaxy far, far away and in another time with spaceships, but also dragons. And there's no rule that says you can't do that.” We believe that’s a sentiment worth celebrating.

Tell us about your favourite genre-bending fantasy listens.

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