Peter Kenny has narrated 99 audiobooks on Listento.it by 59 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 7,900 ratings. The most-rated is Blood of Elves.
The State of the Art
Summary
The first ever collection of Iain Banks's short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks's staggering talent.
©1991 Iain M. Banks (P)2013 Hachette Audio
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden
Summary
From the author of The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared comes a picaresque tale of how one person’s actions can have far-reaching - even global - consequences On June 14, 2007, the king and the prime minister of Sweden went missing from a gala banquet at the royal castle. Later it was said that both had fallen ill, but the truth is different. The real story starts much earlier, in 1961, with the birth of Nombeko Mayeki in a shack in Soweto. Nombeko was fated to grow up fast and die early in her poverty-stricken township, be it from drugs, alcohol, or just plain despair. But Nombeko takes a different path. She finds work as a housecleaner and eventually makes her way up to the position of chief advisor, at the helm of one of the world’s most secret projects. Here is where the tale merges with then diverges from reality. South Africa developed six nuclear missiles in the 1980s, then voluntarily dismantled them in 1994. This is the story of the seventh missile, the one that was never supposed to have existed. Nombeko Mayeki knows too much about it, and now she’s on the run from both the South African justice system and the most terrifying secret service in the world. The fate of the planet now lies in Nombeko’s hands. Jonasson introduces us to a cast of eccentrics: a nerve-damaged American Vietnam deserter, twin brothers who are officially only one person, three careless Chinese girls, an angry young woman, a potato-growing baroness, the Swedish king and the prime minister. Quirky and utterly unique, The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden is a charming and humorous account of one young woman’s unlikely adventure.
©2014 Jonas Jonasson (P)2014 HarperCollins Canada
Ascendant
Summary
From the author of the Dragon’s Blade Trilogy and the narrator of the Witcher series comes the start of a new dragon-rider epic combining the best of Eragon and Pern with the hard magic of Brandon Sanderson and Will Wight. Holt Cook was never meant to be a dragon rider. He has always served the Order Hall of the Crag dutifully, keeping their kitchen pots clean. Until he discovers a dark secret: Dragons do not tolerate weakness among their kin, killing the young they deem flawed. Moved by pity, Holt defies the Order, rescues a doomed egg, and vows to protect the blind dragon within. But the Scourge is rising. Undead hordes roam the land, spreading the blight and leaving destruction in their wake. The dragon riders are being slaughtered, and betrayal lurks in the shadows. Holt has one chance to survive. He must cultivate the mysterious power of his dragon's magical core, a unique energy that may tip the balance in the battles to come and prove to the world that a servant is worthy after all.
©2020 Michael R. Miller (P)2020 Michael R. Miller
The Conquest of Bread
Summary
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (1842-1921) was the leading - and the most widely admired - anarchist Communist in the last decades of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th. He lived long enough to see the establishment of Communism in Russia under Lenin, who acknowledged Kropotkin’s commitment to political change. However, Kropotkin was a very different kind of revolutionary figure, for he argued not only for Communism but anarchist Communism, distrusting and even despising central government control in favour of a more individual sense of responsibility and civic duty. In The Conquest of Bread, first published in 1892, Kropotkin set out his ideas on how his heightened idealism could work. It was all the more extraordinary because he was born into an aristocratic land-owning family - with some 1,200 male serfs - though from his student years his liberal views and his fixation on the need for social change saw him take a revolutionary path. This led rapidly to decades of exile. Even today, The Conquest of Bread is fascinating listening. It is a passionate, even a fierce polemic for dramatic social change. Kropotkin looks at the European revolutions, from the French Revolution to the upheavals of 1848 and later 19th-century events, commenting on why they were ultimately unsuccessful. Like Karl Marx he was convinced that major social upheaval was inevitable, but he argued for a different social structure - one where innate human goodness would not only overcome individualist capitalist greed but obviate the necessity of overbearing government control. Kropotkin’s faith in humanity and the reasonableness of man may seem naive, but his slogans are persuasive. ‘All belongs to all’; 'well-being for all’; ‘anarchist Communism, Communism without government - the Communism of the free: it is the synthesis of the two ideals pursued by humanity throughout the ages - economic and political liberty.’ His views encompassed further ideals: wealth should not hoarded by the few but distributed to each according to his need; women must be released from traditional domestic drudgery (he predicted that new machines would lightening the domestic load); the working day could easily be reduced to five hours a day, allowing more leisure time. With these innovations, Kropotkin argues, the future would be very different. The Conquest of Bread is a classic political text of an idealistic vision that may never come to pass but which contains views which are difficult - theoretically - to dismiss.
Public Domain (P)2018 Ukemi Audiobooks
Juliet Takes a Breath
Summary
Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving the Bronx and headed to Portland, Oregon. She just came out to her family and isn't sure if her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan, sort of, one that's going to help her figure out this whole "Puerto Rican lesbian" thing. She's interning with the author of her favorite book: Harlowe Brisbane, the ultimate authority on feminism, women's bodies, and other gay-sounding stuff. Will Juliet be able to figure out her life over the course of one magical summer? Is that even possible? Or is she running away from all the problems that seem too big to handle? With more questions than answers, Juliet takes on Portland, Harlowe, and most importantly, herself.
©2016 Gabby Rivera (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Touch
Summary
Kepler had never meant to die this way--viciously beaten to death by a stinking vagrant in a dark back alley. But when reaching out to the murderer for salvation in those last dying moments, a sudden switch takes place. Now Kepler is looking out through the eyes of the killer himself, staring down at a broken and ruined body lying in the dirt of the alley. Instead of dying Kepler has gained the ability to roam from one body to another, to jump into other people's skin and see through their eyes, live their lives, be it for a few minutes, a few months, or a lifetime. Kepler means these host bodies no harm and even comes to cherish them intimately, like lovers. But when one host, Josephine Cebula, is brutally assassinated, Kepler embarks on a mission to seek the truth--and avenge Josephine's death.
©2015 Claire North (P)2015 Hachette Audio
The Prisoner of Heaven
Summary
Once again, internationally acclaimed, New York Times best-selling author Carlos Ruiz Zafón creates a rich, labyrinthine tale of love, literature, passion, and revenge, set in a dark, gothic Barcelona, in which the heroes of The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game must contend with a nemesis that threatens to destroy them. "Gabriel García Márquez meets Umberto Eco meets Jorge Luis Borges for a sprawling magic show." - New York Times Book Review on Shadow of the Wind
©2012 Carlos Ruiz Zafon (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Against a Dark Background
Summary
Sharrow was once the leader of a personality-attuned combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the civilisation based around the planet Golter. Now she is hunted by the Huhsz, a religious cult which believes that she is the last obstacle before the faith's apotheosis. Her only hope of escape is to find the last of the apocalyptically powerful Lazy Guns before the Huhsz find her. Her journey through the exotic Golterian system is a destructive and savage odyssey into her past, and that of her family and of the system itself.
©1993 Iain M. Banks (P)2012 Hachette Digital
The Tower of Fools
Summary
Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series has become a fantasy phenomenon, finding millions of fans worldwide and inspiring the hit Netflix show and video games. Now the best-selling author introduces listeners to a beloved new hero on an epic journey in The Tower of Fools, the first book of the Hussite Trilogy. "A ripping yarn delivered with world-weary wit, bursting at the seams with sex, death, magic and madness." (Joe Abercrombie) "This is historical fantasy done right." (Publishers Weekly, starred review) "A fantastic novel that any fan of The Witcher will instantly appreciate." (The Gamer) Reinmar of Bielawa, sometimes known as Reynevan, is a healer, a magician, and according to some, a charlatan. When a thoughtless indiscretion forces him to flee his home, he finds himself pursued - not only by brothers bent on vengeance, but by the Holy Inquisition. In a time when tensions between Hussite and Catholic countries are threatening to turn into war and mystical forces are gathering in the shadows, Reynevan's journey will lead him to the Narrenturm - the Tower of Fools. The Tower is an asylum for the mad...or for those who dare to think differently and challenge the prevailing order. And escaping it, avoiding the conflict around him, and keeping his own sanity will prove more difficult than he ever imagined. Also by Andrzej Sapkowski: Witcher collections The Last Wish Sword of Destiny Witcher novels Blood of Elves The Time of Contempt Baptism of Fire The Tower of Swallows Lady of the Lake Season of Storms The Malady and Other Stories: An Andrzej Sapkowski Sampler (e-only) Translated by David French
©2020 Andrzej Sapkowski (P)2020 Orbit
Lion of Macedon
Summary
His name is Parmenion. Despised by Spartans and Macedonians alike, he must fight for his place in the world. Yet he will survive. Dark forces have marked out his destiny as the most fearsome warlord Greece has ever known. For he will become the Lion of Macedon - and will reshape the glory of Greece before he faces the wrath of hell....
©2017 David Gemmell (P)2017 Little Brown Book Group
Chronicles of a Royal Pet: The Majesty of Magic
Summary
It has been a wild ride for Jelly the Ooze since he was born. Adopted as a pet by a princess, obtaining a soul and a mind, and being blessed by a caring family and doted on by powerful gods. Now, Jelly is accompanying Princess Liliana on her way to the Royal Varian Academy of Magic, where they both plan to learn more about the mystical arts. But not all is well, for a mad woman seeks the death of Varia's princess and will stop at nothing to ensure it happens. Add onto that new friends, bullies, and a prophecy, and Jelly has his tendrils full keeping the people he knows and loves safe. Plus, the Ooze has two new companions of his own to deal with and a rather eccentric mentor. In the end, can anyone truly stop the coming of the void? And will Jelly be the one to try?
©2017 Ian Rodgers (P)2017 Podium Publishing
Dark Prince
Summary
Parmenion, the Lion of Macedon - a lone hero in search of salvation and instead finding destiny. Alexander, the Dark Prince - a child who will become Alexander, founder of the greatest empire the world has ever known. He will conquer all, save for the Chaos Spirit, the immortal evil that dwells in his soul. Together they will be forced into other dimensions, across time, into enchanted worlds full of wonder and sorcery....
©1991 David Gemmell (P)2017 Little Brown Book Group
Chronicles of a Royal Pet: Heroes Collide
Summary
Jelly has come to terms with two facts: one, having friends is hard, and two, trying to save Erafore with them may be a little bit harder to pull off. Ever since he entered the Aether, things have changed for him. As a Chosen One, it is his duty to save his world from the cruel caress of the Void. Part of that duty is to fight alongside his fellow Chosen Ones, but can Jelly really handle the other two individuals the goddess Nia has selected to save Erafore? He will need every ounce of cunning and strength he can scrounge up, though, because the forces of the Void will not tolerate this gathering of Chosen Ones, and will slay them if at all possible. His companions are Dora, a half-orc Healer who carries guilt and resentment about her life back home, and Gaelin, a nice guy wearing cursed armor, and who has a worrying hatred for birds. Can the three of them survive each other?
©2019 Ian Rodgers (P)2020 Podium Audio
Chronicles of a Royal Pet: Drifting in the Aether
Summary
From the marble city of Sanc Aldet, to the dark woods of the Dullwilds, to the dragon-filled continent of Drakon, Jelly has become a rather well-traveled Ooze. However, he is about to go on the biggest trip of his life when the X-ranked adventurer Jeris Cowl takes the young Royal Ooze for special training far away in the mystical planes of the Aether, a land beyond mortality, where the Heavens and Hells clash and eldritch entities of primordial energy reign as gods over entire universes. The Void watches, and seeks to subvert the hero chosen by Fate to stop it, however. It sends dark agents after Jelly, and he must decide what is more important: his mission, or his own desires? Things are shifting in the Realm Beyond Realms, and events are coming ever closer to the brink. Can Jelly become a herald of Light, or will he fall into Darkness?
©2018 Ian Rodgers (P)2019 Podium Publishing
The Congruent Apprentice
Summary
Young wizards coming of age in a time of war.... Will they be ready? Eynon was excited to leave his village and set off on his wander year. He’d turned 16 today, and hoped for at least a few adventures. At high noon, he arrived a crossroads and saw a shimmer of silver in the mud. It was a thin and dirty oval, about the size of his palm. He washed it with squirts of water from his goatskin, then marveled at what was revealed. It was a silver amulet, worked with complex, interlaced designs. An oval blue gem more than an inch across, with deep facets, was set in its center. The silver danced with reflected sunlight and the gem seemed to be filled with sparks. It was the most beautifully crafted thing he’d ever seen. Eynon noticed strange writing on the back of the amulet. As he raised it to eye level for closer inspection, one of his fingers inadvertently pressed a small stud on the edge. A tremendous blast of blue fire shot out from the gem on the opposite side, striking an ancient leafless oak and turning it into a flaming torch. Someone behind him whistled. Eynon dropped the amulet, afraid of what else it might do, and turned to see an old farmer, leaning on a shovel. “Well, young man,” said the farmer. “It looks like you’re going to need a wizard.”
©2018 Podium Publishing; 2017 Dave Schroeder (P)2018 Podium Publishing
Chronicles of a Royal Pet: A Princess and an Ooze
Summary
The world of Erafore is one full of magic and mystery. Heroes battle dragons, mages confront demons, and the gods watch over it all. Yet among these incredible beings, a single creature is born with the power to rewrite the destiny of the land. Taken in as a pet by the princess of the Kingdom of Varia, a mere Ooze will rise to stand in the tide of fate and defend the ones he loves from an encroaching void. But can a monster ever truly become a man?
©2017 Ian Rodgers (P)2017 Podium Publishing
The House of Shattered Wings
Summary
Multiaward-winning author Aliette de Bodard brings her story of the War in Heaven to Paris, igniting the City of Light in a fantasy of divine power and deep conspiracy. In the late 20th century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins. The Great Magicians' War left a trail of devastation in its wake. The grands magasins have been reduced to piles of debris, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine has turned black with ashes and rubble and the remnants of the spells that tore the city apart. But those who survived still retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and the great houses still vie for dominion over France's once-grand capital. Once the most powerful and formidable, House Silverspires now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls. Within the house, three very different people must come together: a naïve but powerful fallen angel, an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells of unknown origin. They may be Silverspires' salvation - or the architects of its last, irreversible fall. And if Silverspires falls, so may the city itself.
©2015 Orion Publishing Group (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks
Creation Mage
Summary
The last thing I expected was to gain the spells of the woman in my bed. Hell, I didn't even know magic existed until I'd cast a spell that morning. Then a beautiful teacher from a magical academy told me I could become the universe's most powerful mage. To get there, I need to become stronger. I need to ace all my examinations. And, most of all, I need to master the most potent spells. But I have to start somewhere. This begins my first year at the Mazirian Academy.
©2021 Dante King (P)2021 Podium Audio
The End of the Day
Summary
At the end of the day, Death visits everyone. Right before that, Charlie does. You might meet him in a hospital, in a war zone, or at the scene of a traffic accident. Then again, you might meet him at the North Pole - he gets everywhere, our Charlie. Would you shake him by the hand, take the gift he offers, or would you pay no attention to the words he says? Sometimes he is sent as a courtesy, sometimes as a warning. He never knows which. The End of the Day is the stunning new novel by Claire North, author of word-of-mouth best-seller The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.
©2017 Claire North (P)2017 Hachette Audio
Chronicles of a Royal Pet: Wood, Stone, and Bone
Summary
It has been over a year since Jelly the Royal Ooze left the Royal Varian Mages Academy, and his owner, Princess Liliana Roan. Wandering Orria as a novice adventurer, Jelly desires to become stronger so he can protect those he loves as the agent of the Void creep ever closer. But an intriguing rumor reaches the young Ooze. A rumor about strange, slime-based beings who are able to talk. Creatures much like himself. Desperate to find others like himself, Jelly, his Carbuncle Familiar Rosa, and the kindly Spirit of Knowledge Tara who lives in his head, all venture south of Varia towards the forested kingdom of Brune to uncover the secret of the talking Oozes. But not only are there those who seek to stop him from uncovering the truth, but the ancient forests tremble as something old and vengeful stirs. Loneliness is a powerful motivator. But can someone truly be alone when surrounded by those who love them?
©2017 Ian Rodgers (P)2018 Podium Publishing