I’ve always been a big reader, up until college when it became next to impossible for me to sit down with a book. That’s when I started listening to them.
Since I started listening to audiobooks, I have fallen in love with the format. I get excited when a narrator I enjoy does a new book, I clean my room way more often when I have something to listen to. Anything I’m doing that doesn’t require a lot of thought, I’m listening to my book.
In my three years of listening, I’ve read a lot of books. Here are the book series I’ve obsessed over (read multiple times, possibly some fanfiction involved).
**I am leaving Harry Potter off this list because it’s obviously on my list and I’ve listened to it a thousand times, consider it an honorable mention and forever on every list
The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
Narrated by Lauren Fortgang
Something about Leigh Bardugo’s writing style gets me. She has a very specific voice that perfectly fits Lauren Fortgang, who voices all of the books. The Grisha universe is based around Russian folklore and saints. Grisha are people with extraordinary abilities who are often called witches. Alina Starkov, the protagonist, discovers her ability to summon sunlight late in her life and soon is revered as a saint by the common people. She starts to question if the saints she knew were actually saints or if they were regular people who had talent and then died horribly. The story dives deep into abusive relationships and trauma. For a story that follows a standard story arc, it is incredibly unique. Every character could have their own book and hopefully many of them will as Bardugo keeps expanding the universe.
Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo
Narrated by Lauren Fortgang and cast
This is the same author and same universe but I’m counting it as a separate series because I can and I want to. Six of Crows takes place three years after the events of the original series and in a completely different country called Kirch. Unlike the original trilogy, these books don’t follow the classic YA storyline. Instead it follows a group of six people who are struggling to survive in a brutal culture. Basically, it’s a heist and a badass heist, it really is unpredictable when you first read it. Through the characters, Bardugo explores the different traumas each character is coping with in a way that is clear and makes the reader understand the characters. Magical world, but real and (somewhat) relatable traumas.
The Cruel Prince Trilogy by Holly Black
Narrated by Caitlin Kelly
I won’t lie, this one is a little trash, but if we can’t enjoy the occasional cringe storyline then what is the point in reading? The Cruel Prince is about three sisters who are brought to live in Fairey by the fey who killed their parents in front of them (brutal start). The story is from the perspective of Jude, she and her twin are mortals and are treated like lower class and Jude is hoping to become a knight to escape the abuse. It’s actually a really well written story, the ‘trash’ part is the love interest. It is a classic enemy-to-lover storyline that makes me a little ashamed for enjoying it but not nearly enough that I won’t proudly pronounce it.
The Gender Game by Bella Forrest
Narrated by Rebecca Soler
This series is a little on-the-nose symbolism, but again, I really enjoy the characters! The series is long and hard to summarize but essentially: There was an apocalypse, a group of people survived and established two countries; Matrus and Patrus, a matriarchy and patriarchy (on-the-nose), both countries suck, two people named Violet and Viggo from either nation fall in love and form a resistance to fight Matrus who are doing shady shit. What I like about Violet and Viggo is they don’t do the ‘will they-won’t they’ or ‘I’m staying away to protect you because I love you’ things. They have a bit of a rocky start but by the middle of book two they’re pretty much together and are very consistently there and supporting each other. YA fiction is full of questionable romances so it’s really refreshing to have a series that focuses on how strong and fricken awesome healthy relationships are.
The only thing that matters to me are stories. I don’t care if I read them on a page, on a screen or if I listen to them. Call it reading, call it listening, I’m just happy enjoying stories I love.