My Top 5 Audiobook Recommendations

Hi bookish friends! Today’s newsletter covers:

• Early access to my video essay about why the romance between the Thirteenth Doctor and Yasmin Khan in Doctor Who missed the mark, and what I would do to fix it.

• My spoiler-free breakdown of the differences between The Everlasting and The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow.

• My experience meeting some of my favorite authors at BookCon.

• A bookish yap session full of hot takes from me and my friend Basma.

• The long-awaited resolution to the Crave copyright lawsuit.

• An explanation of the time Cassandra Clare was wrongly sued for copyright infringement.

But first, a foray into the wonders of audiobooks!

Historically, I haven’t been much of an audiobook reader, but I’ve started listening to them more over the last year for entertainment in the car. In the process, I have discovered that some books lend themselves especially well to audio format.

For people who are audiobook fans or are interested in trying out audiobooks, here are five titles that absolutely came to life for me when I experienced them in the world of sound! In no particular order:

1. Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo

Escape Velocity is a science fiction thriller about rich people doing weird rich people things on a luxury space station, old classmates trying to solve a decades-old murder, and the crew of the spaceship attempting to overthrow the elites.

I listened to this audiobook on a long road trip, and every time I hit a rest stop, I made sure to hurry through my bathroom breaks so I could get back in the car and find out what happened next! Narrator Joel de la Fuente was excellent at keeping up the suspense — and as someone who likes listening to audiobooks on higher than 1x speed, I really appreciated how clear his narration was.

2. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

The Ministry of Time is a romantic science fiction tale about a civil servant from the near future who must help an Arctic explorer pulled out of time from the 1800s to adjust to modern life. I was on the fence about including this book on this list for two reasons. First, the audiobook mixing was quite dynamic, so sometimes the narration got very loud and sometimes it got very soft (though that might have just been my car speakers). Second, the book contains several lovely turns of phrase that I might have appreciated more if I got to slow down and savor them with my eyes.

In the end, though, Katie Leung’s narration on this title is so fantastic that I couldn’t leave it out. She creates unique, charming voices for each character that gave me a whole new dimension of their personality. The English accent that Leung uses throughout most of the story did mean that I couldn’t quite unhear Caitlyn Kiramman from the Arcane TV show, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

3. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

A Master of Djinn is an alternate history fantasy novel with a steampunk flair set in 1912 Cairo, where a lady detective must take down a serial killer who is claiming to be a legendary mystic. Narrator Suehyla El-Attar beautifully brings the voices of the cast to life. Her tone enhances the tension and intrigue of the story, as well as bringing out humor and irony in appropriate places.

4. Cold Eternity by S.A. Barnes

Cold Eternity is a sci-fi horror novel about a political staffer on the run who accepts a job as the caretaker of a creepy old spaceship full of cryogenically frozen bodies, only to find that the ship’s creaks and rattles might not just be down to its age. Amara Jasper’s narration perfectly captured main character Halley’s desperation and fear, and kept me gasping at the reveals!

5. To Bargain With Mortals by R.A. Basu

To Bargain With Mortals is a fantasy novel about a Viceroy’s adopted daughter who wants to help her colonized people, and a ruthless criminal who kidnaps her to use as leverage against her father.

It’s sometimes hard to pull off a good dual point of view story as an audiobook, because I often end up liking one of the narrators more than the other, but Nikita Tewani and Fajer Al-Kaisi both put in great performances as Poppy and Hasan. I also thought they were pretty good at doing each other’s character voices when dialogue and such made it necessary.

Are there any audiobooks that you particularly loved? Share in the comments!

Watch Early: Why Thasmin Failed (And How To Fix It)

The romance between the Thirteenth Doctor and her companion Yasmin Khan was the first time in Doctor Who where the Doctor had a same-sex romance on screen. This was a huge milestone for the show in terms of queer representation … but unfortunately, the execution of the storyline was underwhelming, and it ended in a way that left many fans incensed.

But did it have to be this way? In my newest video essay, I break down the problems with the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz’s romance (aka Thasmin) and present some ideas for how it could actually have been great.

This video will be available to the public in a few days’ time, but email subscribers get to watch it early at this unlisted link!

The Everlasting vs. The Six Deaths of the Saint

Like many fantasy readers lately, I have become obsessed with The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow — not least because it’s based on one of my favorite short stories, The Six Deaths of the Saint, which Harrow published in 2022. But which one should you read first? Will reading one of them spoil the other?

To answer these questions and more about these two connected stories, I created a mini video essay that is available to watch on YouTube Shorts, Instagram, and TikTok:

Meeting Authors at BookCon!

The long-awaited return of BookCon occurred on the weekend of April 18-19, and I went along determined to meet several of my favorite authors and bookstagram friends. While the con itself was very crowded and overwhelming, and I don’t know if I’ll be back next year, I really appreciated getting to meet so many awesome people! Here’s a collage of all the authors I got to meet at their book signings:

Relatedly, I made an Instagram Reel with my bookstagram friend @jdiazbooks, combining photos of me at BookCon and her at the LA Times Book Festival happening that same weekend. Distance may separate us, but books unite us!

Bookish Hot Takes With @BookishBasma

Last month, my friend Basma (@BookishBasma) and I hosted one of our periodic live streams where we yap about whatever bookish things we feel like. Kind of like we’re on FaceTime, but it’s public. The recording of that live stream is available to watch on Instagram! Our discussion included:

• Current reads (The Everlasting and Lore of the Wilds for me; Aicha and Deathbringer for Basma)

• BookCon and other bookish conventions

• Embarrassing ourselves in front of authors

• People being weird in internet comments

• Plagiarism lawsuits

• Authors being accused of writing with AI

• Generative AI ethics and AI “art”

• And more!

The Crave Plagiarism Scandal Verdict

While I was editing my most recent published video essay about paranormal romance plagiarism scandals, one of the lawsuits in question finally resulted in a summary judgment! In addition to updating the full video essay, I created a short video explaining the resolution to the years-long legal battle between unpublished writer Lynne Freeman and bestselling romantasy author Tracy Wolff. The short is available to watch on YouTube Shorts, Instagram, and TikTok.

Explaining the Cassandra Clare Copyright Lawsuit

Last month, I cut part of my plagiarism video essay into a three-minute short video covering the basics of the time Dark Hunters author Sherrilyn Kenyon sued Shadowhunters writer Cassandra Clare in 2016. Spoiler alert: Clare was almost certainly innocent. The short is available to watch on YouTube Shorts, Instagram, and TikTok.

Thank you so much for reading! Until next time, bookish friends.

Love,

Ellie