Mmmm, Brains...The Best Zombie Series to Devour in Audio | Audible.com

Mmmm, Brains...The Best Zombie Series to Devour in Audio | Audible.com

Satisfy your cravings with the 20 best zombie audiobooks ever

A great zombie audiobook combines visceral action, the distress of watching the dead rise, and the inexorability of the human will to survive. Here's just a few of our favorites.

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Eileen Gonzalez

October 18, 2022

Satisfy your cravings with the 20 best zombie audiobooks ever

Zombies have been a potent cultural force for decades. Something about the concept of a ragtag crew of survivors facing off against endless masses of shuffling brain-munchers really seems to speak to people! There are hundreds, if not thousands, of zombie-themed stories out there. But which ones are the very best? And which zombie audiobooks will have you double-checking the locks and sleeping with a baseball bat next to your bed?

Never fear! We’ve combed through the hordes to find the best postapocalyptic zombie listens. They go above and beyond the usual decimated wastelands and battles with the undead. Unforgettable character arcs, high-stakes plots, and the occasional dash of humor make each of these series special. And even if you’ve already read the books, the audiobooks are well worth seeking out specifically for the listening experience. Top-notch narration adds a captivating new dimension to these spellbinding stories, allowing you to discover (er, devour?) them in a whole new way. So, grab your earbuds and keep that baseball bat close at hand.

Eileen Gonzalez is a freelance writer from Connecticut. She has a Master's degree in communications and years of experience writing about pop culture. She contributes to Book Riot and Foreword Reviews.

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Dread Nation

Justina Ireland

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In the middle of the American Civil War, zombies rise to walk the earth. The Union and the Confederacy are forced to put their battles on hold to combat this new menace—and desperately need more fighters. The zombie invasion provides an unprecedented opportunity for young Black girls like Jane McKeene. Thanks to laws like the Native and Negro Education Act, Jane is sent to combat schools and trained in the fine art of zombie hunting. Jane wants more from life than fighting and bloodshed but fighting and bloodshed have a habit of finding her wherever she goes. Whether searching for missing families or unlocking the secrets of a supposedly safe town, Jane does not lack chances to use her training—no matter how much she wishes she could just get away from it all. Narrated by Hall of Famer Bahni Turpin, Dread Nation will keep you feeling and rooting for its brave and fierce heroine.

World War Z: The Complete Edition

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This Audie Award winner is a special, star-studded edition of one of the most acclaimed zombie stories in recent memory. The new content and talented voice cast—including show-stopping talent like Mark Hamill, Rob Reiner, Simon Pegg, and Martin Scorsese—enliven the already unforgettable story, in which survivors give firsthand accounts of the Zombie War that nearly wiped out humanity. The audiobook conveys the survivors’ harrowing stories in a frighteningly realistic documentary style, with author Max Brooks acting as the interviewer. From an astronaut safely isolated in space to everyday suburban families in the thick of the outbreak, each character’s story provides a fresh perspective on the pandemonium and heartbreak of society’s collapse. Imbued with tension and mystery, the emotive performances by the cast are gripping from start to finish.

Rot & Ruin

Jonathan Maberry

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Zombie hunting has always sounded pretty boring to 15-year-old Benny Imura. But he needs a job, and since zombie hunting is the only job available at the moment, he begins training. All the while, he hopes to escape his troubled family and build a better life. On his path, he makes some friends with similar ambitions and finds his long-lost brother. Together, they embark on a treacherous quest for safety from the zombie plague—and maybe even a cure. Along the way, they learn that zombies are nowhere near the top of the list of scary creatures that want them dead ... and there's more to being human than just not being a zombie. When it comes to zombie series, you can't beat Jonathan Maberry's saga for sweeping excitement, and you can't beat the audio experience—featuring the likes of Benny Hutchison and Ray Porter—for immersing yourself in Benny Imura's world.

The Girl with All the Gifts

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Critics and listeners won’t say much about the plot of this unique title—except that it’s surprising, moving, and, overall, great. We can’t say much more here either, as the twists are too good to risk spoiling. But what we can say is this is a story about a special young girl named Melanie, zombies, and being human. The thrilling plot is carried by deep, multi-faceted characters, and though listeners may think they know where this story is headed, author M. R. Carey will surprise them at every turn. Narrator Finty Williams is at the top of her game as she tells Melanie’s mysterious story; the voices she gives each dynamic character are at once distinctive enough to identify and cohesive as a listening experience. Made all the more pause-resistant by Williams’s melodic English accent, The Girl with All the Gifts is an excellent candidate for your next listen.

My Life as a White Trash Zombie

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Angel Crawford feels like her life is more or less set—she’s a high school dropout living in the swamps of southern Louisiana with neglectful parents, a drug habit, and a criminal record. When she gets into a car crash and becomes a zombie, though, her drug addictions disappear, and she finds herself craving a different matter entirely. This Audie Award-nominated audiobook eloquently tackles the difficult issues that plagued Angel’s human life while also satisfying listeners’ desire for classic zombie themes like brains, guts, and gory adventure. Narrator Allison McLemore is so talented, wielding a wide range of genuine Southern drawls, but what we love most about her performance is how well she seems to understand the intricacies of Diana Rowland's scrappy heroine.

Genesis: Arisen, Book 0.5

Michael Stephen Fuchs

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When the zombie apocalypse breaks out, the entire world falls with alarming speed. Only Great Britain closes its borders fast enough to escape widespread infection. As the zombie plague creeps ever closer to London, a few scattered special ops teams are humanity's only hope for survival. They travel the world, fending off massive surges of zombie attackers—and occasionally, their fellow humans—as they race to develop a vaccine before humanity is lost forever. The stakes and the odds are sky high, and not everyone will live to see the fruits of their heroic labors. At the end of the day, a handful of brave humans are pitted against billions of ravenous undead. Arisen is a sprawling, well-developed epic, with 20 titles currently available. And R.C. Bray, who’s been pegged by listeners as “one of the best narrators around,” performs it all, masterfully.

Raising Stony Mayhall

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After a mysterious zombie outbreak, Wanda Mayhall discovers a dead young mother cradling her apparently deceased baby. But she soon realizes that, like so many of the changed humans shuffling outside, the child is both dead and alive. With the help of Mayhall and her daughters, the baby, who they name Stony, grows up cared for and hidden from authorities. When they’re eventually exposed, Stony is forced to run. What follows is a journey of self-discovery and a testament to the strength of familial love. From the first minute of this audiobook, it’s clear that award-winning author Daryl Gregory had fun crafting this zombie story, and narrator David Marantz captures that lightness without losing the story’s careful balance between humor and drama.

Feed

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Feed is the first of a trilogy that focuses as much on political intrigue as it does on zombie-driven action. Cures for both cancer and the common cold lead to a viral outbreak that turns those infected into zombies. It persists, and 20 years after the initial outbreak, uninfected people and monstrous zombies live in side-by-side territories dominated by paranoia and fear. Enter Shaun and Georgia Mason, a brother and sister team of bloggers working on a presidential campaign. As they gradually uncover a potential conspiracy behind the Rising, this audiobook begins to feel like listening to a journalist’s personal recordings, heightening the tension in a way that drives home the intense fear permeating the world Mira Grant has created. Feed isn’t just a thrilling zombie joyride—it’s also a smart, snappy, and timely political thriller.

Day By Day Armageddon

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J. L. Bourne has crafted a zombie survival story that is so engrossing it makes real life feel a bit scarier too. Listeners meet Bourne’s main character, a Navy pilot stationed in Texas, through his personal diary as the horrifying reality of his situation slowly unfolds over several entries. From there, listeners are all in, following our hero's attempts to make contact with and protect other survivors, outlast the undead surrounding him, and find reasons to maintain hope. The gaps left in the narrative whenever the pilot is under attack are maddening, and that tension, coupled with narrator Jay Snyder’s intense, emotive performance, can make it incredibly difficult to resist listening to Day by Day Armageddon in one sitting.

Zombie Fallout: Zero

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Amidst the turmoil and uncertainty of the zombie apocalypse, one family struggles for more than survival. The Talbots are led by Michael, the family patriarch, and joined by Tommy, a strange young man whose shocking secret will either save or doom them all. Refusing to give up their fight for safety and sanity, they are willing to die for their ultimate goal: victory over the ravenous zombies. This makes them targets of several groups who want humanity extinguished, or who simply want the Talbots out of the way. Undead hordes, a zombie queen, and angry vampires all stalk Michael and his rebel band. Will they stop him from saving his family—and the world? There are currently 15 books in the series, all performed by the talented Sean Runnette, who ably embodies Michael's sardonic outlook.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Seth Grahame-Smith, Jane Austen

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Jane Austen’s sharp, satirical Pride and Prejudice is already whip smart, and Seth Grahame-Smith’s additions capitalize on the source in unexpectedly creative ways. Practical Elizabeth Bennett, one of five daughters to a steadfast father and charmingly ridiculous mother, meets and eventually marries the taciturn Fitzwilliam Darcy. Then, naturally, she has to deal with the most inconvenient zombie invasion, which fits into the work so seamlessly it feels like it was always intended to be there. Grahame-Smith gives the aspects of Elizabeth’s character fans most admire—her quick thinking and strong will—a new stage on which to shine. Acclaimed narrator Katherine Kellgren is a force to be reckoned with as she effortlessly articulates Austen and Grahame-Smith’s combined fast-paced dialogue at a rollicking clip. Her delivery of every character is adept, but it’s her tremulous, dramatic Mrs. Bennett that'll draw in listeners right from the start.

Cell

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No horror list of any kind would be complete without a Stephen King selection, and for zombie action, Cell is our pick. King plays on our fear of technology going too far in this thriller when he introduces a virus that is transmitted to millions through devices we constantly keep on hand: cell phones. Narrated by the experienced Campbell Scott—who’s more than proven his mettle by narrating tales like The Shining and Oryx and Crake—Cell is a well-paced, well-acted listen. Scott knows when to pull back and when to dial up the dramatics, making for narration that’s neither overacted nor underplayed. In short, it’s a balanced performance that brings to immersive life yet another of King’s frighteningly plausible works, filled with equal parts gory zombie annihilation and existential questions about our relationship with technology.

Warm Bodies

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Warm Bodies puts listeners directly into the fuller-than-expected head of a zombie, R, as he roams around looking for brains to eat and thinking about the nature of his mostly empty existence. In a flash, his purpose shifts from brains to romance, when he experiences the memories of his latest meal’s girlfriend and discovers he still has the capacity to love. His choice to pursue Julie—and defy his zombie nature—has implications not just for him but for all of his reanimated kind. This blend of teenage rom-com and zombie thriller is a surprisingly sweet listen, and narrator Kevin Kenerly elevates its quirkiness with his performance as R. The contemplative, hushed tone with which he delivers R’s introspection on what it means to be a human when you’re mostly dead lends a further tenderness to this strange love story.

Patient Zero

Jonathan Maberry

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Expert narrator Ray Porter lends his deep, smooth voice to leading man Joe Ledger in this dark audiobook about a top-secret government initiative to contain a potential zombie virus outbreak. Ledger is a hardened Baltimore detective with a sharp wit, cynical outlook, and impeccable career history when he’s recruited to the Department of Military Sciences for a rapid-response mission with national security on the line. Porter plays his journey from bravado to disbelieving horror with deftness and subtlety. Because this selection is focused on a mission to prevent a zombie outbreak, the story comes with a built-in countdown clock that raises the stakes to a nerve-wracking level, turning a casual listen into a heart-pounding thriller. At turns funny and stomach-churning, Patient Zero is a must-listen for zombie fans.

Zone One

Colson Whitehead

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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead’s Zone One is a cutting-edge take on a familiar monster story. Set in a world ravaged by a plague that transformed much of the population into living dead creatures, this literary novel examines life after the apocalypse, focusing on how to rebuild when all seems lost. The provisional government sets out with an ambitious goal—to retake and resettle the island of Manhattan. But the civilian teams who migrate to New York aren't alone. Among the dangerous infected wandering the city streets are the eerie, empty stragglers, catatonic husks left behind to ponder their former lives. This listen is also a standout for its construction of a clever narrative that homes in on both societal ills and human strengths and pitfalls.

Married with Zombies

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Like your zombies with a side of romance? We have the listen for you! Recognized for her endlessly versatile voice, Hall of Fame narrator Cassandra Campbell switches seamlessly between wife Sarah and husband David in this zombie horror and romance crossover. She brings a flair to each character and capably carries the dry wit of author Jesse Peterson’s story about a struggling couple who realize, on their way to marriage counseling, that they may have to work out their issues on the way through unexpected zombie carnage. Married with Zombies is a gem that combines the tropes we love from romance with the tropes we love from zombie horror, perfectly balancing the seemingly opposed genres. How Sarah and David learn to live with each other and the undead is genuinely funny, shocking, and heartwarming.

The Zombie Survival Guide

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Our second Max Brooks selection isn’t a story about a zombie apocalypse—it’s a how-to guide to survive one. It can be difficult to tell if Brooks is joking or not at points in this audiobook, and that’s much of the work’s charm. Narrator Marc Cashman’s matter-of-fact performance perfectly encapsulates the deadpan, dry humor Brooks infuses into The Zombie Survival Guide. When he describes the biology and physiology of the zombie, ideal weapons for taking down zombies, and exit strategies from infested areas, it’s done with the sarcastic edge of an expert zombie writer who knows the threat isn’t real ... yet. On the flip side, the more serious moments of Cashman’s performance encourage listeners to pay close attention to Brooks’s solid survivalist advice—in case the worst should happen.

The Rising

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Joe Hempel is no stranger to horror audiobooks, having narrated a number of them over the course of his prolific career thus far, and his expertise is evident as he guides listeners through this twisted, dark story. Devoted father Jim Thurmond searches for his son across a ravaged country, beset by hordes of zombies that are fully sentient and controlled by an external evil. These undead legions can think and plan with bone-chilling intent, so Jim must act with near perfection to get past them—but even if he does, listeners can’t be sure his son will be on the other side. Jim’s driving force to find his son translates into an insatiable need to keep listening. In this updated version with Hempel at the mic, there’s space (literally, at times, with expertly placed silences) to feel the sinister, desolate atmosphere of The Rising more acutely than ever.

Gideon the Ninth

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Moira Quirk's narration breathes life into the bold, action-packed fantasy world author Tamsyn Muir creates in her Locked Tomb series, opening with Gideon the Ninth. In need of skilled and fearless necromancers, the Emperor announces a competition, open to each of his Houses, to prove who is the best necromancer of all. The reward for victory? Immortality. The penalty for failure? Death. This all sounds great to Gideon, a swordswoman whose talent has long outstripped her status as an indentured servant. She signs up to fight alongside Harrow, a bone witch and heir to the Ninth House. Harrow and Gideon make an excellent team, racking up victory after victory, even after the competition. But the more foes they vanquish, the more they have reason to wonder if the prize is really worth the battle—and if the world would be better off without people like them.

Plague of the Dead

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Two United States military commanders on opposite sides of the world deal with the same world-ending calamity—a fatal viral outbreak that reanimates those who die. One struggles to keep those depending on him alive, while the other contemplates whether to leak the cause of the viral outbreak to the public. Audie Award winner Oliver Wyman’s crisp, clipped diction mirrors the military focus of this title, and the recitation of zombie-related horrors in his precise tone adds a chill to the daunting survival decisions the two commanders must make. With a laser focus on strategy as much as human emotion, Plague of the Dead raises a serious question: Do we have what it takes to survive the end of the world?

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