Earthlight

Babylon 5 and Sense8 creator Straczynski (Doctor Strange: Beginnings and Endings) thrusts listeners into a adrenaline-fueled near-future adventure, following a group of NATO fighter pilots as they face up against increasingly aggressive Russian forces. NATO’s cocky, über-talented pilots are the newest Project Earthlight recruits, based at a command center in space and tasked with flying state-of-the-art planes that can operate in space and the Earth’s atmosphere. The novel is bombastic and action-packed, narrated here by a talented full cast that conveys the pilots’ full range of emotions—excitement about their high-tech gear, trepidation as they prepare for their unprecedented mission, courage in battle, and genuine love for their home countries. The audiobook’s carefully engineered soundscape—notice the hum of an engine, the fading scream of a rocket, plus clanks, clangs, and radio static—thrums with energy and makes for a propulsive, wholly absorbing listen.