
Goliath
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
By:
-
Tochi Onyebuchi
About this listen
"A diverse cast of narrators provides glimpses of a near-future Earth devastated by climate change, nuclear disaster, and disease."—AudioFile Magazine
“Onyebuchi sets fire to the boundary between fiction and reality, and brings a crumbling city and an all too plausible future to vibrant life. Riveting, disturbing, and rendered in masterful detail.”—Leigh Bardugo
In his adult novel debut, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and NAACP Image Award finalist and ALA Alex and New England Book Award winner Tochi Onyebuchi delivers a sweeping science-fiction epic in the vein of Samuel R. Delany and Station Eleven.
In the 2050s, Earth has begun to empty. Those with the means and the privilege have departed the great cities of the United States for the more comfortable confines of space colonies. Those left behind salvage what they can from the collapsing infrastructure. As they eke out an existence, their neighborhoods are being cannibalized. Brick by brick, their houses are sent to the colonies, what was once a home now a quaint reminder for the colonists of the world that they wrecked.
A primal biblical epic flung into the future, Goliath weaves together disparate narratives—a space-dweller looking at New Haven, Connecticut, as a chance to reconnect with his spiraling lover; a group of laborers attempting to renew the promises of Earth’s crumbling cities; a journalist attempting to capture the violence of the streets; a marshal trying to solve a kidnapping—into a richly urgent mosaic about race, class, gentrification, and who is allowed to be the hero of any history.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.
©2022 Tochi Onyebuchi (P)2022 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
How High We Go in the Dark
- A Novel
- By: Sequoia Nagamatsu
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Brian Nishii, Keisuke Hoashi, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy.
-
-
Should come with a sadness warning
- By KJH on 03-16-22
-
Riot Baby
- By: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Narrated by: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor's son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven't happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands. Rooted in the hope that can live in anger, Riot Baby is as much an intimate family story as a global dystopian narrative.
-
-
I...wasn’t...ready
- By Amazon Customer1 on 04-28-20
By: Tochi Onyebuchi
-
Beyond the Burn Line
- By: Paul McAuley
- Narrated by: Neville Watchurst
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 200,000 years in the future. Humanity is extinct, the ruins of its cities fossilised beneath sediments deposited by rising oceans. After a civilisation of intelligent bears collapsed when a plague turned them into crazed killers, their former slaves, descendants of raccoons who call themselves the people and worship Mother Earth, have driven the last of the former masters northward and built a new civilisation.
-
-
Too much plot, not enough drama
- By joe matazzoni on 04-06-23
By: Paul McAuley
-
Sea of Tranquility
- A Novel
- By: Emily St. John Mandel
- Narrated by: John Lee, Dylan Moore, Arthur Morey, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core.
-
-
An excellent listen.
- By Mark on 04-11-22
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
The Spare Man
- By: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tesla Crane, one of the richest women in the world, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between Earth and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and her husband is named as the prime suspect. To save him from the frame-up, Tesla will risk exposure and face demons from her past. Even though doing so might make her the next victim.
-
-
Classic mystery, forward worldbuilding
- By Deana on 10-16-22
-
How High We Go in the Dark
- A Novel
- By: Sequoia Nagamatsu
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Brian Nishii, Keisuke Hoashi, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy.
-
-
Should come with a sadness warning
- By KJH on 03-16-22
-
Riot Baby
- By: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Narrated by: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor's son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven't happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands. Rooted in the hope that can live in anger, Riot Baby is as much an intimate family story as a global dystopian narrative.
-
-
I...wasn’t...ready
- By Amazon Customer1 on 04-28-20
By: Tochi Onyebuchi
-
Beyond the Burn Line
- By: Paul McAuley
- Narrated by: Neville Watchurst
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 200,000 years in the future. Humanity is extinct, the ruins of its cities fossilised beneath sediments deposited by rising oceans. After a civilisation of intelligent bears collapsed when a plague turned them into crazed killers, their former slaves, descendants of raccoons who call themselves the people and worship Mother Earth, have driven the last of the former masters northward and built a new civilisation.
-
-
Too much plot, not enough drama
- By joe matazzoni on 04-06-23
By: Paul McAuley
-
Sea of Tranquility
- A Novel
- By: Emily St. John Mandel
- Narrated by: John Lee, Dylan Moore, Arthur Morey, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core.
-
-
An excellent listen.
- By Mark on 04-11-22
-
Starter Villain
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.
-
-
Volcanic Lairs, Death Rays & Cats… Oh My! 😼
- By C. White on 09-19-23
By: John Scalzi
-
The Spare Man
- By: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tesla Crane, one of the richest women in the world, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between Earth and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and her husband is named as the prime suspect. To save him from the frame-up, Tesla will risk exposure and face demons from her past. Even though doing so might make her the next victim.
-
-
Classic mystery, forward worldbuilding
- By Deana on 10-16-22
-
The Kaiju Preservation Society
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food-delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls “an animal rights organization”. Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on. What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at at least. In an alternate dimension, dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world.
-
-
I'm listening with a permanent smile on my face
- By Lucy A. Pithecus on 03-15-22
By: John Scalzi
-
Translation State
- By: Ann Leckie
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Enae's grandmaman passes away, Enae inherits something unexpected: a diplomatic assignment to track down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. No one actually expects Enae to succeed; it's an empty assignment meant to keep hir occupied. But Enae has never had a true purpose—no one ever expected hir to do more than care for grandmaman—so sie is determined to accomplish this task to the best of her ability.
-
-
Single themed and not on par with the series
- By Andrew Pollack on 07-01-23
By: Ann Leckie
-
Babel
- Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution
- By: R. F. Kuang
- Narrated by: Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Billie Fulford-Brown
- Length: 21 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.
-
-
The novel language lovers have been waiting for
- By LisaLee on 09-06-22
By: R. F. Kuang
-
Dodgers
- A Novel
- By: Bill Beverly
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dodgers is the story of a young man named East who works for an LA drug gang, sent by his uncle along with some other teenage boys - including East's hotheaded younger brother - to kill a witness connected to a major case, who is hiding out in Wisconsin. The journey takes East out of a city he's never left and into an America that is entirely alien to him, and over the course of his journey the book brings in elements from a diverse array of genres, ranging from crime fiction to road narrative to coming-of-age novel.
-
-
Dodgers leave L.A!! What's the world coming to?
- By JKC on 04-23-16
By: Bill Beverly
-
The Actual Star
- A Novel
- By: Monica Byrne
- Narrated by: Carolina Hoyos, Kareem Ferguson, Gisela Chipe
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Actual Star takes listeners on a journey over thousands of years and six continents—collapsing three separate timelines into one cave in the Belizean jungle. An epic saga of three reincarnated souls, this novel demonstrates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, love and hate. The book jumps forward and backward in time among a pair of twins who ruled a Maya kingdom, a young American on a trip of self-discovery, and two dangerous charismatics in a conflict that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change.
-
-
Maybe the best 2012 story
- By Sean Dustman on 09-21-21
By: Monica Byrne
-
The Monsters We Defy
- By: Leslye Penelope
- Narrated by: Shayna Small
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Washington D. C., 1925. Clara Johnson talks to spirits, a gift that saved her during her darkest moments in a Washington D. C. jail. Now a curse that’s left her indebted to the cunning spirit world. So, when the Empress, the powerful spirit who holds her debt, offers her an opportunity to gain her freedom, a desperate Clara seizes the chance. The task: steal a magical ring from the wealthiest woman in the District.
-
-
absolutely perfect!
- By Kindle Customer on 02-22-23
By: Leslye Penelope
-
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
- Wayfarers, Book 1
- By: Becky Chambers
- Narrated by: Rachel Dulude
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space - and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe - in this lighthearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.
-
-
Unbearable narrator.
- By Christian Woolley on 06-18-19
By: Becky Chambers
-
Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
A very pleasant surprise
- By Simon on 06-17-17
-
Sleeping Beauties
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King, Owen King
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 25 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep: They become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place.... The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease.
-
-
Just pathetic!!
- By Anonymous User on 06-19-18
By: Stephen King, and others
-
The Blood Trials
- The Blood Gift Duology, Book 1
- By: N.E. Davenport
- Narrated by: Jeanette Illidge
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen’s deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive.
-
-
Fantasy on steroids!
- By Angela T. Williams on 05-14-22
By: N.E. Davenport
-
Noor
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Délé Ogundiran
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt...natural, and that's putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was "wrong". But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is.
-
-
Slow audio speed to 0.9x
- By Camille on 02-02-22
By: Nnedi Okorafor
-
Boy's Life
- By: Robert R. McCammon
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 20 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson - a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake - and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him.
-
-
Remember when the Waltons made you feel good?
- By Marie on 04-03-18
Critic reviews
2022, Audible.com Best of the Year, Long-listed
Hurston/Wright LEGACY Award - Finalist, Short-listed
2022, Time Magazine Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
2022, The Guardian (UK) Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
2022, NYPL Best Books of the Year, Long-listed
2022, NPR Best Book of the Year, Long-listed
2023, Locus Awards, Nominee, Short-listed
Featured Article: Best of the Year—The 12 Best Sci-Fi Listens of 2022
This year’s sci-fi didn’t shy away from heavy, timely topics like climate change, pandemics, and social justice, but even as the subject matter hit close to home, the listening reached to new heights. Several stunning multicast productions make up this list—as well as narrators we can’t hear enough of. In a world that seems increasingly science fictional by the year, the bar is only set higher for creators in this genre—and this year’s list inches it up a little more.
What listeners say about Goliath
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- JOHN TOMME
- 02-04-23
I listened all the way through and it made me think
I would not say I “enjoyed” it. One of the reasons I like to read is to talk about the books with my wife or friends. My wife would be turned off by the “science fiction” and my friends would say it’s not sci-fi enough. Oh well
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ej
- 08-20-22
a very interesting listen, very complex situations
a very interesting listen, very complex situations and characters. I will listen to this again as I am certain I missed things.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- C. Duval
- 02-02-23
Beautifully written, but so depressing
The headline sums it up. A portrait of a future where climate change and other disasters have poisoned the earth and no social progress has been made, rather, society has regressed. Kind of a worst case scenario. The ideas are important, but man it was tough to get through. The writing was terrific though, the characters were compelling and few bright moments were really poignant. Would I recommend it? Yes, but…
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jimmyjoejangles
- 09-23-22
Always support local!
We live in Groton so of course I'm going to read a novel based nearby! I thought the story was great! My only question is why the spaceport would be in New Haven?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jackalope
- 01-31-22
Superb.
A superb foretelling of a fully-realized MAGA America. Terrifying, yet beautifully written and acted.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bebe Guill
- 03-17-22
Good story but too long
Way too much redundant description of destruction and horrors of radiation, climate change. Story was good, and narrators were great, but better editing would have improved the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mariana
- 03-02-23
Very hard to read..
Angry, accusatory, beyond very hard to relate to unless you belong to specific groups; I am not crazy about the generic guilt trip that does not apply to me, my family or friends.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- K. Andry
- 07-30-22
The characters are one dimensional
Like so many other folks that pen narratives about Black Americans, the author characterizes them as one dimensional almost alternatives to fully formed human beings. It was very disappointing. There was so much room in the story for meaning and feeling and caring, but instead we got lusting, slurs, and sex jokes. I cannot recommend this book and I had such high hopes for it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lovely
- 03-01-23
It wasn’t that great
The writer writes eloquently, the words in his book sound like poetry, however, the story was not great. There is only one connection in this book and you don’t find that out until you have about 2 1/2 hours left of the book. This book is more like short stories about an apocalypse but not one story about and apocalypse. I also found it hard to engage. Some of the narrators were annoying, sorry to say. I skipped through the last few chapter Ms just so I could write my review. I guess I didn’t get it (the book).
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patrick
- 12-13-22
skip this read not really sci fi
This is a terrible book. Very predictable plot with no imagination 😴 voice actors were very good
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful