Where to Start with Nicholas Sansbury Smith
- Best entry point → Hell Divers: The Lost Years
- Best standalone → Savage Skies
- Start the Extinction Cycle: Dark Age series → Extinction Shadow
- Short listen, big payoff → Hell Divers II: Ghosts
- What fans keep coming back to → Hell Divers
- Best narrator for Nicholas Sansbury Smith → Hell Divers III: Deliverance
- Highest rated by listeners → Rhino: The Rise of a Warrior (Hell Divers)
- 1
Hell Divers II: Ghosts
Hell Divers Series • Book 2
Narrated by R.C. Bray
★ 4.71 ABR Score (22.8K ratings)★ 4.74 Audible (22.8K) - 2
Hell Divers III: Deliverance
Hell Divers Series • Book 3
Narrated by R.C. Bray
★ 4.74 ABR Score (20.1K ratings)★ 4.77 Audible (20.1K) - 3
Hell Divers
Hell Divers • Book 1
Narrated by R.C. Bray
★ 4.13 ABR Score (56.6K ratings)★ 3.85 Goodreads (17.3K) ★ 4.44 Audible (39.3K)More about this pick
Humanity's last airships circle a poisoned Earth while divers plunge through toxic storms to scavenge supplies—R.C. Bray's gruff delivery matches the post-apocalyptic desperation perfectly.
- 4
Extinction Shadow
Extinction Cycle: Dark Age • Book 1
by Nicholas Sansbury Smith, Anthony J. Melchiorri
Narrated by R.C. Bray
★ 4.25 ABR Score (8.5K ratings)★ 4.23 Goodreads (1.4K) ★ 4.6 Audible (7.1K)More about this pick
Eight years after engineered Variants ravaged the globe, survivors thought the extinction cycle ended—but powerful evil lurks in shadows. R.C. Bray returns to narrate the next season where humanity faces a new dark age of apex predator threats.
- 5
The Trackers Series Box Set
Trackers #1-4 • Book 1
Narrated by Bronson Pinchot
★ 4.19 ABR Score (10.2K ratings)★ 4.43 Goodreads (2.0K) ★ 4.39 Audible (8.2K)More about this pick
Four complete books chronicle survival after an EMP attack destroys America's electrical grid, written by a former Homeland Security officer who knows exactly how infrastructure collapse unfolds.
- 6
Extinction Red Line
Extinction Cycle #0.5
by Nicholas Sansbury Smith, Tom Abrahams
Narrated by Bronson Pinchot
★ 4.07 ABR Score (2.5K ratings)★ 4.16 Goodreads (783) ★ 4.54 Audible (1.7K)More about this pick
Bronson Pinchot navigates the Vietnam War origins of a flesh-eating creature locals whisper about as "The White Ghost" in this Extinction Cycle prequel.
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Rhino: The Rise of a Warrior (Hell Divers)
Hell Divers
Narrated by Ray Porter
★ 4.20 ABR Score (1.6K ratings)★ 4.4 Goodreads (561) ★ 4.75 Audible (1.0K)More about this pick
Set centuries before the main series, this prequel follows a young warrior's rise against the empire that enslaved his people in the radioactive wasteland.
- 8
Hell Divers: The Lost Years
Hell Divers Series • Book 1
Narrated by R.C. Bray
★ 4.31 ABR Score (840 ratings)★ 4.71 Audible (840) - 9
Into the Storms
Hell Divers #0.5
Narrated by R. C. Bray
★ 4.24 ABR Score (1.1K ratings)★ 4.54 Goodreads (486) ★ 4.87 Audible (590)More about this pick
Two and a half centuries before the Hell Divers, the Machine War erupts as killer robots turn Korea into civilization's potential grave. R.C. Bray's commanding performance captures the epic scope of this origin story prequel.
- 10
Soldiers
The Sons of War • Book 4
by Nicholas Sansbury Smith, Tom Abrahams
Narrated by Ray Porter
★ 4.14 ABR Score (481 ratings)★ 4.51 Goodreads (191) ★ 4.76 Audible (290)More about this pick
Dominic Salvatore leads the Saints in a final assault to purge post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, but first he must hide his family from the demons hunting them.
- 11
Savage Skies
Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini
★ 3.85 ABR Score (491 ratings)★ 4.07 Goodreads (389) ★ 4.6 Audible (102)More about this pick
Elite soldiers wake up with no memories in an underground facility, unsure of their mission or the hostile world above. Ballerini's performance builds tension as the characters piece together their purpose and the planet's deadly secrets.
- 12
Salvage System
Salvage System • Book 1
Narrated by Michael Kramer
★ 3.59 ABR Score (439 ratings)★ 3.78 Goodreads (227) ★ 3.91 Audible (212)More about this pick
Construction worker Chris Mason watches Manhattan transform into a deadly fantasy realm through otherworldly portals, forcing him to become a "salvager" in this LitRPG apocalypse. Michael Kramer anchors the genre-blending chaos with his reliable narration.
- 13
Old Guns: A Military Sci-Fi Adventure
Old Guns • Book 1
by J.N. Chaney, Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Narrated by R. C. Bray
★ 3.83 ABR Score (151 ratings)★ 4.59 Goodreads (91) ★ 4.87 Audible (60)More about this pick
Two broken Marines—one a drunk, one broken by PTSD—face an ancient alien threat because they're the only survivors. R.C. Bray's weathered delivery suits these damaged heroes.
- 14
Salvage System 2
Salvage System • Book 2
Narrated by Michael Kramer
★ 3.69 ABR Score (64 ratings)★ 4.56 Goodreads (34) ★ 4.57 Audible (30)More about this pick
Michael Kramer returns to guide humanity's desperate LitRPG struggle through the ruins, where every scavenged resource could mean survival or death.
- 15
Sons of War Series Box Set, Books 1-4
The Sons of War Series • Book 1
Narrated by Ray Porter
★ 3.76 ABR Score (16 ratings)★ 4.56 Audible (16)More about this pick
Ray Porter captures the grit of Smith's dystopian America, where former Homeland Security insights shape a terrifyingly plausible civil war scenario.
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How We Rank Audiobooks
Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.
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