Whenever people tell me, “I wish I had time to read more books!” I always ask, “Have you thought about getting into audiobooks?” I’m always looking for an excuse to throw on my headphones and listen to a good audiobook; more often than not, it’s a fantasy audiobook.
Fantasy is about losing yourself in a world that doesn’t play by the same dull rules as ours. By adding a layer of sound to the reading experience, a fantasy audiobook can turn the people and places we’re reading about into breathing, moving pictures that play out in the mind like a film beamed onto a diamond screen.
If you’re looking for something to keep your brain moving while cooking, going out on a walk, or killing time at the airport (that isn’t another playlist of trivial videos on YouTube), here are the top ten best fantasy audiobooks.
10. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Every fantasy setting, even the one clinging to the back of a Kaiju-sized turtle swimming through space, has a criminal underbelly. Most fantasy novels frame their world’s criminal element as a collective of clear-cut villains destined to be bested by heroic knights, wise wizards, and the odd kid from the “normal world.” Leigh Bardugo’s takes this tradition and gives𒉰 it a good flogging in the public square.
Set in the same universe as Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy, Six of Crows’ is a caper book where magic fits into the same tool kit as lock picks, crowbars, and firearms. Narrated by seven talented readers, the Six of Crows audiobook fools you into thinking you’re listening to an old-s﷽chool radio serial, amplifying the su🔴spense slithering through every scene.
9. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Who doesn’t love the circus? Even if the real three-ring extravaganza stopping in town falls short of expectations, the idealized image of the world under tarpaulin lives rent-free in most people’s brains. That a book like exists is proof of this, as is the qualℱity of iꦦts audiobook.
The Night Circus audiobook is a show that will keep your headphones glued to your head for hours. The velvety voice of Jim Dale, the same reader who lent his voice to the Harry Potter audiobooks, tells the rivalry-turned-romance of apprentice magicians Celia and Marco like a fairy tale, injecting the perfect dose of whimsy and melancholy into every step of the two’s preordained contest. Step through the curtains and let yourself go onಌ a journey you๊ won’t hear elsewhere.
8. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, now’s the perfect time to lose yourself in a good romantic fantasy audiobook. There are hundreds of “romantasy” novels, most of which have fantastic audiobooks. If I had to pick one, though, I’d give the crown to , the first installment of the ever-expanding Emperyan series.
BookTo🐓k’s latest obsession has a lot of good things going for it: solid chemistry between its leads, a sweeping kingdom full of wonder and intrigue, and more dragons than you can shake a sword at. The audiobook, narrated by Rebecca Soler and Teddy Hamilton, pulls you out of reality and plops you in the saddle, making you live and breathe the danger and wonder of Navarre without risking getting incinerated by an angry dragon.
7. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
Throughout his career, Steven King has woven a web of interconnected stories so vast that it’s barely imaginable. Pinning down a good place to start within King’s mammoth body of work is tricky, but most fans (myself included) agree that the first entry in his Dark Tower saga, , is the safest bet.
The Gunslinger audiobook reads like an old man’s relocation of “the old days,” one that drowns you in King’s desolate, post-apocalyptic world. George Guidall’s chiseled, fry voice perfectly fits the Gunslinger, a classic anti-hero willing to do🌳 anything to catch his elusive quarry, the Man in Black. Can’t decide if you want to read a Western or a fantasy book? Read this and experience the best of both worlds.
6. A Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
I think it’s safe to say that my experience with played out the same way it did for most people. Friends pressed the book into my face, telling me, “Drew, you’ve got to read this; it’ll blow🌸 your mind!” Eventually, I caved in, and my life turned into a race to turn the pages as fast as possible. When I was done with it, the first thought to emerge from the soup that was once my brain was, “Glad that’s over; now I need to listen to the audiobook!”
The audiobook of A Court of Thorns and Roses is one of the smoothest listens I’ve heard. Jennifer Akeda’s tempered, confidant narration breathes life into the words, adding a few drops of color and depth to the fae-touched world of Prythian, shining a light on emotional beats and subtle drops of foreshadowing I didn’t notice my first time reading. If you can’t seem to get enough ACOTAR in your life, give this a listen.
5. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin is my favorite author, and I return to the realm of Earthsea every year. There’s something magnetic about Le Guin’s world-building, a warmth that melts all awareness of the world outside her pages. A Wizard of Earthsea does a fantastic job of establishing Le Guin’s world of islands,ꦐ linguistic magic, and dragons, and it’s got an excellent audiobook.
Rob Inglis, the narrator of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit audiobooks, tells the bittersweet tale of Sparrowhawk with an aura of tender wisdom that will linger in your ears long after you’ve stopped listening. Like every other work of fiction penned by Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea is as much a journey into the h🥂uman condition as it is an exploration of a fictional world, and it’s✱ one of those rare books that almost works better as an audiobook. Almost.
4. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
A Song of Ice and Fire is all about voice. The chaos burning within the borders of the Seven Kingdoms isn’t the work of a looming Dark Lord; it’s the product of power-hungry lords, ladies, and factions fighting for a two-tone throne worth its weight in blood and tears. In Westeros, everyone thinks they’re the hero of their story, and the audiobook makes that clear from the first sentence.
Roy Dotr💝ice narratꦆes the opening act of George R. R. Martin’s epic saga, and the range of his voice allows him to step into the shoes of many characters. There’s ever a moment where it feels like he isn’t giving a line of dialogue or length of description the attention it deserves, propelling every emotional gut punch and knife twist the story throws at you into “well, that’s staying with me for a while.
3. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Some call Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga a shameless rip-off of Tolkien, another in a long list of copy-cats trying to leech off his legacy. These people are silly. Tolkien may have influenced Jordan, but his saga does more than enough to build a unique identity for itself.൩ You don’t become one of Brandon Sanderson’s primary inspirations by living off another author’s fumes. ;
The audiobook for , the first Wheel of Time book, is a fantastic way to introduce yourself to the series. Kate Reading and Michael Kramer are a tre꧅mendous team of narrators. Each brings something unique, from Reading’s subtle confidence to Kramer’s bombastic delivery. Their teamwork is, in a sense, a reflection of the series’ overarching theme of duality and balance.
2. Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson’s work is a must-read for any fantasy fan. His novels have fantastic character-driven prose, and creating specific voices for every character is scarily easy as you read. The audiobook of The Way of Kings, the first installment of Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive, does that for you. Yet another audiobook narrated by the Reading-Kramer duo, The Way of Kings is every bit the epic adventure you’d expect. The two narrators give eve♌ry character a distinct voice, to where it feels less like an audiobook and more like a radio drama.
1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick Rothfuss is a fantastic writer. His empathetic, poetic prose allows readers to step into the hearts and minds of his characters, almost all of whom have unique perspectives on the world and life. , the first book in The Kingkiller Chronicle, is a fantastic example.
The audiobook for The Name of the Wind, narrated by Nick P⛎odehl, is everything a Rothfuss audiobook should be. Podehl’s soft voice fits t🔜he story of the titular, worn-out adventurer like a glove. If you’re looking for an audiobook that will inspire, terrify, delight, and infuriate you, look no further.
Published: Feb 11, 2025 06:11 am