The Best Fantasy Audiobooks With Incredible Narration and Performances
Brilliant fantasy audiobooks need to combine a superb story with an equally superb performance. This goes for all audiobooks, but as fantasy can be epically long and often part of a series, it feels even more important. An excellent novel can be ruined by distracting voices, strange pronunciation or poor production.
The best performances make a complicated story easier to follow, and give dozens of characters distinct personalities. Occasionally, when done well, the narrator becomes so closely associated with a character that it is difficult to imagine anyone else doing the job.
This is not a ranking of the twelve greatest fantasy novels ever written. It is a selection of excellent books and series that fans have repeatedly praised for their narration and production. Some involve one performer creating an entire cast, while others use several actors.
If you want a similar list for the best science fiction audiobooks, you can check my best sci-fi audiobook list here.
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The Blade Itself – Joe Abercrombie (2006)
Audiobook narrated by: Steven Pacey
Arguably one of the greatest fantasy audiobook performances ever recorded. And I have already said elsewhere, I will argue about it.
The Blade Itself is the opening novel in Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy, a funny, cynical and extremely violent story filled with wonderfully flawed people. Steven Pacey seems to understand every one of them. His voices are so distinct that you can usually tell who is speaking before the text identifies them, but the real joy is his delivery of Abercrombie’s bleak humour.
Pacey is particularly brilliant as the torturer Glokta, somehow capturing his intelligence, bitterness, pain and very dark wit. The First Law books are superb in print, but the combination of Abercrombie and Pacey has become legendary among audiobook listeners. Begin with The Blade Itself and continue from there.
You can listen to the grimdark fun here.
Dungeon Crawler Carl – Matt Dinniman (2020)
Audiobook narrated by: Jeff Hays
Part fantasy adventure, part apocalyptic game show and one of the best demonstrations of what a single narrator can do.
Aliens have flattened every building on Earth and forced the survivors into an enormous underground dungeon. Carl enters wearing boxer shorts and a leather jacket, accompanied by Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend’s prize-winning cat. Things become considerably stranger from there.
Jeff Hays gives the series such a large collection of voices that many listeners initially assume they are hearing a full cast. His timing makes the jokes funnier, but he also handles the increasingly emotional story underneath all the monsters, explosions and insanity. The sound effects and production add to the experience without overwhelming it. Dungeon Crawler Carl is already a hugely entertaining series, and the audiobooks make it even better.
You can start listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl’s journey here.
Discworld – Terry Pratchett
Audiobooks narrated by: Indira Varma, Sian Clifford, Jon Culshaw and others
A new collection of recordings that understands Pratchett’s books need actors who can handle jokes, characters and the occasional profound observation.
Penguin’s recent Discworld productions divide the books between different performers. Indira Varma narrates the Witches novels, Sian Clifford handles the Death stories, and Jon Culshaw takes on the City Watch. Bill Nighy reads the footnotes, while Peter Serafinowicz provides the magnificently deep voice of Death.
The arrangement works because Discworld is really several connected series sharing the same world. New listeners don’t have to begin with The Colour of Magic. I would suggest Equal Rites for the Witches, Mort for Death or Guards! Guards! for the City Watch. All three offer a good route into Pratchett’s strange, hilarious and surprisingly wise world. I love his stuff.
You can check out all the Discworld audiobooks here.
Piranesi – Susanna Clarke (2020)
Audiobook narrated by: Chiwetel Ejiofor
A beautiful, strange and relatively short fantasy novel given a warm and humane performance.
Piranesi lives in an apparently endless House filled with vast halls, statues, birds and tides. He carefully records everything he sees and believes he understands his world, although it soon becomes clear that something is wrong. Saying much more would spoil one of the most rewarding mysteries in modern fantasy.
Chiwetel Ejiofor gives Piranesi a sense of innocence and wonder without making him sound foolish or childlike. His calm delivery fits the dreamlike setting, while subtle changes in the performance reveal how the character’s understanding is shifting. The audiobook won the 2021 Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year. At just under seven hours, it is also a far less daunting commitment than most of the epic series on this list.
You can listen to Piranesi here.
The Dresden Files – Jim Butcher (2000 onwards)
Audiobooks narrated by: James Marsters
One of the clearest examples of a narrator gradually becoming inseparable from a character.
Harry Dresden is a professional wizard working in modern Chicago, where he investigates supernatural crimes, irritates powerful creatures and regularly gets himself beaten half to death. The early novels are enjoyable paranormal detective stories, but the series grows into something much larger and more ambitious as it goes on.
James Marsters captures Dresden’s sarcasm, stubbornness and habit of using jokes to disguise how frightened he is. His performance also develops alongside the books. The earliest recordings have rougher sound and a few distracting mouth noises, but the production soon improves considerably. By the time the larger story takes hold, Marsters sounds less like someone reading Harry Dresden and more like Harry telling you what happened. (It’s first person.)
Start The Dresden Files by listening to Storm Front.
The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien (1954–1955)
Audiobooks narrated by: Andy Serkis
A dramatic, committed performance that gives Tolkien’s language the weight it deserves, read by the talented Serkis.
Andy Serkis is inevitably associated with Gollum, but his narration is far more than an extension of his film performance. He gives the enormous cast distinct voices, handles the songs with admirable confidence and brings genuine urgency to passages that can feel slower on the page.
His familiarity with Middle-earth certainly helps, particularly when Gollum finally appears, but Serkis never turns the trilogy into a one-character show. The result is theatrical without becoming exhausting, which is quite an achievement across more than sixty hours. As with the books, you can begin with his recording of The Hobbit if you want a shorter adventure before committing to The Fellowship of the Ring.
Rivers of London – Ben Aaronovitch (2011 onwards)
Audiobooks narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
A perfect match between a dryly funny narrator, a likeable hero and the many voices of modern London.
Probationary police constable Peter Grant discovers that ghosts are real and becomes the first new apprentice wizard in Britain for decades. He then has to investigate magical crimes while dealing with paperwork, policing and the ancient personifications of London’s rivers.
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith makes Peter sound intelligent, curious and convincingly young, but his real strength is the extraordinary range of the supporting cast. He moves between ages, backgrounds, accents and personalities while keeping everyone recognisable. London itself is central to the series, and Holdbrook-Smith makes it sound like a city filled with thousands of different voices. Begin with Rivers of London, which is also sold as Midnight Riot in the United States.
The Wheel of Time – Robert Jordan (1990–2013)
Audiobooks narrated by: Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, with newer versions narrated by Rosamund Pike
Fourteen enormous novels, hundreds of characters and two excellent ways to listen to them.
Michael Kramer and Kate Reading narrated the complete main series, dividing the male and female viewpoints between them. That consistency is a major advantage in a story of this size. Their performances help listeners keep track of a vast cast, numerous cultures and an intimidating collection of invented names.
Rosamund Pike has since recorded newer versions of the early books and won an Audie Award for The Eye of the World. Her approach is more theatrical and listeners often praise the emotional force and range of her performance. However, her recordings do not yet cover the whole saga, so Kramer and Reading remain the choice for anyone who wants one continuous journey from the first book to the last.
You can get Rosamund Pike’s The Eye of the World here.
Gideon the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir (2019)
Audiobook narrated by: Moira Quirk
Necromancers, sword fighters, murder and a narrator who makes a deliberately complicated book much easier to follow.
Gideon the Ninth brings the heirs of nine ancient Houses together in a decaying palace to compete in a lethal trial. It is gothic fantasy with science-fiction elements, a locked-room mystery and a very modern sense of humour. The story can be confusing, particularly once the large cast assembles, which makes Moira Quirk’s work especially valuable.
Quirk gives the necromancers and their cavaliers strong, recognisable voices while perfectly capturing Gideon’s sarcasm and impatience. She also handles the abrupt turns from comedy to horror and tragedy. The later Locked Tomb books become even stranger, but Quirk’s characterisation gives listeners something solid to hold on to.
You can check out Gideon the Ninth here.
The Lies of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch (2006)
Audiobook narrated by: Michael Page
A clever fantasy heist filled with elaborate cons, terrible decisions and magnificent insults.
Locke Lamora leads a small gang of thieves in the city of Camorr. They pretend to be ordinary pickpockets while secretly stealing from the rich through complicated confidence tricks. Unfortunately, Locke is far better at devising schemes than escaping the consequences.
Michael Page gives the dialogue the swagger and comic timing it needs, while making the members of the Gentleman Bastards sound like friends who have spent years insulting one another. The story can switch rapidly from funny to extremely brutal, and Page sells both sides without making the changes feel jarring. But I should warn you – the series is unfinished, but The Lies of Locke Lamora works as a satisfying adventure in its own right.
The Fifth Season – N.K. Jemisin (2015)
Audiobook narrated by: Robin Miles
A powerful, award-winning novel made more accessible by a precise and emotionally controlled performance.
The world of the Broken Earth is repeatedly devastated by catastrophic geological events. Its people have built their entire civilisation around surviving the next disaster, while those able to control seismic energy are both needed and brutally oppressed.
The Fifth Season follows several viewpoints and uses an unusual structure that initially makes their relationship unclear. Robin Miles gives each thread its own identity without revealing more than the story intends. Her measured performance also allows the book’s anger, grief and moments of horror to emerge naturally. This is not the lightest listen on the list, but it is one of the most ambitious and rewarding.
You can get The Fifth Season here.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling (1997)
Audiobook narrated by: Stephen Fry
A familiar story delivered by one of Britain’s most naturally engaging readers.
Stephen Fry narrated all seven Harry Potter novels and became the voice of the series for generations of British listeners. His warm, measured style suits the early books particularly well, but he also adjusts as the story becomes darker. He creates memorable voices without making every character sound like a comedy sketch, although his Hagrid is exactly as comforting as it should be.
American listeners may be more familiar with Jim Dale’s acclaimed recordings, while new full-cast editions provide a more dramatic alternative. However, Fry’s versions remain a wonderful example of how a single reader can carry listeners through an entire fantasy world. They are comforting, funny and very easy to return to. I might be a bit biased on this one.
Listen to Stephen Fry describe Harry Potter’s adventures here.
This is far from a definitive list, so if I have missed your favourite fantasy audiobook or narrator, let me know in the comments. I’m always on the lookout for new stuff!