The Books Insiderthe data-driven audiobook guide

The best fantasy audiobooks, ranked by the data

Ranked by weighted listener rating, the best fantasy audiobook in our dataset is Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson — 4.69★ across 89 ratings and 32.2 estimated listening hours. We scored every published fantasy audiobook in our dataset: 306 qualify — fantasy-shelved titles with full pages here — carrying 34,877 listener ratings between them. The top 20 are below. No opinions: the formula in the method note decides the order.

306books qualify
34,877listener ratings behind the list
12.6avg hours (est.)

The top 20

  1. Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

    32.2 hrs est. · 4.69★ · 89 ratings · weighted score 4.46

    About 33 days at an hour a day — 162% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  2. Percy Jackson's Greek Gods by Rick Riordan

    12 hrs est. · 4.70★ · 74 ratings · weighted score 4.44

    About 12 days at an hour a day — right at the average fantasy length.

  3. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

    22.5 hrs est. · 4.58★ · 120 ratings · weighted score 4.43

    About 23 days at an hour a day — 83% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  4. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

    29.8 hrs est. · 4.54★ · 155 ratings · weighted score 4.42

    About 30 days at an hour a day — 142% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  5. Watchmen by Alan Moore

    12.4 hrs est. · 4.47★ · 235 ratings · weighted score 4.40

    About 13 days at an hour a day — right at the average fantasy length.

  6. Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

    15.1 hrs est. · 4.69★ · 58 ratings · weighted score 4.40

    About 16 days at an hour a day — 23% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  7. The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

    14.7 hrs est. · 4.65★ · 55 ratings · weighted score 4.37

    About 15 days at an hour a day — 20% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  8. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

    15.1 hrs est. · 4.54★ · 90 ratings · weighted score 4.37

    About 16 days at an hour a day — 23% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  9. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

    8.4 hrs est. · 4.45★ · 181 ratings · weighted score 4.36

    About 9 days at an hour a day — 32% shorter than the average fantasy audiobook.

  10. Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

    36.8 hrs est. · 4.53★ · 88 ratings · weighted score 4.36

    About 37 days at an hour a day — 199% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  11. The Martian by Andy Weir

    12 hrs est. · 4.40★ · 331 ratings · weighted score 4.35

    About 12 days at an hour a day — right at the average fantasy length.

  12. Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

    12.3 hrs est. · 4.58★ · 64 ratings · weighted score 4.35

    About 13 days at an hour a day — right at the average fantasy length.

  13. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

    16.4 hrs est. · 4.43★ · 170 ratings · weighted score 4.35

    About 17 days at an hour a day — 33% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  14. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

    9.5 hrs est. · 4.44★ · 152 ratings · weighted score 4.35

    About 10 days at an hour a day — 23% shorter than the average fantasy audiobook.

  15. Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

    8.7 hrs est. · 4.49★ · 98 ratings · weighted score 4.34

    About 9 days at an hour a day — 29% shorter than the average fantasy audiobook.

  16. The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

    17.2 hrs est. · 4.46★ · 123 ratings · weighted score 4.34

    About 18 days at an hour a day — 40% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  17. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

    11.3 hrs est. · 4.43★ · 152 ratings · weighted score 4.34

    About 12 days at an hour a day — 8% shorter than the average fantasy audiobook.

  18. The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

    19.8 hrs est. · 4.42★ · 153 ratings · weighted score 4.33

    About 20 days at an hour a day — 61% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

  19. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

    9 hrs est. · 4.45★ · 106 ratings · weighted score 4.32

    About 9 days at an hour a day — 27% shorter than the average fantasy audiobook.

  20. The Complete Harry Potter Collection (Books 1-7) by J. K. Rowling

    101.8 hrs est. · 4.60★ · 48 ratings · weighted score 4.32

    About 102 days at an hour a day — 728% longer than the average fantasy audiobook.

How this ranking works

Every published fantasy audiobook in our dataset qualifies — 306 books. Each is scored by its Open Library listener rating weighted by its rating count — score = (v·R + 50·C) ÷ (v + 50), where R is the book's rating, v its number of ratings, and C = 4.06★ the mean across all 500 published books we measured. Fewer ratings pull a score toward that mean, so a high rating on a handful of votes can't outrank a slightly lower one backed by hundreds. Genre shelves come from Open Library's subject data — a book qualifies when its subjects carry the fantasy signal. No editorial picks, no sponsored placement. Dataset build 2026-07-06; rankings recompute with every data refresh. Full methodology · All fantasy audiobooks we measured

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