Audiobooks Like Red Rising

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Tim Gerard Reynolds gives this 16-hour dystopian sci-fi its propulsive energy — his narration of Darrow is urgent and physically grounded, which suits a book about survival through action, and the pacing never lets the ideology get ahead of the story. Nine of the ten recommendations are award-winners, and if you want more science fiction and adventure that combines genuine spectacle with the kind of committed narrator performance that makes long listens feel short, the list was assembled with that combination in mind.

10 audiobooks for fans of Red Rising

  1. 1
    Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View cover

    Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View

    Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View • Book 1

    by Elizabeth Schaefer, Ben Acker, Jonathan Davis, Tom Angleberger, Janina Gavankar, Ben Blacker, Jon Hamm, Jeffrey Brown, Jason Fry, Neil Patrick Harris, Christie Golden, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Pierce Brown, Ashley Eckstein, Carol Monda, Mur Lafferty, Marc Thompson, Ken Liu, Griffin McElroy, John Jackson Miller, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Nnedi Okorafor, Daniel José Older, Ian Doescher, Daniel M. Lavery, Madeleine Roux, Gary D. Schmidt, Matt Fraction, Cavan Scott, Sabaa Tahir, Kieron Gillen, Glen Weldon, Chuck Wendig, Gary Whitta, Meg Cabot, Pablo Hidalgo, Adam Christopher, Rae Carson, Zoraida Córdova, Delilah S. Dawson, Paul Dini, Alexander Freed, Claudia Gray, Paul S. Kemp, Elizabeth Wein, Beth Revis, Greg Rucka, Charles Soule, Wil Wheaton, Renée Ahdieh

    Narrated by Jonathan Davis, Ashley Eckstein, Janina Gavankar, Jon Hamm, Neil Patrick Harris, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Carol Monda, Daniel José Older, Marc Thompson

    4.07 ABR Score (20.7K ratings)
    ★ 3.94 Goodreads (15.5K) ★ 4.43 Audible (5.2K)
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    Multiple celebrity narrators including Neil Patrick Harris and Jon Hamm bring variety to these 40 short stories retelling A New Hope from background characters' perspectives.

  2. 2
    Ender's Shadow cover

    Ender's Shadow

    Ender's Shadow • Book 1

    by Orson Scott Card

    Narrated by Scott Brick, Gabrielle de Cuir, full cast

    4.59 ABR Score (194.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.32 Goodreads (180.6K) ★ 4.76 Audible (13.8K)
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    Bean's parallel journey through Battle School gets full-cast treatment, with Scott Brick and Gabrielle de Cuir leading voices that capture both his genius and vulnerability.

  3. 3
    Jurassic Park cover

    Jurassic Park

    Jurassic Park • Book 1

    by Michael Crichton

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    4.60 ABR Score (1.1M ratings)
    ★ 4.13 Goodreads (1.1M) ★ 4.76 Audible (46.8K)
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    Scientists clone dinosaurs using ancient DNA, creating the ultimate theme park until the prehistoric predators escape and hunt their creators through tropical nightmares.

  4. 4
    Foundation's Edge cover

    Foundation's Edge

    Foundation (Publication Order) • Book 4

    by Isaac Asimov

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    4.45 ABR Score (104.1K ratings)
    ★ 4.19 Goodreads (99.4K) ★ 4.75 Audible (4.7K)
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    Asimov returns to his galactic empire thirty years later as the First Foundation discovers disturbing flaws in Seldon's plan. Scott Brick captures both the scope and intricate plotting.

  5. 5
    Speaker for the Dead cover

    Speaker for the Dead

    The Ender Saga • Book 2

    by Orson Scott Card

    Narrated by David Birney, Stefan Rudnicki

    4.37 ABR Score (294.6K ratings)
    ★ 4.11 Goodreads (272.3K) ★ 4.56 Audible (22.3K)
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    Three thousand years after xenocide, Ender travels to a colony world where humans and alien pequeninos face a crisis that could repeat history's mistakes. David Birney and Stefan Rudnicki handle the complex philosophical discussions about redemption, xenobiology, and cultural understanding with appropriate gravity.

  6. 6
    Children of Dune cover

    Children of Dune

    Dune • Book 3

    by Frank Herbert

    Narrated by Scott Brick, Simon Vance

    4.34 ABR Score (272.6K ratings)
    ★ 3.95 Goodreads (254.4K) ★ 4.62 Audible (18.3K)
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    Paul Atreides' twin children inherit not only their father's prescient abilities but the political chaos of ruling Arrakis, where religious zealotry and spice addiction threaten the empire's future.

  7. 7
    Contact cover

    Contact

    by Carl Sagan

    Narrated by Laurel Lefkow

    4.30 ABR Score (159.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.15 Goodreads (153.3K) ★ 4.54 Audible (5.8K)
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    Scientist Ellie Arroway receives humanity's first message from extraterrestrial intelligence, launching a journey that challenges science, faith, and human nature. Sagan's hard science fiction masterpiece about our place in the cosmos.

  8. 8
    The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress cover

    The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

    by Robert A. Heinlein

    Narrated by Lloyd James

    4.29 ABR Score (150.7K ratings)
    ★ 4.15 Goodreads (139.6K) ★ 4.49 Audible (11.2K)
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    A sentient computer, a revolutionary, and a professor lead Luna's rebellion against Earth's colonial rule in Heinlein's libertarian masterpiece about the price of freedom and the nature of family.

  9. 9
    Heretics of Dune cover

    Heretics of Dune

    Dune • Book 5

    by Frank Herbert

    Narrated by Simon Vance, Scott Brick

    4.18 ABR Score (112.2K ratings)
    ★ 3.85 Goodreads (104.1K) ★ 4.55 Audible (8.1K)
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    Fifteen hundred years after God Emperor Leto's death, the Empire has scattered and the Bene Gesserit face new threats from returning exiles. Herbert's complex fifth Dune novel benefits from dual narrators handling its intricate political plotting.

  10. 10
    Chapterhouse: Dune cover

    Chapterhouse: Dune

    Dune • Book 6

    by Frank Herbert

    Narrated by Euan Morton, Katherine Kellgren, Scott Brick, Simon Vance

    4.16 ABR Score (91.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.86 Goodreads (84.7K) ★ 4.53 Audible (6.6K)
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    Herbert's final Dune novel follows the scattered Bene Gesserit as they face extinction from the brutal Honored Matres. The ensemble cast handles the complex political maneuvering across multiple perspectives with clarity.

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.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →