Best Garth Nix Audiobooks
Garth Nix built one of young adult fantasy's most haunting and original worlds with the Abhorsen series — a place where necromancy is heroic, death has seven precincts, and bells are weapons. Sabriel introduced a heroine navigating a crumbling magical boundary between the living and the dead, establishing Nix's gift for mythology that feels ancient even when freshly invented. His prose is precise and unhurried, trusting readers to absorb rules and stakes without over-explanation. The Keys to the Kingdom series shows his range: baroque, inventive, and stranger in tone, each book ratcheting up an elaborate cosmological puzzle. Nix writes for readers who want their fantasy dark enough to feel consequential but constructed with enough internal logic to be genuinely satisfying. If you love immersive secondary worlds where the magic has real weight and real cost, Nix rewards close attention.
Where to Start with Garth Nix
- Best entry point → Sabriel
- Best standalone → The Book of Witches
- Start The Keys to the Kingdom series → Mister Monday
- What fans keep coming back to → Drowned Wednesday
- Best narrator for Garth Nix → Grim Tuesday
- Highest rated by listeners → Superior Saturday (The Keys to the Kingdom #6)
Best Garth Nix Audiobooks
- 1
Sabriel
Abhorsen/The Old Kingdom • Book 1
by Garth Nix
Narrated by Tim Curry
★ 4.37 ABR Score (227.8K ratings)★ 4.16 Goodreads (219.2K) ★ 4.64 Audible (8.6K)More about this pick
Sabriel must cross into the Old Kingdom to find her missing father, armed with necromantic bells and facing the undead. Tim Curry's legendary voice work brings both whimsy and genuine menace to this dark fantasy world.
- 2
Drowned Wednesday
The Keys to the Kingdom • Book 3
by Garth Nix
Narrated by Allan Corduner
★ 4.05 ABR Score (28.3K ratings)★ 3.88 Goodreads (27.7K) ★ 4.58 Audible (663)More about this pick
This is where the series gets dangerous and the worldbuilding deepens, and Corduner's perfectly cast narration captures every layer so you forget it's book three.
- 3
Superior Saturday
The Keys to the Kingdom • Book 6
by Garth Nix
Narrated by Allan Corduner
★ 4.00 ABR Score (16.3K ratings)★ 3.94 Goodreads (15.8K) ★ 4.5 Audible (456)More about this pick
Corduner voices Nix's intricate network of scheming immortals across six hours of escalating chaos; every twist lands with weight and consequence.
- 4
Lord Sunday
The Keys to the Kingdom • Book 7
by Garth Nix
Narrated by Allan Corduner
★ 3.95 ABR Score (16.5K ratings)★ 4.02 Goodreads (16.4K) ★ 4.73 Audible (15)More about this pick
A finale worthy of the series: Corduner brings devastating emotional depth to Arthur's impossible choice, and to everything he sacrifices.
- 5
Sir Thursday
The Keys to the Kingdom • Book 4
by Garth Nix
Narrated by Allan Corduner
★ 3.92 ABR Score (23.8K ratings)★ 3.96 Goodreads (23.8K) ★ 4.9 Audible (10)More about this pick
The book where Nix escalates from adventure into genuine despair; Corduner's narration makes Arthur's identity crisis feel suffocatingly real.
- 6
Lady Friday
The Keys to the Kingdom • Book 5
by Garth Nix
Narrated by Allan Corduner
★ 3.91 ABR Score (23.3K ratings)★ 3.93 Goodreads (23.3K) ★ 4.82 Audible (11)More about this pick
Five books deep in a seven-book epic, Corduner's narration is crucial. Each character feels present and real, turning escalating stakes into genuine tension.
- 7
Grim Tuesday
The Keys to the Kingdom • Book 2
by Garth Nix
Narrated by Allan Corduner
★ 3.91 ABR Score (27.5K ratings)★ 3.89 Goodreads (27.4K) ★ 4.85 Audible (13)More about this pick
The world spirals into weirder, darker territory, and Corduner anchors the chaos so expertly that you believe in giant keys and void creatures.
- 8
Mister Monday
The Keys to the Kingdom • Book 1
by Garth Nix
Narrated by Allan Corduner
★ 3.88 ABR Score (40.5K ratings)★ 3.81 Goodreads (40.5K) ★ 4.65 Audible (17)More about this pick
Corduner's voice captures the wit and strangeness in Nix's fantasy. It's the first book in a series that respects its audience's intelligence.
- 9
Rogues
Ancient World
by George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Joe Abercrombie, Gillian Flynn, Matthew Hughes, Joe R. Lansdale, Michael Swanwick, David Ball, Carrie Vaughn, Scott Lynch, Bradley Denton, Cherie Priest, Daniel Abraham, Paul Cornell, Steven Saylor, Garth Nix, Walter Jon Williams, Phyllis Eisenstein, Lisa Tuttle, Neil Gaiman, Connie Willis, Patrick Rothfuss
Narrated by George R. R. Martin, Gwendoline Christie, Roy Dotrice, Ron Donachie, W. Morgan Sheppard, Janis Ian, Molly Quinn, Rupert Degas, Iain Glen, Various
★ 3.81 ABR Score (27.5K ratings)★ 3.87 Goodreads (24.6K) ★ 4.13 Audible (2.9K)More about this pick
Twenty-one stories featuring morally ambiguous characters from fantasy and historical fiction masters. The varied cast including Gwendoline Christie and Iain Glen gives voice to antiheroes across multiple genres and time periods.
- 10
The Book of Magic
Spiritwalker #Bloom
by Gardner Dozois, K.J. Parker, Megan Lindholm, John Crowley, Matthew Hughes, Ysabeau S. Wilce, Rachel Pollack, Eleanor Arnason, Tim Powers, Liz Williams, Garth Nix, Elizabeth Bear, Lavie Tidhar, Greg Van Eekhout, George R.R. Martin, Andy Duncan, Kate Elliott, Scott Lynch
Narrated by Elliot Hill, Karissa Vacker, Sile Bermingham, Maxwell Caulfield, Susan Denaker, Scott Brick, Bruce Mann, Holly Palance, Nicholas Guy Smith, Steve West, Various
★ 3.66 ABR Score (1.0K ratings)★ 3.7 Goodreads (839) ★ 4.07 Audible (191)More about this pick
Eighteen fantasy authors explore magic's dual nature—from Gandalf to Saruman, from Glinda to the Wicked Witch—in stories spanning power, wisdom, and corruption. Multiple narrators including Scott Brick and Karissa Vacker bring distinct voices to each tale's unique magical system.
- 11
The Book of Swords
Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz #7 - A Long, Cold Trail
by Gardner Dozois, K.J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Ken Liu, Matthew Hughes, Kate Elliott, Walter Jon Williams, Daniel Abraham, C.J. Cherryh, Garth Nix, Ellen Kushner, Scott Lynch, Rich Larson, Elizabeth Bear, Lavie Tidhar, Cecelia Holland, George R.R. Martin
Narrated by John Lee, Katharine Lee McEwan, Kim Mai Guest, Elliot Hill, Richard Brewer, Nicholas Guy Smith, Kirby Heyborne, Julia Whelan, Mark Deakins, Steve West, Ralph Lister
★ 3.65 ABR Score (2.6K ratings)★ 3.67 Goodreads (2.2K) ★ 4.16 Audible (419)More about this pick
Seventeen fantasy masters including George R.R. Martin and Robin Hobb contribute sword-and-sorcery tales inspired by classic heroes like Conan. The ensemble of narrators including John Lee and Julia Whelan matches the anthology's varied storytelling styles.
- 12
The Book of Witches
by Jonathan Strahan, Linda D. Addison, P. Djèlí Clark, Kathleen Jennings, Tade Thompson, Ken Liu, Darcie Little Badger, Andrea Hairston, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Cassandra Khaw, Tobi Ogundiran, Kelly Robson, C.L. Clark, Millie Ho, Indrapramit Das, Saad Z. Hossain, Garth Nix, Premee Mohamed, Maureen F. McHugh, Andrea Stewart, Tochi Onyebuchi, Sheree Renée Thomas, Angela Slatter, Fonda Lee, Usman T. Malik, E. Lily Yu, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Emily Y. Teng, Amal El-Mohtar, Alyssa Winans
Narrated by Vikas Adam, Anniwaa Buachie, Rainy Fields, Eva Kaminsky, Johnathan McClain, Vyvy Nguyen, Deryn Oliver, Logan Rozos, Bahni Turpin
★ 3.62 ABR Score (692 ratings)★ 3.46 Goodreads (690) ★ 3 Audible (2)More about this pick
Thirty authors reimagine witchcraft across cultures and genres in this ambitious anthology. Multiple narrators handle the diverse voices, though the collection's uneven quality shows in both writing and performance.
- 13
Old Venus
by George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Ian McDonald, Garth Nix, Joe Haldeman, Gwyneth Jones, Matthew Hughes, Paul McAuley, Lavie Tidhar, Allen M. Steele, Stephen Leigh, Eleanor Arnason, David Brin, Michael Cassutt, Tobias S. Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, Joe R. Lansdale, Mike Resnick
Narrated by Diana Rigg, Full Cast, Michael Dorn, Stephen Fry, Jake Stormoen, W. Morgan Sheppard, Gethin Anthony, Wil Wheaton, Janis Ian, Ron Donachie, Various
★ 3.60 ABR Score (821 ratings)★ 3.57 Goodreads (734) ★ 3.99 Audible (87)More about this pick
George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois collect sixteen tales set on the classic pulp Venus of swamps, jungles, and lurking creatures. An all-star cast including Stephen Fry and Diana Rigg handle the diverse stories.