Best Edgar Rice Burroughs Audiobooks

The best Edgar Rice Burroughs audiobooks — 8 titles ranked by listening experience across Sci-Fi, averaging 3.80 ABR stars.

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Edgar Rice Burroughs invented the template for escapist adventure fiction that an entire century of pulp, science fiction, and fantasy would follow. His Barsoom series — starting with A Princess of Mars — drops a Civil War veteran onto a dying Mars populated by warring civilizations, four-armed warriors, and telepathic codes of honor, and never once slows down to explain itself. The prose is breathless and confident, built for momentum over nuance, with action sequences that tumble forward like a man falling off a cliff. Tarzan of the Apes works the same instinct in a jungle register: primal, romantic, and utterly committed to its own mythology. Burroughs isn't a stylist in the literary sense, but he understood — better than almost anyone — how to make a reader turn pages against their better judgment. For fans of planetary romance, lost-world adventure, or anyone curious where pulp heroism came from, he's essential.

Edgar Rice Burroughs's highest-rated audiobook in our collection is John Carter in A Princess of Mars, narrated by Scott Brick (4 ABR stars). Performed by narrators including Scott Brick, Gene Engene, Christopher Ragland, and more. Rankings here weight the listening experience — narrator performance and Audible ratings factor alongside reader scores.

Where to Start with Edgar Rice Burroughs

  1. 1
    John Carter in A Princess of Mars cover

    John Carter in A Princess of Mars

    Barsoom • Book 1

    by Edgar Rice Burroughs

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    4.00 ABR Score (63.4K ratings)
    ★ 3.81 Goodreads (60.8K) ★ 4.41 Audible (2.6K)
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    Civil War veteran John Carter is mysteriously transported to Mars where he must navigate alien politics and rescue a Martian princess from green barbarians.

  2. 2
    John Carter in The Gods of Mars (The Barsoom Series) cover

    John Carter in The Gods of Mars (The Barsoom Series)

    Barsoom • Book 11

    by Edgar Rice Burroughs

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    3.97 ABR Score (5.5K ratings)
    ★ 3.83 Goodreads (4.7K) ★ 4.53 Audible (801)
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    Carter faces giant radium rifles and ancient Martian mysteries in classic pulp adventure. Scott Brick's performance honors Burroughs' swashbuckling spirit.

  3. 3
    John Carter in The Warlord of Mars (Barsoom) cover

    John Carter in The Warlord of Mars (Barsoom)

    Barsoom • Book 3

    by Edgar Rice Burroughs

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    4.02 ABR Score (16.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.87 Goodreads (15.7K) ★ 4.56 Audible (568)
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    Scott Brick captures the pulp adventure spirit as John Carter spends six months haunting the Temple of the Sun, desperate to rescue his imprisoned wife Dejah Thoris.

  4. 4
    The Chessmen of Mars cover

    The Chessmen of Mars

    Barsoom • Book 5

    by Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Bolen

    Narrated by Gene Engene

    3.80 ABR Score (8.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.83 Goodreads (8.2K) ★ 4.25 Audible (101)
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    Princess Tara of Helium crashes in unknown Martian territory where she encounters the bizarre chess-like game of Jetan and faces strange new threats. Classic Burroughs adventure with all the exotic Martian worldbuilding fans expect.

  5. 5
    The Barsoom Collection: John Carter Books 1-6 cover

    The Barsoom Collection: John Carter Books 1-6

    Barsoom #1-6 • Book 1

    by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Christopher Ragland

    Narrated by Christopher Ragland

    3.55 ABR Score (13 ratings)
    ★ 5 Goodreads (2) ★ 4.73 Audible (11)
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    Carter's sword-and-planet adventures on Mars defined early science fiction with four-armed aliens, flying battleships, and Dejah Thoris. Christopher Ragland handles the pulp adventure tone with appropriate swashbuckling energy.

  6. 6
    Llana of Gathol cover

    Llana of Gathol

    Barsoom • Book 10

    by Edgar Rice Burroughs

    Narrated by Alan Crookham

    3.70 ABR Score (2.8K ratings)
    ★ 3.79 Goodreads (2.8K) ★ 4.86 Audible (7)
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    Four connected novellas follow the adventures of Gahan's daughter across Barsoom's dying cities and ancient mysteries. Crookham's narration captures the pulp adventure spirit of Burroughs' original Martian tales.

  7. 7
    Synthetic Men of Mars - 02039 cover

    Synthetic Men of Mars - 02039

    Barsoom • Book 9

    by Edgar Rice Burroughs

    Narrated by Alan Crookham

    3.66 ABR Score (3.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.8 Goodreads (3.3K) ★ 3.67 Audible (3)
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    John Carter encounters Ras Thavas in the cursed city of Morbus, where the mad surgeon's created beings threaten all of Mars. Burroughs' classic pulp adventure gets new life through Alan Crookham's narration of artificial life gone wrong.

  8. 8
    A Fighting Man of Mars cover

    A Fighting Man of Mars

    Barsoom • Book 7

    by Edgar Rice Burroughs

    Narrated by Tom Weiss

    3.67 ABR Score (4.2K ratings)
    ★ 3.86 Goodreads (4.1K) ★ 4 Audible (1)
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    Classic 1930s pulp adventure as Tan Hadron battles green men, mad scientists, and white apes across Barsoom in this seventh entry of Burroughs' Martian saga.

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 →