Best Joe Abercrombie Audiobooks

The best Joe Abercrombie audiobooks — 11 titles ranked by listening experience across Fantasy, Sci-Fi, averaging 4.28 ABR stars.

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Joe Abercrombie is the writer who dragged epic fantasy into the mud and made it honest. His First Law Trilogy — starting with The Blade Itself — dismantled the genre's heroic conventions with surgical precision: there are no chosen ones here, no redemption arcs that come cheap, no victories that don't cost something ugly. His prose is sharp and propulsive, his dialogue laced with dark wit, and his character work is ruthless — the kind that makes you root for people you shouldn't. Best Served Cold and The Heroes show he can apply that same moral grime to standalone stories with equal force. Abercrombie doesn't do comfort reads. He does consequence, cynicism, and the occasional gut-punch that lingers for days. Readers who've grown tired of fantasy that insulates its heroes from real cost will find him essential.

Joe Abercrombie's highest-rated audiobook in our collection is Before They Are Hanged, narrated by Steven Pacey (4.64 ABR stars). Performed by narrators including Steven Pacey, George R. R. Martin, Gwendoline Christie, Roy Dotrice, Ron Donachie, W. Morgan Sheppard, Janis Ian, Molly Quinn, Rupert Degas, Iain Glen, Various, Scott Brick, Jonathan Frakes, Stana Katic, Inna Korobkina, Lee Meriwether, Claudia Black, Sophie Turner, Janis Ian, Iain Glen, Karen Dotrice, Various, and more. Rankings here weight the listening experience — narrator performance and Audible ratings factor alongside reader scores.

Where to Start with Joe Abercrombie

  1. 1
    Before They Are Hanged cover

    Before They Are Hanged

    The First Law • Book 2

    by Joe Abercrombie

    Narrated by Steven Pacey

    4.64 ABR Score (243.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.36 Goodreads (221.5K) ★ 4.81 Audible (21.7K)
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    Superior Glokta's torture-scarred cynicism and Bayaz's quest for ancient magic get Steven Pacey's full character treatment across multiple storylines.

  2. 2
    The Blade Itself cover

    The Blade Itself

    The First Law Trilogy • Book 1

    by Joe Abercrombie

    Narrated by Steven Pacey

    4.50 ABR Score (344.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.22 Goodreads (317.5K) ★ 4.7 Audible (26.8K)
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    Barbarian Logen Ninefingers, selfish nobleman Jezal, and crippled torturer Glokta are drawn into a conspiracy that threatens the kingdom. Pacey's exceptional character voices bring Abercrombie's morally gray antiheroes to life in this gritty fantasy that subverts traditional genre expectations with dark humor.

  3. 3
    Last Argument of Kings cover

    Last Argument of Kings

    The First Law • Book 3

    by Joe Abercrombie

    Narrated by Steven Pacey

    4.59 ABR Score (225.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.37 Goodreads (204.4K) ★ 4.75 Audible (21.0K)
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    Steven Pacey captures every brutal nuance as Logen Ninefingers faces his final battle and the Bloody-Nine must confront his oldest friend turned enemy.

  4. 4
    Best Served Cold cover

    Best Served Cold

    First Law World • Book 4

    by Joe Abercrombie

    Narrated by Steven Pacey

    4.46 ABR Score (126.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.25 Goodreads (113.4K) ★ 4.7 Audible (12.7K)
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    Mercenary captain Monza survives assassination only to embark on methodical revenge against her former employers. Pacey inhabits each player in this chess game of betrayal with distinctive menace and wit.

  5. 5
    Red Country cover

    Red Country

    First Law World • Book 6

    by Joe Abercrombie

    Narrated by Steven Pacey

    4.54 ABR Score (77.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.32 Goodreads (66.8K) ★ 4.79 Audible (10.4K)
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    Shy South pursues the kidnappers who burned her home and stole her siblings, accompanied only by oxen and her cowardly stepfather Lamb.

  6. 6
    The Heroes cover

    The Heroes

    First Law World • Book 5

    by Joe Abercrombie

    Narrated by Steven Pacey

    4.53 ABR Score (87.1K ratings)
    ★ 4.35 Goodreads (77.8K) ★ 4.76 Audible (9.3K)
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    Three brutal days of warfare over a worthless hill get Steven Pacey's full character treatment — his voice work turns each soldier into someone you'll remember.

  7. 7
    The Devils cover

    The Devils

    The Devils • Book 1

    by Joe Abercrombie

    Narrated by Steven Pacey

    4.42 ABR Score (69.7K ratings)
    ★ 4.22 Goodreads (62.8K) ★ 4.72 Audible (6.9K)
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    Brother Diaz leads a squad of murderers and monsters on a holy mission requiring unholy methods in Abercrombie's new fantasy series. Steven Pacey returns to capture every brutal, darkly comic moment with his signature skill.

  8. 8
    Sharp Ends cover

    Sharp Ends

    First Law World • Book 7

    by Joe Abercrombie

    Narrated by Steven Pacey

    4.33 ABR Score (32.0K ratings)
    ★ 4.11 Goodreads (27.7K) ★ 4.71 Audible (4.3K)
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    Abercrombie's collection explores the First Law world's darkest corners through mercenaries, thieves, and bastards living on society's brutal margins. Steven Pacey brings distinct personality to each violent, morally complex tale.

  9. 9
    Rogues cover

    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)
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    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. 10
    Dangerous Women cover

    Dangerous Women

    The Dresden Files #13.1 - Bombshells

    by George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois, Carrie Vaughn, Lev Gossman, Joe R. Lansdale, Megan Lindholm, Lawrence Block, Brandon Sanderson, Sharon Kay Penman, Lev Grossman, Nancy Kress, Diana Rowland, Diana Gabaldon, S.M. Stirling, Sam Sykes, Pat Cadigan, Caroline Spector, Joe Abercrombie, Megan Abbott, Cecelia Holland, Jim Butcher, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Melinda M. Snodgrass

    Narrated by Scott Brick, Jonathan Frakes, Stana Katic, Inna Korobkina, Lee Meriwether, Claudia Black, Sophie Turner, Janis Ian, Iain Glen, Karen Dotrice, Various

    3.56 ABR Score (14.9K ratings)
    ★ 3.67 Goodreads (13.2K) ★ 4.02 Audible (1.7K)
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    Twenty-one authors contribute stories about deadly, complex female characters across genres from fantasy to noir, creating an anthology that celebrates dangerous femininity.

  11. 11
    Unbound cover

    Unbound

    Annwn Cycle #The Dead's Revenant • Book 1

    by Shawn Speakman, Terry Brooks, Seanan McGuire, Mark Lawrence, Anthony Ryan, Tim Marquitz, Brian Staveley, Michael J. Sullivan, John Marco, Peter Orullian, Kat Richardson, Sam Sykes, Kristen Britain, Mazarkis Williams, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, Harry Connolly, Delilah S. Dawson, David Anthony Durham, Jason M. Hough, Mary Robinette Kowal, Joe Abercrombie

    Narrated by Dick Hill, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Nick Podehl, Allyson Johnson, Christian Rodska, Emily Bauer

    3.74 ABR Score (1.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.96 Goodreads (1.0K) ★ 4.13 Audible (246)
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    Twenty-three fantasy authors contribute unrestrained tales without thematic constraints in this genre celebration. The six-narrator ensemble including Tim Gerard Reynolds and Nick Podehl brings remarkable variety to each story.

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 →