Best Susan Cooper Audiobooks

The best Susan Cooper audiobooks — 5 titles ranked by listening experience across Fantasy, Historical Fiction, averaging 4.00 ABR stars.

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Susan Cooper is one of children's fantasy's most haunting voices — a writer who braids Arthurian legend and Celtic myth into the ordinary English landscape until the two feel inseparable. The Dark Is Rising sequence, from Over Sea, Under Stone through Silver on the Tree, builds a sense of ancient dread and luminous wonder that few writers have matched. Cooper's prose is lyrical but never soft — it carries genuine menace, the kind that makes the Light's struggle against the Dark feel cosmically weighted rather than merely adventurous. She has a rare gift for atmosphere: fog, midwinter cold, and the silence of old places feel like active presences in her pages. Later work like King of Shadows and Ghost Hawk shows her range beyond the sequence. Readers who want myth that earns its mystery, not just borrows its iconography, will find Cooper essential.

Susan Cooper's highest-rated audiobook in our collection is The Dark Is Rising, narrated by Alex Jennings (4.13 ABR stars). Performed by Alex Jennings, Jim Dale. Rankings here weight the listening experience — narrator performance and Audible ratings factor alongside reader scores.

Where to Start with Susan Cooper

  1. 1
    The Dark Is Rising cover

    The Dark Is Rising

    The Dark Is Rising • Book 2

    by Susan Cooper

    Narrated by Alex Jennings

    ★ 4.13 ABR Score (62.5K ratings)
    ★ 4.04 Goodreads (61.2K) ★ 4.54 Audible (1.3K)
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  2. 2
    Greenwitch cover

    Greenwitch

    The Dark Is Rising • Book 3

    by Susan Cooper, Unknown Author

    Narrated by Alex Jennings

    ★ 4.14 ABR Score (33.0K ratings)
    ★ 4 Goodreads (32.3K) ★ 4.63 Audible (716)
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    Alex Jennings animates this mythology ensemble so vividly that you forget you're listening: The Dark Is Rising's finest and most assured entry in the series.

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  3. 3
    Silver on the Tree cover

    Silver on the Tree

    The Dark Is Rising • Book 5

    by Susan Cooper

    Narrated by Alex Jennings

    ★ 4.19 ABR Score (36.9K ratings)
    ★ 4.11 Goodreads (36.3K) ★ 4.65 Audible (587)
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    Five books of prophecy and myth converge in this epic finale, where Alex Jennings' narration carries the scope and emotional weight of Cooper's grandest achievement.

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  4. 4
    Ghost Hawk cover

    Ghost Hawk

    by Susan Cooper

    Narrated by Jim Dale

    ★ 3.80 ABR Score (2.6K ratings)
    ★ 3.78 Goodreads (2.5K) ★ 4.37 Audible (145)
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    Jim Dale's narration transforms this divided story into something seamless—his voice work across two cultures and timelines creates genuine tension where the audiobook format makes the stakes feel immediate and inescapable.

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  5. 5
    King of Shadows cover

    King of Shadows

    by Susan Cooper

    Narrated by Jim Dale

    ★ 3.75 ABR Score (3.8K ratings)
    ★ 3.69 Goodreads (3.8K) ★ 4.18 Audible (68)
    More about this pick

    Young Nat Field escapes his tragic past through theater, but when he joins a Globe theater production, Jim Dale guides listeners through his mysterious transport to Shakespeare's actual time.

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Browse Related Lists

Susan Cooper — Author Profile James Patterson Jonathan Maberry J.D. Robb Stephen King Ed McBain Agatha Christie Anne Perry Terry Pratchett Nora Roberts Tom Clancy Michael Connelly Daniel Schinhofen Kevin J. Anderson Unknown Author Brandon Sanderson John Grisham David Archer Nora Achrati Lois McMaster Bujold Lee Child Best Fantasy Audiobooks Best Sci-Fi Audiobooks Best Thriller Audiobooks Best Mystery Audiobooks Best Horror Audiobooks Best Literary Fiction Audiobooks

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 →