Best Various Audiobooks

The best audiobooks narrated by Various — 12 titles spanning Literature & Fiction, Sci-Fi, Non-Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, averaging 3.94 ABR stars.

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Some audiobooks are better served by many voices than one — and this collection leans hard into that truth. The standout here is World War Z: The Complete Edition, which deploys a full cast including Alan Alda, John Turturro, and Rob Reiner to bring Max Brooks's mock-oral-history format to life with documentary authenticity. Each narrator brings their own texture — world-weary, clipped, desperate — making the zombie apocalypse feel genuinely reported rather than performed. The Letters of Note series takes a different approach, using rotating readers to give each historical letter its own personality and weight, which is exactly right for material that spans grief, humor, and obsession. This is a collection for listeners who find a single voice limiting — who want narration that shapeshifts to match the material. The average ratings are solid, and the range across horror, fantasy, and epistolary nonfiction is genuinely surprising.

Where to Start with Various

  1. 1
    The Correspondent cover

    The Correspondent

    by Virginia Evans

    Narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed, Jane Oppenheimer, Carly Robins, Jeff Ebner, David Pittu, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Mark Bramhall, Petrea Burchard, Robert Petkoff, Kimberly Farr, Cerris Morgan-Moyer, Peter Ganim, Jade Wheeler, Various

    4.81 ABR Score (383.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.53 Goodreads (364.9K) ★ 4.8 Audible (18.3K)
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    Through discovered letters, the life story of a remarkable woman unfolds across decades of love, loss, war, and artistic passion. This epistolary novel examines how written words preserve and transform our understanding of both ordinary and extraordinary lives.

  2. 2
    World War Z cover

    World War Z

    World War Z

    by Max Brooks, Alan Alda, John Turturro, Rob Reiner

    Narrated by Various

    4.43 ABR Score (596.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.02 Goodreads (570.4K) ★ 4.65 Audible (26.0K)
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    Told as oral history interviews with zombie war survivors, this explores how different countries and cultures responded to the undead apocalypse. The all-star cast including Alan Alda and John Turturro creates a documentary feel.

  3. 3
    Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things cover

    Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

    by Adam M. Grant

    Narrated by Adam Grant, Maurice Ashley, R.A. Dickey, Evelyn Glennie, Sara Maria Hasbun, Francis Idehen, Alison Levine, Benny Lewis, Kari Louhivuori, Nelli Louhivuori, Brandon Payne, Richard Pine, Gil Winch, Various

    4.34 ABR Score (50.9K ratings)
    ★ 4.1 Goodreads (48.0K) ★ 4.58 Audible (2.9K)
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    Multiple narrators including Grant himself explore how character skills like proactivity and determination matter more than raw talent for long-term success in any field.

  4. 4
    Predator: If It Bleeds cover

    Predator: If It Bleeds

    Aliens / Predator / Prometheus Universe

    by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Holly Roberds, Steve Perry, John Shirley, Jeremy Robinson, Jonathan Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, Weston Ochse, Mira Grant, Tim Lebbon, Larry Correia, Dayton Ward, Peter J. Wacks

    Narrated by full cast, Tom Taylorson, Nicol Zanzarella, Traber Burns, Bradford Hastings, Bahni Turpin, Emily Sutton-Smith, Ulf Bjorklund, James Patrick Cronin, Andrew Eiden, Scott Brick, Feodor Chin, John Pruden, Mark Bramhall, various

    4.07 ABR Score (2.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.01 Goodreads (917) ★ 4.62 Audible (1.3K)
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    Seventeen stories spanning from 12th-century Japan to deep space get the full-cast treatment they deserve, with each narrator bringing their own energy to different Predator encounters across time.

  5. 5
    From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi (Star Wars) cover

    From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi (Star Wars)

    Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View • Book 3

    by Olivie Blake, Elizabeth Schaefer, Saladin Ahmed, Charlie Jane Anders, Fran Wilde, Mary Kenney, Mike Chen

    Narrated by Jonathan Davis, Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes, Jon Hamm, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Adam Scott, Marc Thompson, Sam Witwer, Various

    3.88 ABR Score (3.2K ratings)
    ★ 3.9 Goodreads (2.8K) ★ 4.42 Audible (381)
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    Forty writers reimagine iconic Return of the Jedi scenes from minor characters' perspectives, with A-list narrators including Jon Hamm and Adam Scott lending star power to Ewoks, droids, and background cantina patrons.

  6. 6
    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.

  7. 7
    Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula cover

    Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula

    by Valdimar Ásmundsson, Bram Stoker, Hans Corneel De Roos, Dacre Stoker, John Edgar Browning

    Narrated by Adam Verner, Robertson Dean, Ralph Lister, Derek Perkins, R.C. Bray, various

    3.77 ABR Score (2.0K ratings)
    ★ 3.63 Goodreads (1.6K) ★ 4.27 Audible (392)
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    The 1901 Icelandic 'translation' of Dracula is actually a completely different vampire story with Stoker's blessing. Six narrators bring this literary discovery to eerie life.

  8. 8
    Fresh Ink cover

    Fresh Ink

    by Lamar Giles, Nicola Yoon, Malinda Lo, Melissa de la Cruz, Sara Farizan, Eric Gansworth, Walter Dean Myers, Daniel José Older, Thien Pham, Jason Reynolds, Gene Luen Yang, Sharon G. Flake, Schuyler Bailar, Aminah Mae Safi

    Narrated by Guy Lockard, Kim Mai Guest, Bahni Turpin, Aminah Mae Safi, Dominic Hoffman, Dion Graham, Ron Butler, J. B. Adkins, Sara Farizan, Henry Levya, Donnabella Mortel, Schuyler Bailar, Various

    3.72 ABR Score (3.5K ratings)
    ★ 3.78 Goodreads (3.4K) ★ 4.44 Audible (16)
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    Multiple award-winning YA voices tackle identity, belonging, and resistance across formats—short stories, graphic work, and a never-before-printed Walter Dean Myers play—each narrator perfectly matched to their piece.

  9. 9
    The Book of Magic cover

    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)
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    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.

  10. 10
    Lincoln In The Bardo cover

    Lincoln In The Bardo

    by George Saunders

    Narrated by George Saunders, Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, Carrie Brownstein, Don Cheadle, Lena Dunham, Bill Hader, Kirby Heyborne, Keegan-Michael Key, Julianne Moore, Megan Mullally, Susan Sarandon, Ben Stiller, Various

    3.65 ABR Score (190.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.75 Goodreads (179.7K) ★ 3.97 Audible (10.6K)
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    Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, and a star-studded cast voice the dead trapped in a Washington cemetery while Lincoln grieves his son Willie during the Civil War.

  11. 11
    Old Venus cover

    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)
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    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.

  12. 12
    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.

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 →