Audiobook list · Updated November 2026
Best Sci-Fi Audiobooks on Audible
Science fiction has some of the best audiobooks around, from space opera and old classics to short, tense survival stories. This list starts with the Audie Award winners and Audible’s editors’ picks, then adds what listeners rate highest.
Everything here is on Audible, and the lengths vary a lot. Some are novellas you can finish in an afternoon, and others are long worlds worth getting lost in.
By Peter Clemens · Originally published February 2024 · Updated November 2026
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If you only listen to three
Not sure where to start? Try one of these.
- Project Hail MaryThe 2022 Audie Audiobook of the Year, read by Ray Porter, with a 4.9 rating from more than 316,000 listeners.See it ↓
- SimultaneousThe 2026 Audie winner for Science Fiction, a time-travel thriller with three narrators.See it ↓
- Red RisingA Mars-set saga with a 4.7 rating from more than 82,000 listeners.See it ↓
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Audie Winners and Audible Editors’ Picks
Recent Audie winners, a modern classic, and favorites from Audible’s best sci-fi and fantasy of 2025.

Simultaneous
A mind-bending time-travel thriller that won the 2026 Audie for Best Science Fiction. Ray Porter voices a gruff investigator, Marin Ireland a therapist and Stephanie Sheh a patient, and Kirkus called the three performances irresistible.

The Book of Doors
A debut that mixes magic, adventure and romance in a contemporary setting, for fans of The Night Circus and The Midnight Library. It won the 2025 Audie for Science Fiction and has a 4.6 rating from nearly 5,000 listeners.

Project Hail Mary
A lone astronaut wakes aboard a spacecraft on a mission that could save Earth. It won the 2022 Audie for Audiobook of the Year and has a 4.9 rating from more than 316,000 listeners.

There Is No Antimemetics Division
Humanity is under assault by “antimemes”, ideas that attack memory, identity and reality itself, in a science-fiction horror story. It is an expanded version of the beloved online novel and was one of Audible’s best sci-fi and fantasy listens of 2025.

What We Can Know
A genre-bending novel that opens at a 2014 dinner party, where a poet reads a new poem for his wife, then looks across time and history at what can ever be truly known. It was one of Audible’s best sci-fi and fantasy listens of 2025.
Space Opera and Epic Adventures
Big worlds, big wars and big ideas.

Red Rising
Darrow is a Red, the lowest caste in a color-coded society, and believes his work in the mines is making Mars livable. It has a 4.7 rating from more than 82,000 listeners.

Dune
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, this is the landmark of epic science fiction, performed by a full cast. It has a 4.7 rating from more than 127,000 listeners.

Leviathan Wakes
A captain, his crew and a detective unravel a conspiracy across the solar system that begins with a single missing girl. This is the first book of The Expanse, with a 4.7 rating.

Children of Time
The last remnants of humanity leave a dying Earth and search for a new home, and the question is who will inherit a terraformed planet. It has a 4.5 rating from more than 41,000 listeners.

Firefly: Magnificent Nine
An original novel set between the TV series and the movie Serenity, in which Captain Mal Reynolds would like nothing more than honest smuggling work. It has a 4.7 rating.
Classics and Dystopian Landmarks
The books that shaped the genre, in strong recordings.

Brave New World
Originally published in 1932, a world of cloning, feel-good drugs and total social control. Michael York reads it, and it has more than 31,000 ratings.

Foundation
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. The first novel in the Foundation series is read by Scott Brick and has a 4.4 rating.

Ender’s Game
The classic story of a young boy recruited into the middle of an interstellar war. It has a 4.6 rating from more than 44,000 listeners.

Fahrenheit 451
A new recording of Bradbury’s classic set in a bleak, dystopian future, narrated by Penn Badgley. It runs under five hours.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Washington Post called it “extremely funny”, and Stephen Fry’s reading is a favorite. It has a 4.6 rating from nearly 57,000 listeners.
Short Sci-Fi Under Six Hours
Quick listens that still have big ideas.

The Dispatcher
In this Audible Original, murder is nearly impossible because victims return to life, and Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher. It won the 2017 Audie for Original Work and has more than 85,000 ratings.

All Systems Red
The first Murderbot Diaries novella follows a self-aware security android that would rather watch soap operas than deal with humans. It has a 4.5 rating from more than 22,000 listeners.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built
The first Monk and Robot book from Hugo Award winner Becky Chambers is set centuries after the robots left, and AudioFile praised the narration as gentle. It has a 4.5 rating.

The Downloaded
In 2059, two very different groups are cryonically frozen while their minds are uploaded into a quantum computer. Brendan Fraser, Luke Kirby and Vanessa Sears lead the cast.

George Orwell’s 1984 (Dramatized)
A full-cast adaptation of Orwell’s novel, told through Winston Smith in Airstrip One, where Big Brother is always watching. It has a 4.7 rating from more than 16,000 listeners.
Big Ideas and Mind-Bending Plots
Contact, time travel, uploaded minds and the end of the world.

The Three-Body Problem
The Hugo Award-winning novel that inspired the Netflix series 3 Body Problem. It has a 4.4 rating from more than 31,000 listeners.

Sleeping Giants
A girl riding her bike in Deadwood, South Dakota, falls through the ground and sets off an earthshaking mystery. It is a thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton and World War Z.

And Then She Vanished
Joseph Bridgeman is still haunted by his little sister’s disappearance when he accidentally discovers he can time travel. This starts the Joseph Bridgeman series and has a 4.6 rating.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
Bob Johansson sells his software company and plans a life of leisure. Audible named it its Best Science Fiction Book of 2016, and it has a 4.7 rating from more than 109,000 listeners.

Station Eleven
A Hollywood star, his would-be savior and a nomadic group of actors roam the Great Lakes region as civilization collapses. It has a 4.3 rating from more than 14,000 listeners.
Survival, Games and Mayhem
Fast, funny and high-stakes listens.

Hell Divers
Humanity lives on airships above a poisoned Earth, and the Hell Divers drop to the surface for the resources they need. It was a 2016 Audible Editor’s Pick and has more than 39,000 ratings.

Alien: Covenant
The novelization of Ridley Scott’s film. The crew of a colony ship finds what looks like an uncharted paradise, but it is actually a dark, dangerous world. It has a 4.5 rating.

Dungeon Crawler Carl
The apocalypse will be televised. A man and his ex-girlfriend’s cat must survive a deadly game show dungeon. It has a 4.8 rating from more than 73,000 listeners.

The Martian
Astronaut Mark Watney is sure he will be the first person to die on Mars. This is a new production narrated by Wil Wheaton, with bonus content, and a 4.8 rating.

Ready Player One
A quest for the ultimate prize in a virtual world, described by USA Today as Willy Wonka meets The Matrix. It has a 4.8 rating from more than 262,000 listeners.
Sci-fi audiobooks: common questions
What are the best sci-fi audiobooks on Audible?
Project Hail Mary has a 4.9 rating from more than 316,000 listeners, and Simultaneous won the 2026 Audie for Science Fiction. Dune, Red Rising and Dungeon Crawler Carl each have tens of thousands of ratings too.
Which sci-fi audiobooks have won Audie Awards?
Project Hail Mary won Audiobook of the Year in 2022, The Dispatcher won Original Work in 2017, The Book of Doors won Science Fiction in 2025 and Simultaneous won it in 2026.
What is the shortest sci-fi audiobook on this list?
The Dispatcher, at about 2 hours 18 minutes. The longest is Dune, at about 21 hours 2 minutes.
Which of these have full casts or multiple narrators?
Dune, The Downloaded, George Orwell’s 1984 and Sleeping Giants use full casts. Simultaneous has three narrators, and What We Can Know has two.
Which are good sci-fi audiobooks for beginners?
The Martian, Project Hail Mary, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and All Systems Red are easy ways in, and the last two run well under six hours.
Where can I find more sci-fi recommendations?
My 42 best sci-fi audiobooks of all time and apocalyptic and dystopian audiobooks lists go deeper, and my best audiobook deals page shows how to listen for less.
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