Best Anthony Ryan Audiobooks

The best Anthony Ryan audiobooks — 5 titles ranked by listening experience across Fantasy, averaging 3.92 BLT stars.

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Anthony Ryan built his reputation on Blood Song, a debut that spread almost entirely by word of mouth before becoming one of self-published fantasy's great success stories. The Raven's Shadow series showcases his strengths: tightly controlled first-person narration, a protagonist whose competence feels earned rather than granted, and battle sequences that hit with real weight. Ryan writes military fantasy with an insider's precision — formations matter, logistics matter, and the cost of violence accumulates across pages rather than disappearing between chapters. His worldbuilding is patient, releasing information through experience rather than exposition. Readers who love Joe Abercrombie's gritty realism or Brian McClellan's disciplined plotting will find Ryan a natural fit. If you want fantasy that respects the mechanics of war and the psychology of soldiers, Blood Song is one of the best entry points in the genre.

Anthony Ryan's highest-rated audiobook in our collection is Blood Song, narrated by Steven Brand (4.45 BLT stars). Performed by narrators including Steven Brand, Sarah Coomes, Michael Kramer, Emily Woo Zeller, Nick Podehl, Erin Mallon, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Dick Hill, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Nick Podehl, Allyson Johnson, Christian Rodska, Emily Bauer, and more. Rankings here weight the listening experience — narrator performance and Audible ratings factor alongside reader scores.

Where to Start with Anthony Ryan

  1. 1
    Blood Song cover

    Blood Song

    Raven's Shadow • Book 1

    by Anthony Ryan

    Narrated by Steven Brand

    ★ 4.45 BLT Score (109.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.41 Goodreads (92.6K) ★ 4.6 Audible (16.6K)
    More about this pick

    Ryan's debut surprised the entire genre — a lean, propulsive story of a warrior monk told in retrospect, with some of the best combat writing in modern fantasy.

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  2. 2
    Many Are the Dead cover

    Many Are the Dead

    Raven's Shadow #0.7

    by Anthony Ryan

    Narrated by Steven Brand

    ★ 3.96 BLT Score (1.4K ratings)
    ★ 4.04 Goodreads (935) ★ 4.53 Audible (431)
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  3. 3
    Unfettered II: New Tales cover

    Unfettered II: New Tales

    Gunnie Rose #0.0 - The Gunnie

    by Shawn Speakman, Naomi Novik, Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Michael J. Sullivan, Janny Wurts, Bradley P. Beaulieu, Mark Lawrence, Seanan McGuire, Peter Orullian, Aidan Moher, Erin Lindsey, John A. Pitts, Anthony Ryan, Scott Sigler, Django Wexler, Rachel Caine, Sarah Beth Durst, David Farland, Terry Brooks

    Narrated by Sarah Coomes, Michael Kramer, Emily Woo Zeller, Nick Podehl, Erin Mallon, Tim Gerard Reynolds

    ★ 3.78 BLT Score (1.5K ratings)
    ★ 3.92 Goodreads (1.1K) ★ 4.25 Audible (340)
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  4. 4
    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 BLT Score (1.3K ratings)
    ★ 3.96 Goodreads (1.0K) ★ 4.13 Audible (246)
    More about this pick

    A star-studded anthology where twenty-three fantasy masters tell exactly the stories they want, each perfectly matched to a narrator who elevates the prose—Dick Hill's gravitas, Tim Gerard Reynolds' intensity—making this feel less like a collection and more like a curated experience.

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  5. 5
    Deep Magic: Volume 2: A Speculative Fiction Collection: Deep Magic cover

    Deep Magic: Volume 2: A Speculative Fiction Collection: Deep Magic

    Deep Magic • Book 2

    by Jeff Wheeler, Kate Rudd, Amir Abdullah, Elizabeth Wiley, Samara Naeymi, Hannah Curtis, Adam Verner, Anthony Ryan, Ken Liu, Charlie N. Holmberg, Jeanna Mason Stay, Wulf Moon

    Narrated by Kate Rudd, Amir Abdullah, Elizabeth Wiley, Samara Naeymi, Hannah Curtis, Adam Verner

    ★ 3.67 BLT Score (3 ratings)
    ★ 4.33 Audible (3)
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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 →