Where to Start with Guy Gavriel Kay
- Best entry point → Under Heaven
- Best standalone → Tigana
- Start the Sarantine Mosaic series → Sailing to Sarantium
- What fans keep coming back to → The Lions of Al-Rassan
- Best narrator for Guy Gavriel Kay → Lord of Emperors
- Highest rated by listeners → River of Stars (Under Heaven #2)
- 1
Lord of Emperors
Sarantine Mosaic • Book 2
Narrated by Berny Clark
★ 4.27 ABR Score (14.9K ratings)★ 4.3 Goodreads (14.4K) ★ 4.71 Audible (490)21h 53m listening time • Released 2012 - 2
The Lions of Al-Rassan
Sarantine Universe • Book 4
Narrated by Euan Morton
★ 4.23 ABR Score (28.2K ratings)★ 4.3 Goodreads (26.8K) ★ 4.55 Audible (1.4K)19h 39m listening time • Released 2012 - 3
Under Heaven
Under Heaven • Book 1
Narrated by Simon Vance
★ 4.16 ABR Score (17.3K ratings)★ 4.17 Goodreads (17.0K) ★ 4.67 Audible (268)19h 32m listening time • Released 2020 - 4
River of Stars
Under Heaven • Book 2
Narrated by Simon Vance
★ 4.14 ABR Score (8.6K ratings)★ 4.17 Goodreads (8.0K) ★ 4.5 Audible (608)20h 49m listening time • Released 2013Simon Vance transforms Kay's sprawling Song Dynasty epic into something immersive and propulsive—twenty hours that feel essential, not indulgent. Multiple award winner that deserves every accolade.
- 5
Children of Earth and Sky
Sarantine Universe • Book 7
Narrated by Simon Vance
★ 4.09 ABR Score (9.1K ratings)★ 4.16 Goodreads (8.3K) ★ 4.42 Audible (848)19h 25m listening time • Released 2016Simon Vance makes the perfect guide through Kay's Renaissance-inspired world of colliding empires and revenge—his layered narration captures the intrigue and heartbreak that define this interconnected cast of characters.
- 6
Sailing to Sarantium
Sarantine Mosaic • Book 1
Narrated by Berny Clark
★ 4.06 ABR Score (17.7K ratings)★ 4.2 Goodreads (17.1K) ★ 4.42 Audible (580)18h 48m listening time • Released 2012 - 7
All the Seas of the World
Sarantine Universe • Book 6
Narrated by Simon Vance
★ 4.06 ABR Score (5.2K ratings)★ 4.17 Goodreads (4.9K) ★ 4.55 Audible (277)18h 4m listening time • Released 2022Simon Vance's measured, deliberately paced narration transforms Kay's intricate political thriller into something hypnotic—he makes you feel the weight of every calculated choice and intimate betrayal across 18 hours.
- 8
Tigana
Narrated by Simon Vance
★ 4.02 ABR Score (52.9K ratings)★ 4.08 Goodreads (52.3K) ★ 4.38 Audible (656)24h 51m listening time • Released 2020Kay's standalone is the most emotionally resonant epic fantasy of the 1990s — a story about a kingdom whose very name has been erased from memory.
- 9
Written on the Dark
Sarantine Universe • Book 8
Narrated by Simon Vance
★ 3.96 ABR Score (2.8K ratings)★ 4.02 Goodreads (2.7K) ★ 4.6 Audible (89)10h 33m listening time • Released 2025Simon Vance elevates Kay's medieval intrigue with a narrator who captures both tavern swagger and courtly danger, making every political scheme feel like a knife at your throat.
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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.
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