Terror, dread, goosebumps, and more. Whatever it is, fantasy horror grabs and transfixs, giving us a cold encounter with a malignant ‘other’.
What’s the difference between regular fantasy with monsters? For the most part, fantasy action and adventure treats us to heart-pounding action, victories and a relatively equal match between protagonist and antagonist. Fantasy horror, on the other hand, tends to focus on pulse-racing suspense and danger, lead by an overwhelmed protagonist fighting for survival.
Are you in the mood for a fantasy horror audiobook that came provide all that? If so, you’re in luck.
Here are 12 fantasy horror audiobooks you must read:
- The Aching God by Mike Shel
- The Greyfrair by Clay Griffith
- The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
- Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice
- The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
- Vampire of the Mists by Christie Golden
- The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
- Smoke and Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg
- I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire by P.N Elrod
- The Gunslinger by Stephen King
- The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan
- The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
These books might include eldritch-like gods, vampires, unholy creatures, or a mixture of all. I’ve included book descriptions, readers’ ratings and summaries of positive and negative comments for each book below. On the other hand, if you’d like a quick summary, here’s a comparison chart.
The Aching God by Mike Shel
Description
“Closer, mortal. You are here, finally, to feed the Aching God…”
The days of adventure are passed for Auric Manteo. Retired to the countryside with his scars and riches, he no longer delves into forbidden ruins seeking dark wisdom and treasure. That is, until old nightmares begin plaguing his sleep, heralding an urgent summons back to that old life.
To save his only daughter, Auric must return to the place of his greatest trauma: the haunted Barrowlands.
With only a few inexperienced companions and an old soldier, he must confront the dangers of the ancient and wicked Djao civilization.
Auric has survived fell beasts, insidious traps, and deadly hazards before. But can he contend with the malice of a bloodthirsty living god?
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 4.29
Most Common Rating: 5
Positive Comments
First on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks is The Aching God. Fans loved the fact that the main character, Auric, was not just an older protagonist, but one coming out of retirement and courageously battling his inner demons to do so.
While this makes Auric a recognizable character type, these readers praised the story’s portrayal of him. Yes, he’s tortured by brutal memories, but his severe PTSD struck these readers as realistic and engrossing.
Moreover, they praised the book’s world-building. The world was full of history, secrets and mystery. But in particular, an atmosphere of slowly increasing dread and fright haunted its pages.
Negative Comments
If The Aching God wasn’t to a reader’s taste, what did they say?
It turns out that there wasn’t a clear common thread between their feedback. If I had to pick one, though, it would be that some readers found the characters’ types overly familiar types.
I got the sense that while the book’s fans recognized Auric, for instance, as a ‘tortured hero’ type, they found these features fleshed out and real. Readers who weren’t as enthusiastic about the story, however, thought this was cliche.
The Greyfrair by Clay Griffith
Description
Rousing pulp action and steampunk come together in a heartbreaking story of high adventure and alternate history.
In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming. Princess Adele is heir to the Empire of Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire.
When she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan, her only protector is the Greyfriar, a mysterious hero who fights the vampires from deep within their territory. Their dangerous relationship plays out against an approaching war to the death between humankind and the vampire clans.
The first book in a trilogy of high adventure and alternate history. Combining rousing pulp action with steampunk style, the Vampire Empire series brings epic political themes to life within a story of heartbreaking romance, sacrifice, and heroism.
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 3.81
Most Common Rating: 4
Positive Comments
Second on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks is The Greyfrair. This novel captured readers’ imaginations with its unique multi-genre world and its characters.
For the former, fans praised the story for its smooth blend of horror, adventure and romance, all set in a tantalizing steampunk fantasy world. Many of them added how much they enjoyed seeing fascinating concepts – such as a vampire empire – playing out.
In terms of characters, The Greyfrair impressed readers with Adele and Gareth. Both struck them as fleshed out, growing based on their experiences in the story. Others mentioned that the romance between them was a highlight.
Negative Comments
If readers didn’t enjoy The Greyfriar, what did they say? In general, critics focused on the writing style and characters. They tended to say that the writing came across as awkward, with certain phrases standing out.
As for the characters, these readers expected them to be as unique as the book’s world was. Instead, the characters came across as familiar types to them.
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Description
Lestat. The vampire hero of Anne Rice’s enthralling new novel is a creature of the darkest and richest imagination.
Once an aristocrat in the heady days of pre-revolutionary France, now a rock star in the demonic, shimmering 1980s, he rushes through the centuries in search of others like him, seeking answers to the mystery of his eternal, terrifying existence. His is a mesmerizing story – passionate, complex, and thrilling.
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 4.06
Most Common Rating: 5
Positive Comments
As Anne Rice’s second entry into the Vampire Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat is a gripping historical fiction and an excellent follow-up to the unforgettable 1976 novel, Interview with the Vampire. Lestat is a fascinating antihero protagonist that many fans found relatable as he tried to discover other beings like himself. Moreover, Lestat is made all the more relatable and engaging thanks to Rice’s dramatic and elegant prose.
Many readers praised that this is one of Anne Rice’s best, most well-researched works, with a number of people saying it’s quality easily surpasses her first entry into the Vampire Chronicles.
Negative Comments
Some reviewers mentioned the novel’s prose is overwhelming and rambling at times, making it a bit of a chore to read for those not interested in overly flowery and poetic language. Additionally, the book’s deliberate pace often slows to a crawl, with more impatient readers finding it grating and frustrating.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Description
The time is now.
We are in a small room with the vampire, face to face, as he speaks – as he pours out the hypnotic, shocking, moving, and erotically charged confessions of his first two hundred years as one of the living dead…
He speaks quietly, plainly, even gently, carrying us back to the night when he departed human existence as heir – young, romantic, cultivated – to a great Louisiana plantation, and was inducted by the radiant and sinister Lestat into the other, the “endless,” life…
Learning first to sustain himself on the blood of cocks and rats caught in the raffish streets of New Orleans, then on the blood of human beings…
To the years when, moving away from his final human ties under the tutelage of the hated yet necessary Lestat, he gradually embraces the habits, hungers, feelings of vampirism: the detachment, the hardened will, the “superior” sensual pleasures.
He carries us back to the crucial moment in a dark New Orleans street when he finds the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her, struggling against the last residue of human feeling within him…
We see how Claudia in turn is made a vampire – all her passion and intelligence trapped forever in the body of a small child.
And how they arrive at their passionate and dangerous alliance, their French Quarter life of opulence: delicate Grecian statues, Chinese vases, crystal chandeliers, a butler, a maid, a stone nymph in the hidden garden court…
Night curving into night with their vampire senses heightened to the beauty of the world, thirsting for the beauty of death – a constant stream of vulnerable strangers awaiting them below…
We see them joined against the envious, dangerous Lestat, embarking on a perilous search across Europe for others like themselves, desperate to discover the world they belong to, the ways of survival, to know what they are and why, where they came from, what their future can be…
We follow them across Austria and Transylvania, encountering their kind in forms beyond their wildest imagining…
To Paris, where footsteps behind them, in exact rhythm with their own, steer them to the doors of the Théâtre des Vampires – the beautiful, lewd, and febrile mime theater whose posters of penny-dreadful vampires at once mask and reveal the horror within…
To their meeting with the eerily magnetic Armand, who brings them, at last, into intimacy with a whole brilliant and decadent society of vampires, an intimacy that becomes sudden terror when they are compelled to confront what they have feared and fled…
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 3.99
Most Common Rating: 5
Positive Comments
Fourth on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks is Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. This book, readers remarked, is a deeply character-driven tale that explores the vampire mythos from philosophical and moral angles.
Fans said that this gave what could have been a standard vampire story depth and emotion. The questions the story raised – for instance, what gives life (or death) meaning – intrigued these readers.
Moreover, readers described the characters as a highlight. Decisions, isolation and the passing eras affect each character. Because of this, they struck readers as vivid and complex.
Negative Comments
If readers didn’t like Interview with the Vampire, what did they say? These readers said that while they understood that the story was philosophical take on the vampire mythos, it was too ponderous.
They reported that Louis’ reflections eventually came across to them as self-pity and they eventually lost interest in the story.
Others said that although the book had no outright sexual or romantic content, the eroticism between the characters – particularly Louis to Claudia, a child vampire – disturbed them.
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
Description
On a brisk autumn day, a twelve-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra.
The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: his father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense.
But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America – and into another realm.
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 4.13
Most Common Rating: 5
Positive Comments
Next on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks is a novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub.
Readers delighted by The Talisman remarked that it was a wonderful hero’s journey story. Jack, they said, was an enjoyable and convincing child protagonist. They rooted for him as he faced his fears and struggles, while also enjoying his growth and bravery.
Negative Comments
If readers didn’t find the story enjoyable, though, their comments were generally consistent: these readers said that the novel stretched for too long, particularly in the middle.
Vampire of the Mists by Christie Golden
Description
Jander Sunstar is a gold elf, a native of magical Evermeet in the Forgotten Realms. He is also a five-hundred-year-old vampire.
Torn by rage and grief, Jander is transported into the nightmare realm of Ravenloft, where he gains the attention of the demiplane’s master, Count Strand Von Zarovich.
But can Jander trust this elegant fellow vampire once he discovers that his own quest for revenge is linked to the dark heritage of the count’s domain?
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 3.86
Most Common Rating: 4
Positive Comments
Vampire of the Mists is another one of our fantasy horror audiobooks. If readers enjoyed this standalone novel, they mentioned how interesting they found the contrast between Jander, a tragic hero vampire, and Count Strand Von Zarovich, a villainous vampire.
Jander loathes by his vampire impulses, whereas Strand fully embraces them. In this sense, the novel pits two popular vampire ‘types’ against each other and the result is a resounding clash.
Others also added how much they enjoyed that the story committed to its dark fantasy horror premise: vampires kill people and hunt mortals as if they were cattle. Strahd is definitely a villain. And Jandar, while tormented about his actions, doesn’t come across as self-righteous or theatrical.
Negative Comments
What about readers who didn’t enjoy the book?
These readers usually interpreted the story’s classic portrayal of vampires as cliches. For instance, as per the traditional portrayal, garlic repels vampires and mortals have to invite them inside their house before these denizens of the night can enter.
Others said that they wanted the story to have a higher fright factor: while the story might be dark or tragic, it didn’t frighten them.
The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
Description
To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness…
Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them — the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.
Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend — a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what and who is worth dying for again.
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 4.10
Most Common Rating: 5
Positive Comments
Next on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks is The Immortal Rules. Fans of this story said that they enjoyed its fresh and unique premise, placing a dystopian spin on vampires and setting them in a post-apocalyptic world.
Kagawa commits to portraying vampires as predators while not making Allison’s struggle to adapt either melodramatic, on one hand, or sanitized, on the other. They also mentioned that there were great action scenes and Kanin, Allison’s vampire mentor, intrigued them.
Negative Comments
Readers who didn’t rate The Immortal Rules highly mentioned that the story starts off fast-paced, but slows down in the middle before picking up speed again. Other readers said that they didn’t find the romantic sub-plot – a light presence in the story – particularly compelling.
Smoke and Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg
Description
As a human vessel for an ancient spirit, Sandis lives no ordinary life. At the command of her master, she can be transformed against her will into his weapon – a raging monster summoned to do his bidding.
Unlike other vessels, Sandis can host extremely powerful spirits, but hosting such creatures can be fatal. To stay alive, she must run. And in a city fueled by smoke and corruption, she finds a surprising ally.
A cunning thief for hire, Rone owns a rare device that grants him immortality for one minute every day – a unique advantage that will come in handy in Sandis’s fight for freedom.
But Sandis’s master knows how powerful she is. He’s determined to get her back, and he has the manpower to find her, wherever she runs.Now, to outwit her pursuers, Sandis must put all her trust in Rone and his immortal device. For her master has summoned more than mere men to hunt her down….
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 3.86
Most Common Rating: 4
Positive Comments
Next on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks is Smoke and Summons. What did fans say? In general, it sounded like what determined whether readers loved this book or didn’t was based on whether they connected with Sandis, the protagonist.
Readers who enjoyed the novel said that they adored her – while naïve, she was also intelligent and full of personal strength. She was determined to do what was right, often felt understandably upset at herself when she was helpless and had a great deal of empathy for others.
But Sandis aside, readers also found the magic system and world fascinating.
Negative Comments
If readers didn’t enjoy Smoke and Summons, it was generally that they couldn’t connect with Sandis.
Some said it was because she made foolish decisions, while others cited the romance between her and Rone (naïve, innocent and selfless girl with jaded, arrogant and selfish boy). To them, Sandis came across as a damsel in distress.
I, Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire by P.N Elrod
Description
Some of the parchment pages were the color of cream, thick and substantial, made to last many, many lifetimes. Other pages were thin and desiccated, positively yellow from age, and crackled alarmingly as Van Richten turned them over.
There were no ornate illuminations, no fussy borders, only lines of plain text in hard black ink. The flowing handwriting was a bit difficult to follow at first; the writer’s style of calligraphy had not been in common use for 300 years.
No table of contents, but from the dates it looked to be some kind of history. He turned to the first page and read:
I, Strahd, Lord of Barovia, well aware certain events of my reign have been desperately misunderstood by those who are better at garbling history than recording it, hereby set down an exact record of those events, that the truth may at last be known….
He caught his breath. By all the good gods, a personal journal?
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 3.91
Most Common Rating: 4
Positive Comments
What’s next on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks? It’s I, Strahd, a riveting tale of an honorable and once-mortal war hero’s transformation into a ruthless vampire lord. While the novel is set within the larger Ravenloft book series, readers mentioned that I, Strahd is a standalone story. Fortunately, that means it’s not necessary to be familiar with the other books before diving into this one.
Fans who enjoyed I, Strahd often remarked that the story’s characterization and pacing were excellent. The first half of the story especially riveted them.
They also praised how realistic and three-dimensional the characters were. These readers found themselves invested in Straud’s story and intrigued throughout his descent into darkness.
Negative Comments
If readers didn’t enjoy the novel, they often said that they found Strahd’s love for Tatyana unconvincing.
Some of them said that his feelings seemed to sprout too suddenly, while others said that Tatyana’s portrayal dissatisfied them. She’s described as physically beautiful, but these readers wanted to see what aspect of her character made him fall in love with her.
The Gunslinger by Stephen King
Description
In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil.
In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake.
Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 3.96
Most Common Rating: 5
Positive Comments
Another story on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks is The Gunslinger by Stephen King. Readers who raved about this novel frequently mentioned the beautiful, poetic prose.
They also enthused over how intriguing Roland was as a character. While Roland starts off as the classic ‘strong and silent type’ so common in Westerns, he’s reveals a unique and multifaceted character.
Other readers mentioned how much they appreciated the distinctiveness of the world itself: it’s part Western, fantasy and post-apocalyptic.
Negative Comments
If readers didn’t enjoy The Gunslinger, they often said that there wasn’t much background information in the beginning of the book. Because of this, the story confused them until they progressed through a good portion of the novel.
The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan
Description
A group of three young thieves are pulled into a centuries old magical war between ancient beings, mages, and humanity in this wildly original debut epic fantasy.
Enter a city of saints and thieves. . .
The city of Guerdon stands eternal. A refuge from the war that rages beyond its borders. But in the ancient tunnels deep beneath its streets, a malevolent power has begun to stir.
The fate of the city rests in the hands of three thieves. They alone stand against the coming darkness. As conspiracies unfold and secrets are revealed, their friendship will be tested to the limit.
If they fail, all will be lost, and the streets of Guerdon will run with blood.
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 4.07
Most Common Rating: 5
Positive Comments
What’s next on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks? A mingling of eldritch horrors, sorcerers, zombies and more, The Gutter Prayer captivated readers with its originality. They described the novel as a haunting dark fantasy, where some of the creatures were genuinely terrifying.
Negative Comments
Readers had several different reasons for not connecting with the story. Some of them commented that while the novel seemed like it would be an epic, most of the epic material was told from out-of-body experiences rather than through grand wars, political machinations and more.
Others said that they couldn’t get invested in the characters or that the sexual content seemed out of place (New Adult fantasy rather than grim-dark or Young Adult).
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Description
In an empire controlled by bone shard magic, Lin, the former heir to the emperor will fight to reclaim her magic and her place on the throne. The Bone Shard Daughter marks the debut of a major new voice in epic fantasy.
The emperor’s reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands.
Lin is the emperor’s daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.
Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright – and save her people.
What Do Readers Say?
Goodreads Rating: 4.31
Most Common Rating: 5
Positive Comments
Last on our list of fantasy horror audiobooks is The Bone Shard Daughter. Fans praised this novel for its refreshing and intriguing mix of story elements, as well as its likeable characters.
These readers said that the story featured multiple points of view, each of which had a captivating character. While this tale was full of plot twists and emotions, the characters kept them glued to The Bone Shard Daughter’s pages. Each had their own distinct personality, moving struggles and authentic relationships. Fans were eager to stay with them through their triumphs and struggles, wanting to find out what would happen.
Negative Comments
What did critics of The Bone Shard Daughter say?
In general, these readers didn’t feel an emotional investment in the characters. Some of them said this was because of the multiple points of view. Since there were several, these readers didn’t feel they had enough time to get to know the cast.
12 Chilling Fantasy Horror Audiobooks You Must Read
How Do These Fantasy Audiobooks Compare?
