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  • The Fellowship of the Ring

  • The Lord of the Rings, Book 1
  • By: J. R. R. Tolkien
  • Narrated by: Andy Serkis
  • Length: 22 hrs and 38 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (7,447 ratings)

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The Fellowship of the Ring cover art

The Fellowship of the Ring

By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Andy Serkis
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Summary

This brand-new unabridged audiobook of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic adventure, The Lord of the Rings, is read by the BAFTA award-winning actor, director and author Andy Serkis. 

In a sleepy village in the Shire, a young hobbit is entrusted with an immense task. He must make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ruling Ring of Power - the only thing that prevents the Dark Lord Sauron’s evil dominion.

Thus begins J. R. R. Tolkien’s classic tale of adventure, which continues in The Two Towers and The Return of the King.

©2025 Paul Delaney (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them." (Sunday Times)

"A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness." (New Statesman)

"Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron." (C. S. Lewis)

Featured article: Aragorn - a Lord of the Rings character guide


From his time as the ranger Strider to his ascension to King of Gondor, this guide has everything you need to know about the hero Aragorn. Perhaps one of the most mysterious and intriguing characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Aragorn is known by many names: Strider, Elessar, Estel, and finally Aragorn II, heir to the throne of Gondor and Arnor. From a shadowy tracker who mysteriously comes to Frodo's aid to an essential member of the Fellowship of the Ring to the long-awaited king who restores harmony and peace to Middle-earth, Aragorn plays many important roles in the fantasy epic. And he has quite an interesting history.

What listeners say about The Fellowship of the Ring

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Terrible - Andy Serkis shouldn’t have been asked to read this

Andy Serkis reads this really very badly.

He over-annunciates, like he is a children’s TV presenter. It doesn’t suit the book at all.

His choice of voice for characters are very questionable - e.g. Gandalf is awful. His accents are poorly chosen, and wildly inconsistent and just not good.

His singing - and sense of melody - is uncomfortably bad.

His voice and performance is simply utterly ill-suited to this book. It prevents you from being immersed in the story and enjoying it.

I can only think that he chose to do this audiobook just so he could do his Gollum performance again - a vanity project. His popularity for his Gollum performance in the Jackson trilogy doesn’t mean he is well-suited to reading the book - and this audiobook utterly proves that.

Awful.

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103 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

I love Lord of the rings. I have read it, oh I don’t really know how many times.

After listening for about an hour or so I decided to stop.

Rob Inglis’ narration is far superior in both LOTR and the Hobbit. As is Martin Shaw’s of the silmarillion.

I was left a little disappointed but Rob Inglis is very hard to beat

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45 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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After the Hobbit..

After listening to Andy read the Hobbit, I was spoilt for any other version..Imagine the joy when I heard he was reading all x3 LoR’s…ecstatic..and he did not disappoint..I am savouring every chapter, and I will not be waiting for a credit to acquire the other two..well done and thank you to both Andy Serkis and audible.
I would say to the person who preferred Rob Inglis..we all have our likes and dislikes and we are entitled to them, but you obviously did not listen for long, you must have made a decision to not like it..as it is brilliant..

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45 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Serkis Magic!

I was over the moon to find out a while back that Andy Serkis would continue to narrate the Lord of the Rings trilogy after the splendid Audible of The Hobbit.

Now it’s here…

I’ve always loved the Rob Inglis versions but it’s so refreshing and exciting listening through The Fellowship right now.

Not to be missed, thank you Mr Serkis and Audible for this amazing versions - new listeners are going to love it!

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28 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dreadful accents

When he's just reading, Andy Serkis' delivery and timbre is excellent. But… …the overall performance here is overwrought - it doesn't let the story speak for itself. And his character accents are atrocious - from the Mummersett stereotypes of much of the Hobbitry to - above all - the truly cringeworthy faux-Scots accent he gives Pippin. Certainly, as a Scot, this sounds exactly like a bad stand-up making bad Scots jokes, and it's probably going to be enough to stop me reaching the end. Very disappointed.

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24 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant

Andy Serkis is fantastic here. He gives an authentic voice to every character. I think i'll find it difficult to go back to listening to the original audiobooks after hearing Andy's energy and enthusiasm. Thanks Andy.

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21 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

good effort

I was looking forward to this after having enjoyed the Rob inglis version many times.
I would say this is not as good, though not bad by any means.
Andy has a rather gruff cracked voice which is not the most pleasant to listen to, for my ears anyway, and doesn't suit a lot of the characters.

Also some rather odd choices of accents on characters, which he seems to have taken directly from the movies, like giving Pippin a Scottish accent.
Why would Pippin and Gimli have the same regional accent?
I also noticed many spots of poor acting or slipping and confused accents.
His Tom Bombadil was just irritating.
I also never liked his Gollum much, it's like a comedic chariciture.
It seems like it was a bit rushed overall.

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15 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

One audiobook to rule them all

An absolutely stunning and sublime performance by the wonderful Mr. Andy Serkis and yet another great reason to return to Middle Earth again this Fall. There is no other fantasy author quite like Tolkien and here his world is brought to life in breathtaking detail.
As always, the road goes ever on and on. We truly have been blessed.

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12 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Masterful performance

Andy Serkis nails it. Strong individual character performances and a somber yet expressive narrator voice. The story is the story, if you want to know about The Lord of the Rings you can find that elsewhere!
One point of personal taste - he sings the songs. I would have preferred then spoken or chanted; but that’s what the 30 second skip button is for!

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10 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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very good book

Very good book well read by Andy Perkins and well directed and produced I did not want stop listenig

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8 people found this helpful

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  • J
  • 25-09-21

Fantastic narration!

I am absolutely in love with Andy Serkis’s narration! I’ll be listening to it over and over again!

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  • Tripp Fuller
  • 29-09-21

Amazing!!

Andy Serkis gave every LOTR fan a huge gift. This is more enjoyable than my high expectations imagined.

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  • Ama
  • 30-09-21

One audiobook to rule them all.

For those who come from watching the movies alone, a listen to the Fellowship of the Ring will be a fantastic new adventure of a story they might consider themselves to already be familiar with. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by additions to lore and world building, or even completely new characters and stories.

The classic book reading by Rob Inglis is one dear to my heart, and it was inevitable that Andy Serkis would be compared to him. But I feel like there is no one better to replace Rob as the new standard as some has called this.

Not being a fan of the poems and songs to begin with, I must admit that Andy Serkis has given each and every one a good thought resulting in all of them being overall less dull and sometimes even quite beautiful.

There was little to no doubt on his voice acting, and he proved in this book that he’s perfect for it. As he was perfect for the Hobbit reading.

I am sure that this modern and worthy take will become the new standard for LotR audio books for many to come from here on out.

And if you end up falling in love with the story, I throughly recommend Rob Inglis and his work for your second listening to these tales.

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  • Johan N.
  • 16-10-21

Prepaid and waited

Struggling to finish, the performance will be rated high by some, and don't get me wrong, performing and narrating a story is something I will never be able to do. I have great respect for the people who do this but this one was not for me.

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  • Frode Haugsand
  • 11-02-22

Would prefer a better singer

Serkis is an excellent voice actor, but his singing ranges from tolerable to painful. And songs are an important part of LOTR: So I wish they'd hire a voice actor who was, at the very least, also a decent singer; or even have others to just do the singing.

Story wise, it's LOTR. Legion are those who have reviewed the story better than I ever could.

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  • Jesper Hinge
  • 18-01-22

volume is a problem

Volume is at times so low its almost impossible to hear, at other times its resonably loud, so you have to turn it up and down all the time.
still very good though

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  • collerz
  • 01-06-22

Amazing

First the negative- For my personal taste there’s just too many songs. They add nothing for me, Serkis isn’t exactly the best singer either. When a song is coming I dread the next 3 or so minutes.

Positive- Love Serkis’ performance (minus the above) has some good voices for the characters and very nice to listen to.

Obviously lord of the rings is a legendary series and it’s a great story, it’s been years since I’ve read it (listened this time). I look forward to two towers.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 15-01-22

Marvelous

It's too short a book! I want more and more! Best of all Tolkien

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  • Saud O.
  • 29-09-21

Outstanding

Simply put amazing, great performance leaving you on the edge of your seat. Enjoyed every moment. Starting the next book immediately

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  • Frikkie Oppel
  • 23-09-21

Awesome performance!

Andy Serkis breathes life into this great story! Telling it like no other has before! He has a great understanding and I think love for the Tolkien stories that comes through in this magnificent performance!

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