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Leviathan Wakes audiobook vs book: which should you choose?

The story follows two investigators, one missing woman and a conspiracy that spreads across the solar system, and Jefferson Mays reads the long audiobook.

Read vs Listen·Verdict last reviewed 23 October 2026·7 min read

Short answer: for the Leviathan Wakes audiobook vs book choice, we say listen on Audible (65% confidence, leaning). Jefferson Mays reads it unabridged: 19 hours 9 minutes on Audible UK, and 20 hours 56 minutes in a separate US recording. The Orbit paperback runs 576 pages, which is over 400. A long book favours listening, and nothing confirmed points towards print.

Confidence 65%, which puts it in the leaning band. Bands run from close call at 50 to 64, through leaning at 65 to 79 and clear at 80 to 94, up to clear cut at 95 and above.

What this book actually is

Leviathan Wakes is the first novel in The Expanse, published by Orbit in 2011 under the pen name James S. A. Corey, shared by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. It was nominated for the 2012 Hugo and Locus awards, and the nine-novel series later won the Hugo for Best Series. It was adapted for television, first by Syfy from December 2015 and later by Prime Video.

Humanity has spread across the solar system. Jim Holden, an officer on an ice hauler, finds a derelict ship and a secret worth killing for. On Ceres station, a detective named Miller is hired to find a missing young woman, Julie Mao. Their cases turn out to be connected. The book has a prologue, 55 chapters and an epilogue, and the chapters alternate between Holden and Miller.

The case for reading it

Print helps with orientation. Each chapter is headed with the name of the character it follows, so you always know whose story you are in, and the cast of ships, factions and stations is easier to keep straight when you can see it. One reviewer admitted losing track of the Ceres sections.

Page counts vary by edition: 576 pages for Orbit, while other listings give 577 or 592.

The case for listening to it

One narrator reads all of it, and once the two storylines merge a single conspiracy drives the book, which suits listening. Jefferson Mays narrates every novel in the series on Audible, so if you start on audio you can stay with one voice for all nine. Listener opinion of his reading is split, and we found no critic review or award for this recording, so that does not count either way.

Get the audiobook19h 9m, read by Jefferson Mays

Listen on Audible

The audiobook in detail

There are two Jefferson Mays recordings. Audible UK sells a 19 hour 9 minute version from Hachette Audio UK (2014 on the copyright line), which Audible US also lists. A separate US recording from Hachette Audio runs 20 hours 56 minutes, per a library record and retailers. A difference of 1 hour 47 minutes means they are not the same file. Both are unabridged.

Speed times for the UK recording: about 12h 46m at 1.5x and 9h 35m at 2x (calculated).

Who should ignore this verdict

Listeners who find two alternating investigators hard to keep apart without a printed heading. In print every chapter is headed with the name of the character it follows.

Anyone who, like one reviewer, loses track of the Ceres sections, or who finds the cast of ships, factions and stations easier to keep straight when they can see it in print.

Listener opinion of Jefferson Mays’s reading is split and no critic review or award was found, so anyone who does not take to his voice is better off in print.

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