I’m at AudioGals today reviewing My Lady Notorious by Jo Beverley, narrated by Alison Larkin. I enjoyed this one but have reservations about the performance of Rothgar.
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This is the thing that mostly stops me from embracing audiobooks–the narrator.
I have my own ideas of how characters sound, which doesn’t help, but then we have the actual narration. The other day I was listening to samples of Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters, and the female narrator was–basically–whining through the text. Everything she said came out sounding like a desperate question, upon which hinged the fate of humanity…and this was just a description of a room or some such. I just could not finish a two minutes sample of that, can’t imagine hours of something similar.
@azteclady: It’s often very much personal taste when it comes to narrators. There are some who are very popular but they just don’t float my boat. There are others, who, I think anyway, are just masterful. If you’ve read the book already you will have a voice of some description in your head and if the narrator doesn’t match it, it can be very hard to get over. There are a few who have managed to win me over – for example, Susan Eriksen narrates all of the In Death books and most people (it seems) dislike the way Peabody is voiced. I didn’t love it but now that voice is Peadbody to me. I think it may have morphed a little over time as well but I have come to love that characterisation as much as the character behind it. On the other hand, many many people dislike the way Tavia Gilbert portrays Bones’ voice in Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series. I was one of them but I enjoyed most of the rest of it so I gave it a pass and even though I don’t really like the voice, that’s the voice I hear now when Bones comes on the page in the print/digital book. But lots of people found that a complete dealbreaker and couldn’t get past it – which I totally understand.
But the best chance of success comes from listening first – because then, that’s the voice in your head.
Another friend doesn’t like the narrator to perform the characters, she just wants the book read to her. I dislike that. I want a performance – so it’s different strokes for different folks I think.
I certainly recommend Davina Porter, Nicholas Boulton, Kate Reading. I think they’re the best three I’ve come across. I also like Tanya Eby, Sophie Eastlake, Lorelei King, Renee Raudman and Holter Graham. But my taste isn’t universal. 😀
*chuckle* yeah, indeed it’s a very personal thing–Renee Raudman is the narrator I was referring to, by the way, and the book is Suzanne Brockmann’s Breaking the Rules (I just went to check samples out over at Brilliance Audio)
@azteclady: LOL – I’m not sure I’ve listened to that one. I thought she was particularly great in Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas and she narrated all the Ilona Andrews books. I think these days, most of the troubleshooters books are narrated by Patrick Lawlor and Melanie Ewbank. She might work better for you!