Audiobook fans: Thoughts on Narration Impacting the Story

[Tien'sPetLurg she/her]

I'm new to the site and tried to see if this is discussed elsewhere. If I missed it, I'm sorry. 
I've listened to quite a few of Sanderson's works via Audible. Kate Reading and Michael Kramer are dear to me as I listened to them through the entire Wheel of Time series.  Sometimes I hear Kramer read a Sanderson character and think, but that's Matrim Cauthon's voice!!!

I was trying to decide which book to listen to next and I played some samples. Lots of people recommended Warbreaker to me. I noticed the reviews really complain about the narration for Warbreaker. I will probably just read it in pdf form instead. (I do buy hard copies of the books as well because it's easier to go back and reference things in that format)

How does the narration affect your level of enjoyment? 

I like hearing the names pronounced. Of course, if I don't see the hard copy I have no idea how to spell them.

Can you think of times when you dislike a character more because of how it's read rather than how it's written?

I have several experiences of that happening! (Stormlight Archive series) The choice used for Pattern---Yikes! It's kind of a running joke around my house. We start speaking in the annoying voice. <- nerd alert  We still don't trust Pattern. Maybe we're paranoid or maybe it's the vocal performance. I instantly liked Lift due to the vocal performance.  The accent was changed for the sailors from 1 book to the next. That threw me for a loop. I wasn't sure I knew this "new" version of Yalb.

Anyway, I'd just like to "hear" some thoughts on narration. Feel free to comment on any of the audiobooks by Sanderson. 

[Terisen he/him]

Kate Reading and Michael Kramer are the best in the business. Sanderson specifically requested them to read the Stormlight Archive books. They generally do a fantastic job, but I agree with your assessment of Pattern. It was a little much. Same with the accents from the Thaylen characters. I had no idea they were actually French!

 

I listened to the entire Wheel of Time series and that definitely helped with pronunciation of character names like Nynaeve. I had a roommate who also loved the series, but read all the books. He would just make a mess of that pronunciation and it would drive me up a wall. But I understood how he couldn't say it. I mean, look at that name!

 

I don't know that I've come across a "bad" narration yet for any audiobook I've listened to. Most of the time, it just takes a little while and my brain adjusts to the narrator's voice.

Edited May 28, 2014 by Terisen

[Tien'sPetLurg she/her]

LOL - yes! Oui Oui! So French. I'd have to go back, but I think they had a bit of an Irish brogue in the first book.  Of course, Lopen is an Aussie. (But I actually love it in his case.) Pattern is a bit like E.T.  But, what would a pattern sound like? Tough question. Syl sounds normal enough. Hmmm.

It was great to hear Reading and Kramer again---like old friends returning to my headphones. I have no idea how they create and keep track of so many voices.  Even though I hear WoT "Matt" occasionally, they managed to have many different voices for this series. I'm impressed at how much originality they have brought to the Stormlight Archives. I would have figured Rock would be a Loial or Thom voice recycled. 

I think it's fun to say "Jah Keved." (clearly I have an odd definition of Fun)

I have had a bad experience with a narrator on an audiobook. Not from this author or genre but when it happens, it can "break" the book. That's a lot of pressure on the narrator and a lot of trust from the writer I guess.
 

[Terisen he/him]

Lopen with a fast-talking Aussie-ish accent is perfect.  It fits his personality and quips to a tee.  Probably contributes to him being one of my favorite characters.

 

Which book had the bad narration?  The closest thing I've heard was a book by Michio Kaku that had him read the introductory chapter.  Dr. Kaku has a bit of a slur and that was making it tough to listen to, but the narrator switched when the actual chapters began.

[Tien'sPetLurg she/her]

I had a tough time with the narration on a book called The Night Circus. The pace of the reading kept changing. It was fairly quick early on and I needed more time to process the scene description so I slowed the voice down, then the performer slowed down and I had to speed him up. It was not a great experience because the device I used to listen didn't make the speed adjustment simple.

I also listened to Divergent. My husband and I both thought the narrator's voice was a bit annoying. I continued through the 2nd book in the series and decided not to complete the trilogy. 

All of these people read well. It's difficult to pinpoint why some narrators are better than others. I cringed during one book and thought it was the narration. Upon further reflection, it was the author. The book became embarrassing in that it tried to be "steamy" and it was ridiculous. I'm relieved Sanderson doesn't bother with that in his tales. It's just not necessary and can have the opposite effect if not done very well. 

Honestly, there is a little leap I have to make----a moment when I take a deep breath and think "ok" for the sake of the book...keep going...  and it's right when a male narrator shifts into a female character's voice. (or vice versa) hahahaha (Most recently--Michael Kramer reading the voice of Syl in The Way of Kings. I got used to it. But at first...there was an eyebrow raised.)

As for Sanderson's works on Audio, the reviews for the narration on Warbreaker have been less than enthusiastic. My guess, from the sample I've heard, is the slightly longer breaks between sentences becomes annoying. Not sure as I haven't listened to the entire thing.

[PeterAhlstrom he/him]

The French accent was corrected in a re-recording but apparently some of the French got left in by mistake. Unfortunate but not Kate's fault. The French only was tried in the first place due to my meddling; I wanted her to try something that sounded more like Michael's Tvlakv accent in the first book (because that was closer to how the accent was described in the book), but it came out French. So I said to scrap it and go back to the Irish, which did sound great, if not entirely accurate to the world.

 

There is one scene in the Knife of Dreams audiobook where Michael read one character's line in another character's voice (the first character was mimicking the second character's way of speaking, so it's an understandable mistake), and for me it absolutely destroyed the scene. Perhaps the most important scene in the entire book, the climactic line, and it got mangled. I wanted to throw my iPod into the La Brea Tar Pits (which I was walking through at the time).

 

My favorite narrator is Patrick Tull with his versions of the Patrick O'Brian books (Master and Commander, etc.) Sadly, he has passed away.

[Tien'sPetLurg she/her]

I'm fairly new to the genre. Last year I went through the WoT series. I just hit those books back to back until I finished. (What an intro to the genre, right?! The bar has been set High.) There was a moment when Moghedien's name was pronounced differently and I thought "is this a new character?" With audio, I'm not seeing the spelling so if the way it's said changes, I'm not sure if we are talking about the same Forsaken. (and when you think about it---it's important to know when you're messing with a Forsaken!) :-)    I had to remind myself that there was time between each book being published so it's perfectly human to have some differences.

I can't feel too critical about things with projects of that scope. There's just a tremendous amount of work involved from so many (most likely unsung) heroes. I appreciate the effort. If you are one who works on these projects, I thank you. You are adding to my joy in this life. The older I get, the more I realize how impossible it is to make everyone happy and how easy it is to make everyone mad. Bonus points to all of us for just trying to do our best. 

The thing about accents changing on the ship----With the captain, I decided (at the time) it worked because often ship's crews come from all over. My imagination makes a way.

I still wonder when I read that several people don't like a particular character, if it's just the way it's being read vs how it's written. Since my first exposure is audio and Then I go get a physical copy, I also wonder how differently traditional readers "cast" the characters. It's like "hey--you don't know my (insert any character name here)----he sounds like this. No you're doing it wrong. He sounds like this!" 
Are we reading the same book?! haha

I will check out Patrick Tull's performances. I'm always looking for something good. 

[Shivertongue he/him]

Now, I can't comment on any of the books mentioned in this thread so far, as I haven't listened to them on audio, but I can say, without hesitaion, that the skill of the narrator plays a key role in how I enjoy an audiobook.

 

I've told this story before, somewhere on the site, but I used a credit on The Black Prism, by Brent Weeks. The narrator - which I see now has not narrated anything else before or since - was absolutely dreadful. Seemed to have no idea when or how to add inflection to his voice, gave the various characters voices that didn't fit them (main character sounded like a midwesterner trying to do a light California surfer accent) and did nothing in his narration to convey emotion or tension during scenes that drastically need them. As a result, I found myself hating the book, which I know, if I separate the story from the performance, is not as bad as I think it is.

[Terisen he/him]

I've told this story before, somewhere on the site, but I used a credit on The Black Prism, by Brent Weeks. The narrator - which I see now has not narrated anything else before or since - was absolutely dreadful.

 

This.  Absolutely.  I started on that audiobook and just had to stop it was so bad.  I really need to just read the actual book because I've heard it's quite good (I enjoyed the Night Angel trilogy).  But, man, that narrator killed it for me.

[Shivertongue he/him]

This.  Absolutely.  I started on that audiobook and just had to stop it was so bad.  I really need to just read the actual book because I've heard it's quite good (I enjoyed the Night Angel trilogy).  But, man, that narrator killed it for me.

 

I will be honest and admit that I'm not the biggest fan of Weeks' writing style. He tells a fun story, but the writing isn't my favorite

[Tien'sPetLurg she/her]

Now I have to go find a sample so I can hear exactly what you mean. I believe you. I'm just weird like that. ;-)

I wonder how much input a new author has in terms of selecting the audio book narrator? I mean, if a book is your baby, you can't just hand it off to just anyone.... 

Whoa ~ I almost got enveloped by tangent spren.

Ok I opened the sample of Cristofer Jean reading the Black Prism. Wow. I "see" what you mean. It's like his voice is missing a few notes in terms of inflection. Sometimes he ends a sentence with his voice going up like he's asking a question. This makes it sound like he's reading the book for the first time. There's a lot of nasality. Well I only made it through 2 of the 5 minute sample using it as background noise. Poor guy. He's recorded 2 other books now. Once I got past the foreword on another one, I can hear improvement. By the 3rd listed, a short book called You Can Do, it sounds like he's worked at that infliction problem. Good for him. I love when people improve with practice. Now if only someone else would record that 22 hr+ Black Prism book. I bet that's part of it. He probably didn't want to spend time reading the whole thing and then going back to do the work. Swatting away judgement spren. 

 

[Shivertongue he/him]

I think I posted this on another thread, but one of my current favorite narrators is Amanda Ronconi. She does primarily romance/paranormal romance novels. The books I've listened to that she's narrated have all been by Molly Harper, and the reason i think I love her so much is because she gives the books the exact feel that they have. They are more humorous urban fantasy than paranormal romance, and Ronconi has the perfect voice for delivering the witty dialogue, on top of excellent use of inflection and subtle shifts for different characters. I don't think I would have read these books in print form, nor would I have listened to eight full books if someone else had been narrating it.

[Tien'sPetLurg she/her]

Thanks for the recommendation. I listened to a few samples on Audible. I don't know if it's my genre exactly. It might make for a fun, summer read. I was trying to find something with a bit of a time travel element to the story. It could have romance in it...or not....  

I'm going through Elantris a 2nd time on audio. This is the first time I've gone immediately back over a story once I've finished it. I'm confused and think I may have missed some things that answer my questions. Once again, I need to order the printed copy. It seems with world creation stories, I need a bit more than just audio to really process the information. (It could be because 2 characters have names that sound similar) If I'm listening here and there, I can't hold the details in my memory as well between listening sessions. I wish I could get a bigger hard drive and RAM for my brain. 

[traceria she/her]

RE: The Black Prism - My husband got this through audible, but I have no idea if he's listened to it yet and formed an opinion on either the book or the narrator.

 

I'm curious, has anyone actually gone searching for specific narrators?  There have been a few times where I didn't have a specific book in mind and searched by narrator to see if anything caught my eye/ear.  

 

The downside to finding a great narrator is listening to too many books done by them in quick succession.  I definitely had some WoT flashbacks when listening to WoK (haven't listened to WoR yet but will before book 3 comes out...I read WoR in book form.) back in February, but I agree that Michael and Kate did a fabulous job.

[Eerongal he/him]

This.  Absolutely.  I started on that audiobook and just had to stop it was so bad.  I really need to just read the actual book because I've heard it's quite good (I enjoyed the Night Angel trilogy).  But, man, that narrator killed it for me.

 

Yeah, a bad narrator can kill any audio book, the same way that a bad actor can kill a good script. A good narrator is essential to the enjoyment of audio books.

[Koloss]

(4 year old necro!) I... I like Pattern's voice acting.... I thought his weird speech pattern adds to his character, which I wouldn't have came up with in my head from reading the text.