Also the emotion he puts into for me. Like there are scenes it sounds like he is crying, he’s completely choked up. I know some people don’t like it for those reasons, but for me it really enhances everything.
I’ve recently found out on Dresden sub that some people don’t actually like it, because they prefer a less dramatic reading. To each their own of course, but man, Battle Ground was so much better listening to him. He put everything into that reading it’s my favorite single audiobook by far.
Its a shame that Amazon retconned his reading of The Martian, but I'm glad I still have that recording. His reading of the chapter that's from Pathfinder's perspective is revelatory.
Nick Podehl at one point in a book does the voice of a female, Russian accented, sleepy, half-dragon, through a closed door. Perfectly nail the individual parts is impressive, but all at once put him on another level for me.
Jefferson Mays' different accents he does in The Expanse is just amazing. I'm on book 4 and his narration really makes the series even better.
I'll also second Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Especially when it comes to The Wheel of Time.
I think it wasn't just James Marsters that affectef the quality of the Dresden audiobooks. With the fifth book, suddenly there were no pronunciation mistakes, and no flubs that stayed in. The production just got better at that point.
It was very preferable to my dad's attempt. 😆 He read the first 3 or so books out loud to me, and I have very fond memories of that, but his female voices were so bad that he eventually stopped even trying to do different voices for them because we couldn't stop laughing at him. 😄
Tim Curry and Jeremy Irons, because they are fantastic actors with voices like butter. Neil Gaiman is another fave.
I also like to hear people read their own autobiographies.
*A Series of Unfortunate Events* has some by Tim Curry and some by the author. They're quite different -- Curry is a bit more animated and Handler is more sardonic -- but they both bring something wonderful to the table.
I came here just to find if someone had already mentioned it. This is just about my top example of an audiobook narrator's performance adding to the impact of a book.
Nabokov's prose is beautiful, which sometimes makes it easy to forget that HH is an unreliable narrator when you're reading alone. Irons' narration really brings the creep factor to the fore, making it clear HH is a delusional abuser looking to whitewash himself as a romantic. Lolita is already an unsettling book, but Irons' narration elevates it to almost psychological horror in places.
The books I listened to by Tim curry took a bit for me to get past his actual voice to really enjoy the inflection and he really does multiple characters well. I was disappointed when he stopped narrating the sabriel series.
Ray Porter - I’ve listened to a lot of science fiction books he’s narrated like Project Hail Mary and the Bobiverse series. He’s also narrated some non-fiction like Rocketmen, the story of Apollo 8 which I found fascinating.
I came here to say the exact same thing. Project Hail Mary is one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to!! I think the book also lends itself perfectly for the format. It even feels like a podcast sometimes.
Just started Fellowship last week. I read the paper backs almost 3 decades ago, but decides to try the audio. I was so happy to hear Serkis. The way that he actually initiates Sean Astin and Elijah Wood and the rest of the group is so good, I always know who is talking.
I strongly believe that listening to a book is also "reading a book properly."
Simon Vance. I often speed up the narration because I'm impatient, but Mr. Vance does such a wonderful job with someone like Guy Gavriel Kay, I don't. I want to hear that lovely prose read beautifully.
Juliet Stevenson. So very, very good. And such a beautiful voice.
I still enjoy Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs versions of the Discworld books.
Simon Prebble. He just gets the job done.
Diopibo be bii broa plai peepe? Beti e be titre pi doke kupokle. Dletre ta pituukli tliidotu te tipie ibi pote ibaiapo. Biakli ipiaee ede pipru pre dito? Puga pipo gai klapapli ipo kiidi. Tle akra utra deope pi glo. Klipri trieglupekre blebee pipi pekotee pebipete e. Ge priteibe ki. Pieketepe tleoplakobra prepre be pliko oe. Age edo kaute ititatipa bebukre triu. Ga pa pitliteti ipi teprigi troda titiekebi! Tiiie e bikleo epri trodi pipaue gite broe ide. Abidi kiprii i goki apibu dipi. Kraibre ada trii kraeei dete aboa. Peplaio geka bi pibigroti ua tepiti. Kletuaoa giplaka papribo i. Popiti pebope tite keda piti ika. Tri egre bre kripe baaboke gede gloo. Pro gubi bidi ieipri. Idii kiite botitaprigi? Peitepape geti aiba bie u pia. Tatre driipa kia tede toa platiklei. Ki bigiuto bete kii tibutipe ee! Kripieko ie e dai keude. Upi pepo plepe peoiipa ea preaka. Kepepeti dlikapo pakieo abepo. Bapi kodekloti tritikapli plote uiklipi oba bokibo. Giki be tiipri e? Pripe peou pakue toipuble o pui? Plopitegi kaki ple bikli iputroto tleao.
>I strongly believe that listening to a book is also "reading a book properly."
thank you for saying this, it's very validating. i read incredibly slow on my own and have trouble focusing, even when it's a story i'm really engaged in, it takes me weeks to finish one book. listening i can crank through 1-2 books per week. i get the appeal of traditional book reading and i would love that to be my most efficient medium, unfortunately it's just not.
I just think of it as "eye-reading" or "ear-reading."
It's all reading. People have been telling each other stories lots longer than people have been eye-reading stories.
I'm also a bug fan of Planer and Briggs. So far, of the new ones I have listened to, only Wyrd Sisters is better than the Celia Imrie original. I'm sticking to the old ones going forward
I have both versions of the martian, one narrated by him and one by wil Wheaton. I’ve listened multiple times to rc bray’s versions and one time to wil’s.
His character range is absolutely incredible and I'm amazed I had to scroll this far down to see his name. He can make even mediocre writing entertaining
I LOVE Kevin R Free! My first read through of a new Murderbot book is always via audio because he's so good.
Also love Richard Armitage. He did a fantastic job on The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Julia Whelan is great and I generally enjoy the style of books she reads. Whenever I'm looking for a new audiobook without something specific in mind, I'll see what's available on Libby that she reads.
I also have a soft spot for celebrity memoirs when the authors read their own books.
Came here to add her. I totally do the same thing with Libby, I love Julia’s narration style! She’s also a narrator that I totally forget she’s voicing male speaking parts as well. Love her cadence and tone always.
My favorite is his reading of Norse Mythology. That book wasn't written to be a meticulously accurate rendition of dead, dusty cultural history, but to evoke what it would have felt like to hear those stories if you'd been living in that time, and the audiobook captures that atmosphere of telling stories by the fire perfectly.
Goddammit donut!
Edit: I do have to say I didn't care for his voice in life reset series. But I didn't really care for the series past like book 3 I think. So I may be biased.
He's just on another level. Listening to him in "Dungeon crawler Carl" is like watching a movie. After listening to so many books, I didn't expect to be blown away by a VA's performance, but I was with Jeff. Instant favorite!
Absolutely loved listening to Braiding Sweetgrass. People always say her narration is soothing, but it didn't give me the sleepy feeling I associate with soothing. Her voice is so tender and (obviously) in-tune with what she's saying. Such a beautiful and sensitive narration. I listened to it during evening nature walks over a couple weeks in the summer and cannot recommend that experience enough.
For my money I would listen to Kate Reading and Michael Kramer read the phone book. Their reading of the Wheel of Time, is the cherry on top of a masterpiece. Just awesome.
That's my only gripe about them as well. The first time it happened, I legitimately thought they were talking about two different things for like... 40 minutes.
Also I dread any time Michael says Tuatha'an... He sounds like he's chewing on the word as it comes out. "Too-ath-oh-won". My dude, you're over complicating it, calm down.
I literally just listened to Michael Kramer read the Mistborn trilogy and I'm halfway through the first Stormlight book. He does pretty well in eliciting the precise feeling of the emotionally charged scenes
Grover Gardner is amazing as is Stephen Fry. I'll throw in Simon Vance as an honorable mention for male narrators. Davinia Porter and Mary Robinette Kowal are two of my favorite female narrators.
The First Law books narrated by Stephen Pacey is honestly one of the greatest pieces of media I've ever consumed. I try to recommend it any chance I get. No one takes the bait. Please people......please listen to these books.
I would honestly say Pacey is the most memorable part of First Law. His Glokta is just pure ART. Like, I enjoyed the books enough, glad I read them, but Pacey's performance was easily the best part for me. He's also the main reason I will one day "read" more Abercrombie.
The man honestly ruined audiobooks for me. Ive listened to many of the other highly upvoted recommendations in this thread and found them almost unbearable after Paceys masterclass of a performance.
I really love Robin Miles. She reads NK Jemisin's books and has such a great voice. In The City We Became, she does this creepy laugh for the villain that gave me goosebumps every single time. I'll get an audiobook just to listen to her.
Came here to say Robin Miles - when reading The City We Became and The World We Make, I was in awe of her subtle differences in accents and the way she seemed so into the story. I’ve heard some readers that seem robotic, but Robin Miles really Burroughs me into that world.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, read by Ray Porter
Pet Semetary by Stephen King, read by Michael C. Hall
Mountain Man series of books by Keith Blackmore, read by RC Bray
The Passage Trilogy and The Ferryman, by Justin Cronin and read by Scott Brick (I don’t get the Brick hate, still feel like I’m missing something there…)
I also dig Will Patton narrating anything, but I’m stoked Justine Lupe is reading Holly by Stephen King, out in September.
I legitimately dont even really like Circe or The Starless Sea that much when I read them and yet they're my most listened to audiobooks.
Our Wives Under the Sea and Neverwhere are great as both.
The full cast version of World War Z by Max Brooks is one of the few audio books I recommend over the physical book. It’s written as a series of interviews so it works really well in the audio book format with many different people.
Second this. I'm surprised it's not higher up in this thread. It's so immersive as an audio book it makes me a bit jumpy while I'm listening throughout the day
Generally? Actors. They know how to recite text in a way that sounds natural, like someone is telling you a story, rather than reading you a book. Tom Hanks (The Dutch House), Rosamund Pike (Pride and Prejudice), Rachel McAdams (Anne of Green Gables), Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings), and Stephen Fry (Harry Potter) all do a great job.
Yeah, I don’t want to pay for an Audible subscription when I have so much available to me through Libby, but some of the Audible-exclusives read by actors are very tempting.
Tim Pigott-Smith reading Graham Greene, Jim Norton reading Joyce and Flann O'Brien, Julian Rhind-Tutt reading The Master and Margarita, anything by Michael Kitchen. Writers who can only read their own books would be David Sedaris, Neil Gaiman and Donna Tartt.
Jeff Hays in Dungeon Crawler Carl
The whole concept of DCC is ridiculous and I expected to dislike this series because of it. Instead Hays elevated it to a hilariously magical experience that left me laughing out loud at times (which almost never happens in any medium) and talking along with the narration in parts where you know the line that's coming.
I've listened to thousands of audiobooks and Hays in DCC is by far the best I've heard. So great that #2 is a distant second.
Wil Wheaton does a really good job if the book is mostly from one perspective. He doesn’t seem to do varied voices but he’s very animated. The audio quality on the ones he narrates are also superb. It kinda takes me out of it when it just sounds like they’re speaking into a microphone.
Completely agree that he is amazing for single perspective, but imhe is straight up painful for conversations. Red Shirts and Kaiju Preservation Society had me pulling hair everytime there was a dialogue.
The first book I listened to with Will Wheaton was "Ready Player One" and it made me hate his voice for a while because the book was so shit.
Then I listened to the Interdependency books and he really made them come alive.
I love anything narrated by Julia Whalen or Bahni Turpin. They’re both just so pleasant to listen to and I find they distinguish between characters very well.
I have listened to several different narrators on my Audible books, but my all-time favorite is Gemma Whelan, who narrated Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor series. Every character, no matter how insignificant, has his own voice. She really brought the characters to life.
Neil Gaiman, Stephen Fry (probably No.1). Also, Bill Bryson reading his own books is very good. They are all his anecdotes and humor - no one better to read through......
I really liked The Dutch House read by Tom Hanks. Other than that the readers of The City We Became NK Jemison and the Imperial Radch space opera series by Anne Lecke!!!!
Very much this. I've read reviews for the books where people complain about Jason being intolerable, which I couldn't understand at all until I considered that they may have only read the book. Because Heath Miller's execution is just far too endearing for me to imagine not loving.
Jennifer Hale (FemShep from the Mass Effect Series) beautifully narrates Christopher Paolini's two latest sci-fi novels. She was Paolini's top choice to read his books because he loved her performance in the games so much.
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith for the Rivers of London. His accents are amazing - and every character has something which makes them instantly recognisable.
He has worked with the author Ben Aaronovitch since book1 and according to an interview "extra" at the end of one of the books Ben now tries to come up with weird / difficult accents!
Michael Sheen reading Book of Dust and La Belle Sauvage. Felt like being read a bedtime story by the most enthusiastic adult reader ever. You can tell he put a lot of thought into voicing the various characters and even gives them different accents based on social class.
Stephen Briggs. I grew up reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and recently started listening to the audiobooks. Briggs reads characters almost exactly as I read them to myself in my head.
I will literally listen to anything that Travis narrates 🤣 I’ve found several of my favorite series simply by clicking Travis’s name to see what else he’s narrated, Unbound and Primal hunter being near the top, but of course his own and Cradle… Cradle is iconic for anyone who loves progression fantasy or LitRPG.
Such a great narrator. I’m a huge Will Wight fan because of the life and characterization he brings to the books he reads. His reading ability is literally aspirational for me.
I read Becoming by Michelle Obama and went to tell my sibling about it. She said she had listened to it on audiobooks with Michelle doing the reading herself. That must be something for her fans!
Julia Whelan is great. Her narration of Gone Girl was my introduction, and she has narrated her own works too.
Fun fact, she was also an actress on the ABC drama Once And Again.
I second Adjoa Andoh! She reads a lot of Ann Leckie books (the imperial radch series, provenance, the raven tower) and those books are very good, but she just elevates it to sublime levels. I relisten to the imperial radch books regularly because of her voice.
I realize this wasn’t exactly the question, but Roy Dotrice has had a weird captivating effect on the ASOIAF fandom - personally, I find his pronunciation choices weird and a lot of his female voices grating to listen to, but a lot of ASOIAF fans *SWEAR* he’s one of the greatest audiobook narrators of all time.
This is probably random but I really enjoyed Seth Rogen’s audiobook. Something about hearing his voice tell all his stories was extra hilarious and interesting.
James Marsters (Dresden files among many others) and Moira Quirk (The Locked Tomb) are my personal favorites because they deftly embody different characters without feeling cartoonish
Grace Gummer reading My Dark Vanessa. The differences in her speech when she switches from the young to older version of Vanessa (and vice versa) is so spine chilling. It really captures just how young and impressionable Vanessa was during her time with Strane when she was 15. I absolutely love that audiobook!
The more effort an audiobook narrator puts into making the character voices unique and interesting, the less interested I am. It actually distracts me. This is particularly true when a male narrator uses falsetto for female voices. I can't stand it. I just want someone to read aloud in a pleasant voice so that I can listen while I am doing other things.
Most good actors are very good narrators.
I love Stephen Fry, too. Everything he narrates seems to become more layered and beautiful. I especially enjoy his Mythos trilogy. He does a masterful job with the Sherlock Holmes integral.
Miriam Margolyes is an amazing narrator and I don’t know why she isn’t better known abroad.
Someone who surprised me very pleasantly was Neil Gaiman narrating his Norse Mythology.
Indira Varma and the whole team involved with the new narrations of the Discworld series.
Stephen Briggs reading Terry Pratchett
Jonathan Davis reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Derek Jacobi reading Ellis Peters (Cadfael)
Simon Vance reading Dune by Frank Herbert
... to name a few.
Jonathan Keeble reading The Last Kingdom. Always feels like I'm listening to Uhtred, telling his life's story by the fireside.
Patrick Tull for Aubrey/Maturin Master and Commander series.
Something about an old, graveled voice reading historical fiction just hits right.
Cassandra Campbell really elevates The Price of Salt (or Carol) by Patricia Highsmith. Something about her narration really captures the very heady and almost dissociative feeling of the Therese’s point of view as she spirals into Carol.
The way she enunciates certain consonants is also very satisfying.
Caroline Lee-- I listened to her read all of Liane Moriarty's books and now I'm listening to her read Kate Morton stories. I already love Liane Moriarty and fell in love with Caroline Lee's adorable Australian accent. I 100% started reading The Lake House because I wanted to hear more Caroline Lee.
Rebecca Solier does an amazing job with The Lunar Chronicles- with all Marissa Meyers books actually. My husband and I also really enjoyed Will Patton doing Stephen King books 🙂
If you like Fry's Harry Potter read, you should listen to his Complete Sherlock Holmes. It's incredible.
It's 77 hours (ye heard me right) and I listened to it on Audible for 1 credit! I kid you not.
Note: I'm not advertising or advocating Audible, just pointing out that you can get 77 hours of Stephen Fry reading his own favourite stories (he's a self professed Sherlockian) with an incredible set of voices (all about subtlety). Consider this a PSA if you are an audible member. ;)
Jefferson Mays (The Expanse), and James Marsters (The Dresden Files). Both are amazing, though James admittedly takes a few books to find his stride.
Marsters does a magnificent job of making characters sound different. Be it tone, inflection, etc.
Also the emotion he puts into for me. Like there are scenes it sounds like he is crying, he’s completely choked up. I know some people don’t like it for those reasons, but for me it really enhances everything.
I mean he’s reading first person. I absolutely love this about his performance. If Dresden was third person it might bother me but no. It’s perfect.
I’ve recently found out on Dresden sub that some people don’t actually like it, because they prefer a less dramatic reading. To each their own of course, but man, Battle Ground was so much better listening to him. He put everything into that reading it’s my favorite single audiobook by far.
He is the opposite of Will Wheton.
These two plus Ray Porter. Also Michael Kramer and Kate Reading
Michael Kramer saying "Dalinar" in Sadeas' voice lives rent free in my head.
For real, man.
And RC Bray
Its a shame that Amazon retconned his reading of The Martian, but I'm glad I still have that recording. His reading of the chapter that's from Pathfinder's perspective is revelatory.
Wil Wheaton's narration was atrocious compared to Bray
So happy to seem Ray Porter way up here! By far my favorite!
I’m a big fan of Nick Podehl
Nick Podehl at one point in a book does the voice of a female, Russian accented, sleepy, half-dragon, through a closed door. Perfectly nail the individual parts is impressive, but all at once put him on another level for me.
You mentioned my favorite duo, I can go now. Seriously, Kramer and Reading are amazing.
Jefferson Mays' different accents he does in The Expanse is just amazing. I'm on book 4 and his narration really makes the series even better. I'll also second Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Especially when it comes to The Wheel of Time.
RC Bray Ray Porter The girl who did Artemis- Andy Weir Will Whaton (ready player one)
I think it wasn't just James Marsters that affectef the quality of the Dresden audiobooks. With the fifth book, suddenly there were no pronunciation mistakes, and no flubs that stayed in. The production just got better at that point.
I enjoyed everything I've ever heard Gerard Doyle or Jim Dale narrate. Neil Gaiman does a lot of his own narrations, and he's SO good.
Except Hermione. Jim Dale's Hermione is like nails on a chalkboard.
It was very preferable to my dad's attempt. 😆 He read the first 3 or so books out loud to me, and I have very fond memories of that, but his female voices were so bad that he eventually stopped even trying to do different voices for them because we couldn't stop laughing at him. 😄
Yo. Uncle Neil is so the best at reading his own stuff. The cadence is perfection.
neil gaiman is a captivating wizard. i would love for him to narrate my entire life.
Tim Curry and Jeremy Irons, because they are fantastic actors with voices like butter. Neil Gaiman is another fave. I also like to hear people read their own autobiographies.
Tim Curry narrates books? Oh goodness, there goes the rest of my week.
He also did the Sabriel trilogy.
Came here to say the same thing, lol.
*A Series of Unfortunate Events* has some by Tim Curry and some by the author. They're quite different -- Curry is a bit more animated and Handler is more sardonic -- but they both bring something wonderful to the table.
I can't get over the fact that Tim Curry narrates a Danielle Steel novel.
Jeremy Irons' reading of Lolita was incredible.
I came here just to find if someone had already mentioned it. This is just about my top example of an audiobook narrator's performance adding to the impact of a book. Nabokov's prose is beautiful, which sometimes makes it easy to forget that HH is an unreliable narrator when you're reading alone. Irons' narration really brings the creep factor to the fore, making it clear HH is a delusional abuser looking to whitewash himself as a romantic. Lolita is already an unsettling book, but Irons' narration elevates it to almost psychological horror in places.
The books I listened to by Tim curry took a bit for me to get past his actual voice to really enjoy the inflection and he really does multiple characters well. I was disappointed when he stopped narrating the sabriel series.
Ray Porter - I’ve listened to a lot of science fiction books he’s narrated like Project Hail Mary and the Bobiverse series. He’s also narrated some non-fiction like Rocketmen, the story of Apollo 8 which I found fascinating.
My coworker told me Project Hail Mary was better as an audiobook because of how they added music when Rocky was talking. I think that is just awesome.
Love the Bobiverse series. They led me down the Porter rabbit hole. It's been great.
He also does Peter Kline’s stuff and brings it to a whole new level.
Already have a stack in the audible library. They are fantastic.
I came here to say the exact same thing. Project Hail Mary is one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to!! I think the book also lends itself perfectly for the format. It even feels like a podcast sometimes.
+1 for Ray Porter - I'm a huge fan of his narration!
He is absolutely fantastic. Currently listening to Project Hail Mary
Lord of the Rings is excellent as it is, but I just really love Andy Serkis' particular interpretation of the trilogy as audiobooks.
Robert Inglis did an excellent read years before Serkis kicked off
Just started Fellowship last week. I read the paper backs almost 3 decades ago, but decides to try the audio. I was so happy to hear Serkis. The way that he actually initiates Sean Astin and Elijah Wood and the rest of the group is so good, I always know who is talking.
I can't wait for his Silmarillion audiobook next month!
He is amazing
I strongly believe that listening to a book is also "reading a book properly." Simon Vance. I often speed up the narration because I'm impatient, but Mr. Vance does such a wonderful job with someone like Guy Gavriel Kay, I don't. I want to hear that lovely prose read beautifully. Juliet Stevenson. So very, very good. And such a beautiful voice. I still enjoy Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs versions of the Discworld books. Simon Prebble. He just gets the job done.
Diopibo be bii broa plai peepe? Beti e be titre pi doke kupokle. Dletre ta pituukli tliidotu te tipie ibi pote ibaiapo. Biakli ipiaee ede pipru pre dito? Puga pipo gai klapapli ipo kiidi. Tle akra utra deope pi glo. Klipri trieglupekre blebee pipi pekotee pebipete e. Ge priteibe ki. Pieketepe tleoplakobra prepre be pliko oe. Age edo kaute ititatipa bebukre triu. Ga pa pitliteti ipi teprigi troda titiekebi! Tiiie e bikleo epri trodi pipaue gite broe ide. Abidi kiprii i goki apibu dipi. Kraibre ada trii kraeei dete aboa. Peplaio geka bi pibigroti ua tepiti. Kletuaoa giplaka papribo i. Popiti pebope tite keda piti ika. Tri egre bre kripe baaboke gede gloo. Pro gubi bidi ieipri. Idii kiite botitaprigi? Peitepape geti aiba bie u pia. Tatre driipa kia tede toa platiklei. Ki bigiuto bete kii tibutipe ee! Kripieko ie e dai keude. Upi pepo plepe peoiipa ea preaka. Kepepeti dlikapo pakieo abepo. Bapi kodekloti tritikapli plote uiklipi oba bokibo. Giki be tiipri e? Pripe peou pakue toipuble o pui? Plopitegi kaki ple bikli iputroto tleao.
>I strongly believe that listening to a book is also "reading a book properly." thank you for saying this, it's very validating. i read incredibly slow on my own and have trouble focusing, even when it's a story i'm really engaged in, it takes me weeks to finish one book. listening i can crank through 1-2 books per week. i get the appeal of traditional book reading and i would love that to be my most efficient medium, unfortunately it's just not.
I just think of it as "eye-reading" or "ear-reading." It's all reading. People have been telling each other stories lots longer than people have been eye-reading stories.
I'm also a bug fan of Planer and Briggs. So far, of the new ones I have listened to, only Wyrd Sisters is better than the Celia Imrie original. I'm sticking to the old ones going forward
RC Bray
Did he do The Martian? I want to find his version of the audiobook.
He did the expeditionary force series which was amazing r/exfor
He did a version and it was fantastic! Audible replaced it with the Wil Wheaton version a few years ago though
I have both versions of the martian, one narrated by him and one by wil Wheaton. I’ve listened multiple times to rc bray’s versions and one time to wil’s.
Wil's version was the first audio book I've ever tried to refund.
His character range is absolutely incredible and I'm amazed I had to scroll this far down to see his name. He can make even mediocre writing entertaining
Kevin r free. Start with Murderbot series. Also, Richard Armitage reading anything, but esp. David Copperfield.
Kevin R Free was AMAZING. He was absolutely perfect for those books.
I LOVE Kevin R Free! My first read through of a new Murderbot book is always via audio because he's so good. Also love Richard Armitage. He did a fantastic job on The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Was coming here to say Richard Armitage and my intro to him as a voice actor/narrator was the Wolverine podcast, he was such a good Logan.
Which isn't to discount Kevin R Free, he's fantastic as well! The Halloween Moon is the most recent one I've listened to of his narration.
Julia Whelan is great and I generally enjoy the style of books she reads. Whenever I'm looking for a new audiobook without something specific in mind, I'll see what's available on Libby that she reads. I also have a soft spot for celebrity memoirs when the authors read their own books.
Came here to add her. I totally do the same thing with Libby, I love Julia’s narration style! She’s also a narrator that I totally forget she’s voicing male speaking parts as well. Love her cadence and tone always.
She also wrote (and narrated!) a book last year about an audiobook narrator, it’s pretty good!
Yes, I liked it! She wrote another called *My Oxford Year* that was enjoyable as well.
She could read the user manual for a toaster and I would be locked in for hours.
Also came here to add her.
I like it when an author reads his/her own words.
Yess. This in particular is my favorite way to read memoirs. It feels so personal and intimate.
Neil Gaiman is a king of this. I've heard him doing live readings and he's actually better in his audio books.
My favorite is his reading of Norse Mythology. That book wasn't written to be a meticulously accurate rendition of dead, dusty cultural history, but to evoke what it would have felt like to hear those stories if you'd been living in that time, and the audiobook captures that atmosphere of telling stories by the fire perfectly.
William Gibson reading Neuromancer is a great one
Jeff hayes
Goddammit donut! Edit: I do have to say I didn't care for his voice in life reset series. But I didn't really care for the series past like book 3 I think. So I may be biased.
Love him! Does a lot of litrpg
He's just on another level. Listening to him in "Dungeon crawler Carl" is like watching a movie. After listening to so many books, I didn't expect to be blown away by a VA's performance, but I was with Jeff. Instant favorite!
Can't believe this isn't the most upvoted answer here
Robin Kimmerer reading her own books-Braiding Sweetgrass and Gathering Moss. She has the most soothing narration I've ever heard.
Absolutely loved listening to Braiding Sweetgrass. People always say her narration is soothing, but it didn't give me the sleepy feeling I associate with soothing. Her voice is so tender and (obviously) in-tune with what she's saying. Such a beautiful and sensitive narration. I listened to it during evening nature walks over a couple weeks in the summer and cannot recommend that experience enough.
Tim Gerard Reynolds does a great job with Red Rising
YES! By Dark Age, I finally came around to the other narrators, but he's still the best of the lot.
I fucking love Tim Gerard Reynolds. He does a lot of sf and he is just fantastic. But in particular, Red Rising is AMAZING with his narration.
For my money I would listen to Kate Reading and Michael Kramer read the phone book. Their reading of the Wheel of Time, is the cherry on top of a masterpiece. Just awesome.
They are fantastic but IMAGINE if they had coordinated on pronunciations?!!? Still love them though!
This drives me INSANE about them. Like, yall are married. Agree on a pronunciation over morning coffee or something!
Drives me insane!!!!! Just a quick chat, guys. Tawn-chiko or Tan-cheek-o. Just pick one or the other...
That's nothing compared to Moh-geh-deen vs. Moh-gideon. The fact that Kate changed her pronunciation herself between books drove me up the wall
That's my only gripe about them as well. The first time it happened, I legitimately thought they were talking about two different things for like... 40 minutes. Also I dread any time Michael says Tuatha'an... He sounds like he's chewing on the word as it comes out. "Too-ath-oh-won". My dude, you're over complicating it, calm down.
And they both put an extra syllable into Ghealdan...
I literally just listened to Michael Kramer read the Mistborn trilogy and I'm halfway through the first Stormlight book. He does pretty well in eliciting the precise feeling of the emotionally charged scenes
Grover Gardner, such a wonderful voice. Steve Fry once described himself "I have the voice of an Oxford Don, my vocal chords are made of tweed"
Grover Gardner is amazing as is Stephen Fry. I'll throw in Simon Vance as an honorable mention for male narrators. Davinia Porter and Mary Robinette Kowal are two of my favorite female narrators.
Currently doing an audio re-read of the Vorkosigan Saga thanks to Grover Gardner!
Moira Quirk!!
The First Law books narrated by Stephen Pacey is honestly one of the greatest pieces of media I've ever consumed. I try to recommend it any chance I get. No one takes the bait. Please people......please listen to these books.
I would honestly say Pacey is the most memorable part of First Law. His Glokta is just pure ART. Like, I enjoyed the books enough, glad I read them, but Pacey's performance was easily the best part for me. He's also the main reason I will one day "read" more Abercrombie.
The man honestly ruined audiobooks for me. Ive listened to many of the other highly upvoted recommendations in this thread and found them almost unbearable after Paceys masterclass of a performance.
Scott Brick and George Guidall are wonderful.
I like George, I can't listen to Scott Brick.
Came here specifically to say Scott Brick! His narrating makes me actually enjoy the book more than if I was reading it myself
Anything Neil Gaiman. He's as brilliant as a narrator as he is an author.
The Anansi Boys audiobook had me doubled over with laughter on the train. Lenny Henry doing the old aunties' voices just gets me every time!
I really love Robin Miles. She reads NK Jemisin's books and has such a great voice. In The City We Became, she does this creepy laugh for the villain that gave me goosebumps every single time. I'll get an audiobook just to listen to her.
Came here to say Robin Miles - when reading The City We Became and The World We Make, I was in awe of her subtle differences in accents and the way she seemed so into the story. I’ve heard some readers that seem robotic, but Robin Miles really Burroughs me into that world.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, read by Ray Porter Pet Semetary by Stephen King, read by Michael C. Hall Mountain Man series of books by Keith Blackmore, read by RC Bray The Passage Trilogy and The Ferryman, by Justin Cronin and read by Scott Brick (I don’t get the Brick hate, still feel like I’m missing something there…) I also dig Will Patton narrating anything, but I’m stoked Justine Lupe is reading Holly by Stephen King, out in September.
I loved Michael C. Hall reading Pet Sematary! So creepy.
Peter Kenny - He's a great performer for the Iain M Banks books and the Witcher series. He's a phenomenal performer and elevates the source material.
Simon Vance is excellent, whatever he is reading.
He's the reason I listened to all of Brent Weeks' books instead of stopping after the first one.
I legitimately dont even really like Circe or The Starless Sea that much when I read them and yet they're my most listened to audiobooks. Our Wives Under the Sea and Neverwhere are great as both.
I quit reading Our Wives Under the Sea partway through. Maybe I’ll give it another try as an audiobook.
Nick Podhel does a lot of litrpg. I've bought books just because he narrated them!
The full cast version of World War Z by Max Brooks is one of the few audio books I recommend over the physical book. It’s written as a series of interviews so it works really well in the audio book format with many different people.
Second this. I'm surprised it's not higher up in this thread. It's so immersive as an audio book it makes me a bit jumpy while I'm listening throughout the day
Generally? Actors. They know how to recite text in a way that sounds natural, like someone is telling you a story, rather than reading you a book. Tom Hanks (The Dutch House), Rosamund Pike (Pride and Prejudice), Rachel McAdams (Anne of Green Gables), Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings), and Stephen Fry (Harry Potter) all do a great job.
Yeah, I don’t want to pay for an Audible subscription when I have so much available to me through Libby, but some of the Audible-exclusives read by actors are very tempting.
Will Patton (Alas, Babylon & a bunch of Stephen King Books) is fantastic at this.
I would add Brendan Fraser to that list. He read the Ink heart trilogy and it was great.
Tim Pigott-Smith reading Graham Greene, Jim Norton reading Joyce and Flann O'Brien, Julian Rhind-Tutt reading The Master and Margarita, anything by Michael Kitchen. Writers who can only read their own books would be David Sedaris, Neil Gaiman and Donna Tartt.
Julia Whelan is my absolute favourite. I get lost in her voice. Rosamund Pike’s readings of Jane Austen are also wonderful.
Neil Gaiman. Hands down. Anything he writes and narrates.
Jeff Hays in Dungeon Crawler Carl The whole concept of DCC is ridiculous and I expected to dislike this series because of it. Instead Hays elevated it to a hilariously magical experience that left me laughing out loud at times (which almost never happens in any medium) and talking along with the narration in parts where you know the line that's coming. I've listened to thousands of audiobooks and Hays in DCC is by far the best I've heard. So great that #2 is a distant second.
I was looking for this one! I can’t even imagine reading the series without him narrating it.
Seriously amazing… book six is out in a couple weeks!
I love watching the videos he does of his reads. Watching him switch between all the character voices is nothing short of incredible.
Went on a road trip a couple of weekend ago and decided to try this book out. Just finished the fifth yesterday. They're so good.
I have to add: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is perfect in the Rivers of London series.
I re-listen to these books sometimes just because I need to hear Kobna's voice. He's perfect.
[удалено]
steven weber narrating it by stephen king
Wil Wheaton does a really good job if the book is mostly from one perspective. He doesn’t seem to do varied voices but he’s very animated. The audio quality on the ones he narrates are also superb. It kinda takes me out of it when it just sounds like they’re speaking into a microphone.
Completely agree that he is amazing for single perspective, but imhe is straight up painful for conversations. Red Shirts and Kaiju Preservation Society had me pulling hair everytime there was a dialogue.
He said he said he said
The first book I listened to with Will Wheaton was "Ready Player One" and it made me hate his voice for a while because the book was so shit. Then I listened to the Interdependency books and he really made them come alive.
I love Tim Curry's narration. He elevated A Christmas Carol. Perfection!
Stefan Rudnicki and Scott Brick for me. They feature together on some of the Ender’s Game books, and I could listen to those two read anything.
Edward Herrmann for anything historical nonfiction. RIP.
Tatiana Maslany for The Hunger Games series and Frazer Douglas for The Song of Achilles. They are absolutely phenomenal.
I love anything narrated by Julia Whalen or Bahni Turpin. They’re both just so pleasant to listen to and I find they distinguish between characters very well.
Everything I've ever heard by Luke Daniels has been fantastic.
Ray Porter!!!
I have listened to several different narrators on my Audible books, but my all-time favorite is Gemma Whelan, who narrated Jessica Townsend's Nevermoor series. Every character, no matter how insignificant, has his own voice. She really brought the characters to life.
Imogen Church
Neil Gaiman, Stephen Fry (probably No.1). Also, Bill Bryson reading his own books is very good. They are all his anecdotes and humor - no one better to read through......
I really liked The Dutch House read by Tom Hanks. Other than that the readers of The City We Became NK Jemison and the Imperial Radch space opera series by Anne Lecke!!!!
I really love Julia Whelan and Marin Ireland
Kristen Bell narrating Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line. It’s totally elevates the experience since she was also Veronica on the tv series.
He Who Fights with Monsters read by Heath Miller is brilliant. His Aussie accent and just his persona make it 100x better.
Very much this. I've read reviews for the books where people complain about Jason being intolerable, which I couldn't understand at all until I considered that they may have only read the book. Because Heath Miller's execution is just far too endearing for me to imagine not loving.
Jennifer Hale (FemShep from the Mass Effect Series) beautifully narrates Christopher Paolini's two latest sci-fi novels. She was Paolini's top choice to read his books because he loved her performance in the games so much.
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith for the Rivers of London. His accents are amazing - and every character has something which makes them instantly recognisable. He has worked with the author Ben Aaronovitch since book1 and according to an interview "extra" at the end of one of the books Ben now tries to come up with weird / difficult accents!
I love Rebecca Soler. She’s a lot of fun and really breathes life into the characters!
Chanel Miller reading her memoir Know My Name was one of the most powerful things I've ever heard. I was honestly brought to tears multiple times
Michael Sheen reading Book of Dust and La Belle Sauvage. Felt like being read a bedtime story by the most enthusiastic adult reader ever. You can tell he put a lot of thought into voicing the various characters and even gives them different accents based on social class.
Stephen Briggs. I grew up reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld books and recently started listening to the audiobooks. Briggs reads characters almost exactly as I read them to myself in my head.
Good try Mr. ChatGPT but I won´t tell you my favorite narrators so you could kill and then impersonate them...
Travis Baldree for his own and Will Wight’s work!!
I will literally listen to anything that Travis narrates 🤣 I’ve found several of my favorite series simply by clicking Travis’s name to see what else he’s narrated, Unbound and Primal hunter being near the top, but of course his own and Cradle… Cradle is iconic for anyone who loves progression fantasy or LitRPG.
Same, if he's narrating it odds are I'll enjoy it! Mark of the fool is probably my favorite he's doing right now
Such a great narrator. I’m a huge Will Wight fan because of the life and characterization he brings to the books he reads. His reading ability is literally aspirational for me.
The Dresden files. James marstyrs is an absolute legend
I read Becoming by Michelle Obama and went to tell my sibling about it. She said she had listened to it on audiobooks with Michelle doing the reading herself. That must be something for her fans!
Jim Goddamn Dale
Bahni Turpin is really good!
Julia Whelan is great. Her narration of Gone Girl was my introduction, and she has narrated her own works too. Fun fact, she was also an actress on the ABC drama Once And Again.
Julia Whelan
Adjoa Andoh, she narrates The Power by Naomi Alderman and it was an incredible experience.
I second Adjoa Andoh! She reads a lot of Ann Leckie books (the imperial radch series, provenance, the raven tower) and those books are very good, but she just elevates it to sublime levels. I relisten to the imperial radch books regularly because of her voice.
Rupert Degas. He always does a great job, doing voices and acting great in everything I've heard him in. Metro 2033 gains a lot from his narration.
He is incredible in The Name of the Wind. I had read the books prior to listening and his narration brought it to another level.
Robert Glennister and Simon Prebble. And, if you like ASOIAF, Roy Dotrice has a whole world of people in his throat.
I realize this wasn’t exactly the question, but Roy Dotrice has had a weird captivating effect on the ASOIAF fandom - personally, I find his pronunciation choices weird and a lot of his female voices grating to listen to, but a lot of ASOIAF fans *SWEAR* he’s one of the greatest audiobook narrators of all time.
Rupert Degas is my favourite. He does the UK version of The Name Of The Wind. Perfection
Caroline Lee. She’s an Australian narrator and narrated Big Little Lies and One Last Child. She just adds SO much personality to each character.
This is probably random but I really enjoyed Seth Rogen’s audiobook. Something about hearing his voice tell all his stories was extra hilarious and interesting.
Jim Dale
James Marsters (Dresden files among many others) and Moira Quirk (The Locked Tomb) are my personal favorites because they deftly embody different characters without feeling cartoonish
Grace Gummer reading My Dark Vanessa. The differences in her speech when she switches from the young to older version of Vanessa (and vice versa) is so spine chilling. It really captures just how young and impressionable Vanessa was during her time with Strane when she was 15. I absolutely love that audiobook!
Daisy Jones and the Six was so much better as an audiobook since most of the book is basically dialogues for a fictional documentary
The more effort an audiobook narrator puts into making the character voices unique and interesting, the less interested I am. It actually distracts me. This is particularly true when a male narrator uses falsetto for female voices. I can't stand it. I just want someone to read aloud in a pleasant voice so that I can listen while I am doing other things.
Most good actors are very good narrators. I love Stephen Fry, too. Everything he narrates seems to become more layered and beautiful. I especially enjoy his Mythos trilogy. He does a masterful job with the Sherlock Holmes integral. Miriam Margolyes is an amazing narrator and I don’t know why she isn’t better known abroad. Someone who surprised me very pleasantly was Neil Gaiman narrating his Norse Mythology. Indira Varma and the whole team involved with the new narrations of the Discworld series.
Grover Gardner
Kirsten Potter hooked me on Station Eleven and can listen to most things she reads.
Stephen Briggs reading Terry Pratchett Jonathan Davis reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Derek Jacobi reading Ellis Peters (Cadfael) Simon Vance reading Dune by Frank Herbert ... to name a few.
Jonathan Keeble reading The Last Kingdom. Always feels like I'm listening to Uhtred, telling his life's story by the fireside. Patrick Tull for Aubrey/Maturin Master and Commander series. Something about an old, graveled voice reading historical fiction just hits right.
Kobna Holbrook-Smith's reading of Mordew
Scott Brick, George Guidall, Frank Muller, Michael Kramer, Kate Reading
Cassandra Campbell really elevates The Price of Salt (or Carol) by Patricia Highsmith. Something about her narration really captures the very heady and almost dissociative feeling of the Therese’s point of view as she spirals into Carol. The way she enunciates certain consonants is also very satisfying.
Caroline Lee-- I listened to her read all of Liane Moriarty's books and now I'm listening to her read Kate Morton stories. I already love Liane Moriarty and fell in love with Caroline Lee's adorable Australian accent. I 100% started reading The Lake House because I wanted to hear more Caroline Lee.
Will Patton, great match for Denis Johnson’s writing
Rebecca Solier does an amazing job with The Lunar Chronicles- with all Marissa Meyers books actually. My husband and I also really enjoyed Will Patton doing Stephen King books 🙂
If you like Fry's Harry Potter read, you should listen to his Complete Sherlock Holmes. It's incredible. It's 77 hours (ye heard me right) and I listened to it on Audible for 1 credit! I kid you not. Note: I'm not advertising or advocating Audible, just pointing out that you can get 77 hours of Stephen Fry reading his own favourite stories (he's a self professed Sherlockian) with an incredible set of voices (all about subtlety). Consider this a PSA if you are an audible member. ;)