The audio book is not bad, so far. I'm not sure how I feel about Erin Moon's narration. She has an extremely child-like voice which is making Duval's sound like a young boy rather than the older adolescent male I'd always pictured when I read the physical print book. And her differentiation between the female characters is a little hard to distinguish, even between Ismae and the Abbess.
At least some of the words I now know how to pronounce since there were some select French words in the book itself.
Nonetheless, I'm still drawn into the book, much as I was the first time, though I'm of the impression it has more to do with the book itself rather than the narration.
A narrator that isn't very good can totally ruin a book, especially if its the first time 'reading' it. Though the french pronunciations is certainly enticing!!
I might go the text version just to be on the safe side.
I see your reading Mistborn! what a great book, if a little chunky (lol) hope your enjoying it?
I would definitely read the book first rather than audio. I'm getting used to Erin Moon's narration, so it's not bothering me too much. I'm just having a hard time connecting her voice for Duval, is all. I just sometimes have hang-ups about rereading books, so I will sometimes go the audio book route.
Mistborn is quite excellent! The audio book is narrated by Michael Kramer, and while at first I couldn't get into his voice, it's getting much better. I loved the trilogy the first time I read it years ago, and I want to finish the rest of the other Mistborn books that Sanderson is pushing out, so I'm reliving the world a little bit at a time.
The audio can be great for accent's as well as different languages.... if the narrator is up to the task. Unfortunately I have found this isn't usually the case. And listening to them trying to be the opposite sex can be beyond hilarious! I remember when I first heard the narrator for Nightside (by simon green) attempting to be a women I almost wet myself with laughter. He has thankfully improved with time. I don't understand why they don't just hire two narrators, one for male voices and one for female - everytime I've come across this being done its marvelous and really adds to the experience.
ohhh I didn't realise there was an audio version of the mistborn books, i might need to look into that!! I've loved what I've read so far of the series. It's great they're being push back into the publics eye.
I was quite ecstatic when I came across the Mistborn books as audio. The books are so long that I never really gave much thought to rereading them. But audio books make for pretty good reread book formats, really--since I know what's happening already, I can passively pay attention and not worry that I missed something important. In fact, with some audio books, I found new things about certain books that I didn't remember from the first read.
But, to be honest, epic fantasies like Mistborn, I feel are best if read in print format first. But if you ever feel like doing a reread, the audio book's aren't half bad.
Anyway, one of my favorite audio book narrators is Kaleo Griffith--I find it interesting that most of my favorite audio book narrators are men, because I don't know how to feel about that. But when I first listened to some samples of his narrations from a romantic suspense series I love, it was an interesting, giggle-inducing experience. The first sample I listened to presented him narrating the voices of some teenage girls as they squealed over the hottest boy in class--it was... quite hilarious and cringe-worthy all at the same time.
But I have since listened to the entire romantic suspense series with him and found that I love how he distinguishes each voice in the books. I can always immediately pinpoint which character is which without any "Sophie said" or "Tessa said" attached to dialogue.
But, I also agree and have always wondered why not hire both a male and female narrator for audio books. Though I suspect that money and budgets might be an issue, because both narrators would have to find time to work together to narrate an entire book. One of the reasons I love full-cast productions is because male and female characters are easier to distinguish, but it always made me wonder how much money production companies had to pay for that kind of casting.
Yes! re-reading chunky books is a bloody nightmare!! and yet if its been a while since you've read the last book you just know you are going to be missing important details so you kind of need to re-read it! a horrid catch 22. lol. good idea choosing a different format
Yeah the one massive issue for me when it comes to audio book is I tend to passively listen, so I'm constantly having to re-wind parts. I need to be doing something brainless enough that i can multitask or my minds starts to wander. Good for exercising I think otherwise exercise can be beyond boring
LOL sounds like someone I need to give a listen to! A grown man pretending to be teenage girls obsessing over a boy - how could one pass that up!? haha
Thats awesome - nothing worse than when the narrator is just reading the words to you, putting no life into the story. Makes it all bland and boring.
still though, if one female narrator is doing half the book and one male narrator is doing the other half (like 2 MC's with their own POVs) surely it can't cost that much more than one narrator doing the whole book - and the profit they'd make from it would surely be worth it. Unless they find one of those incredibly talented individuals who can mimic their voices to sound like almost anyone, but then i imagine that they would charge an arm and a leg.
I'm glad that Mistborn has audio books, now that I think about it. I had wondered if I'd remember pertinent world/creation details if I just dove into the next few books. I know that Sanderson has separated them into different eras with different sets of characters, but I'm of the impression that the world-building and the magic system is still the same. And there might be some significant history references from one set of Mistborn books to the other.
That's a good point. There are many full cast productions out there that are pretty awesome, really, so there's no reason why they wouldn't be able to just hire two individuals to voice the proper dialogues. In which case, I guess more people would listen to audio books, and yes, that would in turn, give a higher profit.
I half-listened to, and half-read, Six of Crows last year and found the audio book version was actually a bit more distracting. They had six different narrators for the six different characters, but each narrator only did his or her own respective character's chapter/POV--each chapter is titled with the respective character's name. It made me wonder why, if all six had been hired to narrate this book, why didn't they just also present their own character's dialogue within another character's chapter/POV. It was disappointing, really, even if the book was fabulous. Definitely a book I wouldn't recommend the audio book for.
I agree, it's way better having all the history. Especially when they reference to past characters! man I love that, gives me a good chuckle.
yes it's win-win, and if we could figure that out you'd think people who's job it is to publish the audio book (or maybe it's the editors job?) would have figured it out as well. Maybe we're secretly marketing geniuses! lol
Yeah that is really strange - you would recognise the voice as a particular character after listening to thier POV, why not play on that? it would make more a much more in-depth book and give more life to the characters. Odd. 6 does sound intense though. I was worried when I read the book that they would be hard to check track of, but the author did a fantastic job checking them separate.
At least some of the words I now know how to pronounce since there were some select French words in the book itself.
Nonetheless, I'm still drawn into the book, much as I was the first time, though I'm of the impression it has more to do with the book itself rather than the narration.
I might go the text version just to be on the safe side.
I see your reading Mistborn! what a great book, if a little chunky (lol) hope your enjoying it?
Mistborn is quite excellent! The audio book is narrated by Michael Kramer, and while at first I couldn't get into his voice, it's getting much better. I loved the trilogy the first time I read it years ago, and I want to finish the rest of the other Mistborn books that Sanderson is pushing out, so I'm reliving the world a little bit at a time.
ohhh I didn't realise there was an audio version of the mistborn books, i might need to look into that!! I've loved what I've read so far of the series. It's great they're being push back into the publics eye.
But, to be honest, epic fantasies like Mistborn, I feel are best if read in print format first. But if you ever feel like doing a reread, the audio book's aren't half bad.
Anyway, one of my favorite audio book narrators is Kaleo Griffith--I find it interesting that most of my favorite audio book narrators are men, because I don't know how to feel about that. But when I first listened to some samples of his narrations from a romantic suspense series I love, it was an interesting, giggle-inducing experience. The first sample I listened to presented him narrating the voices of some teenage girls as they squealed over the hottest boy in class--it was... quite hilarious and cringe-worthy all at the same time.
But I have since listened to the entire romantic suspense series with him and found that I love how he distinguishes each voice in the books. I can always immediately pinpoint which character is which without any "Sophie said" or "Tessa said" attached to dialogue.
But, I also agree and have always wondered why not hire both a male and female narrator for audio books. Though I suspect that money and budgets might be an issue, because both narrators would have to find time to work together to narrate an entire book. One of the reasons I love full-cast productions is because male and female characters are easier to distinguish, but it always made me wonder how much money production companies had to pay for that kind of casting.
Yeah the one massive issue for me when it comes to audio book is I tend to passively listen, so I'm constantly having to re-wind parts. I need to be doing something brainless enough that i can multitask or my minds starts to wander. Good for exercising I think otherwise exercise can be beyond boring
LOL sounds like someone I need to give a listen to! A grown man pretending to be teenage girls obsessing over a boy - how could one pass that up!? haha
Thats awesome - nothing worse than when the narrator is just reading the words to you, putting no life into the story. Makes it all bland and boring.
still though, if one female narrator is doing half the book and one male narrator is doing the other half (like 2 MC's with their own POVs) surely it can't cost that much more than one narrator doing the whole book - and the profit they'd make from it would surely be worth it. Unless they find one of those incredibly talented individuals who can mimic their voices to sound like almost anyone, but then i imagine that they would charge an arm and a leg.
That's a good point. There are many full cast productions out there that are pretty awesome, really, so there's no reason why they wouldn't be able to just hire two individuals to voice the proper dialogues. In which case, I guess more people would listen to audio books, and yes, that would in turn, give a higher profit.
I half-listened to, and half-read, Six of Crows last year and found the audio book version was actually a bit more distracting. They had six different narrators for the six different characters, but each narrator only did his or her own respective character's chapter/POV--each chapter is titled with the respective character's name. It made me wonder why, if all six had been hired to narrate this book, why didn't they just also present their own character's dialogue within another character's chapter/POV. It was disappointing, really, even if the book was fabulous. Definitely a book I wouldn't recommend the audio book for.
yes it's win-win, and if we could figure that out you'd think people who's job it is to publish the audio book (or maybe it's the editors job?) would have figured it out as well. Maybe we're secretly marketing geniuses! lol
Yeah that is really strange - you would recognise the voice as a particular character after listening to thier POV, why not play on that? it would make more a much more in-depth book and give more life to the characters. Odd. 6 does sound intense though. I was worried when I read the book that they would be hard to check track of, but the author did a fantastic job checking them separate.