By Saurabh R. Patil (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
I am a fast reader. My husband even charmingly refers to me as a ‘freak’ when he tunes in to how many pages I’ve read in the last however long it’s been. So for me, the thought of having to listen to someone read a book to me for six or eight hours when it would actually only take me two or so hours to read it myself? It sounded like torture. Also, I was afraid my attention would wander while the narrator was talking and I would miss something important. But I was lured in by the argument that I could actually get more reading done if I listened to an audiobook while I cleaned or cooked. Then I wouldn’t have to take time away from regular reading with a forever long audiobook. So I tried it and I loved it. And my house was cleaner because I wanted to finish my chapter/section before pausing–which takes much longer in audio form, let me tell you.
Possibly my transition to audiobook lover was so easy because I lucked out and got books with excellent narrators this time around. I listened to Soulless (a reread for me) first and adored it. And then came the In Death series. Wow. Just wow. I later tried reading one of the books in paper after having already listened to some of them in audio and just couldn’t do it. The narrator made that series for me. She made the characters come alive in a way that I sorely missed when trying to read them on my own. Each character had such a personality in just their voice alone. Eve…McNab…Roarke…Mavis…and let’s not forget Peabody. You can hear the earnestness and idealism poring off her in waves from just her voice alone. That is skill.
By Guyon Morée from Beverwijk, Netherlands (Angry tiger) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
I got my hopes up with book 12.5, Interlude In Death, because the voices were back to normal. I breathed a serious sigh of relief and comforted myself with the fact that the narrator must have been trying something different in book 12 and decided to go back to normal. But then I start listening to book 13, Seduction In Death, and the voices are WRONG again. *cries* Now McNab’s voice is different too. Why???????
Who has experienced this before? Have you been in the middle of an audiobook series and been shocked to have voices change on you? Did you grow to like it in the end? Comfort me, please, and tell me I’ll eventually get used to this. (Even if you have to lie!)
About Catherine
Oh good, I thought this was just me. I bought one from audible and then transferred the next one to my ipod from a mp3. So I thought maybe the two different formats caused the voices to be different? But I was really irritated. I am happy to say that I am on book 34 now and the voices have been what they are supposed to be for a while now.
I also started the Fever series on audio this past month. Sophia was telling me that some of those voices change halfway through too. That is a shame because I get a voice in my head and I want it to stay that way.
God forbid Susan Erickson ever change Roarke on me. I might go postal.
I know, right? I think people would go postal if Roarke’s voice changed. It’s too sexy–and how weird is it that to say about a woman’s version of a man’s voice? lol.
So the Fever books change voices too? Is that due to a new narrator or because the current narrator decided to try something different?
Ahhh my ears!!! Why did you do that to me? I can’t believe I have never thought about it being a woman’s voice doing Roarke. It has just been Roarke to me. Gah.
I am not sure about the Fever books. I am just getting ready to start book 2. I think it was a narrator change according to Sophia?
LOL!
From what I understand around book 12-13ish was actually recorded first, and then they went back to the beginning to rerecord from the start. So I *think* once you get past those few very beginning ones, the distinction between the characters should come back.
Sorry, I meant get past the ones that were recorded first before the narrator had the voices down! That was a really convoluted sentence…
Ah, I see. So she started out with them sounding like this and then decided to change them to a more distinct version? Hmmm. Does that mean I now have to feel bad for those original listeners who liked it the first way and had to deal with the frustration of having it turn into the way I like it?
There, there. I know what you mean. I started listening to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books read by Nigel Planer and loved them. Then the reader was changed to Stephen Briggs. Even though their voices are similar, I still prefer Nigel Planer and quit listening to the audiobooks after that (I still read the paper versions though).
I was listening to the Stephanie Plum series way back in the day and was irritated when the narrators changed mid series. I know sometimes that can’t be helped, but it was too jarring for me. I didn’t bother to listen to any more of them, although I did read more in paper format.
@Jordan called it. Joyce Bean started recording the series with book 11 and made it through book 17 before going back to the beginning to record all the others (1-3 were originally recorded by another narrator). Due to listener feedback, I believe, she changed her delivery so the earlier books (in the series) that were recorded later sound different. The good news is that she’s re-recording 11-17 to make them consistent.
Oddiophile,
I just stopped by your blog. I love it! I’ll be stopping by more often. I love that you include you thoughts and impressions about the narration since that is so important in an audio book.
I really like Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changling series but I don’t care for the audio books because the narrator is so breathy and dramatic about EVERYTHING.
I just went and looked around too. Very nice! I’m picky about narrators, so I love hearing your thoughts on the delivery.
Oh God, Sophia, that was the first romance book I convinced my husband to listen to with me. We only made it a couple chapters in, though. I was mortified because the narrator made everything so breathy and stressed any mention of attraction or a hot physical characteristic, so it ended up sounding kind of obscene. He kept looking at me and I kept having to say, “No, no, I swear it’s a good story. She’s just making it sound like porn. Ignore it and listen to the words!” *sigh* We’ll try again with another romance at a later date.
LOL I would die if my hubby listened to that series. LOLOLOL
Is Susan Ericksen a pseudonym of Joyce Bean? (It never occurred to me that narrators might have pseudonyms until now.) So eventually all the books will sound the same? That’s cool!
I just recently realized that one of the books in the Dresden Files was recorded by a different narrator because James Marsters (the original narrator) had some kind of schedule conflict. It’s a long standing series and hearing another narrator jump into it was horrible. I hope they rerecord it now that James Marsters is back on track with doing the next book.
Aaaargh! No, Catherine, that’s me being a bonehead. I meant to say Susan Ericksen. Those two are both very prolific and high profile narrators and I, er, actually am not particularly fond of the delivery of either. *guilty look*
I listened to the first three that were originally narrated by Cristine McMurdo-Wallis but they stopped being released in audio until book 11 with Susan Ericksen taking over. I couldn’t make the shift in narrator because I had the characters stuck in my head in the original voice so I hear what you’re saying about the Dresden Files.
There are quite a few narrators I’m aware of who use pseudonyms. It’s most common if they switch between YA and adult or if they record category romance and anything else.
I love to hear other opinions on the Psy/Changeling series in audio. There is a big love/hate split on that one. I liked Angela Dawe’s delivery although I do have to say it sounded very different in style from everything else of hers I’ve listened to.
Oddiophile- I am getting ready to start the Charley Davidson series. Have you listened to those books? Any opinion on them?
Jen – Lorelei King is an excellent narrator and no one I know who has listened to the series dislikes her performance. She handles the humor in the series very well and differentiates between characters nicely. I listened to the first Charley Davidson in audio and although the narration was excellent, I moved to text for the second book for one simple reason: I adore Lorelei King’s narration of Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series (I’ve listened to the audiobooks multiple times) and while King excels at making sure the characters within a book sound different, between the two series I kept hearing the same voices. That could just be me and how familiar I am with her voice from all my re-listens of Briggs’ books since I haven’t heard the same complaint from anyone else.
I’d say go for it in audio.
As for the books themselves, they’re decent but I quit after book two – mostly from burnout on snarky wise-cracking UF/Paranormal heroines (which Charley tops the list of).
Thanks so much for the info! I appreciate it. Mercy was one of the series I was also considering on audio.
While it’s true that listening to audiobooks is great and a whole new experience compared to reading, some people still prefer the traditional reading because they say that they can relate more and read the story at their own pace. They also expressed their fondness of flipping the pages of the book rather than just plain listening.
I am in the traditional reader lovers club still. I have gained a new appreciation for audiobooks but nothing will ever trump my love of curling up with a good paper book.
I adore all formats: eBooks, paperbacks, hardbacks and Audiobooks! The only problem with audiobooks at times is not a good narrator, but Audible.com is pretty good about using outstanding narrators. And if a book has a so-so narrator they will usually always redo it in time. I really love the return option for a book that was less than stellar they (Audible.com) give their members now. Granted, I’ve only used that return option 3 times (and I have over 100 of them) in the last 2 years, but it’s comforting to me that I’ll get my credit back to use on another book instead of chucking it as a loss.
I didn’t realize they would do returns. Thanks for the info!
I felt exactly the way you did when I hit those middle books in In Death series. I always warn people of this whenever recommending the audio series. Good news is that Ms. Ericksen has been contracted to re-record the first 12-13 of the series though I don’t know the release dates.
As for psy/changeling series, I was disappointed at first but have kept going back to them. Now that I am used to the narration style, I really enjoy the series in audio and can appreciate subtleties I could not hear before.
I’m glad you were able to eventually warm up to the narrator’s style!