Anyone who knows me knows I love audiobooks. In some ways I can even be considered an audiobook snob. A decent narrator can improve the "reading" experience while a lousy one can kill it.
Anyone who knows me also knows that I'm a huge Brandon Sanderson fan. Have been since the first book of his I read (Elantris).
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| Gorgeous Cover! |
There's one particular character I love--in a book full of characters I love--whose name is Lightsong. He's a "returned" and is worshipped with others in this society as a god. He doesn't believe. Wonderful character development.
So, what did I think of the (first) audiobook?
The narrator wasn't bad with most of the characters, but the more I listened, the more I realized that he was making Lightsong sound like Ted from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
I was not happy!
Then I learned that a group called Graphic Audio had done an audiobook. They have multiple narrators and did a wonderful job with the voices. However, the nature of this company is to make the book a "movie for the mind." So they had sound effects. Background noises. Still the book but with actual noises rather than the words that describe the noise.
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| This version is a winner! |
Sad day!
Last week I found out that a third audiobook version of Warbreaker had been made--and by a woman. Alyssa Bresnahan is the narrator who does Charlie Holmberg's Paper Magician series. I loved her in that series!
And Alyssa did not disappoint! I am so thrilled to know that one of my favorite books now has an audiobook version that I'll be more than happy to spend a few hours listening to every couple of years.
What books have you found to be the worst adaptions?
Which were winners?
That's odd there were three versions. Glad you found one that was good. Third time's a charm!
ReplyDeleteI've seen other books that have multiple versions. It's kind of nice since not all voices will appeal to everyone.
DeleteGood that at least one of three passed the test and wasn't all Ted haha not sure I'd ever like sound effects.
ReplyDeleteI like some of it but it was just overwhelming. Subtle it was not.
ReplyDeleteI don't have enough experience with audiobooks to pass judgement. We did listen to Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit read, I believe, by Jonathan Pryce which was pretty good as I recall.
ReplyDeleteSorry that you didn't like the audio version. I have to read a book by him. I've heard lots of people say they love his books. I've listened to Cinda Williams' Chima's The Seven Realms series on audio and loved them all. I read the print books of the series too.
ReplyDeleteone of my friends is translating him here in my country. I'm the lead translator for dystopia here, and he for epic fantasy :)
ReplyDeleteI honestly haven't listened to any audiobooks. Maybe it's something I should invest in. I like the idea of having different versions available, though.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 audio books myself and sadly I haven't listened to them. I've only heard a sample to pick the narrator. I've listened partly to I Bought A Zoo, and liked it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Charlie's books were available as audiobooks. I read the first one on vacation and liked it. I'll have to check out the second on audio. I'm the same, the narrator can really make or break it for me.
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