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Favorite Five Audiobook Narrators
Today we’re talking about audiobook narrators on FFF. I realize that not everyone can listen to or enjoy an audiobook. I count myself fortunate that I’ve come to this form of reading, am able to do it, and as much as I do! It’s really helped increase my overall reading, and some of the narrators have been outstanding, and have made the experience so much more fun. Let’s talk about a few of my favorites!
1. Kate Reading
Kate has narrated SO MANY audiobooks, and some of them are among my favorites. She’s a narrator that can read just about anything, has an engaging voice, gets into the story, and does a lot of different types of voices. Listening to an audiobook read by her is pure joy. My favorites include the Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan and The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club by Theodora Goss.
2. Vikas Adam
There’s no doubt that Vikas Adam is an amazing narrator. One of the reasons that I got so into Rachel Aaron’s Heartstrikers series is because of his narration. He makes each character shine in their own way, does a great job of making different voices for each, and overall shows a ton of a enthusiasm for the material. Another book I loved listening to him on was The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons. I think if that book hadn’t had such awesome narrators, I would have felt very different about it. 🙂
3. Holter Graham
I love a narrator that can take something that seems tricky to narrate and then master it so well that you could never imagine reading the physical book since the narration has now become part of the reading experience. Holter Graham has done that with Jay Kristoff’s The Nevernight Chronicle. I’m not 100% sure but these books may be the only thing I’ve listened to that he’s narrated, despite his large body of work! For me, he’s done such an amazing job with these books, that I can’t divorce the books from his narration. I can’t wait until Darkdawn! (Sooooooon!)
4. Soneela Nankani
I really love Soneela’s narration. I feel like I may seek out some audiobooks in the future based on her narration! She’s part of the reason I LOVED the first two books in The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty so much. Like all the other narrators I’ve mentioned so far, she’s great at doing a bunch of different voices and she really engages you in the story. She’s not just reading a book, she’s making you feel like you’re in the story, in that moment. She is also one of the three narrators in Jenn Lyon’s Ruin of Kings!
5. Tim Gerard Reynolds
And finally we have Tim Gerard Reynolds. Before I listened to Red Rising by Pierce Brown, I had never found an audiobook that would work for me and hold my attention. Tim is such a fantastic narrator. Talk about getting into the story! I felt like I was part of the book, his narration is so engaging. And he is amazing at doing different voices and accents. I really dug the American accent he gave one of the characters in the Red Rising series. Tim is also well known for narrating Michael J. Sullivan’s various books. If it weren’t for Tim, I’d probably have continued to write off audiobooks as ‘not for me’ for a very long time.
Well, that’s my list for this week, see you next time!
OMG love Kate Reading, Vikas Adam, and TGR! I listened to one of the Nevernight books, but can’t really remember much of Holter Graham’s performance, I should look into what other books he’s narrated.
I feel like Kate Reading, Vikas Adam and Tim Gerard Reynolds are all rock stars of audiobook narration tbh. It’s hard not to appreciate their work if you listen to audiobooks at all. I should probably find some other things Holter Graham’s narrated too! 🙂
I was considering doing Nevernight on audio but i bought the first book in hardcopy. you now sold me on it though so ill do the rest of the series in audiobook 😄 thanks!
Hope you love it! The sexy parts get a bit awkward in audio but the narration is really fun for that series.
😂 I’ll keep that in mind
Ill have to listen to a few of these. The only one I seem to really love is Ray Porter, but I’m not the greatest listener and my exposure to narrators is small.
I don’t know if I’ve listened to any by them, I’ll have to look and see. I think with audiobooks it’s important to find the kind of narration that works for you as a listener, otherwise you may not enjoy as much. It took me a while to get into audiobooks..
I’m useless when it comes to knowing who narrated what. But, I loved the audio book for Storm of Locusts and would definitely pick up more audio books in that series.
Lynn 😀
I might have to see if my library has that one, just to give it a quick listen. One of the few I didn’t read in audio!
This is such a great list to do- especially because it’s giving me ideas for what audiobooks to check out 😉
Hope you get to check some of these out!