WoT Audio Books

Serenla Tamowith

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Okay, so I'm trying out the audio books for the first time. I will preface this by saying I've never done audio books before.



OMG, I know why. I've heard really good things about this reader and his narration is pretty good. But holy moly, his character voices are ATROCIOUS. Ishamael in the prologue was done in such a smarmy voice it sounded like he should be twirling his mustache, smoking a cigar and tying a girl to the railroad tracks. :rolleyes


I don't know that I'll listen to any more than EotW. :x
 

Ashlyn Sindal

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Yeah, I'm definitely not crazy about the male narrator. It's especially annoying that he has several character voices that sound like they're perpetually congested. I keep thinking, dude, blow your nose! But I really like the female narrator, and the guy definitely gets better as the books progress.
 
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I am on book four of the audiobooks and really have not had a problem with the narration. We have all read the books and have formed how we think people would sound. I have to say he speaks the old tongue really well, especially when Matt starts using it more and more.

And if you want to hear a very bad narrator in my opinion the one that did the last Song of Fire and Ice books ouch. His female voices all sound like old women.
 
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Roy Dotrice is the narrator for George R R Martin's Song of Fire and Ice, and I cant make up my mind if I like his reading or not. He is to play the part of the Pyromancer Hallyne in the upcoming (yay!!) HBO Game of Thrones series 2. He played the part of "Father" in the ancient but memorable tv series "Beauty and the Beast". He is also father to Michele Dotrice who played the young girl in Mary Poppins.

Kate Reading and Michael Kramer co-narrate the WOT series... they are a husband and wife team and I believe he at least is award-winning. It does take a while to get used to his style, but she is superb...her enunciation is crystal-clear and her timing is exquisite... It is a huge undertaking to read the complete series, but...they have drawn me in.... perhaps I have a slightly different perception as I have not read one word via the page of a book!!!
 
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Took me a while to get into the audio books too, but I do quite like them now for those occasions when having the actual book with me isn't feasible. However, where I have the option I will always choose to read the book over listening to the audio versions, but I like the option of mixing between the two formats if needs be.

I wholly agree with the above comments about the character voices, properly awful. Just about used to them now though, so will continue listening to them on long drives etc.
 
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The audio books are absolutely fabulous. If you've got a commute to work, you can listen to the books and do a re-read while driving. If you've got a hobby such as crafts, or even just household jobs like dishes or cleaning, you can listen to the audiobooks whilst getting work done.

It's really very nice. I definitely recommend it.
 

Mirandha Laflor

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Martur al'Mortem said:
And if you want to hear a very bad narrator in my opinion the one that did the last Song of Fire and Ice books ouch. His female voices all sound like old women.

Did he do the first one as well? Because I couldn't even finish listening to it it was so horribly narrated!
 
V

VnMJack

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I think the narration is fantastic and I actually like him better then her. She tends to change pronunciation from book to book. Over all if they changed to someone else for the last book i would be SORELY disappointed. I can always tell what character he is reading by his voice. Of course I have listened to the whole thing maybe 20 times.
 
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Was on a trip last week, and we were listening to.. whatever book my bf is on, and I found myself incredibly irked over how a lot of his "female" and "Seanchan" voices also sound just like his "villain" voices. His Illianer accent is awful, too. :p
 
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Hi everyone,
I find it quite amusing that most of you struggle with the male narrator.
I personally think he's great and he definitely gets into his stride.
The female narrator however.........
She's generally good EXCEPT that far too often she turns the female charachters into whiny snivelly children. There's something infuriating about hearing Elaine or Nayneve (forgive spelling) caterwauling.

However, generally loving them and up to book 6 :)
 

Dane al'Nyer

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I've never listened to any audiobooks ever, although I think I may buy the WoT audiobooks after I have finished reading them. For me it's the feeling that noone will ever be able to rea da story to me as well as my dad did when I was a kid :)
 
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I don't know that I could ever listen to the audio books. I've tried it with one book once, and doubt I'll ever do it again. I can picture things so much more clearly when reading on a page rather than hearing.
 
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I love the audiobooks myself and they are what i am using for the my current re read. I use it on my trip to and from work or on long trips, it does help to pass the time. I also use audible.com saves me some money on audiobooks.
 
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I've listened to every book in Audio Book form, except the first three. One of the things that really is noticeable is the changes in pronunciation as they continue. Many of the things that they pronounce get drastically altered the further you go. One thing that I've suggested to some members in my room is that they should speed the book up to x2 speed. It doesn't change the inflection a lot and most people don't like the way the books drag out over the audio series.

I found them fantastic for my long weekend drives. And it is funny to see the difference between Michael and Kate on the same characters voice. But somehow, you get use to the voices. I did at least.
 
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I got really mad when they finally got the pronunciation of "Moghedien" right in one book, then went back to the wrong pronunciation in the following book. :mad

Other than that, I generally do enjoy them. :)
 
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