Steven Pacey reading First Law is nothing short of flawless. Especially when doing character voices and emotional/intense dialogue. Technically brilliant and emotionally true, 100% of the time.
Way late to the party here, but: 100% agreed. Pacey is flawless in his execution of Joe’s work. Buuuuut, the quality of any performance (as any actor will attest to) is fundamentally based on the quality of the writing. Pacey says as much in any of his interviews regarding narrating for Joe. The combo buries the competition.
@@failgg A bad narrator can kill a good book. I adore Dragonlance Chronicles, but Paul Boehmer's narration is nothing short of atrocious. I literally keep a copy of "Dragons of Spring Dawning" downloaded on my phone so I can show people how bad audiobook narration can get.
Steven Pacey narrating Javre in Abercrombie's Sharp Ends is the absolute highlight of my entire, vast audiobook experiences... Not to mention San Dan Glokta. Theres a reason why many people consider First Law the best narrative performance ever!
This so much. His own books are fantastic, but what got me into his narration was HP, as I'm sure it was for many. He's an absolute bliss to listen to.
@@kylepask4989 They are the British pronounciations, which may be tough or unfamiliar if you only ever listened or had contact with American/ International English.
Best Audiobook narration I have ever heard is easily Steven Pacey's narration of the First Law world. That man is beyond phenomenal. Excellent unique voices for each character, with awesome portrayal of emotion... but also wonderful use of regional accents as well!
I could not agree more about James Marsters. I read the first 2 books in The Dresden Files series and thought they were OK. Then I listened to the audiobook for the third book and I was hooked. He IS Harry Dresden and delivers Harry's snarky, wonderful sense of humor perfectly. I've never heard a more perfect pairing for an audiobook and a character.
The only voice actor who managed to melt their voice more with a character than Marsters did with Dresden is, at least for me, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith with Peter Grant in the Rivers of London novels. They are both insanely good at embodying the characters in their voice.
Hands down, Jim Dale, the British reader of the American Harry Potter audiobooks. Obviously, the audiobooks are "originals" from the print books (and better than the movies, although they have their own charm). Listening to Jim Dale is like listening to a "spoken opera". His characters have so much life and individuality, it makes them real. In "Goblet of Fire", he gives over 120 different characters their own voices. Seriously. You can not only tell Dumbledore and Prof McGonagall and the other main characters from each other, but the students, the visitors for the triwizard cup, the 'creatures' all have their own unmistakable sound, pitch and speech pattern. I have listened to each audiobook a dozen times at least and will continue so.
Neil Gaiman's narration is amazing. His voice is so soothing and pleasant, I could listen to him read me a dictionary and enjoy it. Michael Kramer is amazing as well. The first thing I ever heard him read was the Felix Castor series and I enjoyed it so much (despite his very forced British accent lol) that I looked up what else he had narrated and discovered Mistborn and Brandon Sanderson! Some others I enjoy are: Steven Pacey, James Marsters, Simon Vance, Simon Jones, Tim Gerald Reynolds. Oh and Peter S. Beagle is another author who does a lovely job narrating his own books (The Last Unicorn).
Tim Gerald Reynold is amazing. I just finished reading The Last Unicorn physically but maybe I'll give it a listen now. Curious to see if I think Beagle's narration will live up to his writing.
Honestly I enjoy watching your videos so much, even if the topics arent something I specifically relate to I just feel so comfortable watching your videos and hearing your opinions on things. Thanks man :)
Yes, please, I would love favorite audiobooks video! I just got Audible and to be honest I am overwhelmed with the choices and I would love to hear your list! 😊
my favorite is hands down Julia Whelan! I prefer female narrators over male narrators and Americans over any other accent, which I know is an unpopular opinion.
Same! My favorites are Rupert Degas and Peter Kenny. Their voices are so incredibly natural, powerful, beautiful... I like Mike and Kate, but Im definitely not obssessed with them. They are okay to me, but IDK, they just dont seem to have the charm for me. Yes they are very precise and accurate, but their very hard american accents don't work for me very well in a fantasy setting and probably that is one of the main reasons. Kenny has this dreamy magical color to his voice that just draws you right in!
George Guidall for the dark tower series, Roy Dotrice for the song of ice and fire, those two have such great weight behind their readings, and of course Jim Dale for the harry potter books.
Yes, Roy Dotrice pulled me thru the song of ice and fire, I think if was purely reading it or had a sub par narrator I would never have finished it. I also love Jim Dale. I guess I should check out Geoge Guidall.
Agreed! He doesn't get enough credit for this outstanding performance. Probably because the Rivers of London Series isn't as well known as say the Dresden Files.
OH MY LORD, YES, Michael C. Hall's narration of "Pet Sematary" really brought this story to life for me (not to say that the story itself was lacking, but his ability to imitate different accents and modulate his voice in order to mach age and gender of characters was in my opinion impressive).
I am so glad to hear your praise for Michael Page’s narration of Lies of Locke Lamora. I have this one on my audible but haven’t listen to it yet because I’m very picky of narrators. Will be starting this one soon. Also, agree so hard with Neil Gaiman! I loved listening to Ocean at the End of the Lane. I also adore Johanna Parker. She narrated the Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse series and her character work is amazing! Her ability to change her voice to encompass each character is so satisfying.
I'm with you there. After hearing Kramer read for Jordan and Sanderson I actually sought out books he had narrated which is how I ended up listening to the Licanius Trilogy by James Islington.
Same here, I love how he makes each character feel unique, and searching for more of his work I found "the paladin trilogy" which he does another fantastic job in.
Okay, so I am actually so excited that you decided to do this video! I recently discovered another booktuber that created a video on her favorite audiobooks/narrators and I immediately thought of you! Do you think you could also do a video on your favorite audiobooks? I would love to see those videos as regularly updates videos on your channel! I have a really hard time finding audiobook narrators that I really like and I’m so excited to have a list of new titles to get started with! Thank you for doing this, Merphy!
Simon Prebble. He reads "Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke. You must read the novel first before listening to the audio book, but he makes the novel even better.
I definitely loved Roy Dotrice’s performances of A Song of Ice and Fire. His voices (while not always consistent across books), really helped bring the characters to life. Also, Harry Lloyd’s reading of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was fabulous! Michael Kramer was new to me when I started Mistborn this year, and I actually had to take a break in the audiobooks between Mistborn and Stormlight Archive because I was hearing the same character voices in both at first. Once I could keep them straight, it was a blast listening to his reading of Way of Kings. I’m excited to get to Words of Radiance soon!
Probably the first person I’ve ever heard of liking Roy dotrices performance of a song of ice and fire. Just listen to the first law and imagine Steven pacy narrating it or Micheal Kramer
Kramer and Merphy are solely responsible for getting me back into reading. First with audio books and now physical reading and I am loving it. I owe this channel a great debt!
Jim Dale, the narrator of the Harry Potter series was amazing. When we saw the movies and the actors were talking, I kept thinking, wait, that isn't how Hagrid sounds. Another narrator I love is Jay O. Sanders. I would listen to anything he read, even if it wasn't a genre I normally read, just because he was so good.
My favorite audiobooks/readers are: Susan Ericksen for the In Death series, James Marsters for the Dresden Files, Christian Rummel for the Lost Fleet series, Marc Vietor for the Nightside series, Lorelei King for the Mercy Thompson series, and Renee Raudman for the Kate Daniels series.
Hey, Merphy! Great video! If you ever plan on reading more from Ruth Ware, i suggest Imogen Church, she narrates all of her books and she is fantastic! I also love January LaVoy and Stephen Fry.
Nigel Planner has to be up there for me, he narrates a lot of the discworld books and he’s incredibly funny and really helps bring this silly world to life.
Something I was pleasantly surprised by this year was starting the Audiobook for The Whisper Man and hearing Christopher Eccleston’s voice. I thought he killed it!
Michael Knipp I just did that one last week, and I was so sad that the characters didn’t have voices (except the son). It made back and forth dialogue a little difficult to follow at times. Such a great voice in general though.
I recommend you checking out The Discworld (Terry Pratchett) audiobooks narreted by Stephen Brigss. The earlyer audiobooks in a desperet need for reproduction but all narreted by Briggs are amazing. I also belive you would love the series no romance and wonderful fantasy stories. I think you would especially love Going Postal it reminds me of The lies of Locke Lamora
Tim Gerard Reynolds delivers some really awesome performances. I absolutely love his narration for The Prince of Fools, The Red Rising Saga and the Riyria Revelations. Michael Page is my second favorite, simply because I just read 1 book narrated by him - The Republic of Thieves.
the voice makes or breaks the audio book for me. Stephen Lang was one of the best ones i heard.! wish could remember the book series... Nigel Anthony (Nostromo) was another really liked. prefer to read the book itself, but but think of how fun it would be to --insert favorite audio narrator) to have them read it aloud!
The narrator for The Fifth Season is bloody fantastic, she managed to capture the character exactly the way N K Jemisin intended And the way she said that part in the first chapter when the world is broken, OH MY GOD!!!! "And then, he breaks it" is the line that made the Audiobook my absolute favourite EVER. Definitely much better than if I had read the physical book
Thank you so much for this! I started watching your videos because one popped up that sounded interesting to me and I subscribed to your channel because I love your energy and and your content. However, I am not a fantasy reader. This video, I think, would be a great stepping stone to get into it. So thank you for that!
I attended a Jason Isaacs panel at a SciFi convention last year and him talking about his work, the characters he portrayed and funny set stories is still one of my most cherished memories of all time. He's such a brilliant storyteller and he used many different voices and accents and imitated his colleagues and friends. I was really sad when the panel was over. I should listen to this audio book sometime. I can imagine he's doing a great job.
Marc Thompson. Does most of the Star Wars books. Is excellent at character voices. His Palpentine is uncanny. Also Nigel Planer, he voiced a large chunk of the Discworld novels and is another who is great at character voices.
My favourite narrator is Rebecca Soler who narrated the lunar chronicles. The way she voices cinder and our cast of characters is just phenomenal, she brought so much more to the story and without her I don’t think it’d be my favourite series ever.
I love Bahni Turpin! If i see she’s reading a book, it’ll increase my likelihood of listening to it! I also love the author Joshilyn Jackson, who reads all her books really well.
George Guidall- The Golem & the Djinni/ Dark Tower series. Tim Gerard Reynolds- Riyria & Red Rising series. Simon Jones- Bartimeaus trilogy. Emily Woo Zeller- The Poppy War. Lauren Fortgang- Grisha series.
Nick Podehl is my absolute favorite audiobook narrator. He is absolutely amazing. His voices are all distinct and consistent, his accents are superb, and his performance is flawless. I adore him.
I've been going through all of Marissa Meyer's books with audio, and Rebecca Soler is so amazing! Her voices and accents are so distinct (and they're many in the Lunar Chronicles!), I like her a lot.
I will say, Micheal Cramer hit one of those favorites of mine when he made a subtle decision to change a character's voice in between the 2nd and 3rd mistborn books that made the experience so much cooler. Elend's voice in Hero of Ages sounds so much like Straffs voice from Well of Ascension that his inner conflict with his own ruthlessness hit so much harder. I loved it and it is only experienced in audio.
Also, my favorites are Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Flo Gibson (for Brontes and Austen), Cameron Bierle, and, hands down, Jonathan Cecil, who reads a lot of P. G. Wodehouse works. It’s brilliant. He captures the spirit of the characters so well and he’s hilarious. Also, shout out to Katherine Kellgren, the best children’s narrator I have EVER heard. Her reading of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place is absolutely stunning. Your son might enjoy them!
Marc Thompson is probably my favorite narrator for audiobooks. He narrates many Star Wars audiobooks, many of them by Timothy Zahn. Neil Gaiman is also amazing.
Going into this I was hoping you'd say Michael Kramer and January Lavoy. I guess I got one of them but January Lavoy is my all time favorite she is incredible
The Farseer Trilogy audiobooks were simply fantastic! The narrator really made the story for me. I physically read some but i stopped just so i could hear him perform
Recently listened to Lee Horsley reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (best book I’ve read in years)and thought Mr. Horsley really captured each character’s voice and was able to walk through the story in such a steady and smooth way that me alone couldn’t have done half as good in my head.
You should check out Richard Armitage! Specifically, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. It's a retelling of Hamlet and the performance that Richard gives is amazing!!!! Also his reading of Jekyll and Hyde is brilliant too!
Grace Grant, Erin Mallon, Maxine Mitchell, Elizabeth Louise, Andi Ardnt ( I'm spelling her last name wrong), Zachary Weber, Sebastian York, and om Jason Clarke
Yes! I didn't think I liked audiobooks until I listened to Neil Gaiman! Currently loving Rebecca Soler narrate The Lunar Chronicles 🌙 by Marissa Meyer.
I'm not much of an audiobook listener but I can listen to Neil Gaiman and Ray Bradbury read or say anything. Ray Bradbury's voice was wonderful and reminds me of being a child and watching the animated version of his The Halloween Tree, narrated by him. Funny enough, Gaiman wrote a piece in honor of Bradbury called The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury that you can find Gaiman reading on youtube. It's not long (fourteen or fifteen minutes at most) and it's lovely. Well worth the listen, anyone who might read this. I should mention I'm not sure Bradbury recorded many audiobooks, but at least a couple, I think.
i looked up all your favourites and i most definitely want to listen to Skyward and the rithmatist on audio now instead of physical! Suzy and Michael's voices totally resonated with me. Thank you for the recommendations xx
@@larissabullen264 no. I'm talking about the audiobook narrator. The UK version is better than the USA imo. Both versions are good but the UK version is one of my favourite audiobooks ever.
On of my favourites to listen to was Edward Herrmann (who was the Grandpa in Gilmore Girls). He did a lot of non-fiction audiobooks and brought a life to the books!
1. Steven Pacey (The First Law Trilogy + World) 2. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Rivers of London/PC Peter Grant) 3. Neil Gaiman (The Graveyard Book, Neverwhere, Coraline) 4. Kate Mulgrew (NOS4A2, The Fireman) 5. Stephen Fry (Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes) Others that have stood out to me are Tim Gerard Reynolds (Red Rising Trilogy) James Marsters (Dresden Files), Colin Mace (Raven's Mark Trilogy, The Demon Cycle), Amanda Leigh Cobb (The Carrow Haunt), Rosario Dawson (Artemis), and of course Michael Kramer/Kate Reading with their countless narrations. Also, I have to mention David Nathan. He is an icon among German audiobook narrators and reads, among others, the German versions of The First Law, Dresden Files, The Riyria Chronicles, several Stephen King books, several Joe Hill books, several HP Lovecraft books. In addition, he narrates books from several famous German authors. He has a very pleasant voice (think a slightly rougher/raspier Michael Kramer) with an impressive range and I would have to think hard about him replacing someone from my posted Top 5 but luckily I just had to give a Top 5 for English-speaking narrators ;)
My top 3 (in no particular order): Rupert Degas (in the Kingkiller Chronicle - British narration) Michael Kramer (in the Wheel of Time series and practically everything by Brandon Sanderson) Kate Reading (who often co-narrates with her husband, Michael Kramer, and I think I might slightly prefer her narration to his) These three narrators, more than any others that I have heard, have the ability to immediately and completely immerse me in the story through their performances. Many narrators simply read a book out loud, and for some books that's okay, like something more biographical or academic, but I hate listening to a narrator do 5 characters in virtually the same voice - often their own normal speaking voice. These three, however, are so skilled at embodying each individual character and giving a proper Voice Acting Performance, that I frequently have to remind myself that there's a single person playing each of the characters, and not a full cast of voice actors. In fact, I think it's a testament that I think of their narration as them "playing characters" rather than reading a book. It's almost like the way you should never think of an actor as someone reading lines from a script, while you're watching their performance.
Books ive started listening to who i feel have a good Narrator to: Rose Madder - Blair Brown Pet Semetery - Micheal C Hall Heros - Stephen Fry James Langton Night Angel Trilogy - Paul Boehmer But im sure theres plenty more for me to look forward to
Hi all, this is my first comment on RU-vid. Might I suggest adding short clips of how each persons voice sounds after you talk about your experience, it would make it easier to connect/relate. If i hear their voices i will probably imagine my favorite stories being spoken by them and might cultivate real interest in every direction for everyone involved. Just a thought.
Michael Page I absolutely agree with, I would definaty recommend John Lee, who amongst other books narrated Pillars of the Earth. My favourite would be Alan Titchmarsh who writes and narrates all his own books, the performance is incredibly touching, he knows his own characters so well xxx
I haven't listened to that many audiobooks but I have listened to a couple narrated by Emily Woo Zeller and I like her narration. I think her voice is really pleasant to listen to. Also, I found Perdita Weeks to be the perfect narrator for Madeline Miller's Circe. I think her narration is what made me enjoy the book so much.
Very late to this... Priya Guns reading her book "Your Driver is Waiting" brings more to the page than is there in writing. Listening to it, it made me wonder if, sometime in the future, there will be some books published where the audio version is what people normally get and they have to go far out of their way to find a print version.
I recently went to listen to a new audiobook, I believe it was narrated by Will Patton I was 5 seconds in and I thought "wow this guy sounds exactly like Donald Trump"
I just got into audiobooks, partially thanks to you, but also because I wanted to read more and also I am sick, so much so that even holding up a book is tiring. Anyway, Jason Isaacs is phenomenal, I will be getting The Lies of Locke Lamora on audio eventually when I do the reread, because the voice sample is amazing. I would HIGHLY recommend any of the Dresden Files books on audio because James Marsters (great actor, best known as Spike from Buffy in his early acting career) has a great voice and does different accents and everything throughout the series.