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Kestral posted:Does anyone have the new full-cast audio version of American Gods who has also listened to the superb George Guidall version or read the original book? I'm not a huge fan of the full-cast version so far - Guidall is the One True Voice for this book, especially Wednesday - but I'm curious as to whether the additional content for the anniversary edition is worth it.
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Jul 18, 2011 16:06
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Pompous Rhombus posted:You pretty much just sold me on this. I just bought DwD (the Kindle version, assuming the audio is a ways off) for my upcoming 13 hour plane ride, but this looks like a solid #2. I downloaded A Dance With Dragons from Audible the day after the book's release. It's 49 hours long which is going to take me about two and a half months of commuting to get through.
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Jul 18, 2011 19:19
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coyo7e posted:I picked it up but have been listening to the Night Watch series first. Hows the audibooks for this series? I plan to get it when I get my next two credits from Audible.
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Jul 18, 2011 19:47
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Clinton1011 posted:Hows the audibooks for this series? I plan to get it when I get my next two credits from Audible. I'd only previously seen the movies, it's pretty wild/great how drastically different the books are. There was a lot more creative license taken in the movies than I realized, and the first book is like 6 times the length/depth as the first movie.. Also the protagonist (and the entire night watch group) is a lot darker and "grey" than I realized.
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Jul 18, 2011 21:38
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coyo7e posted:Quite good, and it was way easier to burn a few credits to get the entire series on audible, than it was to buy them, I mean the paperbacks are 12-15 bucks each if you can find them. I really preferred the books to the movies, although I read them first. A lot of the scenes in the movie felt like scenes from the book taken out of context, and that really bothered me. I never considered picking up the audiobooks but it might be worth it. Who reads them?
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Jul 18, 2011 21:47
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ImpAtom posted:Who reads them? Yea that's what I'm more worried about a lot of books don't transfer over to audiobook well due to a bad narrator.
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Jul 18, 2011 21:50
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Kestral posted:Here's an anti-recommendation for Charles Stross' Halting State. One of the book's gimmicks is that it's written in second-person and changes point-of-view characters with every chapter. That's fine in and of itself, but several of the characters are Scottish and the narrator insists on using ear-stabbingly horrible Scottish accents for the entirety of their chapters. You build up a tolerance for it over time, but I'd much rather read it than listen to it.
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Jul 18, 2011 22:47
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ImpAtom posted:I really preferred the books to the movies, although I read them first. A lot of the scenes in the movie felt like scenes from the book taken out of context, and that really bothered me. I never considered picking up the audiobooks but it might be worth it. Who reads them?
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Jul 18, 2011 23:06
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Clinton1011 posted:Yea that's what I'm more worried about a lot of books don't transfer over to audiobook well due to a bad narrator.
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Jul 18, 2011 23:13
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FuSchnick posted:Speaking of which, I just started Dance of Dragons. Now, Roy Dotrice is great as a narrator, and even for the rough-n-tough male characters. But he makes Dany sound like a little old lady. And maybe I'm spoiled by Peter Dinklage's sheer awesomeness in the TV series, but Roy makes Tyrion sound more like Vern Troyer. I realize he is bringing his own voices to the story and sounding like the TV actors is not his goal. But once you go Dinklage can't go back. I only did the first audiobook, and did not care for his reading, though that might be because I was coming off James Marsters very animated reading for the Dresden Files, and that GRR whoever is incredibly boring. "Oh hay another food description, sweet" 
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Jul 18, 2011 23:23
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FuSchnick posted:Speaking of which, I just started Dance of Dragons. Now, Roy Dotrice is great as a narrator, and even for the rough-n-tough male characters. But he makes Dany sound like a little old lady. And maybe I'm spoiled by Peter Dinklage's sheer awesomeness in the TV series, but Roy makes Tyrion sound more like Vern Troyer. I realize he is bringing his own voices to the story and sounding like the TV actors is not his goal. But once you go Dinklage can't go back. Roy Dotrice as the narrator of those books makes me go bonkers. I got into it a bit in an older SOIAF thread, and most people disagreed with me... but god, in the book I listened to (either the second or third) he made every other character sound like a near-dead hobo trying to talk with a jar of marbles crammed in their mouth. However, most of the books exist in alternate versions read by Roy Avers, but they're part of a government-funded non-commercial project for people with disabilities, and might be harder to track down. Library maybe? This link mentions the program, but it does have some spoilers in the description of the second Song of Ice and Fire book: http://www.loc.gov/nls/tbt/2001/4julaug.txt Locus fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jul 19, 2011 |
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Jul 19, 2011 00:10
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FuSchnick posted:Speaking of which, I just started Dance of Dragons. Now, Roy Dotrice is great as a narrator, and even for the rough-n-tough male characters. But he makes Dany sound like a little old lady. And maybe I'm spoiled by Peter Dinklage's sheer awesomeness in the TV series, but Roy makes Tyrion sound more like Vern Troyer. I realize he is bringing his own voices to the story and sounding like the TV actors is not his goal. But once you go Dinklage can't go back. For better or worse I got used to Roy Dotrice as the narrator of the first three books. His voices were the voices for the characters. Then someone else read A Feast For Crows (apparently Dotrice was unavailable to record that at the time) and now Dotrice is back for A Dance With Dragons, a decade or so after his last book in the series. The problem is in this break he seems to have forgotten the voices he used for some of the characters (Dany being the most grating example). On the one hand it has been a long time so I guess it's not too surprising he's forgotten a few of the character voices. On the other hand, I would have thought someone would have pointed it out to him during the recording process, or that he would have done a quick skim through his previous recordings to refresh his memory.
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Jul 19, 2011 04:04
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ImpAtom posted:I really preferred the books to the movies, although I read them first. A lot of the scenes in the movie felt like scenes from the book taken out of context, and that really bothered me. I never considered picking up the audiobooks but it might be worth it. Who reads them? Seems to be pretty prolific, somebody besides me must think he does a passable job narrating stuff. http://www.audible.com/search/ref=sr_nsrch_lnk_2?searchNarrator=Paul%20Michael&qid=1311045371&sr=1-2
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Jul 19, 2011 04:17
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jassa posted:For better or worse I got used to Roy Dotrice as the narrator of the first three books. His voices were the voices for the characters. Then someone else read A Feast For Crows (apparently Dotrice was unavailable to record that at the time) and now Dotrice is back for A Dance With Dragons, a decade or so after his last book in the series. The problem is in this break he seems to have forgotten the voices he used for some of the characters (Dany being the most grating example). On the one hand it has been a long time so I guess it's not too surprising he's forgotten a few of the character voices. On the other hand, I would have thought someone would have pointed it out to him during the recording process, or that he would have done a quick skim through his previous recordings to refresh his memory. In the audiobooks for Altered Carbon and its sequels (which I hate), the first book makes a small point about how the main character is annoyed by people mispronouncing his name. In the 2nd and 3rd books the reader makes the exact same mispronunciation throughout.
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Jul 19, 2011 07:17
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FuSchnick posted:I don't think that much effort goes into a lot of them. Yeah, I suspect you're right. 
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Jul 19, 2011 09:16
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FuSchnick posted:I don't think that much effort goes into a lot of them. The second book's reader is just fine, but what you're talking about does happen with the narrator for Woken Furies. What's worse is that on one page the narrator reads you the character bitching about how the pronounce his name, and then immediately goes back to mispronouncing the same. That's just pathetic.
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Jul 19, 2011 17:59
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SageSepth posted:"Oh hay another food description, sweet" Food porn should definitely be left to chefs, like Bourdain. Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook Oh God... Ortolan... 
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Jul 20, 2011 09:30
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Kestral posted:The second book's reader is just fine, but what you're talking about does happen with the narrator for Woken Furies. What's worse is that on one page the narrator reads you the character bitching about how the pronounce his name, and then immediately goes back to mispronouncing the same. That's just pathetic. Probably not very often. Or maybe he only hears it after recording is complete and it is too late/expensive to re-record. The more cynical side of me suspects that only big-name authors and series get much  put into their audiobooks.
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Jul 20, 2011 18:26
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Kestral posted:The second book's reader is just fine, but what you're talking about does happen with the narrator for Woken Furies. What's worse is that on one page the narrator reads you the character bitching about how the pronounce his name, and then immediately goes back to mispronouncing the same. That's just pathetic. Yeah, I actually enjoyed the narrator for the first two books, but I had to stop listening to the third one after the narrator mispronounced it multiple times. Pretty ridiculous.
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Jul 20, 2011 18:39
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I read that a Roy Avers did some audiobooks for A Song of Ice and Fire, but I can only find those by Dotrice, of whom I am not a big fan. Where can I hear a sample of Avers's work?
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Jul 24, 2011 16:35
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The newest Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher just came out: Ghost Story: The Dresden Files, Book 13. Due to an alleged scheduling conflict, they had to get a different narrator by the name of John Glover. For those of you who like James Marsters as the narrator, I really, really recommend you listen to the sample first. Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Jul 26, 2011 |
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Jul 26, 2011 19:02
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Mister Macys posted:
Well now I know it sucks. Wish I'd listened to the sample first. I've already finished Ghost Story but will reread and am listening to Small Favor as a palate cleanser.
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Jul 27, 2011 22:51
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ufarn posted:I read that a Roy Avers did some audiobooks for A Song of Ice and Fire, but I can only find those by Dotrice, of whom I am not a big fan. Where can I hear a sample of Avers's work? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVtUv3ylJFU He's not a great narrator, but I prefer dull narration to a voice that pulls me out of the story and makes me cringe whenever certain characters talk.
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Jul 27, 2011 23:04
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Locus posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVtUv3ylJFU
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Jul 27, 2011 23:08
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Basically, yeah. Sadly though, I don't have much choice for A Dance With Dragons, so I'm going to go ahead and plow through. Half the reviews on Audible are complaining about it. And apparently he made some of the female voices even worse than they were before. 
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Jul 27, 2011 23:11
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Pretty weird that such a popular series would have such a horrible narration. Granted, Harry Potter is easier to narrate for several reasons, but talent can't be that hard to come by.
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Jul 27, 2011 23:33
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McBeth posted:Well now I know it sucks. Wish I'd listened to the sample first. I've already finished Ghost Story but will reread and am listening to Small Favor as a palate cleanser. I'm honestly considering getting the book after hearing Glover's interpretation. I had to walk away after hearing the voice he used for Carmichael (Murphy's late detective partner). Almost a cowboy stereotype accent.  I dunno about you, but I always pictured him as the Batman-hating detective from The Animated Series, with a proper Chicago/Detroit accent:  "You're a wizard? Whadda' load o' poo poo. C'mon Murph, we don' need this clown." Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Jul 28, 2011 |
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Jul 28, 2011 04:42
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Mister Macys posted:I'm honestly considering getting the book after hearing Glover's interpretation. Haha. dude that was totally how I pictured Carmicheal, I'm holding off in the hopes that maybe it'll get rerecorded with Marsters later, but sans that I'll wait for Cold Days to see where things stand. If he goes with Glover again I might have to just bite the bullet and get used to it.
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Jul 28, 2011 05:35
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SageSepth posted:Haha. dude that was totally how I pictured Carmicheal, I'm holding off in the hopes that maybe it'll get rerecorded with Marsters later, but sans that I'll wait for Cold Days to see where things stand. If he goes with Glover again I might have to just bite the bullet and get used to it. After the ratings and comments that were left on sites like audible.com it would be a really stupid business decision to switch to Glover for all upcoming books. From what I read the only reason they did it for this book was the delay conflicted with Marsters' schedule. I hope they re-record with Marsters, I doubt they will but I couldn't even get through that preview chapter and till now I have purchased every book in audio form.
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Jul 28, 2011 15:09
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Clinton1011 posted:After the ratings and comments that were left on sites like audible.com it would be a really stupid business decision to switch to Glover for all upcoming books. From what I read the only reason they did it for this book was the delay conflicted with Marsters' schedule. Same, this'll likely be the one Dresden book I bought as opposed to got from Audible/
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Jul 28, 2011 15:39
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I don't know if the thread has mentioned this yet or not, but Zombie Spaceship Wasteland read by Patton Oswalt is pretty awesome. He even managed to get Michael Stipe to read some of REM's lyrics for the first part of the book.
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Jul 28, 2011 16:47
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Clinton1011 posted:After the ratings and comments that were left on sites like audible.com it would be a really stupid business decision to switch to Glover for all upcoming books. From what I read the only reason they did it for this book was the delay conflicted with Marsters' schedule. I just emailed them asking for a refund. I'll let you guys know what they say, it would be good customer service but then again they'd be giving out a lot of those for this title.
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Jul 28, 2011 18:41
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Audible.com has really good customer service. A few times I was double charged for books and when I called they refunded both charges and left me with the book. That being said I'd be surprised if they did since they released the first chapter for free so people could get an idea if they actually wanted to purchase it and they also always have that 2 minute preview. It kinda sucks because he's not a bad voice actor he just either didn't have time to research the characters or didn't care too and the production team never corrected him. The Carmichael example people gave is a good one, if you just read the character's lines you could come to the conclusion that he might be a hick. If he actually read any of the previous books that Carmichael was in he would of known it was a Chicago accent but then again the book takes place in Chicago and when he meets the character its in ghost Chicago so it should have been clear.
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Jul 28, 2011 19:20
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Clinton1011 posted:Audible.com has really good customer service. A few times I was double charged for books and when I called they refunded both charges and left me with the book. http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/aboutus/contactus.html Feel free to bitch to the appropriate party. I don't get it though, we didn't get Marsters on each book as it came out, there was a pretty big gap in the middle which they eventually caught up on. I would have waited.
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Jul 28, 2011 19:51
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McBeth posted:I just emailed them asking for a refund. I'll let you guys know what they say, it would be good customer service but then again they'd be giving out a lot of those for this title. Dude I can nearly guarantee they'll hit you up that refund, Audible customer service is amazing. Anytime I've had any problems they've fixed them, for the same series actually I started over on Itunes. Before I knew about audible, and I paid for Storm Front there, I got the rest on audible, anyway a year or so later I was having some issue with Itunes and they're very lovely unlocking your poo poo and authorized computers policies and I was on the phone with audbile. I told him, for some reason I couldn't sync both my itunes books AND my audible ones on my ipod it was one or the other, and I needed them all so I could transfer them to a laptop for a birthday. This guy worked with me for 2 hours we tried everything, redownloading the books, remote access to my pc etc etc. Eventually I was like, as a joke "Well you could just give me a credit to dl it from Audible and be done with itunes all together" and the dude didn't even blink he was like "Yeah, I'll just give you your 2 monthly credits now" "But I already used them" "That's fine I'll just open up 2 more free of charge". Dude gave me excellent service on the phone and then followed it up with 25 bucks worth of credits to fix the issue. Audible Customer Service is loving awesome.
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Jul 28, 2011 20:11
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More audiobooks for the audiobook God!  21: Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions Auth: Ben Mezrich Narr: Johnny Heller "Now a major motion picture!"  Book about some math geniuses who kicked rear end at blackjack for a while, before the casinos cracked down on using one's brain to win. 3.5/5 Of Rice and Men Auth: Richard Galli Narr: Paul Michael They say war is Hell. This is the story of the Vietnam War, told from the perspective of the Peace Corps. The people who really were out to "win hearts and minds" providing rice seed, building med-clinics, and raising pigs in Hue. These are the tales of a group of "Rear-Echelon Mother-Fuckers". Funny and sad, it reminds me of MASH. A must buy. 5/5 I Am the Market: How to Smuggle Cocaine by the Ton and Live Happily Auth: Luca Rastello Narr: Paul Thornley Written by a convicted italian trafficker who perfected the "Delivery in the dark" method of drug shipment. This book has the greatest sounding narrator on Earth. He's like Robin Sachs (B5-various, ME2-  ), only more badass...5/5 Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Auth: Mary Roach Narr: Shelly Frasier Audible loves springing five dollar deals on me, so I grabbed this. Mentions what happens to bodies after we're done with them, such as their use in forensic studies, ballistic tests, car-crash tests, and includes new methods of disposal. There's more than just cremation by fire, and interrment (sp.?) in the ground! 3.5/5 Mister Facetious fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Jul 31, 2011 |
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Jul 30, 2011 19:43
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Currently listening to "Good Omens" by Gaiman and Pratchett which is a hilarious and wonderful book but the narrator takes it to another level entirely. This may well be my favorite audiobook performance ever. Highly recommended!
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Jul 31, 2011 02:42
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jassa posted:For better or worse I got used to Roy Dotrice as the narrator of the first three books. His voices were the voices for the characters. Then someone else read A Feast For Crows (apparently Dotrice was unavailable to record that at the time) and now Dotrice is back for A Dance With Dragons, a decade or so after his last book in the series. The problem is in this break he seems to have forgotten the voices he used for some of the characters (Dany being the most grating example). On the one hand it has been a long time so I guess it's not too surprising he's forgotten a few of the character voices. On the other hand, I would have thought someone would have pointed it out to him during the recording process, or that he would have done a quick skim through his previous recordings to refresh his memory. I loved every single one of Roy Dotrice's voiceovers. You could instantly identify each character and his voices somehow added to the characters and the scenes. John Lee, who voiced A Feast for Crows sounds like a melodramatic Shakespearean actor in monologue regardless of whether he's reading narration or dialogue and it's driving me crazy. I'm so disappointed that I think I'd rather read the book than listen to the audiobook.
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Jul 31, 2011 10:05
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theDOWmustflow posted:I loved every single one of Roy Dotrice's voiceovers. You could instantly identify each character and his voices somehow added to the characters and the scenes. John Lee, who voiced A Feast for Crows sounds like a melodramatic Shakespearean actor in monologue regardless of whether he's reading narration or dialogue and it's driving me crazy. I'm so disappointed that I think I'd rather read the book than listen to the audiobook. His voices for typical "rough and tough" males are ok, and he does a really good voice for Roose Bolton that does fit the descriptions of him perfectly.
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Jul 31, 2011 21:18
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Dotrice also doesn't really change his speech to distinguish between characters talking, and characters thinking, which can get pretty confusing. I'm handling A Dance With Dragons ok so far, but I have to mentally go back and change some people's voices or remind myself who they are supposed to be as I listen.
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Jul 31, 2011 23:30
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