Audible Suggestions And Reviews

Nemesis

Nemesis

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Hey gang. Several years ago I got into Audible to help ease my commute.

I often go to the book threads to get recommendations, but there's an obvious difference in listener/reader experience once you start hearing someone else voice the characters (and sometimes music, effects, etc).

anyone got suggestions for great series to pick up on Audible? or suggestions for books to stay away from?

my recent recommendations (fantasy only, for now... tons of Star Wars and other stuff in the library to be reviewed later):

A Song of Ice and Fire Series
Not much needs to be said about this one. Great series, great narration (not thrilled with the change of narrator for book 4, but got back to Roy Dotrice on book 5)

The Kingkiller Chronicles
Great series - a bit forced here and there, some poor plot distractions (Denna), quite a bit of fantasy fulfillment on the part of the author, but definitely worthy of a listen for its best moments.

Riyria Revelations, Riyria Chronicles, (and all of the accompanying short stories)
Great series. Humor, intrigue, suspense, plausible magic. I really enjoyed the characters and the author's style.

Malazan Book of the Fallen
Amazing series through 3rd book. Can be difficult to follow at times - especially in audio format - I recommend keeping a chapter synopsis/discussion handy (like the ones at tor.com). After 3rd book, the narrator changes and I can't get down with that. Real shame too, as I love the series and want to continue.

The Witcher Series
Just recently started this as I've really enjoyed the world and lore in the games. So far I'm only into the 2ndc compilation of short stories, Sword of Destiny, but I'm enjoying the content. A bit simpler than others I've been reading, but that's ok. The English translation is good, and the narrator is great so far.
 
Ameraves

Ameraves

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Dresden files. The guy that does the reading of it is absolutely fantastic.
 
lindz

lindz

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Ready Player One was fantastic on audio book. Wil Wheaton reads it and he does such an incredible job. He totally WAS Wade/Parzival. Definitely the best audio book I've ever listened to for just sucking me in.

I just started Illuminae (YA SciFi) which is fucking cool. If you've taken a look at the book, it is totally mixed-media, so the audio book has a huge cast to make it work. Can't comment whether the book is good or not yet, but the production quality of the audiobook is really good.
 
Nemesis

Nemesis

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awesome, thanks for both pointers. Dresden Files and Ready Player One have both been in my wishlist for quite some time, but i've hesitated on pulling the trigger...

Dresden just because I wasn't sure if the content was too whimsical - the synopsis seemed a bit "young" if that makes any sense...

Ready Player One, well I just didnt know if I'd like it or not.

I'll be glad to check out Illuminae too. I've really enjoyed many of the Star Wars unabridged series of books which include subtle music and sound effects throughout, which can really enhance the atmosphere of the narration if used right
 
Harshaw

Harshaw

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Dresden is definitely not young. It does take a couple books to get really rolling but none of them are bad. James Marsters does all the voice work for the series.
 
Fippy Darkpaw

Fippy Darkpaw

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The last audiobook I finished was Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It's a pretty silly story about angels and demons. Very lighthearted and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. There was nothing particularly special about the narration, but it was good throughout. I haven't read anything else by Pratchett. I've read a lot of other stuff by Gaiman. If someone told me at certain points that it was ghostwritten by Douglas Adams, I probably wouldn't have been shocked.

I'm currently about halfway through The Fireman by Joe Hill. It's slightly in the future and millions of people are spontaneously combusting. So far it seems to be more about the people than the actual combusting, but I'm enjoying it a lot. Narrated by Kate Mulgrew, who seems to be doing a great job with all the different character voices.
 
KurganAU

KurganAU

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My old man used to drive road trains for a living. Long hours, long drives, he told me he'd go mad if it weren't for audiobooks.

The narrator is key and there are some so good he'll search for books they've read that he otherwise wouldn't read.

Picking a physical book, his favorite genres are sci-fi and fantasy but when it comes to narrators, his favorite is Humphrey Bower who reads all of Bryce Courtenay's novels. Sample below.

The Power of One
 
G

Ghetto216

Golden Knight of the Realm
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Zombie fallout, by Mark Tufo
Indian hill, by Mark Tufo
Lycan fallout, by Mark Tufo
And anything else by Mark Tufo.
All narrated by Sean Runnette, who is an amazing narrator. These are my top series. I've listened to them all several times. 5 star books and performances.

The deathless collection, is an interesting series, it's like Stargate meets vampires, werewolves, and ancient aliens.

The sword of truth series is great. Stories are amazing, save book 6, it's a little boring. The biggest down fall is they kept switching narrators, on the first few books.

World War z is a fun listen with a complete cast reading it.

A new world by John O'brien. It's kind of has an " I am ledgon" feel to it.

I can name a few others. I mostly listen to horror. Hope this is helpful.
 
Ritley

Ritley

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Cycle of Arawn wasn't too bad, plus it has Tim Gerard Reynolds as a narrator
 
Droelm

Droelm

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The whole Harry Potter series as narrated by Jim Dale is pretty good. Jim Dale has an amazing ability to voice a multitude of characters and bring them to life.
Hardcore History by Dan Carlin is entertaining, though not novels, each podcast is a rather long 3-5 hour episode.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

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Dresden series is well done as others have said.

I got It and The Stand by King and both are well done if you're into that stuff.

Wheel of time is well done but I find I have trouble keeping up with all the names if I haven't seen them in print. Same with Sanderson series, storm light? Storm blight?
 
Nester

Nester

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The Hyperion series and the culture series are both very well done with quality narration. The first Hyperion book actually has voice actors for different roles.

FYI if it's on audible, its also gonna be available via torrent at the normal places.
 
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Arden

Arden

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The Expanse- SciFi

Tai-Pan/Shogun/King Rat- Historical Fiction

Gates of Fire- Historical Fiction

The Last Kingdom Series- Historical Fiction

Lots and lots of great listening hours there.
 
C

Composter

Golden Knight of the Realm
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Stephen Ridnicki's reading of March Upcountry (and sequels) is really well done. I have always liked his voice, though. And yeah, who knew that Spike from Buffy/Angel would do so good at reading Dresden?

The other series that has been pretty good for me on Audible is Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow series. I'm through 2 of the books, but I read some bad reviews of the third, so I am holding off for now.
 
Ranak

Ranak

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A few books/series I've listened to recently and enjoyed:

Fantasy

The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
Lightbringer by Brent Weeks
Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Others
Six Frigates by Ian Toll
Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
River of Doubt by Candice Millard
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
 
Julian The Apostate

Julian The Apostate

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Othello: Shakespeare Appreciated

For anyone interested into getting into Shakespeare I would highly recommend the Shakespeare Appreciated audio books. They have a narrator that explains whats happening in the play the whole way through and makes it easy to understand what's going on. You can also listen to it without the narrator as well after your initial listen. Othello is the only one ive listened to but they also have King Lear, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, and Henry V. Overall I think the actors were great and the narrator fit in well and wasn't distracting at all.
 
chaos

chaos

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There's this podcast reviewing/breaking down all of the Kurt Vonnegut books, it's ok, but got me to pick up the audio books. They're pretty good. Something about the tone of the narrator makes sense for those stories. So far I've done Sirens of Titan and Mother Night.
 
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