Narrator Ratings

[CRussel]

Cynthia Holloway: 2 stars, though that's a stretch. Her narration of Elizabeth Moon's Vatta series was pretty awful. My reviews of the 5 books in the series varied from 1 to 2 stars for the performance. But it was long enough ago, I'm a bit doubtful about how harsh I was at the time, since I went right ahead and got all five of them. So I'll bump her up to 2 stars.

[sun surfer]

The list is updated, and another narrator (Jim Dale) joins the bolded club.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

One of the downsides to star ratings is that different stars mean different things to various people. I'm old enough that I tend to put things on a bell curve. The vast majority of narrators are a three because I think they are good, but they don't necessarily stand out as extraordinary from either a good or bad point of view. I would rate most of the ones I mentioned in my first post in this thread as 4's because they stood out, but weren't perfect. Jim Dale and Tim Curry are two that I would rate as 5 for the Harry Potter and Abhorsen series respectively. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to both of those series.

People now days seem to think that rating someone a 3 star is a complete failure (I call this a 1 star), 4 stars is something to brood about(I call this 2 star) and 5 stars as expected(I call this 3 star). I can't imagine actually listening to a complete book where I rated the narrator as a 1 or 2 star.

I would also say that sometimes the choice of one voice can really grate on my nerves. Cameron Beierle is the narrator for the Brian Daley series Doomfarers of Coramonde (one of my favorite series of all time). I flat out could not stand his choice of a high falsetto voice for one of the female characters. Couldn't finish the book. I was shocked when I noticed that he also did the Belgarion by David Eddings, also one of my favorite series and a series where I really enjoyed the audio books a lot. He would have been rated a 2 for Doomfarers and 4 for the Belgarion by me.

Based on this post I put you down for 5 stars for Dale and Curry and 4 stars for all the others listed on your first post in the thread.

Also, I tentatively put you down for a 3 for Beierle since you said you'd rate him 2 for one series and 4 for another.

If you'd like anything listed differently just let me know.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

The list is updated, and another narrator (Jim Dale) joins the bolded club.



Based on this post I put you down for 5 stars for Dale and Curry and 4 stars for all the others listed on your first post in the thread.

Also, I tentatively put you down for a 3 for Beierle since you said you'd rate him 2 for one series and 4 for another.

If you'd like anything listed differently just let me know.

That's fine.

[Paperbackstash]

Not to be mean, but seriously, Karen McManus gets the worst narration for her books. One of Us if Lying was popular and won several awards - I loved it in book form - but it's painful in Audiobook form by MacLeod Andrews and her voice is not fitting narration to me at all, including imitating other character voices. Fortunately there are some others who add voices in other dialogue but this is pretty bad. I don't think I'll be able to keep listening to it.

I tried to listen to another audio of her Two can Keep a secret and abandoned that one too. It was narrated by a group, Kirby Heyborne and Sophie Amoss.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

Not to be mean, but seriously, Karen McManus gets the worst narration for her books. One of Us if Lying was popular and won several awards - I loved it in book form - but it's painful in Audiobook form by MacLeod Andrews and her voice is not fitting narration to me at all, including imitating other character voices. Fortunately there are some others who add voices in other dialogue but this is pretty bad. I don't think I'll be able to keep listening to it.

I tried to listen to another audio of her Two can Keep a secret and abandoned that one two. It was narrated by a group Kirby Heyborne and Sophie Amoss.

Would you like to rate these? I'd venture you might give these something like a 1, but I'm not sure.

[Paperbackstash]

I'll go with 1-2. Pretty bad. Hard to rate but I can't even use the audiobooks so it's very low on the ratings totem pole.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I'll go with 1-2. Pretty bad. Hard to rate but I can't even use the audiobooks so it's very low on the ratings totem pole.

I guess I'll take that as 1.5? If you'd prefer any of those three narrators to have a 1 or 2 or no rating instead just let me know.

[davtay]

Having a decent drive to work (45 minutes to an hour one way, depending on traffic) music has been my accompaniment during my commute. But lately I have been listening to audio books, and they are becoming very addictive!

I have always been an avid reader and enjoy an author who can tell a story that captures my imagination. Now I have discovered that a good narrator can make the experience even better. And a great narrator can even elevate a so/so story to an enjoyable time.

Jim Dale - 5 stars. His portrayal of the Harry Potter books is phenomenal. I cannot imagine a better performance. Top of the line!

Ray Porter - 5 stars. His narration on Peter Clines 14, The Fold, Dead Moon, and Paradox Bound is excellent. He can do so many different characters, plus his way of telling the stories...I don't know...just fits the books perfectly.

Frank Muller (RIP) - 5 stars. The first four books of Stephen King's The Dark Tower (The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Wastelands, Wizard and Glass) are amazing! His voices are so what I imagined the characters would sound like, and his narration of the "story" part is eerie! I am truly going to miss him on the rest of the series. I also thought he did a great job on The Silence of the Lambs. Having read the book twice before and seeing the movie countless times, I still think his version added a bit of creepiness that I think made it even better.

R.C. Bray - 4 stars. It may be unfair to him, but I gave him 4 stars because he wasn't the other three. Also, I have only listen to one book verses multiple for others. His performance of Andy Weir's The Martian is very, very good. He does good character voices and story narration, but falls just a bit short of my favorites.

These are my thoughts, hopefully helpful to some. I would highly recommend all of these narrators and books.

[Paperbackstash]

Matt Godfrey does an excellent job on Blackwater: The Complete Saga by Michael McDowell. Rating 4/5

[JSWolf]

The other day I finished listening to The 18th Abduction By James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. January LaVoy is the narrator and I give her 5 stars.

[sun surfer]

The ratings are all updated.

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

Matt Godfrey does an excellent job on Blackwater: The Complete Saga by Michael McDowell. Rating 4/5

You rated Matt Godfrey already with a 3/5 back on post 66, but I updated the list to your more current rating.

[JSWolf]

Nigel Planer who does some Discworld books is excellent. I'm almost done listening to Carpe Jugulum and he really does the book justice. 5/5 and 10/10.

[sun surfer]

I'll give Stephen Thorne a 4 for his narration of A Morbid Taste for Bones. He did a really good job.

[Lacoet]

5 stars for Michael Crouch in Have you seen Luis Velez, I could swear there were 3 different people doing the voices
5 stars for Peter Noble, I just love his deep voice.

[JSWolf]

5 stars for Emilia Fox for The Man in the Brown Suit. She read it very well and the voices were quite good.