Eddis, Attolia, Sounis

Has anyone else listened to the audiobooks narrated by Steve West yet? I'm working my way through them now. (Goodreads is like, "Are you sure you're reading the same books one month apart?" Yes, Goody, yes I am.) I'm currently near the end of KoA...

My thoughts so far:

1. The books themselves are better enjoyed on paper. Some books are enhanced by an audiobook performance, but I don't think these are in that category.

2. Steve West, like most male narrators, makes the female characters sound whiney/whispy and annoying. Attolia, to me, sounds almost like Stewie from "Family Guy". Even though most of the characters are male, I wish the narrator was female....perhaps my favorite, Katherine Kellgren.

3. The narrator's interpretation of many of the male voices bothered me a bit too. Gen doesn't sound like Gen, and many of the characters sound just like the other characters. I'm not confident that I'd have been able to thoroughly understand/enjoy the story if I didn't already know it so well.

4. Page breaks, particularly in QoA, are lost because the narrator doesn't pause for a page break. He just reads straight on through, which makes changes in POV kind of confusing. Also, there are certain moments/sentences that are made all the more profound by those page breaks, which again get a bit lost in the audiobook narration. However, this might be something that those of us who've read these over and over might notice.

5. One of the GOOD things about listening to the audio of a book you're already familiar with is that the narrator may give sentences different inflections than you gave them during your own reads, and in doing so it makes you think about these sentences differently. I know there are a couple of parts that I probably read over quickly because I was eager to get back to the story, and the audio narration forces you to slow down and hear every word.

6. With this book, as with all audiobooks, I find myself reacting out loud. When reading on paper, most of my reactions are in my own head, with only the occasional gasp, chuckle, or smile if something is REALLY astonishing. On audio, even though I know these stories inside and out, I find myself grinning, cheering, booing, and generally making a lot more noise while listening. Fun times!

So...overall, I'll be glad I listened to the audiobooks, but I'm not sure if I'm likely to re-listen to them. I don't want Stewie-Attolia to get ingrained into my psyche so that my vision of Attolia is forever tainted. The narrator doesn't do a BAD job, but I think the downsides of his narration outweigh the positives.