The Sword and Laser discussion

I got about 20% through the audio book a while back and quit. The dialogue seemed way too contemporary at times for a fantasy world and totally screwed up any immersion I had going in the story. The accent used by the narrator for the main character didn't help at all. At times she sounded like an edgy teenager with a street accent. Not so great for a fantasy novel, in my opinion. Maybe the print version doesn't come across that way, but the audio book just didn't work for me.

Interesting. I'm about 2 hours into the audio version (which if I remember correctly, it's about 11 hours total so I'm almost at 20%) and I've noticed how the narrator seems to change her voice, too.

I've found myself needing to re-listen to some parts, but the story's bringing me in enough that I don't feel like I need to quit on the audio yet. However, I have found that for this book in particular, I have to be able to listen to it for an hour or so at a time. On other books, listening for a few minutes here, a few minutes there works OK, but not so much for this one.

Granted, if I end up giving up on the audio version, I've got the Kindle version, too.

Oh good, I´m not the only one.

Interesting story and plot so far, though.

I didn't have a problem with the narration. It's always seemed silly to me that we expect fantasy characters to speak like BBC newscasters.

I finished the Audible version (at 2x) last night and very much enjoyed the story and the narrator's reading. I especially liked the way that she voiced Seih.

Though I did notice several audio changes throughout where she (or the audio engineer) didn't manage to match the volume and positioning from session to session.

I'm finding the narrator to be quite talented. Better than others I've heard.

That being said - the slight modern African-American edge she gives the characters did take a bit of getting used to in a fantasy setting.

But Sean is totally right - why is an African-American accent any weirder than any of the various UK accents when it comes to a completely made up place?

I'm also about 20% in and do mind some accents. I don't know why it just jumps at me everytime she reads (again). It's my first woman narrator, so I do find it weird and some characters have different accents at different times so I have to wait to find out who is speaking. I'm enjoying the book so far, just the narrator is a bit funky.

What I find a little jarring is not that it's a "modern" or "American" accent, but that sometimes it changes mid-paragraph. At one point Yeine will say something and then, halfway through her thought, her accent will change.

But I admit, I've had issues listening to female narrators in the past. I seem to do much better with male narrators.

This is my first incursion ever on the audiobook world. I feared it could be a bit of a challenge since english is not my mother language.
As it was, I was quite lost thru the first chapter, trying to distinguish between words i did not get right, and words created by the author (therefore meaningless at the start of the book).
After 2 hours into the story however, i find out i'm quite found of the female narrator, and the different voices she does for the characters turned out to be a pleasant experience - one i did not have on my regular books.

Thumbs up for the audiobook.

I'm failing to understand why the narrator's sex has anything to do with the quality of the narration.

Basil wrote: "I'm failing to understand why the narrator's sex has anything to do with the quality of the narration."

I didn't intend to imply it did. I have noticed for myself though, that I seem to have a harder time engaging in audio books narrated by females. This book is one, but there have been quite a few others in my Audible account that I've abandoned, most of those are female narrators. One major exception is the woman who does the female roles in the WoT books.

Basil wrote: "I'm failing to understand why the narrator's sex has anything to do with the quality of the narration."

As I said before it's the first time I've had a female be the narrator. I've had male narrators that where very bad too. It could also be the production that didn't try to clear up or go back and reread some bad portions. Either way it's was just my opinion.

The book, I'm enjoying.

The Wheel of Time audio-books are narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, and they do a very good job.

They tend to split the chapters so that he reads the male POV chapters and she reads the female POV chapters, but not always. I don't find that it takes me out of the story at all, though hearing Ms. Reading do Loial's basso is funny.

Considering there are something like 1500 named characters with speaking parts in the series and probably 50 different POVs, it is a big challenge to make the audio-book easy to follow.

That said I don't listen to many books, I listen to too many net-casts, and I read while I listen.

I am having a hard time with the audiobook, not because of the narrator. I like her. I have fallen in love with the boy demon, even though I was thrown off by her accent at first.

My problem is remembering the characters. I think it's a struggle I have in general with invented language in a book. It's hard to remember all the characters just listening. I need a printed cast of characters. I don't think I would have this problem with text.

My original post said nothing about an "African-American accent". In fact, I question whether such a thing exists. Not all black people use what I termed a "street accent", while some white, hispanic, asian, etc. people do.

It's essential to the development and progression of literature for authors to try new and different things. However, not everyone will like something just because it's different or new.

I think this is a matter of preference rather than correctness. I prefer my fantasy characters to not sound like my 17 yr old son when he's feeling particularly hip. I'm not saying anyone accused me of being incorrect, I just wanted to clarify my opinion(which may or may not have been misunderstood).

Hodor :o)

terpkristin wrote: "I have noticed for myself though, that I seem to have a harder time engaging in audio books narrated by females..."

Two of my favorite audio books are narrated by females: True Grit and The Reapers Are the Angels. I found True Grit via Overdrive through my local library, and Reapers is on Audible. Both rock.

I have had some issues with a few of the accents. Particularly with Sieh. The reader does an incredible job with the voices. The characters are distinct and she really does sound like a child when portraying Sieh. However, the accent she chose for Sieh jars me out of the world. It's not that the voice is bad, like I said, she does very good with it, but it feels drastically out of place. As does Yeine when she gets excited. During her conversation with Sieh right after escaping from Nahadoth I keep half expecting her to start the next line with, 'Girlfriend, let me tell you...!" Maybe if the style of the writing lended itself more to that feel, but I don't think it does. The tone the reader uses during the narration and the other 90% of the narrator's dialogue feels much more appropriate. It is disappointing because I like the story a lot and the reader's voice as well.

I am finding the narration ok, but not the greatest. Like Andrew my main issue is with Sieh. I know that Sieh is ment to be a child but to me me seems to sound younger than what I believe he is ment to be. He sounds as if he is 5 or 6 but I believe he is older, correct me if I am wrong but i can't quite remember how old he is ment to be.

I think, Sieh is supposed to be like 8 or 9, so yeah, a couple of years older. But maybe I just made that up in my head and I don't have the book ready to look it up.

I was just thinking about Childhood's End, which I listened to last weekend. In the third section, the reader did a child's voice when reading the children's dialogue. That was pretty awful as well. Maybe the lesson here is that adults shouldn't try to mimic the voice of a child? IMHO, I wish men wouldn't attempt to sound like women and vice versa, either.

Yeah. I am a few hours into the audiobook and I'm just bored.

The narration reminds me of Reading Rainbow, and not in a good way. I don't know why. I think it's the voice for Sieh.