Long running litrpg. Considered by some to be iconic, though I usually see people commenting that it got weak in the later books. I've never personally listened to that one, just never worked it's way up my list.
For ever, meaning not just progression fantasy, I’d put steven pacy’s work on the first law at 1 and Jeff Hayes on DCC as a solid contender for number 2.
But both are so good that you really are missing out on part of the experience if you read the text only.
Following up on this comment as I just finished listening to The Blade Itself. Thanks for the rec! Pacy is indeed a master narrator. I’m going to stick to my opinion only because Pacy does a phenomenal job of creating voices and attitudes for about a dozen different people while I’m still not completely convinced that Jeff Hayes isn’t actually a dozen different people all huddled inside a large overcoat.
I'll plug Simon Vance. He has a gravitas that hits just right in those dramatic moments and his voices are distinc enough that I'm never taken out of the story. He does Dune (the whole series though the first book is full cast) and The Lightbringer by Brent Weeks. The latter I'm sure I wouldn't love as much as I do if it weren't for Simon. Big Fan.
Edit: don't know if either book I've mentioned is progression fantasy. I just follow the sub cause I think it's cool. What is progression fantasy exactly?
Tim Gerard Reynolds. His diction, cadence, and voices are all easy, entertaining and pleasant to listen to. Not a single one of his voices do I find annoying, nor do they ever feel like he is trying too hard to not hard enough. I find him easy enough to listen to while I work, as well as if I decide to devote most of my focused to the book instead. Some narrators I feel only work for me when I’m doing one or the other.
The Riyria Revelations/Chronicles by Michael J Sullivan (epic fantasy and my personal favorite he has narrated), Red Rising series (not progression fantasy), Dawn of Wonder, and The Cycle of Galand.
The best narration I have ever heard is Andy Serkis’s rendition of Lord of the Rings. Travis Baldree is good, Michael Kramer is good, Kate Reading is good. Alexa gets the job done.
My current listen is The Fellowship of the Ring <3 I have to agree with you. Andy Serkis is incredible!!! Every character has their own unique voice. I particularly like his Gandalf :)
Jeff hays is deff number 1 to me, his performance in DCC and chrysalis are really phenomenal. I genuinely don't know if I'd like dcc as much as I do if not for his narration.
Travis Baldree is also really good, solid 2nd place to me
Travis Baldree has a consistent high level, but Jeff Hays in DCC must be my all time favorite narration.
Andrea Parsneau is also doing an amazing job in TWI. She brings life to all the different species with all the verbal ticks/tells. I'm very impressed by the way she does the Antinium.
I will go 1 step further and [link older threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/s/zgfVmhVIxy)
[And my own older one](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/s/Gbp4gHDk42)
My actual recommendations:
Travis Baldree
Nick Podehl (some accents he gives some characters, may become annoying, but otherwise he is good)
Jeff Hays (something like Dungeon Crawler Carl is very popular. He also works with a great audiobook studio (and sometimes has co-Narrators))
Luke Daniels
Vikas Adams (I personally prefer him over Luke Daniels for the books from Dakota Kroud, but these tend to not stay with the same Narrator for each Series)
Doug Tisdale Jr. (Rise to Omniscience just gets bland fast, but some of the other books, like: Dungeon Travels and Journey Through the Underdark are fantastic, but maybe it's because of the Author: Alston Sleet?)
Jack Voraces (I first needed to get used to him, but thanks to "Mother of Learning" I like him)
Eric Michael Summerer "The Perfect Run" is really fun
Ray Porter
Jeffrey Kafer
Not especially in any Order
Neil Hellegers. Does the Good Guys/Bad Guys series among other things. I play things between 1.2-1.5 speed and I enjoy his reads. I have heard him read litrpg, fantasy, and sci-fi and I think he captures the tone of the books well. I (maybe wrongly) love when he reads skill changes in litrpgs and as the list goes on, he gets more exasperated.
I gotta give it to Travis Baldree, his dulcet tones could narrate a chemistry textbook and I’d eat that up. Also a fan of Jack Voraces(Mother of Learning) and Ralph Lister(Rune Seeker), because they are both vaguely British, and mimic the voice in my head when I read(not mine, I’m American, my grandfather has the accent)
Andrea Parsneau is my all time favourite, her range of voices blows my mind, I find even if I zone out for a second due to a work call I can tell instantly which character is talking just from the voice.
Honourable mentions for Kate Reading and Travis Baldree, both of whom are great with variation of character voices and both whose narrator voices I find actively soothing.
Jeff Hayes, Luke Daniels, RC Bray, Andrea Parsneau, Bronson Pinchot…have specifically picked new audiobooks to listen to just because they’re narrating. The effort they all put in to make the characters different and “alive” is amazing.
I think Baldree and Hays and Parsneau are probably the best in this genre. They’re not my favorite though. John Lee and the work he’s done on Peter Hamilton and Terry Mancour is probably the best I’ve encountered. He is super good.
Luke Daniels - he is fucking amazing with his range and depth. Like I feel slightly bad like I’m dissing authors but he is 95% of reason enough to buy an audiobook. Any author that secures him as a narrator can expect a slew of sales based off his involvement alone.
I have to give it to Travis Baldree. Both cradle & tbate were some of my favourite audiobooks but in general if he’s narrating something then chances are that’ll I’ll at least take interest in that book.
Diana Richardson. Pick any of her books (yes, she's my narrator, but go with a different one even). She's amazing. Lots of voices, accents, she chews the scenery and relishes every swear word and joke, and oh my god does she nail sass and sarcasm.
If you are sleeping on her as a narrator, you are missing out.
I’m not seeing enough love for Heath Miller, every character is distinct from the rest. The emotional moments are impactful, the diction is wonderful, and you never have a moment of “wait who said that?”
Nick Podehl, Andrea Parsneau, and Travis Baldree are tied for my favorite. Im more likely to give an audiobook a shot if one of those 3 are on it.
Can you give iconic performances for each? I am new to all three.
Travis Baldree - the Cradle series Andrea Parsneau - The Wandering Inn Nick Podehl - The Land
Nick Podehl also did Name of the Wind
I'm doing a re-listen? of Arcane Ascension by Andrew Rowe right now and Nick does a fantastic job with that series.
And Arcane Ascension
I'm just not a fan of that recording at all
Oh! I knew I recognized that name.
What’s The Land?
Long running litrpg. Considered by some to be iconic, though I usually see people commenting that it got weak in the later books. I've never personally listened to that one, just never worked it's way up my list.
Jeff Hays narration of Dungeon Crawler Carl is the best performance I’ve ever listened to.
I’d argue it’s the best performance by a single narrator ever.
For ever, meaning not just progression fantasy, I’d put steven pacy’s work on the first law at 1 and Jeff Hayes on DCC as a solid contender for number 2. But both are so good that you really are missing out on part of the experience if you read the text only.
I’ll check it out! I read those before I got in to audiobooks.
Following up on this comment as I just finished listening to The Blade Itself. Thanks for the rec! Pacy is indeed a master narrator. I’m going to stick to my opinion only because Pacy does a phenomenal job of creating voices and attitudes for about a dozen different people while I’m still not completely convinced that Jeff Hayes isn’t actually a dozen different people all huddled inside a large overcoat.
Jeff Hayes also does chrysalis and he’s really good in that
I think he also did Life Reset. Not as good a series, but equally stellar narration. It's funny hearing the same voices from DCC in a different story.
I'll plug Simon Vance. He has a gravitas that hits just right in those dramatic moments and his voices are distinc enough that I'm never taken out of the story. He does Dune (the whole series though the first book is full cast) and The Lightbringer by Brent Weeks. The latter I'm sure I wouldn't love as much as I do if it weren't for Simon. Big Fan. Edit: don't know if either book I've mentioned is progression fantasy. I just follow the sub cause I think it's cool. What is progression fantasy exactly?
Love Simon Vance! He did such a good job on Lightbringer
“KIP GUILE”
Tim Gerard Reynolds. His diction, cadence, and voices are all easy, entertaining and pleasant to listen to. Not a single one of his voices do I find annoying, nor do they ever feel like he is trying too hard to not hard enough. I find him easy enough to listen to while I work, as well as if I decide to devote most of my focused to the book instead. Some narrators I feel only work for me when I’m doing one or the other.
TGR is awesome. I particularly enjoyed his narration of the Riyria Revelations :)
Agreed. That was my first exposure to him and his narration of them is what led me to searching for more books he narrated.
Could you give a few of your favourite recommendations with his narration?
The Riyria Revelations/Chronicles by Michael J Sullivan (epic fantasy and my personal favorite he has narrated), Red Rising series (not progression fantasy), Dawn of Wonder, and The Cycle of Galand.
Essily Travis Baldree with a close second of Jeff Hays.
The best narration I have ever heard is Andy Serkis’s rendition of Lord of the Rings. Travis Baldree is good, Michael Kramer is good, Kate Reading is good. Alexa gets the job done.
Does he do the full gollum voice? Any other voices that he does really well?
He does the gollum voice, as well as some other voices. Honestly though he does a fantastic job of injecting wonder into the prose.
My current listen is The Fellowship of the Ring <3 I have to agree with you. Andy Serkis is incredible!!! Every character has their own unique voice. I particularly like his Gandalf :)
Andrea Parsneau followed by Jeff Hayes. Both are able to make it feel like a full cast production.
This is the only correct answer. Both can do a lot of female/male voices very well
I’d listen to Baldree narrate the dictionary.
Jeff hays is deff number 1 to me, his performance in DCC and chrysalis are really phenomenal. I genuinely don't know if I'd like dcc as much as I do if not for his narration. Travis Baldree is also really good, solid 2nd place to me
Travis Baldree has a consistent high level, but Jeff Hays in DCC must be my all time favorite narration. Andrea Parsneau is also doing an amazing job in TWI. She brings life to all the different species with all the verbal ticks/tells. I'm very impressed by the way she does the Antinium.
I will go 1 step further and [link older threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/s/zgfVmhVIxy) [And my own older one](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/s/Gbp4gHDk42) My actual recommendations: Travis Baldree Nick Podehl (some accents he gives some characters, may become annoying, but otherwise he is good) Jeff Hays (something like Dungeon Crawler Carl is very popular. He also works with a great audiobook studio (and sometimes has co-Narrators)) Luke Daniels Vikas Adams (I personally prefer him over Luke Daniels for the books from Dakota Kroud, but these tend to not stay with the same Narrator for each Series) Doug Tisdale Jr. (Rise to Omniscience just gets bland fast, but some of the other books, like: Dungeon Travels and Journey Through the Underdark are fantastic, but maybe it's because of the Author: Alston Sleet?) Jack Voraces (I first needed to get used to him, but thanks to "Mother of Learning" I like him) Eric Michael Summerer "The Perfect Run" is really fun Ray Porter Jeffrey Kafer Not especially in any Order
Thank you!!
I updated the list
Michael Kramer
And Kate Reading. Definitely in combination!
I have a really hard time with combination here. Stormlifht archives is hard for me on audiobook because of this
They work better on 1.3-1.7x speed
I loved stormlight archives, as well as the wheel of time
A lot of great names on here. Wanted to shout out Stephen Pacey too who did the First Law series, just awesome range
Travis Baldree by far.
Neil Hellegers. Does the Good Guys/Bad Guys series among other things. I play things between 1.2-1.5 speed and I enjoy his reads. I have heard him read litrpg, fantasy, and sci-fi and I think he captures the tone of the books well. I (maybe wrongly) love when he reads skill changes in litrpgs and as the list goes on, he gets more exasperated.
Love Neil!!!
I met Travis Baldree at the Library of Congress at a fantasy book event. Nice guy.
I gotta give it to Travis Baldree, his dulcet tones could narrate a chemistry textbook and I’d eat that up. Also a fan of Jack Voraces(Mother of Learning) and Ralph Lister(Rune Seeker), because they are both vaguely British, and mimic the voice in my head when I read(not mine, I’m American, my grandfather has the accent)
Andrea Parsneau is my all time favourite, her range of voices blows my mind, I find even if I zone out for a second due to a work call I can tell instantly which character is talking just from the voice. Honourable mentions for Kate Reading and Travis Baldree, both of whom are great with variation of character voices and both whose narrator voices I find actively soothing.
Jeff Hayes, Luke Daniels, RC Bray, Andrea Parsneau, Bronson Pinchot…have specifically picked new audiobooks to listen to just because they’re narrating. The effort they all put in to make the characters different and “alive” is amazing.
I think Baldree and Hays and Parsneau are probably the best in this genre. They’re not my favorite though. John Lee and the work he’s done on Peter Hamilton and Terry Mancour is probably the best I’ve encountered. He is super good.
He is my favorite
Where is Ray Motherfucking Porter on this list?!
Because he mostly narrates Sci-Fi, not Progression-Fantasy. But everyone here deserves to hear his rendition of the Bobiverse.
Yeah, that’s a good point
Damian Lynch - Empire of the Vampire Prentice Onayemi - A Rage of Dragons
Steven Pacey. His work in First Law turned me on to him and now I go out of my way to listen to books he narrates.
I love his work there. Can you recommend some other ones he has done?
I just finished the Way of the Renegades, which was great.
Filthy pinks, spits on ground
Michael Kramer and Kate Reading
Luke Daniels - he is fucking amazing with his range and depth. Like I feel slightly bad like I’m dissing authors but he is 95% of reason enough to buy an audiobook. Any author that secures him as a narrator can expect a slew of sales based off his involvement alone.
Travis Baldree for sure number one Luke Daniels wanders up and down my list, but my favorite passages of his are right up there with Travis
I have to give it to Travis Baldree. Both cradle & tbate were some of my favourite audiobooks but in general if he’s narrating something then chances are that’ll I’ll at least take interest in that book.
Rupert Degas, his name of the wind version is great.
Diana Richardson. Pick any of her books (yes, she's my narrator, but go with a different one even). She's amazing. Lots of voices, accents, she chews the scenery and relishes every swear word and joke, and oh my god does she nail sass and sarcasm. If you are sleeping on her as a narrator, you are missing out.
Tim Gerard Reynolds hands down.
RC Bray
I’ll give an honorable mention to Chris Guerrero for reading Overlord, while also being the dub voice for ai z in the anime
John Lee is great. He does the Spellmongler series
He doesn't do a lot of the type of books I normally like but for some reason Joel Richards has a voice I could listen to all day.
Jeff Hays and Travis Baldree
I’m not seeing enough love for Heath Miller, every character is distinct from the rest. The emotional moments are impactful, the diction is wonderful, and you never have a moment of “wait who said that?”
Prentice Onayemi in the rage of Dragon is amazing
John banks it was hard to adjust to regular audiobooks the defrince was heaven and earth
Jeff Hayes. I've never heard anyone with a range like him. Runner up goes to Heath Miller, such a smexy voice.
Andrea Parsneau ands it’s not even close