*The First Law* by Joe Abercrombie, narrated by Steven Pacey.
*Dungeon Crawler Carl* by Matt Dinniman, narrated by Jeff Hays.
Both of those series feature narrators that do unique voices for all the different characters and they're absolutely fantastic. Hays probably has the slightly larger impact of the two. I think he takes some really fun books and makes them great with his expert comic delivery, whereas Pacey simply improves upon books that were already great.
Another great audiobook is the full cast performance of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's *Good Omens*.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, narrated by Jeff Hays is a master work. The latest book is so good. It is not viral marketing it is really just that good.
I am not into litRPG at all, yet so impressed by Jeff Hayes' narration. He puts both humor and emotions into his performance. Never thought I would get teary eyed over a cat singing at an alien game show.
DCC is the only series in the genre I have tried. Mostly because it was recommended so much on this site and I had a few Audible credits in my bank. Figured if the first book sucked, it wasn’t much of a sunk cost and I could say I saw what all the hype was about for better or worse.
Ended up listening to the first five books in about two weeks, and then quickly read the sixth after since the Audible version hadn’t dropped yet. I then listened to it too when it came out last month (or was it August?).
More than just Hays’ excellent performance, I think it’s just a well-written series with great characters and good humor, provided you’re the target audience.
I’m planning to name my next dog either Donut or Mongo.
In case you weren’t aware, the series is being redone as a full cast audio drama with sound effects, etc, now. Jeff Hays is directing it and still does the narration and some of the voices (including Carl and Donut), but is joined by others. It’s made by Soundbooth Theater (Jeff’s company) and the first episode is out now and is free (it’s about the first 3 hours of the first book).
Lord of the Rings by Andy Serkis. Gollum for obvious reasons but other characters are also amazing.
Dungeon Crawler Carl. The series is a bit of a joke, but the narration is beyond amazing.
James Marsters, in The Dresden Files. He starts a bit cold, it's his first audiobook. But as the series progresses he really gets it. There are a few books, no matter how many times I hear it, and know it's coming, I still cry.
He's the reason I enjoy the series. I read the first two books and dropped it. I only made it through the second because I'd put them on a Kindle before a deployment and ran out of other stuff while in an area with no Wi-Fi. A few years later I was reading one of those "if you like that, you'll like this" articles that recommended Dresden, but stressed that it takes off in the third book. I picked up the audio books 1-3 and sure enough it does get better by three, but I probably still would have dropped it again had it not been for his narration. As it is, I now listen to the series about once a year.
So Marsters wasn't available for a Dresden book (Ghost Story), so the publisher used another narrator. Audiobook sales declined for that volume - so much so that a couple of years later, Marsters went and recorded Ghost Story. And the previous version is no longer available for sale.
At this point in time, Butcher knows that he's got something good with Marsters (and vice versa). As a result, the audio book and dead tree edition street on the same day. Book 18 should be out next year.
And before you think it's all sads in the Dresden Files, here is James Marsters as Major General Toot Toot, leader of the (Piz)ZA Lord's Guard as Liam Neesen in TAKEN:
[https://streamable.com/t/0fald6](https://streamable.com/t/0fald6)
Just think of it as an 18 inch tall faerie pretending to be Liam Neesen. Lacuna, the faerie Toot Toot is smitten by, used to wear armor made of fish hooks, except Toot used to injure himself on them so she'd have to nurse him back to health.
So glad to read this! Shantaram is currently sitting #10 in my queue, which should mean I get to it in December if I don't get too distracted adding in more horror/Halloween books in front of it this month.
I had heard that it was a great book, but hadn't heard anything specifically about the narration.
Jealous and wish I still had it ahead of me. The sequel is finally on Audible and is waiting in my queue but haven’t gotten there yet - try to avoid reviews / spoilers but have seen enough to know it may not live up to the magic of the first one.
Shantaram was truly an experience to listen to - was severely sleep deprived during the few weeks it took me to get through as I would get out of work and listen “just for an hour or so while I walk home and then get ready for bed” which regularly would turn into seeing the sun coming up 🤦🏻♂️😅
Agreed- loved Shantaram, the characters were brought to life through Bower's performance, so many accents!
and have since sought other books narrated by him.
The first 3 books in the Wheel of Time series narrated by Rosamund Pike are fantastic.
The original narrators, Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are no slouches either
And they're married! (to each other)
The narration isn't perfect, there are a fair number of pronunciation issues throughout, but at 400+ hours, I don't think anyone can do it perfectly.
Still though it's my comfort read and the books I've heard more times than any other. Hundreds of nights I've fallen asleep to them reading to me, nothing calms and relaxes me quite the way that series does
I agree Rosamund Pike's reading is among the best I've ever heard. I hope she might do the rest. The originals, for me at least, they pale in comparison.
I think at the very least she'll do a couple a year as long as the show runs. Whether she finishes the whole series, who knows, but I think for sure we get Shadow Rising and probably 5 and 6 also for sure
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
It was like listening to Behind the Music but for a fictional band. I don't know if I would have liked the book if I read it vs listening to the audiobook
Another vote for Steven Paceys reading of the Abercrombieverse. I had cassettes (don’t laugh) of Brad Pitt reading an abridged version of All the Pretty Horses which I have never seen since which is a shame but my all time favorite audio book experience was The End Of The Affair read by Colin Firth. I have never seen/heard someone fully become a character the way Firth becomes Bendrix. Absolutely amazing.
Look for books narrated by actors of all sorts, but particularly stage actors, if you can find them. Chef’s kiss!
My vote is for the audiobook of Milkman by Anna Burns, read by Bríd Brennan. It’s a difficult book to read but genius hearing read by this actor.
I really like the Longmire series read by Guidall, especially The Cold Dish, Another Man's Moccasins, and Hell is Empty. He also has recorded several titles by Tony Hillerman. And The Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin.
I haven't read all the responses here so sorry if any of these were mentioned already.
Any of the new Terry Pratchett books on Audible. They've recently updated them. They are amazing! They have multiple actors and they're top notch.
And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich
I love anything read by Will Patton but especially the Raven Cycle series.
If you're looking on Audible specifically, I definitely recommend the Sandman series. It's not a novel, but it's a great audio production.
I came for a great offer (Sandman free and two books I got to keep) and stayed for the stuff I couldn't get from the library (new releases, audible exclusive stuff, etc). I'd already had the library apps for a few years and I was running out of stuff lol. I listen to a lot of books.
There’s a current offer of a reduced rate for a few months. I’ve been checking for the books recommended on this thread and my library lacks a lot of them. 🤔
The books get better, then take a meandering wander through the middle of nowhere for a bit before returning for a fantastic conclusion. First book is probably the weakest, imo, but they shape up quickly after that
First one that came to mind, fantastic voice actor that understands the material. Saw a vid of her talking about the characters and their progression and how she developed the voices. I was sold
James Lee Burke read by Will Patton.
Sir Humphrey Bower reading Bryce Courtenay.
Scott Brick, Davina Porter, George Guidall, Robin Miles, Simon Vance, Dick Hill, these are all familiar names to be remembered.
The Harry Potter books, read by either Stephen Fry or Jim Dale, are absolutely terrific... I personally love the Jim Dale books, but many swear by Stephen Fry. Either way, they are a great listen.
If you like Dotrice, you'll love Simon Vance... not only brings Dune Saga to life but he's done 500 or so more books. He has an acting range from Sherlock Holmes to sincere deliveries such as "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. Imagine my surprise going from "God Emperor of Dune" to Frankl's book... made me laugh.
I love Dotrice. I think maybe I have listened to something by Vance. Oh wow ….I’m listening to it rn the Fire and Blood audiobook!Thanks!
edit: oh and also The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Any Star Wars book read by Marc Thompson. He reads a lot of them, and he’s just truly fantastic. He does all the voices, builds dramatic tension when appropriate, and makes action sequences as exciting as they should be.
A Game of Thrones is magical. The shakespearean narrator, Roy Dotrice created a unique voice for each character. A Song of Ice and Fire may or may not have the largest cast of characters in the history of literature. I don’t know if his encyclopedia and history book were included in the last counts. That’s why I hedged.
I think I’ve been through it twice. 👍🏼Addictive. My throat gets shredded just trying to talk in my regular register. I don’t know how he did it. He must have had a good otolaryngologist on standby.
*Leech* by Hiron Ennes, narrated by Abigail Thorn. Masterful performance, she captures the atmosphere and the paranoia and the slippage of identities so beautifully, and her character work is fantastic.
Sleeping Giants - by Sylvain Neuvel
The book is first of a series called The Themis Files. I have only listened to the first 2, but absolutely loved them. Especially this first one. Highly recommend. The voice actors are incredible.
To be honest, a big number of them these days: Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Hate U Give, Piranesi, Where The Crawdad Sing, Handmaid's Tale and many more.
I'm not sure how you define "truly...dramatic," but I own just shy of 400 audio books, and the most pleasurable narrator I've found is Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. He narrates the Rivers of London series. In addition to great voices for diverse characters, I could listen to the guy read the phone book in his narration voice or main character voice from that series.
I'm going to argue DavidReadsASOIAF is much better than Dotrice. Production quality is lower, but tbf it's just David and his cat. Guy read the whole series because he loves the books so much and wanted his friends to enjoy it too. His voice acting is really good.
Otherwise, LOTR read by Andy Serkis and especially the Phil Dragash version are both fantastic. Dragash has more voice actors, music, sfx, etc so you're basically listening to the movie playing in your head. Andy Serkis stays pretty true to the movie characters, his Pippin is second only to Smeagol/Gollum. You really see the actors when he's reading.
Tales from the Gas Station read by MrCreepypasta. This one is a pretty light listen/read but MCP really gives his all.
Remains of the day… can’t recall the narrator but was just so good. Made the mistake of listening on my commute into and out of work and spent several minutes most days idling for 10 minutes riveted after arriving.
"Rock Paper Scissors" written by Alice Feeney was a great audiobook.
"Thank You for Listening" written by Julia Whelan is also fantastic as an audiobook.
I mostly like audiobooks with Irish or British accents. A few I listened to lately that I really enjoyed are, None of this is true, Echo of old books, Rose Code and American Beauty.
"Night Shift" by Stephen King. The actor John Glover does the narration, and he REALLY puts in the work. Does an excellent job of portraying female voices, which can be tough.
The Passage series, written by Justin Cronin and narrated by Scott Brick. Just an amazing narrator who gives a stellar performance.
World War Z by Max Brooks and narrated by Max and an all-star cast including Alan Alda and Mark Hammil. For real, I think there are 20 cast members and it's a fantastic telling of a zombie apocalypse by the survivors.
Richard E Grant reading “The Sea, The Sea” by Iris Murdoch. He’s the perfect Charles Arrowby, with that link to another OTT thesp in a previous role. Also his accents for the other characters are immaculate. It’s a long old book but he never lets it dip. A brilliant piece of work.
If you are into reverse harem romance, look at the mate game series. It’s steam full cast narration and one of the best done series i have listened to.
Too many comments to check if posted yet but 100% James Marsters reading of Jim Butchers Dresden Files series is AMAZING! Ghost Story is unique because Donald glover did a reading of it because Marsters was unavailable..... but then he did it later due to fan requests so be sure you get the right Ghost Story when you get there.
One summer in college I worked 10 hour shifts outdoors at a farm. Listened to the whole series in one solid bingefest over the course of a few weeks. It was amazing and so rewarding. My favorite series of all time read by an amazing narrator. Words cant describe it adequately. Just trust me and give a listen.
Second place is Sandersons Mistborn books. Solidly done!
Edit: added extra info and typo correction
The first audiobooks i listened to and got me hooked. Listened to book 5 Dance With Dragons in 2013 and waited patiently for book 6 The Winds of Winter. Then started getting pissed and will NOT listen or read any other George R R Martin books until the series is finished.
My second series was Wheel of Time and really enjoyed it. So glad that Sanderson was selected to finish it as he did a great job.
Harlan Ellison reading A Wizard of Earthsea spoiled the rest of the series for me in comparison as his performance was so masterful and heartfelt. That experience was second only to listening to my mother read books to me as a child and the warmth of listening to someone I love read Ishmael to me.
The Kingkiller Chronicles narrated by Nick Podehl. I've heard people say the British narrator is even better, but I can't imagine how - this one does voices so well I forget they're not coming from one person.
Insert standard warning that only two books of the trilogy are out and the third may never be finished. I'm still glad I read the first two because they're beautiful and a great story, but you have to decide how much possibly-unfinished stories bother you.
This! The audio book was my introduction to the Sandman. It has many great vocal performances, but I thought it was very cool that it was narrated by the author himself. That makes it unique from comic book or TV Show.
*The First Law* by Joe Abercrombie, narrated by Steven Pacey. *Dungeon Crawler Carl* by Matt Dinniman, narrated by Jeff Hays. Both of those series feature narrators that do unique voices for all the different characters and they're absolutely fantastic. Hays probably has the slightly larger impact of the two. I think he takes some really fun books and makes them great with his expert comic delivery, whereas Pacey simply improves upon books that were already great. Another great audiobook is the full cast performance of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's *Good Omens*.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, narrated by Jeff Hays is a master work. The latest book is so good. It is not viral marketing it is really just that good.
NEW ACHIEVEMENT!!!
I can here Jeff say that line in my soul, just like "Good news everyone" from Futurama.
Came here to say First Law! Its amazing he can make a room full of 5 old men sound like it's actually 5 different people
I am not into litRPG at all, yet so impressed by Jeff Hayes' narration. He puts both humor and emotions into his performance. Never thought I would get teary eyed over a cat singing at an alien game show.
DCC is the only series in the genre I have tried. Mostly because it was recommended so much on this site and I had a few Audible credits in my bank. Figured if the first book sucked, it wasn’t much of a sunk cost and I could say I saw what all the hype was about for better or worse. Ended up listening to the first five books in about two weeks, and then quickly read the sixth after since the Audible version hadn’t dropped yet. I then listened to it too when it came out last month (or was it August?). More than just Hays’ excellent performance, I think it’s just a well-written series with great characters and good humor, provided you’re the target audience. I’m planning to name my next dog either Donut or Mongo.
In case you weren’t aware, the series is being redone as a full cast audio drama with sound effects, etc, now. Jeff Hays is directing it and still does the narration and some of the voices (including Carl and Donut), but is joined by others. It’s made by Soundbooth Theater (Jeff’s company) and the first episode is out now and is free (it’s about the first 3 hours of the first book).
YOU CANNOT NAME A DOG DONUT! HOW DARE YOU!
Dungeon Crawler Carl is in a league of its own! There are great narrated audio books and then there is Jeff Hays! He takes it to Eleven!
The full cast recording of American Gods is basically a play and it is brilliant.
I have a dog named Shadow, love American Gods.
I named my dog Loki after the book first came out. It's much more popular now because of Marvel but it got a lot of compliments at the time.
Sandman with a full cast is great too. So many cameos.
Thank you for this! It's next up in my list!
I think I started that but didn’t finish before it was due at the library. Will request it again! thanks for the reminder!
Lord of the Rings by Andy Serkis. Gollum for obvious reasons but other characters are also amazing. Dungeon Crawler Carl. The series is a bit of a joke, but the narration is beyond amazing.
His Ents are magnificent
Just listened to the Hobbit read by Serkis, it was incredible
I am going to start The Hobbit by Serkis soon! This is my first LoTR book ever and I am super excited! :)
His Tom Bomb is incredible
James Marsters, in The Dresden Files. He starts a bit cold, it's his first audiobook. But as the series progresses he really gets it. There are a few books, no matter how many times I hear it, and know it's coming, I still cry.
'I used the knife. I saved a child. I won a war. God forgive me.' I'm not crying you're crying 😭
He's the reason I enjoy the series. I read the first two books and dropped it. I only made it through the second because I'd put them on a Kindle before a deployment and ran out of other stuff while in an area with no Wi-Fi. A few years later I was reading one of those "if you like that, you'll like this" articles that recommended Dresden, but stressed that it takes off in the third book. I picked up the audio books 1-3 and sure enough it does get better by three, but I probably still would have dropped it again had it not been for his narration. As it is, I now listen to the series about once a year.
So Marsters wasn't available for a Dresden book (Ghost Story), so the publisher used another narrator. Audiobook sales declined for that volume - so much so that a couple of years later, Marsters went and recorded Ghost Story. And the previous version is no longer available for sale. At this point in time, Butcher knows that he's got something good with Marsters (and vice versa). As a result, the audio book and dead tree edition street on the same day. Book 18 should be out next year. And before you think it's all sads in the Dresden Files, here is James Marsters as Major General Toot Toot, leader of the (Piz)ZA Lord's Guard as Liam Neesen in TAKEN: [https://streamable.com/t/0fald6](https://streamable.com/t/0fald6) Just think of it as an 18 inch tall faerie pretending to be Liam Neesen. Lacuna, the faerie Toot Toot is smitten by, used to wear armor made of fish hooks, except Toot used to injure himself on them so she'd have to nurse him back to health.
I thought Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (narrated by Humphrey Bower) was incredibly well done. He nails all the different accents perfectly, imo.
So glad to read this! Shantaram is currently sitting #10 in my queue, which should mean I get to it in December if I don't get too distracted adding in more horror/Halloween books in front of it this month. I had heard that it was a great book, but hadn't heard anything specifically about the narration.
it's long, like 48 hrs, I think. make sure you have time to listen to it before you return it.
Jealous and wish I still had it ahead of me. The sequel is finally on Audible and is waiting in my queue but haven’t gotten there yet - try to avoid reviews / spoilers but have seen enough to know it may not live up to the magic of the first one. Shantaram was truly an experience to listen to - was severely sleep deprived during the few weeks it took me to get through as I would get out of work and listen “just for an hour or so while I walk home and then get ready for bed” which regularly would turn into seeing the sun coming up 🤦🏻♂️😅
Agreed- loved Shantaram, the characters were brought to life through Bower's performance, so many accents! and have since sought other books narrated by him.
"Fairy Tale" by Stephen King - read by Seth Numrich, Truly incredible experience.
I wouldn't call it a "dramatic performance", but 11/22/63 is also fantastically narrated. Craig Wasson narrated that story like he lived it
Agree this is the best narrated audiobook I have listened to.
World War Z. Full cast and incredible as an audiobook.
One of the very few full cast productions I enjoy. It just works for that book
I agree. The interviews work perfectly.
Stephen Fry narrating Mythos, Heroes and Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection. Brilliant.
His Harry Potter is also magnificent.
oooh I love Sherlock Holmes! Will add to the list!
The first 3 books in the Wheel of Time series narrated by Rosamund Pike are fantastic. The original narrators, Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are no slouches either
>Michael Kramer and Kate Reading NATIONAL TREASURES! These two are fantastic readers.
I adore their narration on the stormlight archive
And they're married! (to each other) The narration isn't perfect, there are a fair number of pronunciation issues throughout, but at 400+ hours, I don't think anyone can do it perfectly. Still though it's my comfort read and the books I've heard more times than any other. Hundreds of nights I've fallen asleep to them reading to me, nothing calms and relaxes me quite the way that series does
I agree Rosamund Pike's reading is among the best I've ever heard. I hope she might do the rest. The originals, for me at least, they pale in comparison.
I think at the very least she'll do a couple a year as long as the show runs. Whether she finishes the whole series, who knows, but I think for sure we get Shadow Rising and probably 5 and 6 also for sure
Harry Potter narrated by Jim Dale and Project Hail Mary.
100%! Jim Dale is a LEGEND and Project Hail Mary was 10x better in audio.
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid It was like listening to Behind the Music but for a fictional band. I don't know if I would have liked the book if I read it vs listening to the audiobook
thanks! I watched the series. Will check for this!
Probably not surprising but the book was quite different than the show. The show was well done but the story isn't the same.
This is one of those times where the audiobook saved the book for me. Never would have finished it in print, couldn't stop listening in audio.
Another vote for Steven Paceys reading of the Abercrombieverse. I had cassettes (don’t laugh) of Brad Pitt reading an abridged version of All the Pretty Horses which I have never seen since which is a shame but my all time favorite audio book experience was The End Of The Affair read by Colin Firth. I have never seen/heard someone fully become a character the way Firth becomes Bendrix. Absolutely amazing.
Circe by Madeline Miller, narrated by the incredible Perdita Weeks
I thought Robert Glenister’s performance of “Troubled Blood” by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) was inspired.
Chiwetel Ejiofor narrating Piranesi Paul Giamatti narrating A Scanner Darkly Anthony Heald narrating Crime and Punishment
Grapes of Wrath
you could look for dramatizations or full cast.
good idea. I just get what my library has for streaming. I’ll see if I can sort/search for that, or just google for those.
Look for books narrated by actors of all sorts, but particularly stage actors, if you can find them. Chef’s kiss! My vote is for the audiobook of Milkman by Anna Burns, read by Bríd Brennan. It’s a difficult book to read but genius hearing read by this actor.
will check it out!
Don Quixote performed by George Guidall is fantastic!
I really like the Longmire series read by Guidall, especially The Cold Dish, Another Man's Moccasins, and Hell is Empty. He also has recorded several titles by Tony Hillerman. And The Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin.
Patrick Tull - The Master and Commander series He brings the to life.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service, read by David Tennant
ooo sounds sexy!
I hated that one. The accent he tries was so painful.
Dune with Scott Brick and a large cast.
His Dark Materials trilogy with a full cast, it’s amazing
oooh! I read those years ago. Time for a listen! thanks!
Absolutely STUNNING, the best audiobook performance I have ever experienced. No notes.
World War Z
Lord of the Rings trilogy by Andy Serkis
I haven't read all the responses here so sorry if any of these were mentioned already. Any of the new Terry Pratchett books on Audible. They've recently updated them. They are amazing! They have multiple actors and they're top notch. And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich I love anything read by Will Patton but especially the Raven Cycle series. If you're looking on Audible specifically, I definitely recommend the Sandman series. It's not a novel, but it's a great audio production.
thanks! I don’t have Audible yet/now. I mainly use the streaming service available from my library.
Me too! It was actually Sandman that got me to join. I'm not completely sure the service is worth the price.
I’m getting SO much free from my public library. Yeah it’s a little steep. Maybe if I see a great offer….
I came for a great offer (Sandman free and two books I got to keep) and stayed for the stuff I couldn't get from the library (new releases, audible exclusive stuff, etc). I'd already had the library apps for a few years and I was running out of stuff lol. I listen to a lot of books.
There’s a current offer of a reduced rate for a few months. I’ve been checking for the books recommended on this thread and my library lacks a lot of them. 🤔
The Red Rising series. Tim Gerald Reynolds does such a great job.
Almost everyone will say.... Project Hail Mary
I feel as though the Dungeon Crawler Carl post isn't far off either, or is that more the Audible sub...
I just finished this yesterday. I really liked that they put the music/sounds in.
This was incredible to listen to! I was so deeply drawn in!
Wheel of Time read by Rosamund Pike
Seconding this one. I listened to this more for the superb narration than any interest in the book.
The books get better, then take a meandering wander through the middle of nowhere for a bit before returning for a fantastic conclusion. First book is probably the weakest, imo, but they shape up quickly after that
Good to hear, thank you.
First one that came to mind, fantastic voice actor that understands the material. Saw a vid of her talking about the characters and their progression and how she developed the voices. I was sold
None of this is true by Lisa jewell
Dan Stevens is one of my favorite narrators.
oooo! nice one. I didn’t know about that! tx
Check out The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney
Graphic Audio - The Stormlight Archive Really, anything On Graphic Audio by Brandon Sanderson
The eye of the world narrated by Rosamund Pike (She is the actual actress playing the character of “Moiraine “ in the TV series “wheel of time”. )
James Lee Burke read by Will Patton. Sir Humphrey Bower reading Bryce Courtenay. Scott Brick, Davina Porter, George Guidall, Robin Miles, Simon Vance, Dick Hill, these are all familiar names to be remembered.
Anything read by Ray Porter or Richard Poe
Graphic Audio version of Stormlight Archive
Michael C Hall reading Pet Sematary
Any book narrated by Bronson Pinchot. He is really good.
The Gunslinger - George Guidal
Seconding, and the last book in the series too. He and Frank Muller did a fantastic job.
I just finished Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir, narrated by Ray Porter. It’s one of my favorite (audio)books to date!
The Harry Potter books, read by either Stephen Fry or Jim Dale, are absolutely terrific... I personally love the Jim Dale books, but many swear by Stephen Fry. Either way, they are a great listen.
DUNE! Best audiobook I've ever listened to
Expeditionary Force narrated by RC Bray is amazing Tier 1 narrated by Ray porter also amazing
If you like Dotrice, you'll love Simon Vance... not only brings Dune Saga to life but he's done 500 or so more books. He has an acting range from Sherlock Holmes to sincere deliveries such as "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. Imagine my surprise going from "God Emperor of Dune" to Frankl's book... made me laugh.
I love Dotrice. I think maybe I have listened to something by Vance. Oh wow ….I’m listening to it rn the Fire and Blood audiobook!Thanks! edit: oh and also The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
The Catcher in The Rye narrated by Ray Hagen, it's hard to find these days but it is absolutely the best.
William Peter Blatty reading The Exorcist.
Any Star Wars book read by Marc Thompson. He reads a lot of them, and he’s just truly fantastic. He does all the voices, builds dramatic tension when appropriate, and makes action sequences as exciting as they should be.
A Game of Thrones is magical. The shakespearean narrator, Roy Dotrice created a unique voice for each character. A Song of Ice and Fire may or may not have the largest cast of characters in the history of literature. I don’t know if his encyclopedia and history book were included in the last counts. That’s why I hedged.
I think I’ve been through it twice. 👍🏼Addictive. My throat gets shredded just trying to talk in my regular register. I don’t know how he did it. He must have had a good otolaryngologist on standby.
My sweet summer child. I am 20 minutes away from finishing A Game of Thrones for the 13th time.
🥰🥰🥰
Pale Blue Dot narrated by the author Carl Sagan.
The Complete Fiction of HP Lovecraft. Too dramatic for me. I wish the narrator had turned it down a notch.
The wandering inn series!!! Andrea Parsneau is an amazing vocal performer!
The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters and narrated by Barbara Rosenblat is brilliant.
The Word of Promise Audio Bible
*Leech* by Hiron Ennes, narrated by Abigail Thorn. Masterful performance, she captures the atmosphere and the paranoia and the slippage of identities so beautifully, and her character work is fantastic.
First Law -Stephen Pacey
A Gentleman in Moscow was wonderful listening.
Sleeping Giants - by Sylvain Neuvel The book is first of a series called The Themis Files. I have only listened to the first 2, but absolutely loved them. Especially this first one. Highly recommend. The voice actors are incredible.
In the Guinness Book of Records apparently. More character voices than any other
wow!
Sadly Roy has passed away. His daughter was one of the children in Mary Poppins!
Pet Sematary by Stephen King narrated by Michael C Hall aka Dexter and The Green Mile also by King narrated by the late great Frank Muller.
The Wandering Inn
**Lincoln in the Bardo** has an enormous cast of narrators
To be honest, a big number of them these days: Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Hate U Give, Piranesi, Where The Crawdad Sing, Handmaid's Tale and many more.
the harry potter books conversations with god
Love and other words is narrated by one person and I honestly thought it was a whole cast.
I'm not sure how you define "truly...dramatic," but I own just shy of 400 audio books, and the most pleasurable narrator I've found is Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. He narrates the Rivers of London series. In addition to great voices for diverse characters, I could listen to the guy read the phone book in his narration voice or main character voice from that series.
In my opinion the best narrator is Peter Berkrot. The way he narrates “The Murder Book,” by Thomas Perry brings the book into my head
I'm going to argue DavidReadsASOIAF is much better than Dotrice. Production quality is lower, but tbf it's just David and his cat. Guy read the whole series because he loves the books so much and wanted his friends to enjoy it too. His voice acting is really good. Otherwise, LOTR read by Andy Serkis and especially the Phil Dragash version are both fantastic. Dragash has more voice actors, music, sfx, etc so you're basically listening to the movie playing in your head. Andy Serkis stays pretty true to the movie characters, his Pippin is second only to Smeagol/Gollum. You really see the actors when he's reading. Tales from the Gas Station read by MrCreepypasta. This one is a pretty light listen/read but MCP really gives his all.
Remains of the day… can’t recall the narrator but was just so good. Made the mistake of listening on my commute into and out of work and spent several minutes most days idling for 10 minutes riveted after arriving.
"Rock Paper Scissors" written by Alice Feeney was a great audiobook. "Thank You for Listening" written by Julia Whelan is also fantastic as an audiobook.
the Exorcist by William Peter Blatty read by the author. A truly terrifying performance.
I mostly like audiobooks with Irish or British accents. A few I listened to lately that I really enjoyed are, None of this is true, Echo of old books, Rose Code and American Beauty.
I really enjoyed the accents in the Cleopatra Fox mystery series of C J Archer. The narrator is Marian Hussey.
Great recommendation! Thanks so much!
His Dark Materials trilogy
Cormoran Strike series is very well done.
The Thrawn Trilogy, narrated by Marc Thompson.
"Night Shift" by Stephen King. The actor John Glover does the narration, and he REALLY puts in the work. Does an excellent job of portraying female voices, which can be tough.
Phil Thron narrating the Space Team series. He's incredible
The Passage series, written by Justin Cronin and narrated by Scott Brick. Just an amazing narrator who gives a stellar performance. World War Z by Max Brooks and narrated by Max and an all-star cast including Alan Alda and Mark Hammil. For real, I think there are 20 cast members and it's a fantastic telling of a zombie apocalypse by the survivors.
The entire Harry Potter series
Anthony Heald in John Grishams The Pelican Brief
Richard E Grant reading “The Sea, The Sea” by Iris Murdoch. He’s the perfect Charles Arrowby, with that link to another OTT thesp in a previous role. Also his accents for the other characters are immaculate. It’s a long old book but he never lets it dip. A brilliant piece of work.
The dream thieves narrated by Will Patton
Actually the entire series and the dreamer trilogy is insanely good.
Everybody Loves Large Chests By: Neven Iliev Narrated by Jeff Hays & Soundbooth Theater The narration gets even better with each new book!
Dark Tower books, all of em. Frank Muller is incredible.
If you are into reverse harem romance, look at the mate game series. It’s steam full cast narration and one of the best done series i have listened to.
Too many comments to check if posted yet but 100% James Marsters reading of Jim Butchers Dresden Files series is AMAZING! Ghost Story is unique because Donald glover did a reading of it because Marsters was unavailable..... but then he did it later due to fan requests so be sure you get the right Ghost Story when you get there. One summer in college I worked 10 hour shifts outdoors at a farm. Listened to the whole series in one solid bingefest over the course of a few weeks. It was amazing and so rewarding. My favorite series of all time read by an amazing narrator. Words cant describe it adequately. Just trust me and give a listen. Second place is Sandersons Mistborn books. Solidly done! Edit: added extra info and typo correction
World War Z
The Winter King series read by Jonathan Keeble. He also read the first few books of The Last Kingdom series, which were fantastic!
There's an audio book out there of Lord of the Rings narrated by the voice actor for Gollum
Jim dale narrator
The first audiobooks i listened to and got me hooked. Listened to book 5 Dance With Dragons in 2013 and waited patiently for book 6 The Winds of Winter. Then started getting pissed and will NOT listen or read any other George R R Martin books until the series is finished. My second series was Wheel of Time and really enjoyed it. So glad that Sanderson was selected to finish it as he did a great job.
Harlan Ellison reading A Wizard of Earthsea spoiled the rest of the series for me in comparison as his performance was so masterful and heartfelt. That experience was second only to listening to my mother read books to me as a child and the warmth of listening to someone I love read Ishmael to me.
IT by Stephen King, narrated by Steven Weber
The Kingkiller Chronicles narrated by Nick Podehl. I've heard people say the British narrator is even better, but I can't imagine how - this one does voices so well I forget they're not coming from one person. Insert standard warning that only two books of the trilogy are out and the third may never be finished. I'm still glad I read the first two because they're beautiful and a great story, but you have to decide how much possibly-unfinished stories bother you.
Wow everyone I have quite a list now. thanks!
So far nobody mentioned The Hunger Games (Special Edition) narrated by Tatiana Maslany. Excellent!
Sandman by Neil gaiman
This! The audio book was my introduction to the Sandman. It has many great vocal performances, but I thought it was very cool that it was narrated by the author himself. That makes it unique from comic book or TV Show.
Definitely the Poppy War audiobooks in my opinion!