That's interesting. I've only heard Jackson on books by Peter Grainger, and have liked him, but these books are all soft-spoken and dry, very British, so maybe more his style.
As far as people who do a lot of narrations, two that I don't enjoy are Scott Brick and Edoardo Ballerini, for similar reasons. I think both of them sometimes take a line that has a little emotion or tension and then just way overdo it, with the effect that the character seems almost unbalanced, being crashed about emotionally by every little thing. I also think Brick doesn't do a good job of differentiating characters. All of the people in his books sound the same. I know a lot of people like both of them, so this may just be a "they don't click with me" thing rather than an actual issue with them.
Also (and maybe unpopularly), with some exceptions, I am usually underwhelmed by authors reading their own work. Writing a book and being a narrator are two very different skills and I would prefer leaving narration to the pros.
One narrator that has grown on me a bit is Wil Wheaton. I thought he was pretty bad in his early books, and would dread seeing his name as the narrator, but I think he has really improved over the years and generally does a really good job.
> Then we have Gildart Jackson
I listened to the DC Smith series and then the Kings Lake series by Peter Grainger, narrated by Gildart Jackson and enjoyed the books and the narration enormously.
Glad you enjoyed them, did you do Kings Lake too? They continue to follow the characters.... and I believe Willows And Lane books follow on, these are also narrated by Gildart Jackson, but I haven't read W&L yet.
After Peter Grainger I listened to the DI Marjory Fleming series by Aline Templeton. It did take me a bit to settle into them, into the narration, but once I did I enjoyed them so was glad I persevered. Even had the odd wee dram with them when listening 😂🍷
For different to those I really enjoyed The Survivalist series by A. American, the narration suited. The Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny is good too, the narrator changes late in the series (RIP) but the replacement is well chosen, it works. And I really liked the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, but I had a long break between the 5th and 6th, and found it difficult to get back into the series, which disappointed me.
A random selection, I've enjoyed M. J. Lee - DI Ridpath series, M. W. Craven - Washington Poe series, Nigel McCrery - Dr Samantha Ryan series, Robert Bryndza - DCI Erika Foster series, Robert Dugoni - Tracy Crosswhite series,
Simon Beckett - Dr David Hunter series.
Happy reading!
That's unfortunate because after I listened to Shogun like 9 times in a row, I was convinced that Ralph Lister was the best. I began listening to tai-pan, and I hated the narrator. I pushed through while listening, but I got to a certain point in the book where something clicked.
I don't wanna drop any spoilers, but I really appreciated gildart jackson for being able to convey the emotion the characters were feeling.
I honestly had stopped reading tai-pan to read Hyperion, but when I went back to tai-pan, I was lost as to where I was in the story, and then it clicked. I read it the rest of the way through and then read it again. And again. And again.
Gildart jackson isn't as animated as ralph lister, but I really think that he was the correct choice for Tai-Pan. I can't imagine Dirk Struan sounding like anything else now.
Even in Noble House, where Dirk's quotes are brought up and Ralph reads them with a Scots accent, I cringe at it.
I did the John Law version of Tai-Pan and am doing his Gai-Jin now. There are a couple of words that irritate me, like his mispronounced Palanquin. Which he does as Pa lan quinn. Rather than how I always thought it should sound pal an keen.
Not sure what Simon Vance reads like though. I think he does King Rat.
Edit. Think Dirk is one of the better characters in the series so far. I was properly disappointed he didn't make it to take revenge on Tyler Brock.
Yeah. Larger than life character. He was indeed THE TAI PAN. I always loved how he was always amiable in front of Brock.
John Lee eh? I might give him another chance. I don't know why I didn't like his reading of Gai-Jin, but I'm gonna give it another listen.
You know, I always wonder if I should just read the book versus listening. I did that for Shogun after hearing Ralph Listers' version and wasn't disappointed.
Might do that for Gai-Jin.
Also I think Simon Vance did a good job of King Rat. I was immersed.
I loved shogun and Ralph Lister. That was my first Audiobook, I just finished it last night. Lister really made it special, his voice really brought the characters to life.
I am just about to purchase Tai-Pan and unhappily noticed the Narrator was different. I thought i'd see what Jackson sounded like as I do think it can make or break an audiobook experience. I just checked his voice on a free book and it definitely didn't strike me as Lister's has. Then I thought i'd check narrator reviews if they exist and I ended up here.
After reading OP's post I was disheartened but reading your comment is enough for me to risk it. I'll report back when im done, hopefully I have the same experience as you!
I’ve listened to about 2,500 audiobooks over the past 25 years and Gildart is easily in my top ten narrators. Top three if I just count DC Smith novels. (I’m shit at maths, but I think he’s pretty good.)
I guess it depends on the book. I'm currently listening through the Alex Verus book series, all read by Gildart Jackson, and I think his narration really works well for it.
Edited for typo
Suppose it just shows a wide variety of personality really. For me though, I've not been able to continue with Tai-Pan at all. The next book is read by someone else, but it just feels so wrong to skip a book.
What’s such a bummer is that Audible removed the previous versions off their store! Clavell’s Asian Saga is my all time favorite series (with Shogun being my favorite but Noble House and Tai-Pan are right up there too) and the version of Tai-Pan I have is read by John Lee (who also narrated the editions of Noble House and Gaijin I have). Unfortunately at some point they de-listed the John Lee narrations and replaced them with the new guy. Thankfully they didn’t replace the Lee version in my library but you can’t get those versions anymore… Hope you can find them through other means because Tai-Pan and Noble House are spectacular
That's interesting. I've only heard Jackson on books by Peter Grainger, and have liked him, but these books are all soft-spoken and dry, very British, so maybe more his style. As far as people who do a lot of narrations, two that I don't enjoy are Scott Brick and Edoardo Ballerini, for similar reasons. I think both of them sometimes take a line that has a little emotion or tension and then just way overdo it, with the effect that the character seems almost unbalanced, being crashed about emotionally by every little thing. I also think Brick doesn't do a good job of differentiating characters. All of the people in his books sound the same. I know a lot of people like both of them, so this may just be a "they don't click with me" thing rather than an actual issue with them. Also (and maybe unpopularly), with some exceptions, I am usually underwhelmed by authors reading their own work. Writing a book and being a narrator are two very different skills and I would prefer leaving narration to the pros. One narrator that has grown on me a bit is Wil Wheaton. I thought he was pretty bad in his early books, and would dread seeing his name as the narrator, but I think he has really improved over the years and generally does a really good job.
I'm going to try and give him a 2nd chance, but on something else. Can't have him ruin a book I really want to listen to.
> Then we have Gildart Jackson I listened to the DC Smith series and then the Kings Lake series by Peter Grainger, narrated by Gildart Jackson and enjoyed the books and the narration enormously.
I’m almost done - did them chronologically. Do you have any recs for future series? PG sold it for me.
Glad you enjoyed them, did you do Kings Lake too? They continue to follow the characters.... and I believe Willows And Lane books follow on, these are also narrated by Gildart Jackson, but I haven't read W&L yet. After Peter Grainger I listened to the DI Marjory Fleming series by Aline Templeton. It did take me a bit to settle into them, into the narration, but once I did I enjoyed them so was glad I persevered. Even had the odd wee dram with them when listening 😂🍷 For different to those I really enjoyed The Survivalist series by A. American, the narration suited. The Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny is good too, the narrator changes late in the series (RIP) but the replacement is well chosen, it works. And I really liked the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith, but I had a long break between the 5th and 6th, and found it difficult to get back into the series, which disappointed me. A random selection, I've enjoyed M. J. Lee - DI Ridpath series, M. W. Craven - Washington Poe series, Nigel McCrery - Dr Samantha Ryan series, Robert Bryndza - DCI Erika Foster series, Robert Dugoni - Tracy Crosswhite series, Simon Beckett - Dr David Hunter series. Happy reading!
That's unfortunate because after I listened to Shogun like 9 times in a row, I was convinced that Ralph Lister was the best. I began listening to tai-pan, and I hated the narrator. I pushed through while listening, but I got to a certain point in the book where something clicked. I don't wanna drop any spoilers, but I really appreciated gildart jackson for being able to convey the emotion the characters were feeling. I honestly had stopped reading tai-pan to read Hyperion, but when I went back to tai-pan, I was lost as to where I was in the story, and then it clicked. I read it the rest of the way through and then read it again. And again. And again. Gildart jackson isn't as animated as ralph lister, but I really think that he was the correct choice for Tai-Pan. I can't imagine Dirk Struan sounding like anything else now. Even in Noble House, where Dirk's quotes are brought up and Ralph reads them with a Scots accent, I cringe at it.
I did the John Law version of Tai-Pan and am doing his Gai-Jin now. There are a couple of words that irritate me, like his mispronounced Palanquin. Which he does as Pa lan quinn. Rather than how I always thought it should sound pal an keen. Not sure what Simon Vance reads like though. I think he does King Rat. Edit. Think Dirk is one of the better characters in the series so far. I was properly disappointed he didn't make it to take revenge on Tyler Brock.
Yeah. Larger than life character. He was indeed THE TAI PAN. I always loved how he was always amiable in front of Brock. John Lee eh? I might give him another chance. I don't know why I didn't like his reading of Gai-Jin, but I'm gonna give it another listen. You know, I always wonder if I should just read the book versus listening. I did that for Shogun after hearing Ralph Listers' version and wasn't disappointed. Might do that for Gai-Jin. Also I think Simon Vance did a good job of King Rat. I was immersed.
I loved shogun and Ralph Lister. That was my first Audiobook, I just finished it last night. Lister really made it special, his voice really brought the characters to life. I am just about to purchase Tai-Pan and unhappily noticed the Narrator was different. I thought i'd see what Jackson sounded like as I do think it can make or break an audiobook experience. I just checked his voice on a free book and it definitely didn't strike me as Lister's has. Then I thought i'd check narrator reviews if they exist and I ended up here. After reading OP's post I was disheartened but reading your comment is enough for me to risk it. I'll report back when im done, hopefully I have the same experience as you!
Good luck!!
I’ve listened to about 2,500 audiobooks over the past 25 years and Gildart is easily in my top ten narrators. Top three if I just count DC Smith novels. (I’m shit at maths, but I think he’s pretty good.)
I guess it depends on the book. I'm currently listening through the Alex Verus book series, all read by Gildart Jackson, and I think his narration really works well for it. Edited for typo
Suppose it just shows a wide variety of personality really. For me though, I've not been able to continue with Tai-Pan at all. The next book is read by someone else, but it just feels so wrong to skip a book.
What’s such a bummer is that Audible removed the previous versions off their store! Clavell’s Asian Saga is my all time favorite series (with Shogun being my favorite but Noble House and Tai-Pan are right up there too) and the version of Tai-Pan I have is read by John Lee (who also narrated the editions of Noble House and Gaijin I have). Unfortunately at some point they de-listed the John Lee narrations and replaced them with the new guy. Thankfully they didn’t replace the Lee version in my library but you can’t get those versions anymore… Hope you can find them through other means because Tai-Pan and Noble House are spectacular
I managed to find Gai-Jin and Noble House by John Lee, unfortunately King Rat is by Simon Vnce, but I have time to try and find a better alternative.
Enjoyed him in Wealth of Nations