Top Ten Audiobooks I’ve Listened To
This was actually a pretty tough topic since I’ve been listening to A LOT of audiobooks lately. But I came up with a list I’m happy with.
Here are ten of my favorite audiobooks:
For this list, I’m focusing specifically on books where the narration added to the overall reading experience, not just books that I really loved. (Links go to my reviews. These aren’t listed in any particular order.)
1.The Raven Cycle Series by Maggie Stiefvater, Narrated by Will Patton
Yeah, so I’m cheating a lot in this post by listing series as a single book, but it would be impossible to come up with an interesting top ten list otherwise.
First up is The Raven Cycle Series. Stiefvater’s writing is just utterly gorgeous, and having the books read to me was perfect. I’ll confess that there are parts of this series that are slow when it comes to plot–they meander a bit (though it all comes together beautifully, you have to have patience). Books like this work SO much better for me in audiobook form. Plus, Will Patton is a fantastic narrator!
2. The Goldseer Trilogy by Rae Carson, Narrated by Erin Mallon
Erin Mallon’s lilting country accent carries gives this series the perfect cadence. I could honestly listen to that voice all day. And, again, this is a series that could possibly seem slow in places (especially if you’re looking for a lot of fantastical elements—they’re subtle), so for me, this is an audio win!
3. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, Narrated by Bahni Turpin
This is one of the only books where I specifically went into detail about why I loved the narration. Here’s a little taste of that review:
First off, I just have to start by saying that the audiobook version of this book is amazing! Bahni Turpin is a fantastic narrator, and I absolutely love the accents she uses for the book I have no idea if they are accurate African accents—or if they’re even meant to be, since the book takes place in a fantasy world, not the real world—but they definitely have an African flair to them. I appreciated the differences between Zélie’s more rural sounding accent and the smoother sound of Amari and Inan’s voices (those ultra-rolling r’s are so beautiful to listen to). I almost never had trouble determining whose narration I was listening to, which is hard for a single narrator to manage.
4. Nyxia by Scott Reintgen, Narrated by Sullivan Jones & Dominic Hoffman
This is another book where the narrator’s voices really added to the experience of the book for me. I 100% believed that the narrators embodied the characters, and I felt like the overall story was better for it. I ended up participating in a tour for the second book, so I read the ebook instead of listening, but I think I missed out by doing so. I highly recommend the audio for these!
5. Heartless by Marissa Meyer, Narrated by Rebecca Soler
This was my first experience listening to Rebecca Soler, and I was immediately won over. She is easily my favorite audiobook narrator (and probably the only narrator whose name I can easily come up with off the top of my head). Her myriad of voices for this Alice in Wonderland retelling were spot-on and she made the book SO entertaining. Just thinking about it now, I want to listen again.
6. Daughter of Smoke and Bone Series by Laini Taylor, Narrated by Khristine Hvam
This series took me on a wild ride, and I was so glad to be listening to the lovely Khristine Hvam’s narration while on it. Her accent for Zuzana was especially delightful, and she brought that character to life for me!!
7. On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Narrated by Rebecca Macauley
This book was so bizarre. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have been able to handle it if I’d been reading. It just might have lost me and I would have started skimming until I knew what the heck was going on (which would have been a very bad idea). So I’m incredibly glad that I listened to the audio version and I stuck with it because I ended up LOVING this book! Oh, and Rebecca Macauley has a delightful Australian accent, so there’s that.
8. Momotaro: Xander and the Lost Island of Monsters by Margaret Dilloway, Narrated by Chris Patton
Chris Patton does the best, most authentic kid voice!! He made this story come alive with his spot-on narration. (I will say, though, that he was so perfect at this kid voice that I had a really hard time believing him as an alpha guy character when I listened to the Talon Series by Julie Kagawa. His voice stuck in my head, and I totally recognized it, but in this case, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing).
9. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, Narrated by Rebecca Soler
Well, I’ve already established that this author/narrator combo is like a dream team, right? I wanted to reread the beginning of The Lunar Chronicles when I finally got the final book. Only problem is, I loved the narration so much that I couldn’t bear to switch back to my physical books when I got to Fairest (which is where I’d stopped reading previously). At least I have a pretty collection to show for it. 🙂
10. The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle, Narrated by Colby Minifie
This is another case of pure, unadulterated accent love. Can I just please just listen to Coly Minifie talk forever? Her Irish brogue is beyond gorgeous! And again, this book was a little odd, so the audio book worked well to help keep me focused.
What audiobooks have you loved? I want to know!
Yeah, I could see how the Raven Cycle Series would make a great audiobook.
My Top Ten Tuesday post.
It was fantastic! I’m really glad I “read” the series that way.
Big YES to the Lunar Chronicles and The Accident Season on audio. I tried Children of Blood and Bone but couldn’t get into it .
I’m a sucker for a really good accent, so CoBaB worked really well for me. But if you’re not a big fantasy reader, I can see how that book would be tough for you.
I tend to stick to contemporaries on audio, because I struggle with following a story that is too complex when listening. Though, I am curious to hear how they did The Raven Boys and The Accident Season
I’m the opposite—for some reason complicated (or long) books work BETTER for me via audiobook. I think with a book I might get bored and be tempted to stop reading, but with an audiobook I never stop listening until that particular task is done (driving, laundry, etc). I think I get past the parts I would be tempted to stop reading at more easily. And a slow book somehow doesn’t feel as slow to me when I’m listening to it in spurts. That’s all I can figure. (But, of course, that’s just me.)
This is a great list. I loved The Raven Boys too and I’d also love to do a re-read of The Lunar Chronicles on audio. I think that would be so much fun.
I’m really glad I did my reread that way. I’d listen again!
I also listened to The Raven Boys, Cinder, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone! They were all books I wasn’t sure I’d love at the time, so I’m glad I had the audio around!
I think audiobooks are great for those types of books.
Omg I am absolutely here for British/Irish accents…I absolutely NEED to listen to The Accident Season now?! I loved that book but I’m way overdue for a reread anyway. ?Also I loved Strange the Dreamer on audio, so I’d like to reread the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series via audio someday too eeeep. And the Raven Cycle is FLAWLESS on audio. Love it.
Irish accents are just gorgeous and I would listen to an Irish narrator read a phone book—and I’d probably enjoy it. 🙂
I’ve been meaning to read The Lunar Chronicles for ages and it just hasn’t happened yet. Maybe I should check my library for the audio versions. Sounds like the narrator/narration is awesome!
I definitely recommend the audio for that series! I don’t think you’ll regret it.
Heartless sounds like it would make a great audio book, but I’ve heard there’s lots of baking. I’d get hungry ? I’m going to have to check that one out! Cause I can listen to it and bake cake, AT THE SAME TIME! Audio books amaze me. Why didn’t I try then sooner?
Happy Reading! ❤️
That would be an awesome vlog post—baking while listening to Heartless! 🙂
Thanks for the rec’s! I do want to try audios again in the future – I just haven’t had much luck being able to focus so far.
-Lauren
They don’t work for everyone, I know.
Cinder is the only one on this list I’ve read, and was also on my list! But a few of these were on my TBR. Actually 6 of them were, the others I haven’t heard of.
Great list!
Ash @ JennRenee Read
So many books to read, right?
I really enjoyed Skyward by Brandon Sanderson, also his Steelhart series is good!
I’ve heard great things about both of those!
I feel like The Raven Cycle has to be great in any format because the books are just that good!I haven’t finished an audiobook yet, although I’m going to keep trying. The closest I got was when I was reading The Book Thief. I started reading it as a physical book, but couldn’t get into the writing. So I started listening to the audiobook, which had a fantastic narrator. After a few chapters I was immersed in the story, but since i don’t have much time to read audiobook, since I’m very specific about when and where and how I can listen, I went back to the physical book, starting from the beginning, and finished it. I think I need to make a whole post about my weirdness with audiobooks, because I really do want to use them, but genuinely can’t seem to finish one!
Oh, that’s interesting that the audiobook helped you get into the book but then you ended up going back to reading it. Glad the audio helped you, even if you didn’t end up finishing it.
I love that you listed the narrators. You don’t often see them mentioned!
Yeah, I feel like if we’re going to talk about audiobooks, the narrators should definitely get a big mention. 🙂
I loved The Raven Boys on the audio, too!
It was fantastic!
The Lunar Chronicles is a series that I’d really like to read. I’m definitely going to get round to it this year. I’ll try to remember that they have good narrators and consider them as an audio read! 🙂
Oh, you should definitely read it!
I haven’t listened to an audio book since we moved from Indiana back out west to Nevada 12.5 years ago. But during our drive we listened to a few of The Kingdom Keepers and they were AMAZING! I can’t wait for when my kiddos get to read that series, when they’re older. It was so much fun. 🙂
Wow, 12.5 years is a long time!
Some fab choices here 🙂
I loved the Philip Pullman Dark Materials series and Gaiman’s Neverwhere on audio
I’ve wanted to read both of those. I’ll have to check out the audios.
I love Rebecca Soler! Have you listened to Seafire? She narrates that one as well — so good! She’s part of the reason I flew through The Lunar Chronicles! One of my favorites. Ever. I recently ordered a box set from Book Outlet for $35! Nice, right? I cannot wait for it to arrive, even though I’m obsessed with their audio versions. She also narrated Caraval, although I didn’t like the story as much. Heartless was phenomenal. I cried. Renegades… like you said, there’s just something about the Myer/Soler combo that’s addictive.
I recently discovered she narrates a portion of Sadie (another great book), but I read an ARC for that long before the audio was released. I also have an early copy of Saving Meghan, but I’ve heard she narrates that as well… I’m so torn!
I really loved The Raven Cycle, but haven’t listened t the audio. I’ll definitely have to do that!
Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? ?
I’m pretty sure I put Seafire on my Hoopla favorites because I saw that Soler narrates it (I’ll have to make sure). I saw the Lunar Chronicles box set on Book Outlet, and I was weirdly tempted to buy it even though I already owned the first few books. I realized that made absolutely no sense, though. LOL!
I’ve read several of these as physical books, but they are not the kind I can usually listen to as audiobooks without my mind wandering. Some of my favorite audiobooks include the Between the Lines series by Jodi Picoult and her daughter, I loved Ready Player One and Armada by Ernest Cline – both were narrated by Wil Wheaton, and so many of the romances I listen to, especially some of the Alice Clayton books, and also the Kylie Scott, Samantha Young, and Jay Crownover books.
Lots of people rave about Wil Wheaton as a narrator. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to one of his books–need to do that.
The weird thing about audiobooks is that I only listen to books that I want to read but don’t necessarily have the time to read and wouldn’t prioritise. So I am not really hoping to find good narration – I just want someone to read it to me so I don’t have to read it, if it makes sense?
My best audiobook so far is the harry potter series read by Stephen Fry. Even though I am not enjoying the books, I think Stephen Fry is a wonderful narrator and without him reading it to me I would’ve DNFed. But he actually makes the listening as fun as possible!
Oh, funny! You’re brave to admit your hate for Harry Potter in the book blogging community. LOL!