Book It With Briana

Are audiobooks good or are they just convenient? I have always found it difficult to fully absorb myself into the different stories whenever the narrator doesn’t fit the exact sound that I would read the story with myself.

Sometimes I wonder if my issue with audiobooks is fully on the shoulders of the voice actor or if some part falls onto my brain or on the story they are telling. I have long known that I am a control freak, so I would not be surprised if that extended into how I allow myself to enjoy my longest standing hobby.

There are some books like Lights Out by Navessa Allen or Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver that I feel are enhanced by the narrators chosen to represent the story. I just finished listening to “The Night Prince” (yes I am still struggling to move on) and found that I had complaints about how the story was told, despite how much I loved reading the story myself. With that specific series I didn’t enjoy having multiple voice actors when the female was reading for most of the roles other than the love interests (only one had a different actor in the first book).

The book I am currently listening to is “Of Blades and Wings” by Eliza Raine and I feel as though my experience with the book would be better if I read it myself considering the main narrator sounds AI generated and the male narrator sounds like he is from a 70s talk show. The book has a lot of good reviews on Goodreads but I haven’t been able to find anything to really latch onto as good so far.

Unfortunately, I have decided I can’t DNF the story for the sole fact that I spent my own money to listen to it. I would consider transitioning to a physical copy to read as a way to test whether the story is actually enjoyable, but I have also decided that would be unnecessary given my lack of interest so far. The book had high ratings on Goodreads so I went into the story with high expectations but I should have expected less from yet another magical academy story.

I plan to release a review on some of my overall thoughts with my experience with Of Blades and Wings” as well as The Female by Invi Wright which I just finished last night.

I would love to know what everyone’s opinion on audiobooks are. I know there have been some debate regarding whether it should count as reading or not. I would also love any recommendations on good audiobooks that might be able to help me make up my mind on whether they are inherently good.

As always, thank you for sitting in my thoughts with me. Until next time.