So we’re walking out of the bank, after giving the title company all of our money, and the dude from the title company, who had come to pick the check up, says, “The two days of Texas winter are coming.”
He is right.
Speaking of dark and broody, folks on Facebook fan page are discussing options for a narrator for Hugh’s audio book. If you want to join in the recommendation fun, post link to narrators here, in the comments. Hugh’s reader needs to have range, because Hugh goes from polite and charming to cold killer in half a second. He needs to sound like an adult man in his thirties or forties. Don’t laugh. Some narrators sound too young or too old. Being able to do a female voice would be a big plus.
Since the book is split between male and female point of view, do you like when there are two narrators, a man and a woman, doing separate parts, or would you prefer a single narrator throughout? Inquiring public wants to know.
Update: Guys, Richard Armitage would be prohibitively expensive. We’re looking for audio narrator.
Both!
No suggestions but I love books with multiple narrators (and sometimes sound effects :-)) It feels like I am listening to a radio play.
I prefer a male and female. A male doing a female voice is always weird to me (and vice versa)
For the male Holter Graham is amazing. But I also love Renee Raudman. Would it be possible to have both of them? I like the two voices for audible but they have to both be really good at. I’d rather settle for one really good narrator instead of two crappy ones. Can’t wait for more book! And congrats on the house!
Seconded. I personally like a narrator for each part – Tamora Pierce’s Circle of Magic series was narrated that way – but I think for these books a narrator for Hugh and a narrator for female parts would be better, but only if they are both good. Otherwise one amazing narrator would be just right
Tamora Pierce is friends with Bruce Coville who owns Full Cast Audio. FCA does audio share every character is read by an voice artist. Sadly they only do young adult and children’s books.
I prefer a male if it’s a male/female split POV.
And as always when audio comes up, I’m going to throw out Graphic Audio as yet another way I’d love to consume your work.
I’m afan of both a male and a female narrator providing they’re of equal strength.
I think our winter is probably other people’s fall but we’ve been here long enough that 55 feels cold now and we don’t even raise an eye at people dressed up like Ralfie’s little brother Randy when it gets down to the low 40s.
I’m near Omaha (just outside city limits, so I hope my local area was spared in your universe!) and it’s 35 degrees right now. =)
lol
I’m Canadian. 🙂
LOL
It’s the same in New Orleans. I hate going in buildings, or department stores sometimes because they crank the heat for anything under 60…May be slightly off…but it’s within 10…
P.S. I’ve watched that movie at least 2-3 times a year, every year, since it came out in 1983! 🙂
If it can be done, dual narrators sounds amazing! I don’t know if he does narration work, but Erik Todd Dellums voiced Arcann in swtor, a galaxy-conquering, patricidal/fratricidal emperor who was redeemed (if you didn’t kill him) so he could be worth checking! He has an amazing baritone voice, very rich.
Oh, I forgot to mention, Erik is on Twitter! @eriktodddellums
He *does* have a nice voice. Found some narration clips on you tube.
michael kramer and kate reading they are amazing. know for brandonsanderson and robert jordan books
I love dual narrators with a male and female. As far as narrators go, Macleod Andrews, Keith Szarabajka, and Paul Michael come to mind. I love Holter Graham, but I’m thinking he may sound too young.
James Marsters has an amazing range and each character gets their due. I never minded when listening to him about male or female you got the character every time.
I love James Marsters!
Came here to say this. Not only is he an amazing actor, his voiceover work for the Dresden Files series is fantastic.
He’s my favorite and I like the male narrator for Gabaldon’s Lord John series
I agree with James Marsters. I’d also like to hear Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs).
Oh my god yes – Mike Rowe has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard (doesn’t hurt that he was an opera singer, if I remember correctly).
I love the idea of dual narrators, but in all honesty I don’t have much issue with a man or woman doing both. I’ll buy book and audiobook anyway!
James Marsters! He’s brilliant as Dresden and would be great as Hugh too.
I like it when there are a male and female narrator instead of one person doing all the POVs.
I love when there are two narrators!
Big fat congrats on the new house! I hope it becomes a very special place for you and your family. Winter came to Dallas for a few minutes yesterday. It’s going to be 90 tomorrow. O.o
I like dual narrators, but if you can only have one, Davina Porter is amazing!
Congrats on the house!
My all-time favorite narrator is James Marsters (he read the Dresden files and I adore him).
If the narrator can do a good female voice that doesn’t sound too … forced? … I prefer one narrator. If the male can’t do the female voice well enough, it’s better to have two narrators.
I’m going to have to jump on the Marsters’ bandwagon and his voice fits the age range you want. He does a number of male/female voices seamlessly. Also as I’m sure you know, Harry can be both a goofball and Serious Badass Wizard.
I do enjoy multiple narrators but generally prefer that route when distinct POVs are separated by chapter.
Only one narrator please, and there is no one better than Jim Dale, who did all the Harry Potter books.
I love Tristan James. But I do think two narrators would work best…
Stephen Hoye. Listen to Carl Hiiasen’s “Skinny Dip.” He is amazing at conveying all types of humor and narrating the most out there action sequences. He’s also narrated Orson Scott Card books. Basically my favorite voice actor of all time.
I like MIchael Kramer and Kate Reading, they do the wheel of time and the stormlight archives. I also personally prefer 2 narrators although Renee is just awesome
Two narrators I think. I typically like that better when there are two points of view.
Two narrators, please! It drives me nuts when an otherwise excellent narrator fakes the vocal range of the opposite sex. It’s one thing for a narrator’s voice to sound different then the one you imagined. It’s another thing entirely to hear a man struggle with a falsetto for hours, or a woman struggle to sound deep and macho. It completely ruins the immersive experience.
Thanks for asking, and best wishes on the new house!
Robert Petkoff (who does Kresley Cole’s ‘Immortals after Dark’ series) is awesome. I also like Hilary Huber, Holter Graham and James Marsters (Renee Raudman goes without saying!)
I like two narrators, but all of the above do male/female voices well.
Ohh I second Robert Petkoff! He is amazing!!
I love a male and female narrator but it’s more expensive to produce. I would just say if it’s a male that he doesn’t try to do an overly fake woman and vice versa. To me it’s better if they just sound real. I think of Susan Erickson. She portrays Roarke perfectly in the In Death series.
Susan Erickson is superb, but I think if the majority of the book is from a male POV, it should be a male narrator.
Two narrators would be great.
Does the Hugh book have a release date yet? I must have missed it if it does.
I’d love to have two narrators. But I’m also aware that’s not always possible. So my suggestion would be the actor Jonathon McClain who does narration under the name Tad Branson. He’s narrated a few JA Huss books. He has the full scope to nail Hugh’s character down.
I have no suggestions, but I prefer both as a rule.
Split narrators! Unfortunately, I don’t think male narrators ever can capture a female voice well, and it jars me out of the story.. 🙁
I don’t know a whole lot of voice actors by name, but I think Crispin Freeman would do Hugh justice. He did the voice for Alucard in Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate. Though he might end up voicing Jim in an animated production…
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0293342/
The dude was wrong. It was only 1 day of winter
I like separate narrators if possible, but when a talented narrator can do both effectively ( Renee Raudman, Amy McFadden, Saskia Maarleveld) I’m good on one. I haven’t heard a male narrator do a great job with a female voice – they always end up sounding falsetto to me. But there are many male narrators I haven’t heard, so there may be a ton of great ones out there.
I really liked the guy who narrated Magic Stars. I thought he was great and his Julie was very good, not corny at all.
Yes, he and Rene Raudman.
Scott Brick does fabulous work, and he can do a female voice just fine. http://scottbrick.net/
The guy who narrates the Iron Druid series is probably my favorite male narrator. He does a good job with the female characters too.
Which one? The series has two narrators, one for the US version (Luke Daniels) and one for the Europe version (I can’t stand the Europe version).
I love when Luke Daniels does Oberon – it always makes me giggle madly 😀
2 narrators please
Luke Daniels- he is awesome. He can do a wide range of voices. He does the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne.
I like two narrators more but if you got somebody really good with voices one can be even beter.
On the other hand try listen to something from http://www.graphicaudiointernational.net It is more like moovie
A single narrator that can perform POVs from both genders well is rare. One of the reasons Renee is so effective. I prefer two narrators if they are skilled. If not, it is just distracting. I concur that James Masters would be a great pick to narrate Hugh’s POV. As for the female POVs, if they are known characters, Renee is the logical choice. She is Awesome! If you have new female POVs to the Kateverse, I’d recommend Khristine Hvam or Nicole Poole. Both have good range and character. Congratulations on the new house! I hope you both enjoy turning it into a home.
I’m in upstate NY. I find it interesting that your winter is depicted by a gloomy sky and yet, here, you can have a perfectly sunny day and still get frostbite. It looks pretty, but as soon as you go outside, you realize your error!
Texas is weird.
As I mentioned to you before. I really liked Jay Britton who did Grace Draven”s Master Of Crows. He’s got a lot of range. As far as using male and female. It totally depends on how it is edited. I find it difficult to have to tract all the characters twice if they read the POV parts exactly. If they actually take all the female spoken parts and all the male spoken parts it works well but that’s a lot of edits unless they read together.
Congrats on the new house. When is the move?
Brian Hutchinson. Hands down. He does a excellent job reading the Linesman series. He’s great for men’s voice as well as women’s voice and has an excellent emotional range. If you haven’t heard the Linesman series read by Brian Hutchinson, you’re missing out!
I prefer 2 narrators for dual pov, and I also suggest Holter Graham for one. The other? So many good choices!
James Marsders does an amazing job on the Harry Dresden series, assuming he’s affordable and at all available.
I prefer a single narrator. I don’t mind two for two different perspectives (a la Kramer and Reading in Wheel of Time), but not if they interact.
I like LUKE DANIELS, if he would be available. I was first introduced to him because he read Nora Roberts’ Whisky Beach. Then I followed him to Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Series.
First, I am going to bookmark this thread to seek out books just for the sake of the recommended voice work.
Second, I just recently read a series of books from both a male and female point of view which had both a male and female narrator for the first time. I liked it much more than I thought I would.
Third, I would rather have the male read the entire male POV using female tone and inflection for the female speaking parts and vice versa, instead of some dramatized readings from the public domain with multiple characters voiced by multiple people like reading a script. It feels to me like it is the male’s recollection of events running through his head, and even though he is remembering another person’s voice, it is his thought.
Lastly, mostly I get lost in a good narrator and it helps me to keep characters straight when they have different voices. Sometimes, on my second or greater listening, I realize that the person is so talented with their different characters that I begin to focus on how they are doing it instead of following the story. Tavia Gilbert does this to me.
The only thing that ever jars me totally out of the suspension of disbelief is when a narrator is is using their speech training enunciation skills so exactingly that they sound like a robot. Everyone in the world has an accent- it just depends on where you are from as to whether or not you hear it. Narrators with deep tonal registries can struggle with falsetto female voices but I’ve heard at least one just throw a different accent and a lighter tone as a female voice and it was great- I find differentiating between characters with slightly different accents is so much easier than differentiating between tones. I also find that the accents really bring them to life.
I prefer a single voice. Two voices distract me. A single voice draws the action in my head- literally becomes a narrator of events unseen that allows the mind’s eye to focus on the picture and pick out details in it. Two voice actors usually have me focusing on the interaction between the two which is usually frustrating without video to determine how each reacts to the other.
I’m also going to say Luke Daniels – I know a couple others have brought him up. He’s fantastic – has done a great job with Kevin Hearne’s books. With his range and abilities I think he’d be a perfect fit for this book too!
James Marsters does a wonderful job with the Harry Dresden series. He does women’s voices, different accents, etc. He’d be a faboo choice. 😀
Therese Plummer and Scott Brick
I’d like Roger Wayne for a narrator. He did thw pax arcana books by Elliott James.
While i think he has the range to do the female narration too. I like having separate narrators too.
I prefer 2 narrators male & female. It really throws me when a woman does a man’s voice sand vice versa
I do, too. Male and Female narrators.
Agree!! I really enjoy books where we get the two voices.
Me too/four.
Absolutely. Two narrators. Phil Gigante has range and a deep compelling voice. I really like Renee Raudman from the Kate Daniel series, but I don’t know it that would be distracting or confusing to fans of the Kate audio series.
I would prefer two narrators. I suggest Adrian Paul and Elizabeth Gracen. Both are capable of doing a variety of voices and if you use them as your narrators…you also gain new readers and listeners from their loyal fans.
Highlander for the Win!!!!!!
Sorry, but I think Phil Gigante’s career as a narrator is effectively over.
I laugh at your Texas winter! Signed, Canada
Me too. Signed, New Zealand. ?
Ditto. Signed Used to Live in Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan and now Lives in Maryland, which isn’t south enough to avoid the cold. And the occasional snow. Of course, we had a sprinkling of snow when I lived in Raleigh, NC, too. Still get a laugh from southerners “driving” in snow.
And this is why I moved to a tropical island. It will be a chilly 83 degrees Fahrenheit today.
Ditto from Chicago.
a second ditto from Chicago, puny South-westerners.
Although we’ll pass on your summers, thanks.
I agree even though I live in Fort Worth. I use to live in St. Louis which got a lot colder than Fort Worth. Lived in Tulsa Oklahoma where the windchill got below zero. I shake my head when I see people in heavy winter coats when it’s in the 50s. Me? I’ll wear leggings, a t-shirt, maybe flip flops, but no coat unless the north wind blows a lot. Then it’s just a sweater jacket. For me it’s needs to get into the 30s before I wear a sweater, coat, and scarf.
Separate male and female narrators please!
Yes to this, please 🙂
Thrice yes for two separate narrators! This was so well done in Patricia Briggs’ last Mercy novel. But I don’t have any nominations, sorry!
I think separate male and female narrator; transitions between the two might be tricky (at least in my amateur writing mind), but the story will be conveyed in a much better manner.
#Kate10
I much prefer having male and female narrator’s to do a story rather than just one near raider trying to do both male and female voices.
James Marsters. He does the audiobooks for the Dresden Files series.
I concur. James does a brilliant job with the Dresden Files. His female voices are feminine without trying to umpersonate an actual woman. One narrator please.
OOO I have to go check that out!
Yes! This is a great choice. And he definitely has range
SPIKE does the Dresden files!?! Mind kind of blown.
If Spike (James Marsters) and Ilona Andrews do a collab I will literally die of a fangirling induced stroke.
**Off to listen to Dresden Files**
And, as Jim Butcher points out, he is the highest paid actor in Hollwood at the moment. He does Dresden files as a labor of love, not cuz he’s paid what he’s worth, so if he’s a fan of yours, you may be able to entice him in.
I’m allowed to dream!
I was going to say if they aged him up a little he could even be the book’s cover model, too, but then I realized he’s too slim to play Hugh.
Is there a hughbook? Release date?
After Kate 10, iirc.
No No No, Hugh has to be redeemed before he appears in Kate 10. So before next May, iirc.
I can’t listen to anyone who has narrated your books. I’ve tried but anytime a female voice tries to imitate a male voice it takes me out of the story because it’s too comical. Furthermore, the narrator that does the Kate books butchers the Russian dialogue to the point to where it makes me wonder if she even tried to find examples of decent pronunciations rather than just trying to go at it phonetically. Huge pet peeve.
To the publishing company, just find 2 voice actors, one male and one female. The only person I’ve ever heard pull the male/female characters off is Stephen Fry with the Harry Potter audio books, but I don’t think he is what you’re looking for.
For another POV, i LOVE the narration of the kate daniels series. Have not had any issues when the narration moves between characters.
I only listen to audiobook novels these days and prefer one narrator usually, but only if they do the genders true to voice. I can’t remember a male narrator that truly captured the female voice well. I havent listened to the dresden files so can’t comment on that series.
Agree that the narrarator from the Harry Potter series is great…
Ray Porter, single narrator
I second motion for Ray Porter… he could easily do both roles… but having a female voice narrator could be nice and I’m currently listening to Kate Reading and she’d be great…
Hugh. You mentioned Hugh… cue the fan-girling!
Epic picture selection. Nice job.
Awesome pic. Love it!
Well done, Tara!!!! ?
I much prefer a single narrator; for a bit of variety check out Jay Britan who narrated Master of Crows for Grace Draven.
I loved that guy doing that book that I also love.
I prefer a single narrator. Properly done, it sounds like an ancient bard, telling a tale to a group of travelers enjoying a campfire.
Yes! When properly done! I will buy it either way!
It would depend on the narrator. I don’t know that many narrators but I love Susan Ericksen (Eve Dallas). All of her characters are distinct and she even does great male voices.
It would solely depend on the talent of the narrator whether he would be able to do a credible female voice. If he can’t and it it is feasible it would be better to have two narrators.
Agree re. Susan Erickson.
Personally, I prefer a single narrator. Adore Renee. ?❤️
If you only do a male voice actor then I would suggest Cole Ferguson. I’m listening to him narrate Colleen Callahan’s Night Fury series and he has a wide arrange of accents and does a great job with different female voices.
Mathew Mercer – he is a professional voice actor that’s done a tonne of voices for video games but I know him best for a stream called Critical Role on the Geek & Sundry website. He is the DM for a dungeons and dragons game and the range and depth of different voices he does is amazing. You should definitely check him out!
I am VERY picky about narrators for audio books. I hate having male readers fake female voices and vice versa. I know some people like it, but it sounds juvenile and redundant to me. Especially if the narration is first person POV… I would rather it sound more conversational. If you’re telling someone about an event, most of the time you don’t speak falsetto or deepen your voice or mimic accents unless it’s for a specific reason, you just say, He said this, and the listener knows who said it. Authors do the same, writing so that you can tell who is speaking without actually hearing the different voices.
Though, to be honest, I can give you any number of reasons why I think mimicking fictional voices is unnecessary… but the real reason it grates on my nerves is that’s not how my parents read to us when we were kids.
For a dual POV, two narrators would be nice, actually.
Hi! I’m really excited and sick in bed. I prefer when there’s one narrator. It feels disjointed when a book flips between voices (unless it’s a full cast thing). And I’d like to suggest Luke Daniels. He has an amazing range (he does wonderful dog voices) and I like that he doesn’t have an Uber deep voice. Jeff Hoyt is also a good option. I feel like I’ll be in the minority with preferring only one narrator, but I thought I should still say it and hope it works out well.
(I can’t edit)
To say more about Luke: he’s incredible at conveying lots of emotions in the Iron Druid Chronicles. I think he’d be great at Hugh. Also I feel like it’s fate because the Iron Druid books also take place in a world where all gods exists (and they manifest quite regularly) and are powered by faith.
I recommend Patrick Frederic. Not because he’s my brother, but because he’s really good.
I really like William dufris he does Eric Asher’s books see if you like him
Luke Daniels for the male and Renee Raudman for the female. Luke Daniels is the only reason to go past the first 3 iron Druid chronicles.
My favorite male narrators are Bronson Pinchot, Ray Porter and Oliver Wyman. All three have great range and can play characters from the upper crust to the gritty worker. And monsters too.
Even though the above all do women’s roles acceptably well, I much prefer to have readers of both sexes. I’m always taken slightly out of the story when a man portrays a woman’s voice and vice versa. It just never sounds quite right to me. Just my opinion.
Michael Page, my suggestion for one narrator. He did the Lies of Locke Lamora really well, it’s what got me to consider audiobooks at all. He does an excellent range of voices: accents, genders, and ages, without any of them feeling silly (except intentionally).
I vote for one narrator. I find that two narrators pronounce words differently, and the secondary characters sound completely different which is jarring.
I typically prefer one narrator, but in this case I vote for two. The reason being that I haven’t come across any male narrators in the age group you need that can effectively pull off a female affectation. It can come off sounding nasally or screechy. Not to say that there aren’t any, but most I know of are either too young or too old.
Having 2 narrators with very different voices helps me keep track of who is speaking. I especially like it for books where it is 1 chapter from 1 character’s point of view and then 1 chapter from the next characters point of view. I’ll buy the book either way.
Agreed.
Holter Graham. He has excellent range, does believable women, and is great with accents. I’d do cartwheels down Main Street if Holter narrated one of your books.
Holter Graham is wonderful!
I was going to recommend him, as well. Love his Patricia Briggs readings!
LOVE Holter G so very much for Mercy-verse. And if he narrates as male POV for both my favorite authors—some very extreme fangirl crushing will ensue!!
concur on holter graham, really enjoy his narration, if two narrators. I think Renee Raudman would do great as the female voice. Congrats on the closing. 🙂
Luke Daniels. He narrates Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid books and Marko Kloos’ series as well. Great narrator. Does female voices too, if you want him to do both. Think he’s in Austin for a play right now….
Luke Daniels is amazing and he does good female voices as well
I would say two narrators if you are going from male to female pov
Separate narrators please!
I like one narrator who does both sets of voices well. As I mainly listen in the car, please select a reader with a non-monotone voice with a distinctly different range from road noise. Don’t laugh. Some narrators are not a good fit for road trips.
I’m laughing because what you say is so true! LOL
I prefer one narrator throughout.
Two narrators would be an awesome change. Rene Raudman and the guy who does the Dresden Files would be very cool.
That would be James Marsters and I agree he’d be great.
I like 2 narrators. I can’t wait to hear it!
It’s not relevant – but Japanese voice actors are the best on the planet. I am not a native speaker and my understanding is minimal. But the range, inflections, tones for the best seiyuus are just amazing. If my fantasy world was applicable I would say Junichi Suwabe in a heartbeat *swoons*
Dual narrators if at all possible. I haven’t heard him a lot but Eric Dove comes to mind for some reason.
I prefer the dual narrators. Kevin Hearne’s Plague of Giants has been amazing. Luke Daniels is phenominal and Xe Sands is a new favorite person to listen to. You can listen here:
A-Plague-of-Giants-Audiobook/B074F4NQX5
Good Stuff.
Single narrator please!! Every time I listen to a book with two different voices it takes me out of the story, because they also read for secondary characters, and the difference becomes jarring from one reader to the next. I don’t know if he could pull off the character, but I really liked Bronson Pinchot as a reader. He has a lot of range.
I’ve only heard single narrators, not dual, so I”m voting for a single narrator. Preferably Holter Graham (Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega) or Brian Hutchison (S.K. Dunstall’s Linesman series)
Two narrators would be great!
Definitely two narrators.
Sebastian York has a good range and his female voice impersonations don’t make me cringe, pull at my hair or want to climb walls. I would like the split between male and female voice actor if the book is done that way. Recently I’ve been listening to an author whose books are read by both the male and female depending upon which POV a chapter is written in and found that recording technique enjoyable. I can listen to a female voice actor with good range do male voices without sounding unrealistic. Unfortunately most of the male voice actors I have been hearing while great for male voice range are grading to listen to trying to make female voices. The female characters no matter the strength of personality end up sounding like simpering fools. Renée is of course my favorite for her ability to portray a character’s personality no matter what gender or age.
I recently listened to Wen Spencer’s Wolves of Boston book. Each POV was voiced by a different person. While listening, you never wondered whose POV you were listening to if it had been paused and you were resuming. Sometimes when all POV are read by the same person it can be jarring when it might be a few lines before you remember which POV you are listening to.
I have also heard a few graphic audio books and the cast is amazing, but can also be jarring with sound effects. They are more like old style radio shows, not that I have heard one personally.
Scott Brick is good but I don’t think he would be good for your books. Your books are warm and funny and he is good for dry military spac action. Now R. C. Bray is awesome and does female voices very well. I just finished series Expeditionary force by Craig Alanson and he is amazing. Of course books are amazing and so funny they made me cry. I hope you can get him.
Reading the comments it sounds like the BDH may be split down the middle. Not much of an audio book fan so I don’t have a dog in this race, so to speak, but wishing Ilona, Gordon & their agent well as it sounds like casting this is going to be difficult.
That said, I laughed pretty hard when I listened to a clip of Gigante doing a love scene from one of KMM’s Fever booksyears ago. Perhaps it would have been better if I’d heard more than just that clip… maybe. But I make no guarantees.
However, anyone rooting for him had best let that go. He plead guilty to accosting a child for immoral purposes and child sexually abusive materials in October 2015.
I am ok with 1 voice as long as they can switch between characters seemlessly. Patricia Briggs’ Silence Fallen was done with two voice actors and the switch sort of felt disruptive at times.
Please just stick with Renee Raudman. After nine books of just Lorelei King, I found it very distracting to have George Newbern reading half of the new Mercy Thompson book, Silence Fallen. Even if it is Hugh’s book, Renee is still the voice of Kate’s world (and your other 3).
I can go either way. It really throws me when there are two narrators and they don’t agree. Example: one does a much better accent than the other. Or they don’t agree on the pronunciation of a name. This happened once. I don’t remember the book.
Anyway, sometimes a pairing is great. Sometimes a single narrator feels more fluid to me.
Also, I really love Eric G. Dove, who does J.R. Ward’s audiobooks. Shivers…
Comments on “winter” only, as I have never listened to an audio book. (I can read so much faster than anyone can talk.)
I have lived for a winter in two “colder than Texas” places. Of the two, Oklahoma City is surprisingly chilly, much colder than London. I am all for “not colder than Texas”, thank you. I do not miss snow, ice or sundown before 4PM. (I could watch sunset waiting for my daughter to get out of school.)
If you are happier living where it’s colder, I am glad for you. Please don’t ask me to. I enjoy being a wimp about cold weather. I am perfectly happy with Houston summers in addition.
I’d personally love two narrators. I love Renee’s narration so much for the rest of the characters in your incredible world, and her voices are imprinted into my mind as how the world sounds. 🙂 For a male voice, I really like R. C. Bray, of The Martian, and Victor Bevine.
My vote goes for a single narrator. I agree with others who say the switch in narrators pulls me right out of the story. And I loathe full-cast narrations. (Like, really loathe.)
Lots of good names mentioned here. Some of them I love with certain material, but don’t really see them as Hugh (Luke Daniels, for instance–sorry!). My choices would include James Marsters, Bronson Pinchot (he’s come so far from Balki), Ray Porter, Scott Brick, and maybe MacLeod Andrews.
But I’m sure it will be great whatever route you go. So excited.
James marsters is awesome. Great range in accents and he can do two or three female voices. He narrates the Dresden files. 🙂
But any male voice would be fine as long as they can do at least 3 male and 2 female voices. I hate it when you can’t tell who is talking in a scene.
I only managed some of the first Dresden audiobook – I absolutely HATED it. It sounded like he was drinking a coffee_and_ had dry mouth. Horrific.
James Marsters would definitely do.
As for one narrator or two, the only book I’ve listened to with more than one was Wen Spencer’s ‘Black Wolves of Boston’s with 4 or 5 PVP characters and a narrator for each. I liked it very much.
Like Daniels
Luke Daniels
I would love to see Ian Hawkins do this. He is a newer narrator but has an amazing voice!
I would go with MacLeod or Holter Graham. They both have smooth transitions from male to female voice. So looking forward to Hugh’s book. I know it will brilliant, but not as brilliant as Kate 10. Enjoy the new house!
I agree about Holter Graham. He does an amazing job with Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega series.
Ooh yes. Totally agree with you both! One narrator to rule them all (so to speak).
Was just coming on here to suggest James Marsters or Holter Graham, and found that I’m not alone. 🙂
Holter Graham is my favorite, amazing voice. He would be perfect for your book 🙂
I vote to ask Richard Armitage!!! He has a wonderfull voice! I won’t speak about other traits, because you won’t be able to hear them ?! He is a british actor and I guess you will have just to ask him to do it for fun because we (you and your fans) couldn’t afford him ??! But give it a try!!! You can google him for a lot of narrator and actors examples. For the Ladies I recommend the BBC series of “North and South”, for the men it would be the series “Spooks”. For Tolkien fans it would be “The Hobbit”…. Happy browsing from Inga
I’m pretty sure the answer is obviously James Marsters. Dunno who would be the female narrator
…but I would pay serious money for it to be Sarah Michelle Geller.
…this has gone to a different place from where I started, but I like it. I’m going to go live there.
Yep: James Marsters is awesome with the Harry Dresden files. Stephen Briggs has a great range performing in the Terry Pratchett series as well
I prefer two narrators. I just finished the two released books in the Stormlight archive where they had two narrators and they were great. Previously, the only other book with two was Bujold’s “The Vor Game” and I also enjoyed that.
Is this a different version? My vor game is Grover Gardner only..
Love the Stormlight Archives and both narrators are some of my favorites of all. Love listening to them. ❤️
I prefer two narrators as well
Please, please, please for the love of all that’s holy, not James Marsters!!! I’m sure he is a very nice man, and I loved him in Buffy as Spike, but listening to him narrate is painful.
My vote is for one narrator, and my pick is Holter Graham. My second choice would be for Christian fox, but I’m not sure he does anything outside of erotic novels, so maybe not. I like his voice though.
My female pick would be Lorelei King, because she has more range then any other female narrator (save Renee Raudman) that I’ve come across. My second pick would be for Susan Ericksen. V Olivia
If Susan would do it that could be good (though I think as it is Hugh’s book, a fellow might be better). I got hooked on Susan’s abilities during the In Death series. You know who is speaking and she has a good range.
Two. But make sure that its mentioned on the cover so those who are single voice afficinados can get into the radio play mentality. ?
One narrator, Richard Armitage.
I find his voice repertoire extensive, and he really pulls you into the narrative.
Two, if it’s two peoples point of view, male/female. I had a hard time listening to Beautiful Ashes, I couldn’t tell which character was suppose be talking . It all ran together .
I despise multiple narrators so much I probably would not listen if there were 2. In addition to James Marsters, Holter Graham, & Lorelei King, I suggest Todd McLaren, who does the audio books for S. M. Stirling’s Emberverse series.
If you could get James Marsters, it would be wonderful. He’s Spike from Buffy, and the voice of Harry Dresden. Has a huge vocal range. From the Basso Russian Knight to Harry’s lighter middle American voice. And he can handle an assortment of accents. Does ok on the female voices.
Idris Elba. One narrator would work fine, but two would work as well. Just make sure if it is Kate who is narrating you get someone who has plenty of snark in her voice.
Congratulations on the nominations and for closing on you new unique property!
I’m voting for two narators to represent the female and male pov seperately.
I’m a big fan of Michael Kramer. He has significant range and does women well. He has of course also partnered with Kate Reading on the Wheel of Time and Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. I expect you’ll have a hard time not using Renee again though, if you go with dual narrators. She’s done a great job for you so far. Oliver Wyman has also done very well with the Monster Hunter books by Larry Correia. If you don’t mind the British accent, Tim Gerard Reynolds has done a fantastic job with several series, as has Stephen Briggs. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the above.
2 narrators is best.
Please not Renee Raudman. She has a weird lisp that drove me crazy while listening to Wildfire. If I could have gotten my money back from Audible I would have. She also does a horrible job with male voices, especially Rogan.
Agreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I think you can return to Audible for a credit. It did take me a while to get used to Renee. I thought it more a sibilant S than a lisp but it does take a while. For the finale I chose to read the book.
Agree. I can’t handle her voice or inflection.
CONGRATULATIONS on the title closing!
So stressful, I imagine, but also so wonderful, I bet.
YAYAYAYAY!
Single narrator – double is too jarring
Luke Daniels – does a good job with feminine characters
Congrats on the new house! Lots of good suggestions on narrators. Hugh’s book will be awesome!
Please, please don’t have a male narrator do a woman’s voice. It is almost always cringeworthy. If the book is truly from both perspectives it would be better to have a man & a woman narrate or just a woman narrate. A woman narrator can pull off a male character much better than the other way around.
I have to agree. While I’ve heard female narrators do male voices very well, I’ve yet to hear a male narrator do a convincing female character. Usually is a jarring falsetto. I’m good with one female or 2 narrators.
I think 1 narrator and recommend TOM HIDDLESTONE who would be truly awesome. For some reason, I always imagine Hugh with an English accent so Tom would do a fine job. Plus he can go from polite and charming to cold killer in the blink of an eye – Loki! If you did go with a female narrator as well, then KATE WINSLET would be great, either with or without an American accent.
I don’t mind one POV or two. Both work as long as the narrators have range. As for the narrator….I have no clue. I want to say Sebastian York, b/c his voice is so darn sexy and despite Hugh’s tendencies I find him oddly sexy as well. Still i’m not sure Sebastian has enough range…..so maybe
I’ll just let someone else recommend the male narrator since I don’t like very many male narrators voices…. And if you decide on two narrators, maybe Elisabeth Evans. She narrated the throne of glass series and I loved it.
Or Renee Raudman if she’s not too busy……
Two please. I find I prefer two when the book is written from two points of view.
If it’s a story from two points of view then I definitely prefer two narrators. I don’t listen to many audiobooks because I really don’t like it when guys try to do girly voices and vice versa. It always throws me out of the story!
I’d actually go for a female narrator by the name of Jennifer Ikeda. She is flat out amazing. Accents. Male and female voices pitched to all ages across the spectrum. I’m a huge fan of her voice. She narrated the All Souls Trilogy among others.
Love, love, love Jennifer Ikeda.
Luke Daniels or MacLeod Andrews
What about Phil Gigante. Wow what a voice 🙂
I like Charles Lawrence from the Dark Stranger (IT Lucas) and B J Harrison from the Nocturnal Falls series. Lawrence has a nice rich voice. Harrison pulls off many accents and characters,consistently.
The two best audiobook narrators I have ever heard are Jefferson Mays and Nick Podehl. Please just nobody super cheesy. I’m not a fan of the current narrator.
Definitely one narrator. I’m a huge James Marsters gan as well.
I thought about this longer and think a male voice if it’s a single POV. Scott Brick, Luke Daniels and MacLeod Andrews are all excellent. Andi Arndt is great at snark and would be great as the female voice.
I prefer a single narrator usually. With two, it just seems to double the odds that you’ll get one you don’t like. We are clearly all persnickety about when a voice ‘works’ for us.
Will Patton (the Raven Cycle) pulls off coldly precise, gravelly, furiously raging, and warmly affectionate equally convincingly.
I really like Joe Manganiello’s reading of the Hurog Duology by Patricia Briggs, so much so that I’ve listened to it multiple times.
Luke Daniels would be my choice
Robert Petkoff is my first choice
Luke Daniels is good too
I like it when there is both a male and female narrator.
If going for single I would vote Luke Daniels. He’s done most of the Krewe of Hunters by Heather Graham and does a really good job distinguishing characters. He’s also got a gruff voice, I always think a cowboy who’s seen it all.
If done well, I like two narrators but if done badly it is jarring. I just listened to a book where they had the male and female narrator completely switching so you had two different voices for each character. They should switch narration depending on POV but always do the character voices. I actually can get into full cast if done well, there are some Y&A books (the Immortals series of Tortall books by Tamora Pierce) with full cast that are really fun to listen to (as long as they don’t switch actors between books).
I much prefer a switch in narrators. I like getting a different POV!
James Marsters! He gives awesome voice!!!!
Personally I like having male and female narrators if it’s done right. If the woman does all the female voices and the man does all the male voices I think it works very well (especially if the narrator doesn’t do voices of the opposite sex very well). If, as in some books I’ve listened to, the male and female narrators just trade off every other chapter then it seems pointless to me.
Not sure if he would be a good book narrator but I love listening to shows narrated by Mike Rowe!
I most definitely prefer dual narrators, particularly when POV changes. The female narrator reads the female POV chapters with the male narrator only performing male dialog. Then it’s reversed for the male POV chapters narrated by the male with the female performing female dialogue.
I also think this technique makes the POV shift clearer for the listener, which means less backing up to figured it out.
As for narrator, I agree with others that Luke Daniels is crazy talented, but it would depend on whether he could create the voice you’re looking for since his natural voice is a bit too young for Hugh.
I greatly prefer a single narrator. Lloyd James is the best narrator ever. His narration of The Curse of Chalion is a work of art.
I vote R. C. Bray as narrator. He is best known as the narrator of The Martian. He does male and female voices equally well and is adept at making the character voices unique. If you want to go with two narrators, then Renee Raudman of course.
While I LOVE James Marsters, did anyone think of Steven Weber. I was just listening to him do the Audible for IT. He REALLY nails all the roles, and the female roles do sounds very believable.
Listen to a clip from Richard Armitage in his Robin Hood series:
http://richardarmitageonline.com/robin-hood/RobinHood-TheWitchfinders.mp3
Phil Gigante is awesome. His male and female characters are both good, and as a bonus his lower range gives me the tingles 🙂
One narrator would be nice. I recommend Nicholas Boulton. I first heard him narrate the Laura Kinsale books and he can do all accents. If not him then Richard Armitage is always great.
You may not want Hugh to sound American. He was born French and was raised my a Middle Eastern God-Despot-Wonderful-Freaky Guy.
I think Richard Armitage.
Greg Tremblay is amazing. He has a wide range of work from Non fiction to romance. https://gregtremblay.com/
If it is a male narrator, I would prefer two. I’ve never heard a male narrator do a female that didn’t put me off a little. If they have the range, it would be interesting to experience.
Try Eric Dove. His voice is magnificent
Check out Gabriel Kunda. He has a few national commercials and voice overs some animated characters. The bass in his voice is YUMMY!!!
I prefer one narrator. I find it jarring when the narrator keeps changing.
My experience has been male and female narrators alternating entire chapters/sections. This created two voices for each major character, since each POV included conversation with the other lead, and was disruptive in every instance.
I have to agree. Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo) had a different narrator for each POV change. While it was a good enough book that I still enjoyed it, the change was disruptive.
Out of all my audio books, and I have a fair amount of them, I think I came across one man who managed a female voice that I didn’t hate….but many women can do, and have done both very successfully. At least to my female ear. If a male is picked for Hugh, which might be necessary given the range required, then I would say I prefer a woman for the female part. However there is a huge caveat to that! I don’t like the way two voices are currently being handled for audio books. Not in the one’s I have heard to date. It’s not like a play where each part is distinct. What happens is they read a chapter where the lead is their gender, then read all the parts, male and female. So we end up worse sometimes, where neither gender handles the other genders character well. I can’t get used to still being exposed to a male doing a bad female voice before they switch over. Totally aggravating and hugely disappointing when one has just connected to a character and that characters voice! If it’s possibke to do the book like a play, they go for readers in their respective genders. If not, please find someone truly capable of handling it all. Nothing worse than having a first class book ruined by a bad reader. Whereas a great reader can make a poor book better.
My favorite narrator is Michael Kramer. He is one of the few narrators who actually makes me prefer the audiobook to kindle.
Jim Dale is the best narrator of all time. He does male & female voices and you can not tell the difference.
I believe he won to Grammy’s for doing the Harry Potter series, and he was at one point Guinness World Record for creating the most voices in a book.
Or anyone who does male & female voices…
Bronson Pinchot does amazing work!
You might want to check out Luke Daniels who narrates Kevin hearne’s iron Druid chronicles.
I like Luke Daniels too. Not only does he do a good job with male and female voices, but an outstanding dog as well! LOL
Luke Daniels has a great range! Please pick him because he’s superb
I love 2 narrators for male and female roles since men are usually horrible female voices. It’s interesting that many women narrators do male voices so well that if there is only one narrator, I’d take a women over a man any day
I listen to a lot of audio books and it’s a very, very rare speaker who can do both genders with any kind of believably…. which means your brain keeps trying to adjust. I love it when there are two genders speaking.
For male voice Jeremy Irons or Robert Powell, I could listen to them reading the phone book!
Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Are my all time favorites- they have both done books that made me actually prefer the audio version. They both have incredible range and can do both female and male voices very well.
To me a bad or even mediocre audio narrator can totally sink a book for me. If the book is good enough to keep my interest despite the off putting voice I usually have to switch back to regular reading.
In general I like female narrators who move between male and female voices. But having both a male and female might be a nice change of pace. Heck, we listen (and watch) to the same on TV. Why not audiobooks?
James Marsters. He does the Dresden series. It, George Guidell.
I echo James Marsters.
Third for James Marsters
Big YES vote for James Marsters from me. <3 <3
I liked Macleod Andrews. I thought he did a great job with all the voices in Nora Roberts “inn at Boonesboro” series.
Tom Stechschulte. I remember him from his reading of Christine Feehan’s Ghostwalker Series.
James Marsters would be perfect. He’s done a great job with Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Marsters
I’d love to have both a male and female narrator. Males rarely do female voices well and that can sometimes be distracting, but Hugh has to have a male voice, so both. 🙂
Marc Vietor, who did Nightside series from Simon R. Green, he´s really good.
Alex Wyndham! He successfully distinguishes the characters by accent, pitch as well as tone, to the point where I can easily identify who is speaking. Furthermore, his female characters don’t suffer from falsetto inflections. Here’s a link to some additional details: https://www.audiogals.net/gal-friends/intros-to-narrator-friends/alex-wyndham/
No recommendations on specific narrators, but I have always hated multiple readers doing the different voices. One Narrator with a good range and voice acting abilities is always best, in my opinion
I truly hate multiple readers. Changing from one reader to another is jarring and upsets the continuity. I don’t care whether a book is read by a male or female, as long as it’s read by one person.
Because I am *that* person, I tried compiling the responses on this post so far.
Approximately 84 responses in favor of two narrators – including my preference. 38 for a single, male narrator (if and only if he can do female voices without obnoxious falsetto). 24 for a single, female narrator.
Top choices for male narrator: James Marsters (28 responses), Luke Daniels (20), Holter Graham (16), Macleod Andrews (6), Richard Armitage (6) – including mine, Bonson Pinchot or Ray Porter (4), Michael Kramer or Mike Rowe or Phil Gigante or Robert Petkoff or Scott Brick (3).
Top choices for female narrator: Renee Raudman (13), Susan Eriksen (4), Lorelei King (2).
Top choices for a male/female duo: Michael Kramer and Kate Reading (3), Adrian Paul and Elizabeth Gracen (2), James Marsters and Renee Raudman (2).
I like James Marsters, Holter Graham, Renee Raudman, and Grover Gardner, who has narrated a few of Lois McMaster Bujold’s books.
Wish list of narrators from the responses above: James Marsters; Luke Daniels “The guy who narrated Iron Druid”; Holter Graham ; Renee Raudman; Macleod Andrews; Richard Armitage; Bronson Pinchot; Ray Porter; Michael Kramer; Michael Kramer and Kate Reading; Mike Rowe; Phil Gigante; Robert Petkoff; Scott Brick; Adrian Paul and Elizabeth Gracen; Brian Hutchinson; Eric Dove; Graphic Audio; James Marsters and Renee Raudman; Jay Britton; Jim Dale (Harry Potter book narrator); Lorelei King; Oliver Wyman; R. C. Bray; Sebastian York; Stephen Briggs; Susan Ericksen (Eve Dallas); Susan Erickson; “The guy who narrated Magic Stars”; Amy McFadden ; Andi Arndt; B J Harrison; Charles Lawrence; Cole Ferguson; Craig Alanson ; Crispin Freeman; Davina Porter; Elisabeth Evans; Erik Todd Dellums – rich baritone; Full Cast Audio cast; Hilary Huber; Ian Hawkins; Idris Elba; James Marsters and Sarah Michelle Geller; Jeff Hoyt ; Jefferson Mays; Jennifer Ikeda; Joe Manganiello; Jonathan McClain (Tad Branson); Junichi Suwabe; Kate Reading; KATE WINSLET; Keith Szarabajka; Khristine Hvam; Lloyd James; Luke Daniels and Renee Raudman; Male narrator for Gabaldon’s Lord John; Mathew Mercer; Michael Page; Nick Podehl; Nicole Poole; Patrick Frederic; Paul Michael; Renee Raudman and R.C. Bray; Roger Wayne; Saskia Maarleveld; Stephen Fry; Stephen Hoye; Steven Weber; Tavia Gilbert; Therese Plummer and Scott Brick; Tim Gerard Reynolds; Todd McLaren; TOM HIDDLESTONE; Tristan James; Will Patton; William Dufris; Xe Sands; Nicholas Boulton; Greg Tremblay; Jeremy Irons; Robert Powell; George Guidell; Tom Stechschulte; Marc Vietor; Alex Wyndham
The best male narrator I’ve come across so far is Nick Podel. He has a good range to his voice and he is able to pull off female voices well enough not to jar me out of the book. He has a scratchy sort of voice but I think that would suit Hugh perfectly. I always imagine that Hugh’s voice is rough from years of battlefields and yelling orders.
I have listened to a LOT of audio books and generally prefer one narrator to multiple as the constant change of voice is often very jarring.
Hmmm, how about Richard Epcar or (shooting at the Full Beaver moon) Mike Rowe?
Jim dale who did the Harry Potter books is unbelievable.
Dark? Broody? I think you are looking for Victor Slezak. He’ll draws you into any book regardless of the gender. (My personal favorite of his is Envy)
If you’re doing 2 narrators, then I think the book needs to be written for two narrators. I recently listened to Silence Fallen (Mercy Thompson #10), and while both narrators were very good, the switch between them was awkward every single time.
Jim Dale does a horrible job of narrating Hermione in the US versions of the HP series. Steven Crossley does a fabulous job of narrating multiple female characters in To Say Nothing of the Dog. Robin Miles does such an amazing job with the male & female voices in The Fifth Season that I immediately looked to see what else she’d narrated (and discovered she’s won awards for her audiobook performances, so…).
Wil Wheaton doesn’t do voices at all, but he still narrates well because he doesn’t do BAD voices and doesn’t destroy the meaning of sentences by placing emphasis on the wrong word. I would much rather have a Wheaton-style narrator who doesn’t do voices than a narrator who does voices (even good ones) but doesn’t READ well.
David Benin has an all around voice for both men and women and does not sound young.
I really liked John Sharian when he did Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series.
I’m sure others have mentioned it… but I could see MacLeod Andrews for Hugh… I’m currently listening to his performance of the Sandman Slim series and he manages to get stone cold killer, joking fun & charmingly polite across equally believable (love his Lucifer voice).
Fun fact: He’s co-narrated at least one previous book with Renee 😉
for a male narrator I say James Marsters or Luke Daniels. I tend to prefer one voice in a book
Mark Meadows could very well be your guy. He narrated Mary Jo Putney’s The Rake this year and his narration was fabulous. He covered various characters from young boys, a teenage girl and women and men from all classes. His portrayal of the hero in the novel is particularly delicious. Seriously, check him out he’s new to the scene and has a good strong voice that would do well for Hugh.
Just one narrator – the hopping back and forth is distracting and unsuccessful imo.
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith – I know he’s English, but also he is completely excellent. Easily the best male narrator I’ve heard.
I think Jim Dale will always be my favorite male narrator. I do not like the swap between narrators because when there is dialogue, the male and female narrator’s just sound too different. If they swapped but the male still did male dialogue and female did female dialogue, I think that would work.
Robert Petkoff (From Immortals after Dark series by Kresley Cole). His voice is yummy!!!!!!! And he does both male and female voices so wonderfully.
I have to go with Jennifer Ikeda.
She did an awesome job of the whole All Souls Trilogy written by Deborah Harkness.
Or Susan Ericksen, Luke Daniels, Nick Podehl, Scott Brick.
Bernard Setaro Clark is amazing. He reads Brust’s Taltos series and he is amazing! Humor, to violence and back. Sarcasm a specialty.
Thea Maia, if you like paranormal romance, he also did book 1 in Erin Kellison’s Dragon of Bloodfire series. Only book 1, though. I was disappointed that he didn’t do the other two.
I come from production, and as good as audio book actors are, if someone’s popular for one series, you may not want to pull them into yours (kind of like how tentpole movies use new blood for key roles).
I’d actually suggest looking into some of the talent from video games – maybe Liam O’Brien and his wife Amy Kincaid or Laura Bailey and her husband Travis Willingham? Not sure what their rate is or how packed their schedule, but god knows they do good work.
If you could somehow get Matt Mercer or Liam O’Brien to read for it they would do such a kickass job. They are both prolific voice actors who are on Critical Role. (A show that you should binge watch after the house craziness is down. If you haven’t already. You will NOT regret it.)
I prefer one narrator. Most audio-books out there separate narrators by characters POV and not by who is actually talking. It is distracting if you have two (or more) narrators and they take turns voicing all the characters.
The best female-male narrator team I heard so far is Commodore James and Laura Jennings. You can hear them in M.K. Eidem’s Grim. They take turns with Commodore voicing all the male characters and Laura all the females. It is a great audio experience (even with the environmental sound effects).
As a male narrator Nicholas Boulton is my favourite. He is author Laura Kinsale choice and a very good one.
Are we looking for Hugh to have an accent?
I love Luke Daniels, Gildart Jackson,(he does the Alex Verus series), Jonathan Davis, and Nicholas Boulton. For female narrators, Kate Reading, and Rosalyn Landor are excellent at both male and female voices.
You‘re great!
– Kobna Holbrook-Smith reads the Rivers of London, he’s great. He can do accents, male and female voices.
– Grover Gardner
And I like one narrator, and please not one sounding like a breathless cheerleader -that was what my mind saw when I listened to White Hot.sorry to say so, I know a lot of people like her- but tastes vary, so please don‘t beat me for saying it.
I would love to hear Luke Daniels narrate the male part. I would, also, love to hear a female do the female parts but if not, I believe that Luke Daniels has the range.
I really like George Guidall’s narration of The Golem and the Jinni. He does a variety of voices and accents in that book, including women, and I really enjoyed them all.
Benedict Cumberbatch
…or Tom Hiddleston.
Please? Pretty please?
I liked Bernard Setaro Clark’s narration of Tempted by Fire (Dragons of Bloodfire) by Erin Kellison. He did both men and women in the book and I thought was the best I’ve ever heard for a female character. He expressed the emotions such as uncertainty or nervousness perfectly, and it was possible to tell when he was narrating thoughts and when he was narrating what the character was speaking.
I think he was as good as James Marsters was in his narrations of Jim Butcher’s Dresden series – that’s high praise for me. I bought all of the Dresden series in audiobook.
I really love Greg Tremblay his range is incredible and he does great female voices.
All that are mentioned here are fantastic, but there is one narrator that stands above the rest, Robert Petkoff. If you’ve ever listened to the Immortals After Dark series, he takes an almost flawless series of books and actually makes them better. One voice to do and rule all characters.
I think Greg Tremblay would be a fantastic Hugh. He gas a broad range and his female voices are utterly believable.
Greg Tremblay is great. So is MacLeod Andrews, I’m not sure about his female characters. Nicolas Boulton is divine, but I don’t remember how well his female characters were.
I have been searching out books narrated by Eric Summerer. He is a host on a podcast I listen to and he does audiobooks. I really enjoy his readings of Horror Story’s on the podcast. (These stories are sent in from listeners and usually revolve around some kind of board game misadventure).
Holter Graham is the narrator you want. His female voices are great, he does subtly efficient accents, he does emotion, and he gives important characters distinct voices. (You can check him out in Patricia Briggs’ Alpha & Omega series audiobooks. Excuse me, I think I need to re-listen…)
Nick Podehl who does the narration for Patrick Rothfuss’s audiobooks would be excellent. If you do the two narrator the female narrator could be Lorelei King. That would be my audiobook epic matchup for this century. My second choice for male narrator would be Joe Manganiello. He would have to have a female to narrate the female parts to work with him.
Where you are splitting the point of view between a male and female character, I would prefer two narrators. Sorry, very few narrators are convincing when they change from male to female (or vice versa!).
I love Holter Graham, but his voice will always make me think of Charles from Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega series. Lorelei King will forever be Stephanie Plum to me and Renee Raudman is Kate. I think that’s an issue for any really popular series.
I don’t mind the switching voices or having a single reader, as long as they read well and have a voice that isn’t grating. I like YA books, but I can’t listen to the audio versions of very many because the narrators tend to have a fake-child voice. It’s really annoying.
Luke Daniels: he does the iron druid series and is brilliant and can also read as female or a dog, or a female dog. How’s that for range?!
James Marsters aka The actor who played Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he does audio books as well, he did Jim Butchers Dresden Files and is excellent and has the range you need i think.