The Sword and Laser discussion

I'm reading this month's pick, Some Desperate Glory, on Audible and I'm really struggling with the narrator. She has a very odd, staccato cadence that really grates on my nerves. I'm having trouble moving forward because I dislike the reading so much. Anyone else having this trouble?

I had the opposite reaction. I think it was Sena Bryer's performance that really pulled me into the story. I really got the feel of Kyr very early. And later her portrayal of other key characters is stellar.

I went back and listened to segments of it again just now to see if I could notice anything I might have mentally glossed over but I couldn't hear anything troubling with the cadence. The rhythm and timing felt right to me even when I tried to look at it critically from the perspective of oral interpretation.

I'm curious if you can discern specific elements that are grating on your nerves? Everyone has different sensory thresholds and particular areas of sensitivity and it makes me wonder if there's something that I'm either not hearing or which lands differently for me.

Scott wrote: "I had the opposite reaction. I think it was Sena Bryer's performance that really pulled me into the story. I really got the feel of Kyr very early. And later her portrayal of other key characters i..."

She has pauses in odd places, particularly when using our central character's voice. Perhaps that's an affectation she has for that character. I find the voices she uses for other characters more natural.

I didn’t have a problem either, though I did spend the first chapter following along in my print edition. Now I go back and forth depending on what else is going on. Granted I mostly listen when I can’t read with my eyes so sometimes “well it’s not ideal but it’s the best that can be done” ends up being “good enough”.

But I’ve found that not all narrators work for me and it sounds like this one doesn’t work well for you. Maybe if you sped it up a smidge? I have to do that with Wil Wheaton because of some of his pauses. Hopefully you can find something that works for you because I’m quite enjoying this book.

The suggestion to speed it up a little strikes me as potentially a good one. I can't think of a better one to offer. Hope you find an approach that lets you access it.

I am really enjoying the narration! she does a really great job with the different character voices, even with the same character, but circumstances changing for that character.

I generally listen at 1.25x speed, sometimes 1.5 .

I had a few problems with the audio and then realised it had more to do with learning to use hearing aids and coping with the poor Bluetooth connectivity.

When I listened with speakers it was good and easy to follow. I felt the voice matched the character.

Thanks all for your insight. Now that I'm further along into it I am certain the narrator's strange cadence in the beginning was an affectation put on for our central character. It begins to smooth out and get more natural as the story goes on. I'm glad I stuck with it. Not sure what made me dislike the main character more in the beginning - her odd speaking cadence or making some kid lap up dirty water off the floor.

Kevin wrote: "Thanks all for your insight. Now that I'm further along into it I am certain the narrator's strange cadence in the beginning was an affectation put on for our central character. It begins to smooth..."

That scene is one of the ones the author mentions adding specifically to make it clear that Kyr is really awful and a bully. Apparently test readers kept trying to make excuses for her. I liked the way she put it. "You aren't supposed to like her. I would be worried if you did." (I think I got that quote right. It stuck in my head.) And it's the one the voice actor did for her audition track that made Emily Tesh think she had nailed it.

Did anyone find the the constant use of 'he said', 'she said' in every dialogue to be annoying? I'm reading the hardcopy and even there I found it distracting. Way worse than an older Scalzi book.

AndrewP wrote: "Did anyone find the the constant use of 'he said', 'she said' in every dialogue to be annoying? I'm reading the hardcopy and even there I found it distracting. Way worse than an older Scalzi book."

I can't say I even noticed one way or another, but that's probably more a me thing. My brain tends to screen out stuff like that unless the text is annoying me for another reason.

Yes, lots of “he/she/they said” early on in the book. Dialogue is not her best but I do think it gets better later in the book.

AndrewP wrote: "Did anyone find the the constant use of 'he said', 'she said' in every dialogue to be annoying? I'm reading the hardcopy and even there I found it distracting. Way worse than an older Scalzi book."

Honestly, I find it better if you over use they/he/she said than not since I can sometimes get lost on whose talking even once I switched over to audio books. Some voice actors just don't have as distinctive voices for each character in a book and some authors aren't as good at distinguishing whose talking at anyone time.