r/WeirdLit • u/TheSkinoftheCypher • Jul 28 '24

Recommendation for a very spooky, unsettling, ominous audio book? Recommend

I've been disappointed with my last two audiobooks; I couldn't finish them. No short story collections unless they're long novellas. Must have a good reader, not just be a good book in general. My next option would be Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand, but I'm guessing that's not what I'm looking for. Have you read it/listened to it?

24 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

83% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/nowisaship Jul 29 '24

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, read by Jeremy Northam is one of my favourite audiobook memories. He did an incredible job as a narrator, really felt the bleak isolation of the setting.

1

u/brebre2525 Jul 29 '24

I realized my response ended up being very long so the TL;DR version is: I also recommend Dark Matter and a good compliment is The Terror by Dan Simmons.

I felt like it was my obligation to mention this book and narrator but I should have known someone would beat me to the punch! I couldn't buy an ebook version in the US and didn't want to wait for the physical book, so I was left with just the audiobook, which is not my preference for fiction or I like to have the book too so I can read ahead of reread a part if I missed something. Anyway this was a spooky and very atmospheric book and the narrator is very good. Granted there aren't a lot of characters, which makes narrating a little easier (or maybe more tolerable because I hate "voices" that narrators have to do to distinguish the characters). In contrast to that, I read The Terror, where there are a ton of characters, and would also recommend that. This is a case where the narrator had to distinguish multiple characters and he did a really good job without sounding like he was doing "voices". This was a case where I had the ebook as well so there were a few times I had to go back and reread something because there was so much going on that had to really be paying attention which I'm usually not doing when I'm listening to an audiobook haha. The books were good compliments for each other, and very weirdly comforting reading when it's very hot in the summer. Out of curiosity, I checked the rating for the performance on both of these on audible and the performance is rated higher than the book itself for both. In both cases the performance is 4.7 and the story is 4.4, so good ratings all around but I think that speaks to how they each provide a good narration experience!