Audiobooks with full cast or single narrator?

[Karen]

Great question! I'm not sure why, but my favorite audiobooks are those where a single narrator reads multiple dissimilar character voices.

Some particular favorites have been The Martian (which I'm currently listening to) and the Vish Puri series The Case of the Missing Servant: Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator.

[Karen]

Yes, that would break up the pacing of the story.

I wonder if that's why I prefer a single narrator -- the pacing remains the same (since it's the same speaker).

[Beatriz]

I've listened to several unabridged audiobooks with a full cast and I have enjoyed them all very much (The Anne of Green Gables series, Little Women, The Little Princess in Librivox are all really good). For me, the way they combine the voice of the characters and the narrator is well done.
When it comes to a single narrator, I really enjoy when they make the voices or changes in the tone of voice depending on the character. That makes the story more interesting for me. For example, 2 books from Cornelia Funke: Inkheart (narrated by Lynn Redgrave) and Inkspell (narrated by Brendan Fraser) are a lot of fun. They both make all the voices for all the characters!

[Clístenes]

Share of your opinion, Miss Cullyn.

[Gary]

As a narrator, I enjoy doing voices for various characters. As I listen to the conversations in the world around, I think how dull it would be if we all had the same voice. There is so much variety out there: slow, fast, high-pitch, low-pitch, monotone, loud, timid, quiet, etc.

As I think back to the actors we had years ago, there was amazing variety. I have to wonder if agents years ago, keyed in on the voices. We were in a transition from radio programming to movies with sound and eventually television. Think of names such as Jimmy Durante, Phil Silvers, Billy De Wolfe, June Foray, Ernest Borgnine. It seems the voices of today in movies and television are more middle-stream.

[Audiothing]

I've been thinking about this! I listen to a lot of audio books, I prefer the single narrator, the story teller, but they have to be good or it ruins everything.
To me a full cast is more like listening to a play, a theatrical production