Amy's Favorite Audiobook Narrations of 2023

In 2023, I listened to 49 audiobooks. I love listening to audiobooks while I drive, clean, and craft. But most of my book-listening time is during my daily 4-mile walks.

I’ve already posted my Favorite Books of 2023 post which included my FAVORITE AUDIOBOOK NARRATION OF 2023, Emily Woo Zeller’s narration of The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang.  The novel earned a 3-1/2 star rating from me and did not make my Top Ten but Zeller was phenomenal! She had to voice so many characters and each one had their own voice. She was even terrific with male voices! Her repertoire was truly amazing! And her voice acting was perfection. When a character was out of the story for a while and later re-appeared, I knew exactly who they were, even before the story announced their name, based on her voice for that character.

There were a few more audiobook narrations which received A+ ratings from me this year. These novels weren’t necessarily in my Top Ten but I still loved them and the audiobook narration and production were so great they deserve recognition. I’d love to hear more audiobooks from these people!

To get an A+ from me, narrators have to be excellent voice actors, have a large repertoire of voices, and have no glaring sound production issues. I’m listing these audiobooks in the order in which I liked the novels and including the rating I gave each novel as well as my comments about the narration (which all sound very similar, of course!). To read my full review of the books below, click on the titles.

Marin Ireland/Michael Urie narrating Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (5 stars), magical realism. The narrators of my Favorite Book of 2023 were absolutely stellar! Ireland is always awesome and this audiobook was no exception. She displayed terrific vocal acting and a nice variety of voices and accents for different characters. But, oh, Urie was absolutely perfect for the role of Marcellus. I’m quite sure that Urie’s voice acting made me love Marcellus even mor than I would have if I’d read the book. He didn’t have to voice any other characters in this limited role but he completely crushed it.

Jack Garrett narrating Elantris by Brandon Sanderson (4 stars), fantasy. Garrett was fantastic with a large range of voices, particularly very distinct voices for the main characters. He was also a marvelous voice actor! I thought he was perfect for this novel.

Barrie Kreinik narrating Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (4 stars), fiction. Kreinik was spectacular with wonderful voice acting and an astounding vocal repertoire including a ton of accents!

Tim Gerard Reynolds narrating Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan (4 stars), fantasy. Reynolds was absolutely amazing! His vocal repertoire was humongous—each character had his own unique voice! And his voice acting was superb. He was very entertaining.

Christine Lakin narrating The Miniscule Mansion of Myra Malone by Audrey Burges (4 stars), fantasy. Lakin was really terrific with multiple voices for various characters including male voices. Her acting was spot on!