The Sword and Laser discussion

A topic that has cropped up on the last few group reads is if the material is better to read in audio or print.

I am convinced that Gideon the ninth was better in audiobook. While the light brigade is debatable. Wondering which y'all think is better for time war.

As a reader who does both, albiet harder for me to get print. It could be helpful to hear the opinions from the group before the month is over.

I will be honest I have struggled a bit through the audio only have 40 min left. I drifted off a bit at the beginning before the plot emerges.

I read this in print and had no trouble with the the structure or following along. I didn't really love the book, but holding a light, little book is motivating - you know you aren't far from the end. I never really found myself struggling, so perhaps getting that 'short book motivation' from reading in print really helped.

I read everything in print though, so I have a clear preference - hopefully this was helpful anyway.

I'm a big fan of audiobooks but I generally try to get longer books in audio format because it's better value for an audible credit - and this one is really short! So ebook format it was for me. Also, I enjoyed being able to read it at a slow pace because it's quite dense, with lots of historical references and ornate language. So I'm not sure the audiobook option is a great choice for this pick.

Agreed that the audiobook of Gideon the Ninth was great.

References really fly past when you listen at faster speeds! Ha!

I am listening to TW and the references still are hitting home. At least I've heard a ton of puns :)

So I read this book month's ago and liked it a lot and when it was chosen for this month's pick I decided to try the audio version and in my opinion I like the audiobook better but not by a TON. I think I am one of the very very few that did not like Gideon the Ninth (was just very confused by large cast of characters) but if I can get the audiobook I would try it out. It's very interesting how much of a difference the format of the story, audio vs print can make on your opinion of a novel.

I thought the audio was good but I can’t compare it to the print.

I read the e-book version, so I am curious, did they use different narrators for Red & Blue? If not, did the narrator at least use clearly distinguishable voices? Was it easy to audibly distinguish the letters from the interstitial segments?
I could see it being much more difficult to track what was happening if this was not done well.
I did find myself looking up references and unfamiliar words quite a bit, but the Kindle made that relatively easy.

Aaron wrote: "I read the e-book version, so I am curious, did they use different narrators for Red & Blue? If not, did the narrator at least use clearly distinguishable voices? Was it easy to audibly distinguish..."

There are two narrators, both women, but not terribly different in terms of being distinctive. Which it seems might’ve been part of the point.

Yeah, I'm at the 60% mark and can't really tell them apart. I kinda wonder (view spoiler)[if they might be alternate-Earth versions of each other. (hide spoiler)]

Trike wrote: "Aaron wrote: "I read the e-book version, so I am curious, did they use different narrators for Red & Blue? If not, did the narrator at least use clearly distinguishable voices? Was it easy to audib..."

I totally thought it was one narrator. Ha! There is a clear difference between the interstitial segments & the letters, though.

So, I finished listening to the audiobook last night, and while I did enjoy listening to it, I have a strong feeling that I benefitted from having read it in print (or rather e-ink) the first time. If I had reversed the process I do not think the results would have been quite as positive (still a net positive, but not nearly as optimal). I think this is the first time I have reread a book in the same month (excluding children's books which I sometimes reread in the same bedtime routine), so that has to count for something.

I was able to distinguish the 2 different narrators, but I will grant that they were similar enough that if I was not paying close attention, it was easy to let the two voices blend together and not be able to distinguish who was speaking (or writing) without context.