More so than most other genres, fantasy aficionados live and die by the “re-read.” Sure, fans of mysteries, thrillers, horror, chick lit, etc. re-read their favorite books. But how often does an Alex Cross fan read every appearance of the character, chronologically, before reading the newest installment?
Exactly.
However, when anticipating the release of the 14th and final book of a series spanning over 20 years, the only logical course of action for most fantasy fans is to re-read books 1-13 in preparation. Right? I know it isn’t just me…
Fantasy readers prefer to gorge themselves. Like a rapacious horde of geek-Galactus figures, fantasy readers devour books…and they hunger. But by that third, fifth or thirteenth re-read, even the best fantasy series can be a bit…bland. Put another way, steak is great every once and awhile. But if you ate it every day, it would be just another hunk of meat…unless you discovered a NEW AND EXCITING WAY TO EAT STEAK. Audiobooks, if done well, can be that new and exciting way to eat steak. Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Like many of you reading this piece, I’ve read George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire multiple times. The interminable wait between volumes and the seemingly unquenchable desire for as much of Martin’s world as possible, nearly guarantees that I read the series twice per year. Minimum. When the second season of Game of Thrones came to a close last month, I was depressed. I wanted to stay in Westeros. But I was on a bit of a streak with other books, and I didn’t want to sacrifice my broadening horizons for yet another re-read. A quandary, to be sure. But one I soon solved.
Having heard whispers of Roy Dotrice’s world record performance of A Game of Thrones, I obtained a copy of the audiobook, loaded it on my iDevice and…boom, I was hooked. Sure, I’d read the books. Watched the series. Spent way too much time on the requisite websites and message boards. But hearing Dotrice’s nuanced, multi-voiced delivery of this story I know so well was, frankly, a revelation. What was old was new again.
As great as Dotrice’s performance is, however, it was fact that Martin’s words were being read aloud that made the audiobook an excellent substitute for yet another re-read. Individual chapters ranged from 15-20 minutes to nearly an hour or more. I would say that the average chapter took 30-45 minutes to listen to. Personally, I would have read three chapters in the same amount of time. The languid, deliberate delivery prevented the (very natural) inclination to skip words and sentences here and there. The story slowed to a crawl, and I found myself anticipating lines, paragraphs and chapters like I never did when actually re-reading the books. It demanded attention in a way far different than did the printed word.
Furthermore, I can now experience ASOIAF nearly anywhere. Whether commuting to work, at my desk at the office, or doing mundane activities like cutting grass or working out, Westeros is only a pair of headphones away. Have you ever tried operating a lawnmower with your Kindle in one hand? It just doesn’t work. I’ve found audiobooks to be as liberating as they are revelatory.
I’ve tried audiobooks in the past, with novels I had not previously read. It just didn’t work. Lapses in concentration, interruptions, mislabeled mp3’s—it was too easy to miss too much. But a re-read of material that has already been digested provides the perfect opportunity to engage with the material in an entirely new way.
There are a few caveats. Sometimes audiobooks are abridged. Imagine my chagrin when, as a precocious ten-year-old I plunked down some hard earned cash for the cassette version of Dragons of Autumn Twilight only to find that large chunks of the story were missing. Other audiobooks can lack in production quality, which can destroy the illusion of being transported to another world. But careful perusal of what you’re purchasing can prevent such disappointments. Most “major” fantasy releases are getting the full, unabridged treatment these days. Rothfuss, Brett, Guy Gavriel Kay’s latest, and Joe Abercrombie’s books—they’re all available in audiobook format. And the “classics” such as The Wheel of Time, Brook’s Shannara series, Pratchett’s Discworld novels and all of Tolkien’s works are available. All are series that fans read, re-read, and then read again.
In a genre littered with worn out tropes, thousand-page opuses and multi-volume epics, finding new ways to attack the same stories isn’t always easy. But if you were contemplating cracking open that worn Eye of the World paperback to start your WOT re-read before January’s conclusion, you may want to give the audiobook a try instead. You may find, as I did, that what was old is new again.
