Love Discworld but not the narrator

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would vastly prefer an unabridged version of this book read by Nigel Planer or Stephen Briggs.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Celia Imrie?

As stated; a version read by Nigel Planer or Stephen Briggs.

Any additional comments?

Mrs Imrie's voice does not agree with me at and actually ruined the listening experience for me. Although she really has a very nice voice I found her interpretation of most of the important characters ridiculous and irrating. One of my, normally favourite characters, Nanny Ogg now sounds like a stuttering, retarded drunk and the Duchess and Duke are sometimes very hard to understand. I am an avid TP fan and read (and re-read) all of his books. Also, I thoroughly enjoy listening to the audio versions of the books. They simply never tire. But this one, will remain on the shelf for a very long time, before I feel inclined to listen to it again. I would definitely buy an unabridged version read by Nigel or Stephen. Mrs Imrie's voice, I think, is better suited for a different kind of audiobook.

9 people found this helpful

Happy I gave it a chance, despite other reviews

I was a little worried after reading the other reviews here on Audible that found fault with the dramatization provided by the narrator and also one review that found fault with the audio quality itself. I am glad that I am a completist and gave it a try anyway. If you are familiar with the other witch-centric books narrated by Celia Imrie, you will not be surprised by the style of dramatization here. I found that it gave life to the book and greatly prefer this to a flat reading. The audio quality was just fine, too, with no static or background noises that I noticed. I am sad that some people might pass over listening to this book, based on the negative reviews here, since I think this is one of the best Discworld novels so far in the series in terms of plot and characters.

6 people found this helpful

Great Story but narrator not great

What did you love best about Wyrd Sisters?

A very original parody of Macbeth.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Celia Imrie?

Steven Briggs without a doubt.

Any additional comments?

Celia Imrie's male characters all sound about ten years old. Some of her character's voices are hard to understand because she tries to change the characteristics of her voice instead of using different accents. Her style of reading is better suited to children's books.

5 people found this helpful

Noooo!

I am one of Terry’s biggest fans and love his audio books but can’t listen to this narrator a minute longer! Could only manage to listen to two hours max! It gets more annoying with every word she speaks! Hate to criticize narrators but she ruined this completely!!!

3 people found this helpful

Glitchy

Love the book, love the performance, but I’m finding huge chunks of the book being repeated (I checked it wasn’t my phone or the app, the recording was still progressing with the time showing to indicated it hadn’t accidentally jumped back).

Very frustrating to find the spot to recommence without having to relisten to the whole thing!

3 people found this helpful

Great book, well read, catastrophic editing

Large portions of the book are repeated several times in what can only be a major editing mistake. Thought I was having deja vu, or if it was some sort of story-telling move. Really incredible this hasn't been fixed.
Otherwise, the voice-actor does a good job, nice with a female voice in a Prachett book. Audio quality is spotty at times. Book is typical Pratchett quality, which is great.

3 people found this helpful

This narrator has a good grip on Pratchett!

While others found the dramatisation of the narrator a bit over the top, I enjoyed it immensely. I was disappointed the rest of the witches series has not been narrated by Celia Imrie. The voices and very hard to verbalise phrases and humour were nicely balanced.

As for the story - if you're a Pratchett fan, you will love it. If you're not, you probably will be once you've listened to this story.

2 people found this helpful

Fine story. Terrible narrator.

I'm a big fan of Terry Pratchett audiobooks - I think I have almost all of them from Audible now. But to be honest, I couldn't even finish this one. Celie Imrie is a fine actor, but I don't think she understands that the Discworld books are supposed to be funny, lighthearted and a little absurdist, even when they're dealing with 'darker' themes. She reads this as though it's a highly serious, somber, and utterly without humour. I never thought I'd say this about a Discworld novel, but listening to this was kind of depressing.

5 people found this helpful

Great story and narrator. Glitchy sound file.

Unfortunately the sound file was in one chunk, so it was hard to search through. There are two occasions where clips from earlier in the book appear out of nowhere.

1 person found this helpful

Truly awful audio book

Where does Wyrd Sisters rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

At the bottom of my list of audio books.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Wyrd Sisters?

none. This audio version was really terrible. I like the actor who is doing the narration but she knows nothing about the book or the characters or should would have never used the voices she did for the main people.

Would you be willing to try another one of Celia Imrie’s performances?

Never

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yeah. I was really sorry I bought the book and turned it off after 15 minutes. I hoped it would get better but it didn't.

Any additional comments?

Nigel Planer does a better job narrating the 'witches' than this woman or the woman who did the shortened version of this book. Read the book don't bother with the audio book.

1 person found this helpful