I’ve missed several months of doing these, so this should catch everything up. Mostly. Hope I didn’t miss anything.
Magician’s Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, Enchanter’s Endgame
Author: David Eddings
Narrator: Cameron Beierle
I will be honest. When I started this series, I wasn’t too fond of this narrator. To me, the accents and voices he used for the different characters were a bit all over the place and some of his pronunciations really got on my nerves. I will say that by the time we got mid-series, things got a lot better. The voices were more clear, the names and locations more distinct. By the end, I was really enjoying it. Plus, it was nice to have one narrator for the whole series, which I have since learned is not always the case.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Narrator: Mae Whitman
I really enjoyed the first book in the Mortal Instruments series. I’m assuming that this Mae Whitman is the same as the actress? I couldn’t find anything to the contrary. She did a really good job with this and gave Clary just the right amount of vulnerability. You don’t want Clary to seem weak, but at the same time, she is completely thrown out of her simple, normal world. Whitman hits the perfect balance for this.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
City of Ashes and City of Glass
Author: Cassandra Clare
Narrator: Natalie Moore
For the second and third books, we have a new narrator. At first, it was a little jarring. I had been used to Whitman’s performance and really liked it, but I have to say that I really liked Moore’s performance even better. She gave Clary a bit more maturity, which worked really well since she is starting to find her way a bit better in the world of the Shadowhunters. To me, it worked really, really well. I think Moore is my favorite of the Mortal Instruments narrators so far.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
City of Fallen Angels
Author: Cassandra Clare
Narrators: Molly C. Quinn and Ed Westwick
I’ll admit – when I started this one, I was pretty surprised to hear a male voice. Since I’m still fairly new to audiobooks, this is the first one I’ve listened to where there were two narrators. For this book, it worked really, really well, since Clary was no longer the only point of view character. Westwick read the parts from Simon’s point of view and I really enjoyed his delivery. It was a good combination of snark and cynicism with just a hint of a stoner vibe (not that Simon is a stoner, but trust me, it works). I was less enthused about Quinn’s read as Clary. She was good most of the time, but every once in a while, she would make Clary sound a bit whiny. I still enjoyed her overall performance.
Categories: Audio Roundup
Life With No Plot 
Mae Whitman? Oh wow, that’s cool, I like her and I’m glad she portrayed Clary well. I’m kind of surprised by the big names that narrated the series but at the same time, with how big this series is that makes sense. I never would have imagined Ed Westwick as a narrator but I’m glad he worked for Simon. I can imagine it being annoying switching back and forth between narrators though I do wonder if it has something to do with the fact that some of them are more famous so they were harder to book. 🤷♀️
That could be. I hadn’t thought about that. And with as big of a series as this is, that would be a big time commitment for someone who was busy with other jobs.
Also, just as a FYI, I said that I didn’t particularly like Molly Quinn in City of Fallen Angels, but she’s also the narrator of City of Lost Souls, which I’m listening to now, and she’s a lot better in this one.
yeah that’s true although I’m just theorizing out of curiosity haha 🙂
But anyways that’s good to know, I’m glad Molly Quinn’s performance gets better in City of Lost Souls!