# are the Black Library audio books any good?



## 18827

Are the warhammer 40k audio books any good,
And what are they like, is it just a guy reciting the book like some crazed preacher or do they have a cast of actors doing the characters and a presenter type of guy describing the backdrop.


Cheers,
Jim.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

_Thunder from Fenris_ is shit TBH. It appears to have several Governor Arnies playing the SWs, and the story is just a bit crap. _Throne of Lies_ and _Fireborn_ are worth a listen, giving us another look at some popular characters.

The HH ones are pretty cool, especially _Dark King/Lightning Tower_ and _Raven's Flight_. _Garro: Oath of Moment_ is completley pointless in my opinion. 

On the whole, the voice acting isn't great, and the standard of story varies greatly, but some of them are worth a listen, especially now you can download them from the BL website for quite a bit cheaper than the CDs.


----------



## 18827

Khorne's Fist said:


> The HH ones are pretty cool, especially _Dark King/Lightning Tower_ and _Raven's Flight_. _Garro: Oath of Moment_ is completley pointless in my opinion.
> 
> On the whole, the voice acting isn't great, and the standard of story varies greatly, but some of them are worth a listen, especially now you can download them from the BL website for quite a bit cheaper than the CDs.


Funny you should say that in the time between my post and your reply I've downloaded a listen to Garro: oath of moment and I was very disappointed just over one hour long and the storyline was weak at best.

I think i'll be sticking to paper in future at least you get your Money's worth.


----------



## Child-of-the-Emperor

I think you picked the wrong audio there _Jimmy_.  _Garro: Oath_ was all-round fairly shite. 

Although that having been said some Audio's are good, _Throne of Lies_ and _Raven's Flight_ spring to mind. I find that in order for Audio's to be successful (at least in my opinion) they have to have a good plot to make up for the format and sometimes lacking sound effects/voice acting (which was where Jim Swallow failed miserably). As _Khorne's Fist_ said, the voice acting is often rubbish or off putting, and I personally don't prefer them to written novels/short stories (does anyone?). If your into the Night Lords series I would recommend getting _Throne of Lies_ (one of the few where pretty much all the voicing acting was okay IIRC) though. Similarily if your into the HH series, _Dark King/Lightning Tower_ and _Raven's Flight_ would be a fair shout, just try to see past the dodgy voice acting.


----------



## Brother Subtle

The dark king was quite good I thought. I also didn't mind raven's flight.


----------



## Khorne's Fist

Brother Subtle said:


> The dark king was quite good I thought. I also didn't mind raven's flight.


They would have been much better as part of a HH anthology rather than an over priced CD that lasts barely an hour.


----------



## World Eater XII

Throne of lies, hands down is the best ive listened to.


----------



## Vaz

Aenarion was an excellent story, shit reader.


----------



## World Eater XII

Thats the main problem i think Vaz!


----------



## forkmaster

Personally I love the voice audios, epscially on occassions when Im painting my figures and listen to inspirement when I cant read at the same time. Personally, Throne of Lies and Ravens Flight are the best, Thunder From Fenris I considered to be ok (even with the Arnie SW), Heart of Rage is one of the weaker ones. The Lightining Tower isnt too much about action, but it gives some depth to Dorn and The Dark King gives you insight on fall of the Night Haunter.


----------



## World Eater XII

I listend to arnie wolves back from a Uk GD, turned it off and jammed to some other shit. Story is really good though.


----------



## Vaz

World Eater XII said:


> Thats the main problem i think Vaz!


Yup. Not a clue why its audio exclusive. Can't really think of why I'd get one over the other. Christ, I had audio taped the Tiger who came to tea (best damn book ever written), but that was how I learned to read - listen to the words and see them written down. Not saying people learn to read on gun porn, but I look like a dick on a train doing that.

Hell, I took to wearing dark glasses and acted like I was blind as that was less embarrassing than an audio tape on the train.













OK, no I didn't, but it might have got less funny stares.


----------



## World Eater XII

Hah fair one brah! Least you didnt listen to arnie wolves on a train, that would get you sliced up


----------



## Khorne's Fist

What I want to know is if there is anyone at BL who listens to these things before they put them out, because surely there's someone there with a bit of sense who'd say "Hold on a minute, that's complete shit!" Or are they just shot down by higher ups too far up their own arse to care? I know profit is the motivating factor, but surely there's a bit of pride in their product amongst them?

Cue answers like "You poor, misguided, naive fool."


----------



## World Eater XII

"foolsh mortal!"


----------



## Roninman

Are you asking that BL audiobooks are any good or just audiobooks in general?

I never been fan of audiobooks myself, story is usually very short, sometimes reader doesnt have clear enough accent/voice, sounds boring, cant do different voice acting on other characters on story etc..

Listened most of those BL books and they can be quite ok, but its usually story which i found lacking. They are just too short. I rather read shortstory on book than listen it on audio. And its cheaper too unless its audiobook exclusive.


----------



## Mob

Concurring with most people; Throne of Lies is good, rest are total pants.

Thone of Lies works because well, ADB is a good writer. That's it, really. His established style of describing the vox-distorts and effects of the speakers in the Astartes helms etc allows the audio to be interesting and accurate to the writer's intent.
It also has a scene towards the end uses the audio format perfectly. Would not have been anywhere near as effective written down, and that's the only time I can think of that happening.
It also has decent music and effects as these things go. The music is generally awful, so 'decent' is something actually notable. 
I presume these things are quite profitable. Shame they're so bad on the whole.

Still, they at least brought me and my mate the hilarious pronounciation of Roeboot Goolieman that we treasure still, so that's a positive I suppose...


----------



## TheSpore

well since i became a geo bach. and have been driving home for 3 hours every weekend these things have made the drive easier to take on. so far i have listened to garro, thorne of lies , and half of raven's flight.

I quite enjoyed the last two and well garro wasn't too bad but thorne of lies actually was enjoyable it showed that even chaos marines have emotions.
Raven's flight besides making corax out to be an even bigger bad ass than chuck norris it was a good story (so far) my complaint is they are way to flippin short. Garro had a really bad ending although it does start to lead into the idea of the grey knights.


----------

