In my very first post for STACKED, I mentioned my intense love for Philip Pullman’s masterpiece of a children’s fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials (including The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). Impeccably written without a single flawed section, these books are far and away My Favorites.

Despite that, I was hesitant to pick up the audiobooks. They’re done by a full cast, each character’s voice (and there are many, many characters) performed by a different actor, with a few overlaps, and the narration is performed by Pullman himself. I was concerned that the voices for the characters – in particular Lyra, the protagonist – would not correspond with my own inner voices I had used since I first read the books as a twelve year old.

I needn’t have worried. This audiobook trilogy completely won me over to fully-voiced productions. I am frequently frustrated when male narrators voice female characters, since the voices so often come across as breathy and weak. It would have been tragic to hear Lyra – a strong, impetuous character – voiced in that way, but it obviously wasn’t a problem.

I cannot say enough good things about Pullman’s narration. He speaks neither too slowly nor too quickly, infusing just the right amount of inflection into each sentence. He turns the audio production into a work of art. Normally I need to be active when listening to an audiobook (driving, getting ready for work, etc.), but with these, it was enough to just sit and listen.

I didn’t really believe it was possible, but the audiobooks deepened my appreciation for these books. My attention was drawn to new details, and parts I found only mildly interesting before became fascinating. (For any of you who have read the third book, Mary and the mulefa tended to drag for me, but the person who voiced Mary was so utterly perfect that these sections were a joy to listen to.)

I’m always so grateful when I discover that a book I love has been transferred so wonderfully into audio. I have no doubt that I’ll be listening to these again sometime soon.