[Mrs. Y Reviews] Salvage Title the Audio Book - Review of KC Johnston the Narrator

KC Johnston on his YouTube Channel

My friends, after my “Four books in Forty-eight hour” challenge, Mrs. Y was feeling very tired. My eyes are getting sore with my old age and I think it’s time to upgrade my glasses. But with that said, a beacon of hope came to me in the form of an Audio Book. Since I’m in the holiday spirit, I decided to gift you all with a review not of the book, but of the narrator. Why? We all need to listen to things from time to time. Get ready for the most amazing Mrs. Y Challenge yet, a review of Audio-Book Narrator KC Johnston in, “Salvage Title” by Kevin Steverson. 

Opinion
I will be reviewing Salvage Title on its own, so don’t panic! I’ll put it on the Goodreads, Amazon, and on my blog. I went back and read it with my own eyeballs. But, as I am writing this, I really wanted to review KC Johnston. I follow KC and have been since one of my favorite Author-Tube writers Travis McBee said he was having his book narrated by KC. I found out through that video, KC has his own YouTube channel as well, and I follow it.

But even though I like to watch his booth building and listen to his tones on YouTube, I wondered how well the equipment did for the actual Audible narration. KC also asked me “Hey have you read this book? Would you like to?” and sent me a copy of the audiobook. So like all Honest Reviews I do, I shall be detailed and take my time here.

Audio Book Critique – Opinion only! 
I enjoyed the deep tones that were soothing when they needed to be and more clipped during faster dialogue. I love that KC puts effort into his dialects. For things like a space story, when the author is taking the time to explain how something sounds, it’s wonderful when the narrator does just that. It really improves the story.

He reads the books in a mix of baritone and bass depending on what is going on, and when he goes falsetto it’s usually for a feminine part. I also enjoyed that he was making the proper sounds for the specific aliens. Like I said earlier, when a narrator puts in the time to do so, it makes it better.

But, this is my litmus test, is this book narration as good as James Marsters doing the Dresden Files? That’s my ultimate. James Marsters has this way about making me swoon both visually and verbally, so I use him as my gauge of voice.

When it comes to audiobooks, it’s not about the visual. It’s about the imagination and imagery the narrator gives, and I feel he’s pretty darn close to Marsters perfection. Not perfect, but close. If I were writing books with a western, space, fantasy, or even dystopian setting, I’d pick KC to read my book. He has the timber for it, and he doesn’t struggle with space words. He also doesn’t balk at the sight of aliens speaking, and I enjoyed that. I’d probably recommend him to do romance, but it’d have to be something where he’s the lead male and can really be charming, he’s got a charming kind of voice and I think he’d do well with a charming male protagonist. I’m thinking more of a “Gambit” kind of character, southern and mischievous with a heaping dose of charisma, and yes I know that’s a comic book reference but there are many “Gambit” characters in romance.

Another thing I truly enjoyed about KC’s performance was his pacing. Pacing for an audiobook is important, and should be only sped up if the listener speeds up the book at their choice. Sometimes, especially actors will speed up on their own and not take a good pace, and what that will do is make it jumbled when someone speeds the book up. That didn’t happen here. I tried all the speeds to test it, KC did wonderful regardless of pacing the person decides on, and I enjoyed that it was consistent and steady. That should be commended. He still kept the listener's attention at his pace, it well-trod, and it allowed me to speed it up without worry for lost or clipped words.

Lastly, the listening was smooth. I enjoy a good audiobook while I’m driving especially. I have found that with my migraine triggers, music can bother me where words cannot. I didn’t hear any unnecessary music, nor did I hear any strange vocal changes that were off pitch. It was a very enjoyable listening experience overall.

Score

It’s really tough to score an audiobook and I need to go back and figure out proper scoring systems for this, but for now, I’ll give KC Johnston a 5-star review because I have nothing to complain about. I’d venture a guess it’s like a 96, but I need to figure out how to do this better going forward because a lot of audiobook narrators want to be reviewed as well. This helps them, just as much as it helps writers.

I’m here to help the literary community. That’s basically my mission, self-imposed I know, but something I want to do. So for my part, KC did great! And you should check out his titles!