I know I should have put this in the "Audiobooks" section, but I think Mr. Briggs deserves his own special topic.
I know some people prefer Nigel Planer and the other readers, but I am a firm Briggsman. Every time I listen to him do an DW audiobook I get more and more impressed.
Right now I'm listening to TOT. While Lobsang and Susan are kind of "standard" vocalizations, his portrayals of Lu Tze, the Abbot, the Five Horsemen and Lady Lejuen are spot on. And his characterization of the Auditors are absolutely perfect! Nigel Planer's auditor in "Hogfather" sounded like a spirit; Briggs' auditors sound deader than Death himself and ten times as annoying. You can actually hear their filing and organizing in their arrogant monotones. You might dislike them when you read the book, but after LISTENING to them you want to grab a box of sweets and go marzipan on them.
The only characters I think Planer does better than Briggs are Nanny Ogg (he gets her "fully rounded" personality just right) and Granny Weatherwax (he perfectly portrays her proud and resentful sense of entitlement). I also am not a fan of Brigg's Spike; he portrays her as a detached cold fish, when she really is a totally repressed, tightly wound spring whose passion is just simmering below the surface.
But otherwise, Briggs is the man. He's even convinced me to let him read "Monstrous Regiment" and "UA," two books that I wouldn't have considered going back to without him at the mike.
J-I-B
I know some people prefer Nigel Planer and the other readers, but I am a firm Briggsman. Every time I listen to him do an DW audiobook I get more and more impressed.
Right now I'm listening to TOT. While Lobsang and Susan are kind of "standard" vocalizations, his portrayals of Lu Tze, the Abbot, the Five Horsemen and Lady Lejuen are spot on. And his characterization of the Auditors are absolutely perfect! Nigel Planer's auditor in "Hogfather" sounded like a spirit; Briggs' auditors sound deader than Death himself and ten times as annoying. You can actually hear their filing and organizing in their arrogant monotones. You might dislike them when you read the book, but after LISTENING to them you want to grab a box of sweets and go marzipan on them.
The only characters I think Planer does better than Briggs are Nanny Ogg (he gets her "fully rounded" personality just right) and Granny Weatherwax (he perfectly portrays her proud and resentful sense of entitlement). I also am not a fan of Brigg's Spike; he portrays her as a detached cold fish, when she really is a totally repressed, tightly wound spring whose passion is just simmering below the surface.
But otherwise, Briggs is the man. He's even convinced me to let him read "Monstrous Regiment" and "UA," two books that I wouldn't have considered going back to without him at the mike.
J-I-B
