I met Larry Correia back when he came over to Blighty to sign a few books and go to book fairs, and you can read my piece I wrote then here. I'm a big fan of his Monster Hunter series, and contrary to any impression you may have of him, he is actually very nice and his wife Bridget is easy to talk to too. So, I've had copies of his Grimnoir Chronicles sitting on my to be read pile, which has been irritating me for a while–I hate having too many unread books sitting around lowering property values, I mean collecting dust in my flat.
The problem was I had heard Hard Magic being read on the Baen Free Radio Hour podcast, and quite frankly I found it only mildly interesting to listen to. But it had been a while so I felt beholden to read the first book before reading the sequels, and I'm glad I did. The reading experience was far superior than the listening one, and I delved into the sequel, Spellbound, and then Warbound, the third book of the trilogy, consuming them with gusto.
On reflection I think it has to do with pace.
Spoken word speed is between 110 to 160 word per minute. I read at around 350 to 450 words per minute, which is not meant to be a boast, it's just my average reading speed of a minute per page. So, the experience of listening to Hard Magic had made it feel slow and dull, even though the narrator was good––it wasn't his fault––it's the format that I don't like. When I read a book, I'm carried along by the pace I read at. An interesting book grabs me and drives me to finish reading it.
It is amazing what a difference that makes.
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