Is this the same Nick Podehl who narrated The Name of the Wind?

Yes. Podehl's work on Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicle is what established his reputation in epic fantasy audio. His move into progression fantasy and LitRPG is relatively recent — his catalogue in the genre is shorter than Hays's or Baldree's, but the work is at the same craft level.

Is The Name of the Wind LitRPG?

No — pure epic fantasy. But knowing that's the audiobook Podehl is best known for tells you what level of narration craft he brings to anything in his catalogue. If you've heard him as Kvothe, you've heard the floor of what he does.

Should I start with Bastion or something else of his?

If you're new to Podehl and want to hear him on progression fantasy specifically, *Bastion* (Immortal Great Souls Book 1) is the showcase. If you want to hear him at full craft on a more traditional fantasy book, *The Name of the Wind* is the answer — but it's a 28-hour commitment to an unfinished series.

Nick Podehl — Narrator Profile & Grade

Overall grade

4.5 stars — excellent on our rating system. A fantasy-narration veteran whose craft level was established long before his recent expansion into LitRPG. The combination of epic-fantasy bona fides plus the Immortal Great Souls progression-fantasy work earns Podehl the #3 comparative ranking on this site.

Signature strengths

A craft floor most narrators don't have. Podehl's work on Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind and its sequel established him as one of the most respected voices in epic-fantasy audio. The dedication to character work, the patience with longer prose passages, and the willingness to let language breathe rather than racing through it — all of those habits transferred directly into his LitRPG work. Hearing him narrate progression fantasy after he's narrated literary epic fantasy makes the difference immediately audible.

Range across long-form audiobooks. Podehl's catalogue is built almost entirely on long, character-heavy series. He's used to sustaining a performance across 20+ hours of single-book audio, which is exactly the demand modern LitRPG and progression fantasy place on a narrator.

Restraint as a strength. Where Jeff Hays builds full audio productions and Travis Baldree adapts his read to the book, Podehl's signature is a kind of quiet authority — confident pacing, careful enunciation, and the kind of measured read that makes the listener feel they're in good hands. Different aesthetic from the other top-two; arguably exactly the right aesthetic for Phil Tucker's intricate worldbuilding.

Watch-outs

Smaller LitRPG catalogue than the other top-tier narrators. Podehl's #3 ranking reflects sustained craft across a long fantasy-narration career, not breadth specifically inside this genre. If you want a narrator with five different LitRPG series to sample from, Baldree's the better choice; if you want the genre's third-most-trusted voice on a careful, character-driven series like Immortal Great Souls, Podehl is exactly that voice.

(Founder to add any specific watch-outs from listening.)

Best performances

Immortal Great Souls (Phil Tucker, beginning with Bastion) — the LitRPG/progression-fantasy showcase. See the Best for Beginners list for the founder's editorial framing on the series.
The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss) — the establishing performance; not LitRPG but the audiobook craft is what makes everything else he does land.
(Founder to add other favourite Podehl performances.)

Where to start

Within the genre, Bastion (Immortal Great Souls Book 1) is the right entry point — it's where Podehl's craft meets the kind of book this site is built around. If you want to hear him on the work that established his reputation first, The Name of the Wind is the answer, but understand that you're committing to a series whose third book has been long-awaited for over a decade.

See the Best LitRPG Audiobook Narrators ranking for how Podehl sits against Hays and Baldree.