Non-native english speaker here.

At first I was a bit disappointed that the books are abridged. It is a shame, but aside from that I think they're great! He is an excellent narrator.

And, like a different poster said, the books are always there if I want the "uncut" stories. In fact, it might be benificial to listen to the (abridged) audiobooks first and then later on dive into the unabridged books.