Ancestor

A Novel

By: Scott Sigler

Narrated by: Scott Sigler

Length: 15 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

“The ancestors are out there…you have to believe me.”

From acclaimed author Scott Sigler—New York Times bestselling creator of Infected and Contagious—comes a tale of genetic experimentation’s worst nightmare come true. Every five minutes, a transplant candidate dies while waiting for a heart, a liver, a kidney. Imagine a technology that could provide those life-saving transplant organs for a nominal fee...and imagine what a company would do to get a monopoly on that technology.

On a remote island in the Canadian Arctic, PJ Colding leads a group of geneticists who have discovered this holy grail of medicine. By reverse-engineering the genomes of thousands of mammals, Colding's team has dialed back the evolutionary clock to re-create humankind’s common ancestor. The method? Illegal. The result? A computer-engineered living creature, an animal whose organs can be implanted in any person, and with no chance of transplant rejection. There's just one problem: these ancestors are not the docile herd animals that Colding's team envisioned. Instead, Colding’s work has given birth to something big, something evil. With these killer creatures on the prowl, Colding and the woman he loves must fight to survive — even as government agents close in to shut the project down, and the deep-pocketed company backing this research proves to have its own cold-blooded agenda.

As the creators become the prey in the ultimate battle for survival, Scott Sigler takes listeners on the ultimate thrill-ride—and offers a chilling cautionary account of what can happen when hubris, greed, and madness drive scientific experimentation past the brink of reason.

©2010 Scott Sigler (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Sigler writes as if he is channeling a collaboration between Stephen King and Michael Crichton, as edited by H.G. Wells...He is gifted with the ability of explaining complex topics in an interesting, understandable and even entertaining manner, creates memorable characters who are likable and otherwise, and keeps the pace of the narrative moving so quickly that the pages should be soaked in flame retardant. This is one of those rare books that makes me wish that I could be stricken with selective amnesia, so that I could read it anew again."--Bookreporter.com

“A tremendously entertaining horror novel…the premise is thought-provoking, Sigler populates the novel with a lively cast of characters (unlike many thrillers, the heroes are as interesting as the villains), and the action is virtually nonstop—and, at times, quite graphic. If you combined Michael Crichton’s scientific exploration with Matthew Reilly’s lightning-fast pace and colorful characters, you might get something that feels like this book, which, incidentally, would make a great movie.”--Booklist

Sigler delivers twice on this one

I was a little reluctant to get this one since it was being read by the author and not the great Ray Porter who did Earthcore. Scott Sigler does a top notch job with the narration, bringing life to all his characters, especially dem Yoopers ay!

Sigler books are great for those car rides when you don't want to endure a slow starter that has your mind wandering off 10- 15 minutes in, Ancestor gets you pulled in right away and keeps you there til the end.

Great Book

My favorite part of the Siglerverse so far and so much improvement as the narrator

gritty, gripping, great read

Loved this book. Have not read a bad Sigler novel yet I think this is my 6th or 7th. I love his podcast's too. Free serialized versions of his work. Behind the scenes into the twisted, tortured twerked mind, that feverishly, freneticly formulates these many folios for his fawning fanbase that he fondly calls JUNKIES. I guess I am a Junkie

Sfx

Me Sigler, with your reading, please add SFX, it will take the experience to the next level .

A good listen, but not one of his top stories.

Ancestor takes place in the same world as the Infected/Contagious/Pandemic stories. This story exist during the 5 year gap between Contagious and Pandemic. A few of the characters from that trilogy show up in Ancestor as well. Specifically, this book introduces Tim Feeley who plays a major role in Pandemic.

However, the Tim Feeley character in Ancestor and the Tim Feeley character in Pandemic share little more than a name. Apparently, the stress of the events in Ancestor changed Tim from a foul mouthed angry drunk to a brilliant young scientist who prefers Hawaiian shirts and a surfer dude vocabulary. The two characters couldn't be more different.

The story seems to spend the first two thirds of the book foreshadowing the last third. And the foreshadowing is fairly heavy handed. You pretty much know essentially how this will turn out. The only question is exactly who will live or die. Also, the story ends with a teaser which suggest that the Ancestors will mate and reproduce. But when the book Pandemic occurs it seems that Black Manitou Island is once again a safe research station where nothing odd is happening. The only reference to Black Manitou Island and the Ancestors in Pandemic is that Tim doesn't want to work there again. (that's the new surfer dude/brilliant scientist/Navy doctor Tim, not the old foul mouthed/drunken/never shot a gun Tim)

The performance was odd. The book is read by the author. I think Scott did a better job with Infected and Contagious. But when I heard Phil Gigante read Pandemic the performance was vastly better. The performance in Ancestor seemed to be a step backwards from Pandemic with a bit too many angry growls as voices for too many characters.

If you're a fan of Scott Sigler, and in spite of how this review may sound, I really am a fan, then I think you'll enjoy Ancestor. But the book has it's flaws and there are certainly some performance issues.

Audiobook versus Podcast

Any additional comments?

Audiobook = 3 stars (having listened to the podcast, likely 5 stars if you haven't podcasted). Podcast = 5 stars, albiet much, much shorter duration.

I LOVE the original Sigler podcast, although its not as good as Earthcore. I dragged my feet purchasing the audiobook. There is clearly more depth of story, more back story, and no bump music between chapters. However, there are significant changes in the way some of the main characters interact - I had a lot of difficulty with this and it detracted from my enjoyment of the book. Sigler is his own best narrator regardless of which version you patron. If you haven't heard the podcast, then by all means PURCHASE THIS TITLE. If you fell in love with the podcast, then buyer beware.

Not up to his usual standard

Bit of a plodder - slow and, well, just not very good... narration is pretty poor too with not much differentiation between the characters

Must Read

Scott is by far the best Author. I have read and listened to every book of his since 2012-2013 and have been a massive fan ever since. Met him at Denver comic Con and he’s a really cool humble guy too. This book is amazing and is definitely worth reading and listening to. I feel bad as I messed up on one of my other reviews and only gave him 5 stars on overall. I couldn’t rescind it but EVERY book is amazing.

Paint by numbers story with bad narration

I almost returned this book multiple times. At almost every turn the story line was completely obvious about what came next. The narrator was not a fit at all for any of the characters except Clayton. Worst voicing of a female by a male that I have ever heard. I barely made it to the end and gained no satisfaction in doing so.

okay

it took a long time on my opinion to get the action again after the initial scene.

wasn't expecting a particular characters death so quickly.

Earthcore and Mt Fitz Roy were much better !