Skeleton Crew

The Kanti Cycle, Book 1

By: Gre7g Luterman

Narrated by: Piers Ryman

A well-placed kick into Kanti’s stomach dropped him back to the deck, grasping his gut and gasping for breath.

“If you ever utter the phrase ‘skeleton crew’ again, I promise that I will find out,” Captain Ateri said calmly.

“And when I do, I will rip chunks of you out with my bare paws...and toss them into the recycler one by one...until all that remains of you...is your blood in my fur...and your screams in my ears.”

But the captain is the least of Kanti’s concerns. A huge monster named Commissioner Sarsuk thinks the crew of the White Flower II is out of control, and that executing Kanti publicly - a slow, messy execution - is the perfect recipe for getting the ship back under his clawed thumb. Now Kanti is living in terror - a slave raised believing himself free, a criminal even before his birth. Everyone thinks he’s someone he isn’t: a playboy reduced to working at the dump, a spiteful son trying to make amends, and perhaps even an excuse to recycle every last officer, crewman, and cub on board. The next few days are going to take this unlikely hero and the rest of the crew on a wild ride to the brink of mutiny, isolated deep in space, some 1500 light years from home.

©2014 Gre7g Luterman (P)2021 Gre7g Luterman

Loved it!

If you like deep worldbuilding, suspense, character development, and fluffy critters, Skeleton Crew will not disappoint you! I really enjoyed the Kanti Cycle trilogy, and Piers Ryman does a wonderful job of narrating this first installment in the series. I can tell great care was taken in portraying emotions in characters' voices, and the overall tone of each scene. The pacing is also just right, and over all the production just seemed genuine in its expression of the original work, which in my experience can be a bit hard to find sometimes. I can think of maybe one or two lines in the whole book that fell flat - it makes for a very engaging listen!

Enjoyed It a Lot

I enjoy sci-fi stories, but this was a very new for me concept and I wasn't sure how I would like it. The story took me few chapters to get into, once I did I wasn't able to put it down. I liked the world author created and Kanti was such a great character, he survived and made the best of things thinking on his feet in the most challenging situations. Narrator did a great job with all the voices and telling this entertaining story. This is new to me author and I am looking forward to other adventures in the Kanti Cycle series.

An Excellent Introduction To A Sci-Fi World!

Don't let the Fury cover art turn you away. This series is a fun Sci-Fi that happens to use animals to tell the story. It is a dark, adult story including slavery, sex, and philosophy. But none of it felt out of place; everything fit into the story and much of it even improved the world building and character development.

Synopsis for the World: This world, from what I gathered, is run by the Krakun (the Dragon-like species on the cover art), who "Uplift" other species and gift them spaceships to explore the Universe on the Krakun's behalf to find habitable planets for them. Book 1 takes place on 1 of these ships, where you learn about the Geroo's (The species of the Figure in the Dragon's hand) culture and life on the ship. It is a solid introduction into this world and Books 2 & 3 do an amazing job expanding it.

For those who try it out and end up enjoying it, in addition to Gre7g's other audiobooks, the series "White Flower II" from Rick Griffin also takes place in the same world. There is also an entire website outlining everything for reference for this world on the site listed in Gre7g's bio if you want to do a deep-dive into this world; And if you are a writer, you can even submit stories to add to this world through the Anthologies!

This is super good guys

I may be a bit biased but I like listening to Ryman's performance bring the story to life. Kanti is a very down-to-earth protagonist; he's not stupid, but he is caught in the middle of a lie he can't simply resolve by confessing to the right person. Already this makes it leagues better than stories where you're constantly yelling at the character "just tell the truth already!" You know why he can't. That's very critical to building sympathy.

This book was originally a standalone title but then Gre7g did the foolish thing of making not just one but many more sequels, meaning there is just SO MUCH geroo to invest your time in.

Hard Sci-fi Lovers Rejoice

Luterman has written a book nothing short of a masterpiece! This has been some of the best science fiction I've ever read (and I did read the book after listening to the audio book). Compared to other works of fiction by Goliath authors like Asimov, Card, and Herbert this book is a stone in Luterman's sling.

The plot is coherent, the writing will edited, and the characters unique. But what really makes this book shine is the balance between the societal and the scientific. The reader follows a well paced tour through life aboard a generation ship with all the harsh rules of life in space. The technologies demonstrated are described well enough to be understood without such thorough descriptions as to be easily dismissed as mere fiction.

Top it all off with an excellent narrator and what you get is a brilliant performance that sparks the imagination and sends you rushing for the next book in the cycle.