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  • The Skinner

  • The Spatterjay Series: Book 1
  • By: Neal Asher
  • Narrated by: William Gaminara
  • Length: 15 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (322 ratings)
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The Skinner cover art

The Skinner

By: Neal Asher
Narrated by: William Gaminara
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Summary

Set in a lethal waterworld where sudden death is a way of life, The Skinner is the first novel in the far-future Spatterjay series by Neal Asher.

The savage ocean planet of Spatterjay draws visitors with very different agendas. Erlin is immortal and seeks a reason to keep living. Janer hosts a hive mind, which paid him to find this planet. And Keech is an agent of Earth who’s been dead for seven hundred years – but still hunts a notorious criminal.

On Spatterjay’s vast waterscapes, only the Old Captains risk the native life forms and their voracious appetites. However, they are now barely human. And somewhere out there Keech’s target – the Skinner – runs wild. Keech pursues the Skinner for atrocities committed in a centuries-past war, fought with the alien Prador. But one of these Prador is fast approaching Spatterjay to exterminate witnesses to his own war crimes. And he won’t spare its visitors.

Continue the science fiction adventure with The Voyage of Sable Keech and Orbus.

©2009 Neal Asher (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio

What listeners say about The Skinner

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    187
  • 4 Stars
    81
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    27
  • 2 Stars
    16
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Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Story
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  • 4 Stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Teenager SF

The most noticeable fault with this audiobook is that the cut between scenes are seamless, which makes it quite confusing. In the printed book I guess it is visually obvious when we enter a new scene, one second of silence would have done it for this audiobook. But the words are just flowing in a long stream broken into a few chapters, while the scene cuts can be counted in hundreds.
Apart from that the narrative is good, William Gaminara manages to make an entertaining difference between all of the characters in the book.
Neal Ashers story is well written, loaded with sensations and quite thrilling. But that's about all it is, I finished it two days ago and I have already forgotten the names of more than half of the characters. The name that will probably stick longest is "Sniper", which isn't even a person but a war drone. I guess that says it all about personality development throughout the book.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Adventures on Alien and Predatory High Seas

An exciting and imaginative work set on a beautifully realized sea world swarming with many intriguing and dangerous creatures, some of which carry a virus that can prolong human life. Most of the planet is covered in water, with a smattering of tiny islands. The lords here are long-lived sailors and captains, strong and almost indestructible mutated humans, who sail on low-tech vessels harvesting the seas for various creatures and substances. A little bit Master and Commander, except that some of the sailors are female and some of the masts and sails are sentient creatures.

Three companions arrive on Spatterjay for different reasons and find themselves up to their necks in events, danger and trouble of many exotic kinds. The characters are fine, if a little remote - not as deeply explored as I might like - although I did become invested in what happpens to them. There are some very evil baddies, and some very dangerous creatures as well as viruses and other problems to be overcome. In spite of the relentless dangers, there are humorous moments and some of the best characters are non-human, from war drone to Wind-cheater, and laconic AIs. It's rollicking good fun and has some great gory set-pieces and battles.

William Gaminara's reading is perfect. He uses wonderful accents and voices to breathe life into all the characters and helps to add excitement to the unfolding adventures.

Overall this is an absorbing and enjoyable book, and especially engaging on the issue of how humans might deal with much longer lives. It makes things very interesting when much of the motivation is curiosity and the search to alleviate boredom. I will definitely be listening to book 2.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

difficult to follow

it must be an interesting story to physically read, but I really couldn't enjoy the audiobook version. the narration seemed to go from chapter to chapter without pause for breath. it would take a while to realise he was suddenly taking about a different story line, and required relistening to section after section to work out what was going on.
maybe it just didn't grip me enough?

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I wanted to like it, but couldn't.

What disappointed you about The Skinner?

The story just never grabbed me, its the first book in my library that I haven't finished. I felt nothing for the characters and couldn't care less how their lives turned out.

Has The Skinner put you off other books in this genre?

Nope, putting it down to bad recommendations and moving on.

Would you be willing to try another one of William Gaminara’s performances?

Not in a hurry to listen to this narrator again, its not his fault, but we need some time apart.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

First class horror Sci-Fi

This is my first Asher and as far as I'm concerned he's up there now in my top three for concept SF, along with Banks and Reynolds. However I have to agree with Thomas about the seamless transitions in the narration makling the plot difficult to follow. This is a shame as otherwise the reading is excellent, and I'm still giving five because the book is that good. It's a complex plot with a large number of characters so it helps to have a printed copy to refer to if you get confused. I'll be moving on to the other two volumes in the set and then...more Asher please, Audible!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very original and well written

This is one of the best sci-fi books I’ve listened to over the years. The world it’s set on is truly original.

The narration too is excellent.

Well worth a credit.


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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

5 star Asher quality

Never a boring moment! Subtle voice acting. I thought it lackluster at first but revised my opinion after few hours.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Didn't realise it's potential

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The author does a grand job inventing and communicating the detail of alien worlds, life forms and practices but along the way the story gets lost.

Which character – as performed by William Gaminara – was your favourite?

Keach

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I had high hopes and the created realm is certainly different but overall I was disappointed.

Any additional comments?

Needs less detail and more pace.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great 👍

Very enjoyable if somewhat hard to follow because of the jumps. Some sort of transportation would make it better.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

The first Audible book that I've given up on

Would you try another book written by Neal Asher or narrated by William Gaminara?

No

What could Neal Asher have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Make sure there is something that captures the readers interest in the first hour

How did the narrator detract from the book?

As others highlighted.. no gaps between chapters

Any additional comments?

This is the first Audible book in more than 4 years (and more than 80 books) that I've given up on. It maybe that after the first hour it came to life but the only thing that remotely I engaged with was when the hornet background was first described.

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2 people found this helpful