Ancestor

by Scott Sigler

On a remote island in Lake Superior, scientists struggle to solve the problem of xenotransplantation -- using animal tissue to replace failing human organs. Funded by the biotech firm Genada, Dr. Claus Rhumkorrf seeks to recreate the ancestor of all mammals.

By getting back to the root of our creation, Rhumkorrf hopes to create an animal with human internal organs. Rhumkorrf discovers the ancestor, but it is not the small, harmless creature he envisions. His genius gives birth to a fast-growing evil that nature eradicated 250 million years ago — an evil now on the loose, and very, very hungry.

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Audiobook, Action, Ebooks

261 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

THE CRYPT: SHAKEDOWN is Book I of a new five-book series. It’s out October 3, 2023 in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook narrated by Ray Porter.

iTunes by subscribing to his podcast.

#1 New York Times best-selling author Scott Sigler is the creator of fifteen novels, six novellas and dozens of short stories. He gives away his stories as weekly, serialized, audiobooks, with over 40 million episodes downloaded.

Scott launched his career by releasing his novels as author-read podcasts. His rabid fans were so hungry for each week’s episode that they dubbed themselves the “Junkies.” The first hit is always free …

He is also is a co-founder of Empty Set Entertainment, which publishes his Galactic Football League series. He lives in San Diego, CA, with his wife and wee little Dogs of Døøm.

Reviews

[Tracy P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Sigler's 'Ancestor' is one fascinating horror/sci-fi novel. There is lots of action, excellent character development, and the writing is smart. I kept thinking of the mantra: "Don't mess with Mother Nature" when a group of geneticists discovers that by "reverse-engineering the genomes of thousands of mammals" they can make a computer generated life forms whose organs can be placed in human-beings - with no fear of rejection. In addition, these organs would be readily available and affordable to anyone requiring a transplant.
When the team realizes there is something going terribly wrong with their procedures, they never could have foreseen the powerful horrors which their efforts have created and unleashed. Action packed with thrills and suspense.
Author Scott Sigler also narrated the whole novel, and it was hard on the ears. I loved the storyline a lot, however, I found myself needing to take breaks and pick something else up for a bit. Mr.Sigler is a phenomenal author, but should leave the narration to the professionals- imho.

[Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

Possibly the most boring, useless book I have ever read.

This book has been out for quite a while but I have only recently read it and I felt the urge to review it.

I spotted this book while searching for something new to read. It was cheap and had a great premise: "Scientists on an island try to clone an ancient monster so they can use its organs in transplants. Everything goes wrong." Sounds good, right? A simple action horror. Something easy to read. Fun.

no no. Fun is not what this book offers. You could honestly get more fun out of raping a cactus.

One of the worst aspects of this book is the characters. Everybody is a stereotype. not even that, they're all a parody. The main character seems to be a parody of every action hero in fiction!

But that's not as bad as the bad guys. A German scientist who's obsessed with getting the Nobel prize is not the major bad guy, more of a dick who doesn't help things. But the major bad guy, beside the flesh eating monsters, is a European, money hungry psycho with lots of guns. His brother sends him to the island to make sure things don't go wrong. They're so generic that it's almost offensive. If this psycho had a curly mustache and an English accent, I would have had to put it down and forget about it.

They're not even slightly fleshed out. Do you remember Gremlins? Do you remember when Phoebe Cates' character would try to talk about a traumatic incident but she'd be interupted? Well, every character has a whole bunch of those moments but nobody interupts them.

for a while, I thought that maybe this was a sequel and that the characters were already fleshed out in an other book and that all of the explanatory dialogue and flashbacks were there to reminder the reader of the previous book. But, it turns out that there is no previous book.

I know, I know "it's just a bit of fun." If the plot was as fast paced and fun as promised, I would have forgiven Scott Sigler for his awful characters but three quarters of the book is dedicated to the details of cloning. I know too much about cloning now. What's worse is, it reads like wikipedia. This makes the book so slow and boring that the last few chapters, where the ancestors start killing, is sort of silly and out of place.

and by the time the plot actually kicks in, I have already guessed who survives and how they get away. I had to imagine the "rat creatures" from "Bone" as the ancestors just to keep myself amused.

Quotes on the book and on Sigler's website say that this book is fast paced, well written, original, scary etc. These quotes say that the writer is the next Steven King. I'm guessing that the quotes were cut off before the speaker could say "only fucking with you, it's awful."

So, to summarise: This book is a slow, boring pile of horse cum with horrible 2-D characters. If you want something easy to read, read the bus schedule.

Taken from my blog http://putitinyoureye.blogspot.com/se...

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars (AND OH SO CLOSE TO A 5 STAR RATING). This was my first book by Scott Sigler and I now consider myself a fan and will be reading more of his books in the future.

This is a high-octane, fast paced scientific thriller that does a better job than many in this genre on two very important points:

1). I thought the author did a really good job with the characters and the dialogue. Even when nothing was going on with the plot (which was not often) the dialogue between characters kept me entertained and I even found myself laughing a few times at the banter. This is often the place where you see a writer's faults when he can't adequately handle the "quiet" moments in a story. Not the case here and the author gets high marks from me.

2). The science was fascinating and included the right balance between detail and pacing. The story revovles around xenotransplantation which is the using of animal tissue to replace failing human organs. The main characters are trying to genetically engineer animals that are compatible with humans so that they can be bred to act as organ donors. Very interesting and the set up to when the experiment goes wrong is excellent with the right build up of tension.

The "villians" of the story (of which there are both human and non human) are also very, very cool and this actually leads to the only reason I did not give this 5 stars. I would have liked to learn MORE about the skills and abilities of the genetic monstrosities and I thought that the exposition on the creatures was a little too sparse. However, this is a relatively minor gripe and I still HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book as it was a terrific read.

[Murf the Surf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy cow! So much burger meat and blood!

I really enjoyed Ancestor, as I strongly recommend this tome. It was a silly, fun ride into spooky oblivion! It begins with a sort of genetic engineering anomaly without much detailed science to bog you down with. I do like science though, and there was enough to go around.
Somewhere in the middle of this book it becomes a phantasmagorical fantasy ride into a 007 crossed with Mafioso machismo. You must suspend belief when it comes to name dropping too. The island, with the Chinese bipolar nut case, becomes the means for the monster mash.
Towards the end, all hell brakes loose as the monsters get loose and much mayhem and madness ensues. I've tried not to indulge any spoilers here, and be warned the anxiety and blood bath may require an Ativan or jello shots to overcome the neurological anomalies that will rack your neurons and axions. All in all, this is a fun ride through a genetic monster story and is most definitely in the action category. Pax, Murf

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as much fun as the first time I read it! Ultimately, Sigler serves up an old-school plot with Ancestor, but the rich, character driven tale puts some fresh blood on the old bones. We learn early on that several biological high-tech firms are working to find a way to improve organ transplants from animals to humans, and that several of them have met messy ends. Adding human DNA and so forth to pigs may assist in making people not reject the organs, but oh my does it also help viruses to jump the specie barrier!

The corporation at the center of the tale here sought to get around the whole virus issue by utilizing the DNA of extinct animals far back on the evolutionary scale for the transplants. With technology pioneered by cloning, the hope is to produce eggs that can have cows as surrogate wombs, in effect combining the extinct animals with cow DNA. Sounds complicated, but Sigler does not toss in too much science to mar the flow of the story. Well, of course things do not work out as planned, and the titular ancestors they create are real horror shows! Classic science gone wrong plot, complete with slightly crazed scientists and such.

What makes the tale stand out revolves around the characters and the pacing. Sigler (as usual) creates some memorable characters who drive the plot. The scientists, a total of four, come off as pretty real. The Canadian corporation behind the research is ran by two brothers, one the 'up front' man to solicit investors and the other a ruthless sociopath in charge of security. The scientists are 'guarded' by a handful of mercenaries under the control of the ruthless brother and they are nasty pieces of work, even if one of them spends his time writing a sexy vampire trilogy! 4 stars of pulpy goodness!

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bummer! Really wanted to enjoy this one, but no joy. I recommend reading a physical copy, because the author narrated his story in the audiobook version here and, well, it’s not good. The awful array of accents made it hard for me to actually absorb what was going on. I had to restart it a few times and felt like I was constantly jumping back to try and figure out who was who, where we were in the timeline/plot.

[Kali Mura · Rating 5 out of 5]

ANCESTOR is about two deadly killers - one of them is a control-crazed millionaire named Magnus and the other is his lab-manufactured genetic horrors. Magnus was trying to create placid herd animals available to donate organs for humans who need transplants, but a delusional scientist tweaked the DNA and instead made large vicious predators. When Magnus tries to cover-up the project, these beasts get loose. Now everyone on an isolated island is at risk of being hunted down and exterminated either by Magnus or by the hungry creatures.

I'm not sure who is scarier, Magnus or the Ancestor predators. Both of them seem equally ruthless. And the author seems to take great delight in making you love these wonderful quirky characters, and then slaughtering them a few chapters later. No one seems to be off-limits, which has you alternately cursing the author and biting your nails. You will have a blissful ride of unique action and bloodshed and terror until the ultimate showdown in-between Magnus and his horrible creatures.

[Michelle H · Rating 2 out of 5]

From www.thebookdorks.com

I read Ancestor simultaneously with my husband, a definite non-reader. I bought him the paperback for his birthday and I also had a copy on my Kindle because we both LOVED Sigler’s last books Infected and Contagious. (What can I say? To a bookdork, there is nothing sexier than a guy who will read with you…)

Since sharing books is such a rarity, I never shove books at him unless I’m convinced he’ll like them. Infected and Contagious were so creepy good, that I was SURE we’d love this one too. Unfortunately, Ancestor was barely so-so.

Essentially, this is a story of a science experiment gone wrong. A group of researchers is trying to decode and combine various mammal genomes in order to discover a common ancestor. This ancestor could then be implanted in a surrogate animal (in this case, cows) and harvested as donor organs to fill human medical transplant needs. Since this is a common ancestor to all mammals, neither the surrogates or the human bodies would reject the animal tissues as foreign. This premise sounded promising.

In actuality, though, the story was boring, predictable, and read like a cross between Jurassic Park and some stupid TV medical drama. In fact, and this is fairly telling as I’m usually a very intense reader, I kept falling asleep and couldn’t finish for days. Hubby got ahead of me because he has insomnia and finished first, but neither of us liked this one at all.

[Badseedgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some authors just need to be heard. Scott Sigler is one of those authors. He reads his books with such enthusiasm, it can't help but be entertaining. This book was one long chase filled adventure romp. I listened to it while traveling and it was perfect because I could pause and stop it as needed and not feel like I had to rewind (yes I said rewind, and yes I know it dates me!) I really can't tell you why but I just really enjoy Mr. Sigler's writing style and his stories. This is the third book I have "read" of his and I just love him more and more!

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great plot, Great Characters, and a great deal of action and blood…just the way I like it. Scott Sigler can write a hell of a story. He inserts a lot of research and science into his stories (mixed with a bit of gore), but doesn’t try and knock you out with facts or make it so complex you can’t understand it. Scott breaks it down and gives a real look at the horrors that he has created. I am playing a bit of catch up with Mr. Siglers work and am enjoying every minute of it.

[Robert Reiner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah man...I wanted to love this book. So much so that I almost gave it 3 stars instead of 2 simply because of my respect for some of this author's other works. The book is 400 pages long and the first 300 pages can probably be summed up in a short paragraph to describe the few significant events that actually happen. The build up to where we actually get to the creatures that these mad scientists have created is tedious. Man is it tedious. I give the author credit for his seemingly vast knowledge of chemistry, biology, and immunology. I had to take every one of these classes to their extreme for my degree and I can't begin to tell you how boring most of those classes were. Sigler doesn't think so though and spends many pages throwing this science in your face. I'm 99% sure that 80% of the time readers are going to skim through those parts EVERY time. So there's that and a ton of boring dialogue amongst many boring characters which make up the first 3/4 of the novel and the action at the end just isn't worth all the work you had to go through to get there. I'm disappointed but won't give up on this author just yet.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like a good monster story that is backed up by a scientific origin: the experimentation and theory make for interesting reading before yielding the invariably ravenous result upon the poor scientists and support crew. Here, Sigler throws in some passages about DNA and animal-cloning and xenotransplating and species-jumping viruses, going into just enough detail to give his story just enough technical background. All of the high-tech gadgetry surrounding the laboratory and the armament of the accompanying mercenaries also add some gee-wizardry to the proceedings.

Really, though, monsters were my main requirement in this book, and Sigler delivers a decent one in "Ancestor." I was disappointed that he revealed their nature early on through various autopsy scenes in the middle of the book; I'd rather that the scientists get more of a surprise at a later stage in the game, when the claws are out and it's too late to question past actions. That criticism aside, Sigler does let his creations lose in the story to run amok and kill willy-nilly. He also throws in monsters of the psychotic homo sapiens variety for villainous color and an ire-inducing outlet.

"Ancestor" is a good romp through science monster-tale land. Others have made the comparison to Crichton's JP, and I can't help but see it, too. If you dug the velociraptors wreaking havoc on a tropical island, you will dig the ancestors wreaking same on a wintry rock.

* * * *

On a different note: this is the third, full-length novel that I've read on the Kindle, and I'm surprised by how easy it is to immerse myself in the screen with the same concentration that I bring to the printed page. Normally, I'd pick up a book like this in print, but Amazon waved it under my nose with a 99 cent price tag, and I was too weak-willed to resist. Print will always rule; that said, count me in with eBooks on ergonomic, reading-friendly eReaders.

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 4 out of 5]

REview to come

[Γιώτα Παπαδημακοπούλου · Rating 4 out of 5]

Όταν ήμουνα πιο μικρή οι ιστορίες τρόμου με γοήτευαν. Αυτός ήταν κι ένας εκ των λόγων που λάτρευα τον King ο οποίος όμως, και ιδιαίτερα με το πέρασμα των χρόνων, έμοιαζε να μην έχει νέες ιδέες αλλά, να καταφεύγει στην ανακύκλωση παλιότερων επιτυχιών που έκαναν το όνομά του διάσημο σε ολόκληρο τον πλανήτη. Και κακά τα ψέματα, μπορεί οι ιστορίες του να μας αρέσουν, τουλάχιστον οι πιο παλιές ωστόσο, κανένας δεν μπορεί να ισχυριστεί ότι συγγραφικά είναι μεγάλο ταλέντο αφού, δεν φτάνει μόνο να έχεις μια καλή ιστορία να αφηγηθείς αλλά, πρέπει να έχεις και εξίσου καλό συγγραφικό λόγο για να το κάνεις πράγμα το οποίο στερείται σε αρκετά μεγάλο βαθμό, γεγονός που συνειδητοποιείς όσο μεγαλώνεις. Και κακά τα ψέματα, το λογοτεχνικό θρίλερ χρειάζεται νέα πρόσωπα, με φρέσκιες, σύγχρονες ιδέες και ταλέντο και προσωπικά νομίζω ότι το βρήκα στο πρόσωπο του Sigler διαβάζοντας ένα βιβλίο που υπό συνθήκες μπορεί να μην έφτανε ποτέ στα χέρια μου.

Ο συγγραφέας καταπιάνεται με μια τρομακτική απειλή η οποία δεν σχετίζεται με μυθικά τέρατα, ούτε με εισβολείς από το διάστημα αλλά, με ένα πλάσμα προϊόν την δικιάς μας, σύγχρονης, ανθρώπινης γενετικής. Επιστήμονες ανά τον πλανήτη προσπαθούν να δημιουργήσουν ένα πλάσμα το οποίο θα έχει τόση συμβατότητα με το ανθρώπινο σώμα ώστε να επιτρέπεται η μεταμόσχευση στον άνθρωπο, λύνοντας με αυτό τον τρόπο το πρόβλημα της έλλειψης οργάνων. Τα πράγματα όμως δεν είναι ούτε απλά, ούτε εύκολα. Άλλωστε είναι γνωστό πως η επιστήμη, όσο καλές προθέσεις κι αν έχει ορισμένες φορές, μπορεί να οδηγήσει σε τραγικά αποτελέσματα δημιουργώντας καταστάσεις που ούτε οι ίδιοι οι επιστήμονες δεν είχαν προβλέψει πάνω στην επιθυμία τους να επιτευχθούν οι στόχοι τους και που δεν θα μπορούσαν να διαχειριστούν αν τα πράγματα εξελισσόντουσαν διαφορετικά απ' ότι περίμεναν.

Ένας ιός ανατρέπει τα σχέδια των επιστημονικών κέντρων τα οποία και λαμβάνουν εντολή να κλείσουν άμεσα τις εγκαταστάσεις τους. Υπάρχει όμως ένα κέντρο, εκείνο της Τζενάντα, που δεν είναι πρόθυμο να ακολουθήσει την εντολή αυτή η οποία θα τερματίσει τα σχέδιά της καθώς βρίσκονται πολύ κοντά στην ανακάλυψη εκείνη που όχι μόνο θα τους κάνει διάσημους αλλά θα αλλάξει τα δεδομένα της σύγχρονης ιατρικής. Έτσι φυγαδεύονται σε μια ερημική τοποθεσία όπου θα μπορέσουν να ολοκληρώσουν την έρευνά τους και να έχουν επιτέλους στην διάθεσή τους τον πολύτιμο πρόγονο. Όμως τα πράγματα εξελίσσονται διαφορετικά απ' ότι περίμεναν καθώς το πλάσμα αναπτύσσεται με ταχύτατους ρυθμούς και σε καμία των περιπτώσεων δεν είναι το φυτοφάγο ζώο που όλοι περιμένουν αλλά, ένα σαρκοβόρο αρπακτικό.

Το βιβλίο ουσιαστικά χωρίζεται σε δύο διαφορετικά μέρη. Το πρώτο εξ' αυτών είναι καθαρή επιστήμη όμως αυτό δεν πρέπει να τρομάζει τον υποψήφιο αναγνώστη. Δεν χρειάζεται να είσαι γενετιστής για να κατανοήσεις το τι και γιατί συμβαίνει αφού ο συγγραφέας φροντίζει μεν να ντύσει την ιστορία του με ρεαλισμό και επιστημονικά στοιχεία ωστόσο, το κάνει με τέτοιον τρόπο έτσι ώστε η παραμικρή λεπτομέρεια να εξηγείται και να γίνεται κατανοητή από τον οποιονδήποτε. Και αν υποθέτετε πως αυτό είναι το πληκτικό της υπόθεσης κάνετε λάθος γιατί, μέσω της αφήγησης και της περιγραφής του Sidler ταξιδεύουμε σε έναν κόσμο που ναι μεν έχουμε ακουστά ωστόσο, δεν γνωρίζουμε πολλά πράγματα επί της ουσίας και είναι εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρον το γεγονός ότι γινόμαστε κομμάτι του. Η πορεία της εξέλιξης του πρόγονου σε ένα τρομακτικό πλάσμα μπορεί να είναι αναμενόμενη αλλά αυτό είναι που μας κάνει να αγωνιούμε για την συνέχεια και αυτό είναι που κάνει ένα θρίλερ πετυχημένο.

Το δεύτερο μέρος έχει να κάνει καθαρά με την δράση και οι καρδιακοί μας παλμοί σταδιακά ανεβαίνουν για να φτάσουν όσο πλησιάζουμε στην κορύφωση της δράσης στα ύψη. Συνωμοσίες, σκοτεινά μυστικά και επιθυμίες για καταξίωση, είναι μόνο μερικά από τα στοιχεία που δίνουν κίνητρα στους πρωταγωνιστές να θέλουν να προχωρήσουν ή να τερματίσουν το πείραμα το οποίο τελικά ολοκληρώνεται αναπάντεχα και με τραγικές συνέπειες. Χαμένοι στη μέση του πουθενά πρέπει να αγωνιστούν για να επιβιώσουν και να ξεφύγουν από το τρομακτικό κακό που οι ίδιοι δημιούργησαν. Αξίζει όμως να σωθούν ή να πεθάνουν όλοι; Το θέμα είναι στο ότι ο πρόγονος πήρε την μορφή με την οποία γεννήθηκε αλλά, οι λόγοι που βρίσκονται πίσω από την δημιουργία του οι οποίοι είναι πιο δραματικοί απ' όσο μπορείτε να φανταστείτε και που τελικά οδηγούν σε έναν εφιάλτη αγωνίας και αίματος.

Ένα βιβλίο του οποίου η πλοκή είναι εξαιρετικά καλοδουλεμένη και μελετημένη μέχρι και την τελευταία λεπτομέρεια. Η περιγραφή των εικόνων και των καταστάσεων είναι τόσο ζωντανή και αληθοφανείς που υπάρχουν στιγμές τόσο σκληρές και βίαιες που εύχεσαι η φαντασία του συγγραφέα να μην κάλπαζε τόσο πολύ, χωρίς ωστόσο να μπορείς να αφήσεις το βιβλίο από τα χέρια σου αγωνιώντας για το τι πρόκειται να συμβεί στην συνέχεια και για το ποια θα είναι η τελική κατάληξη. Οι χαρακτήρες του Sigler είναι άριστα σκιαγραφημένοι και δομημένη με μια ιδιαίτερη πολυπλοκότητα η οποία ουσιαστικά καθοδηγεί και το όλο εγχείρημα. Ένας πραγματικά χαρισματικός συγγραφέας τρόμου του οποίου ελπίζω σύντομα να καταφέρω να διαβάσω και άλλα έργα, έστω κι αν τρομάζω στην σκέψη για όλα εκείνα που θα εξιστορεί καθώς, δεν μιλάμε για μια ιστορία φανταστικού αλλά, για ένα επιστημονικό θρίλερ πραγματικών, ρεαλιστικών και πολύ κοντά στη σύγχρονη επιστήμη, διαστάσεων.

[✿ℎazℯℓ - thℯ ℛock Cℎick ℱairy✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author really makes the strangest animal antagonists!

COWS.

Imagine having cows as antagonists.

Oh gosh. It was so weird, but it was soooo creepy at the same time. What makes it more scary is that it felt as if it could really be true. One day, a delusional scientist will make bizarre and deadly creatures, I'm telling you!

This book also shows that justice shall be served! That dog sure is my hero!! Read it so that you'll know what I'm talking about. Heh.

I admit, the start of this book was a bit of a drag to me. It was bland and I wanted to go to the action parts right away. As it turns out, it was a big build up. The ending of this book is probably one of the loudest resounding boom in my fictional world.

If you like books with really good plots, creepy creatures with gore on the side... Then this one's for you!

[Greig Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bioexperimentation, great characters and settings. Add in some very raw gore and you have a recipe for great fun. Sigler knows how to create tension, and then unleash the jolts with flair. I loved his villains - menacing and brutal, and his good guys had just enough flaws to make them believable, but likeable.

Sigler also has unique creature ideas, and the way he blends the science fact with fiction is very well done.

My only reservation, and I'm sure its just me because I watch Futurama, was that when he described the creature lifting the 'sail/fin' on its head, i thought of Dr Zoidberg!

I've just bought another of his (CONTAGIOUS), and its already looking good!

[Jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was most certainly not the book to get me back into reading.
I felt that by 35% in, pretty much nothing had happened but an introduction to far to many characters and every single one of them were unlikeable - I understand people love complex characters, but there was no substance to anyone, they were all just simply unlikeable.
Also, dare I go as far to say this author is somewhat misogynistic how he portrays women? One example is repetitively calling a 45 year old female scientist "old woman". Multiple male characters couldn't believe the "old woman" could do the things she could agility wise. Mind you, these males were of similar age - the youngest being 29 I think.
Anyway, it probably would've gotten far more exciting and enjoyable but I read to slow and I couldn't suffer with any of these insufferable characters anymore. I just wanted them to get eaten by a dinosaur or something.

[Tressa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had just finished the podcast for Nocturnal when I started reading Ancestor. Nocturnal blew me away with the suspense, characters, and monsters, so I assumed Ancestor would do the same. Ancestor is a great story but it doesn't compare to Nocturnal, Infected, and Contagious.

I did enjoy the Asian character and her rising foreboding about just what she was doing messing with genetics. The beasts made the book, though. Intelligent killing machines.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was hilarious & fun. If it bothers you or if it's your kink, this is a little gory. I felt worse for the animals than the people involved, but that's always the case for me. I went in a little spoiled because I'd read the Infected trilogy just before & the events in this book are set a few years previous to Pandemic. I will probably reread this one.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can still remember the first book I read from this author, Infected. I would say that book did what the movie, Arachnophobia did to people watching it. It gave me the chills and creeps all at the same time. Thus, I really thought that I was going to be in for a treat and get the same experience with this book. I would say that the last third of the book was just what I was looking forward too but I wanted to whole book to be that way.

The characters were fine. None that really stood out for me. Yet, some of them kept things interesting. I just kept waiting to see what the creature was that was going to possibly save humankind. Again, I was left hanging until the last third of the story. At that point I could not stop reading fast enough. Even some of your worst nightmares could not compare to what was born. This book may not have been one of my favorites but Mr. Sigler is still a top favorite author of mine.

[Reese Copeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really kind of tough to get started in this book. I don't know if it started out too slow for me or I was getting caught up in the science of what. Once it really got going, it was impossible to stop listening to the audio book. Fantastic mix of horror and Sci-fi and the dangers of messing around with genetics.

[Μαρία · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5☆

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a recent review, I (foolishly) said Blake Crouch is the only current author I’ve read who’s effectively meshing hard science* with genre fiction (especially horror & / or suspense). I conveniently forgot about Chuck Wendig, Jonathan Maberry, M.R. Carey, & Lauren Beukes, all of whose recent books have incorporated science not as show-offy ornamentation (I’m looking at you, Martian) but as an integral component to the narrative engine.

The most egregious name I forgot about? Scott Sigler.

I loved his Infected trilogy (about an alien invasion), & Ancestor is not only even better, it effectively infuses science in a high-octane thriller** that practically begs to be turned into a movie.

Bankrolled by two megalomaniacal billionaires (are there any other kind?), a group of scientists is hard at work in the far reaches of the Canadian wilderness. Their task? Find a way to implant a new organism in the womb of cows that can eventually be harvested for organ transplants. The trick is to genetically engineer this new organism to resemble a distant ancestor of humanity while ensuring the cow’s body doesn’t reject it.

There’s some heavy lifting early on to help the reader understand exactly how this whole process works. Is it scientifically accurate? I dunno. But Sigler sells it in such a way that it sounds entirely plausible.

But lest you think this is some sort of exercise in eggheadery, Ancestor is, first & foremost, a horror novel, & it has much more in common with Alien than Bill Nye the Science Guy. Because things of course go horrendously tits up,*** & when the expedition moves to an isolated island in the middle of Lake Superior, there’s nowhere to go when the cow creatures turn out to be brutally efficient – & hungry – killing machines.

Cue hacking, slashing, & screaming.

Ancestor is stripped-down, built for speed, & a helluva lot of fun.

* I fully recognize that I know diddly-squat about science, so what I’m calling “hard science” may in fact be “limp, flaccid science” to anyone who knows anything about the topic.

** Pretty sure I saw this description on a movie poster somewhere.

*** Science term.

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is not supposed to be boring, Ancestor is supposed to be a Jurassic Park meets Predator type of read. The premise is promising and it should have been an easy read but there was too many chapters dedicated to unnecessary, punishing dialogue. The Characters are supposedly brilliant intellectuals yet they read like emotionally stunted pre-teens. I wasn't expecting anything profound from reading Ancestor but I was expecting something fast-paced and exciting. Unfortunately Scott focuses most of his writing on his flat, stereotypical characters and not on the monsters. The real live monsters don't even appear until page 250 (and the real carnage doesn't start until page 300). When I read chocolate books like Ancestor I read them because I want to escape from pathetic, whiny drama stories, sadly until you get to page 250, all Ancestor is is an angsty teenager drama book.

[Karen’s Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished the last page a few minutes ago and my heart is still pounding at the final action sequences. I think this story would make a great movie!! Science gone all freaky! Definitely a page turner!

Edit: I just saw somewhere that this is a dualogy. I need to go find the second book pronto!! I'll be back to share what it is! ;)

Edit: Aha, book 2 is still to come. Whew. Thought I missed something.

[Garry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audiobook. A story about what goes wrong when man/woman messes with nature. A cross between Jurassic park meets bob and Doug Mackenzie only due to the cheesy Canadian accents in the audio book. Eh. All in all, entertaining and monsters are real doozies when it comes to monsters.

[Gendou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only the first chapter deals with actual science fiction topics. The rest is action/horror. I thought the characters were quite good, especially Clayton! The science behind the Ancestor monsters was really dumb, but oh well.

[Rusty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. I can't believe I listened to the whole thing. One of those books where you just want everybody to die in the first chapter. Not sure whether even SYFY would pick up the film rights.

And almost no author should narrate their own audiobook.

[Janine · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Genetiker entwickeln eine DNA, die Millionen von Schwerkranken wieder hoffen lässt. Daraus lassen sich Lebewesen züchten, die als Organspender dienen können. Doch das Experiment, höchst illegal und auf einer entlegenen Station in der Arktis durchgeführt, hat einen tödlichen Ausgang: Die Kreaturen sind perfekte Raubtiere, und plötzlich steht der Mensch nicht mehr an der Spitze der Nahrungskette."

Ich hatte wirklich meine Schwierigkeiten reinzukommen, obwohl es schon irgendwie interessant war, aber jetzt nicht wirklich spannend gewesen ist. Es hat sich ziemlich gezogen. Endlich nach ca. 250 wurde es dann auch mal spannend.
Es ist kein schlechter Roman und es regt zum Nachdenken an, dass man mal vielleicht die Natur so lassen sollte wie sie ist, anstatt herum zu experimentieren.
Charaktere waren ganz gut und auch die Beschreibungen der Umgebungen konnten mich erreichen, sodas Bilder in meinen Kopf entstehen konnten.
Man braucht für diese Geschichte wirklich nur viel Geduld.
Ich habe aber gehört, dass die andere Romane spannender sind bzw sich nicht so ziehen wie dieser Roman. Und deswegen werde ich diesem Autor noch eine Chance geben. Schließlich habe ich noch 2 Bücher von ihm hier liegen


3,5 von 5 Sternen ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

[Charles Rivers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read some of the reviews and agree with some of their grievances, such as the basic dialogue and elementary descriptions. I would argue though, that the suspense and the mystique surrounding certain characters made me stick around for the long haul (which I don't regret). My favorite character, Dr. Liu Jiandan was the most interesting. She was psychologically complex, so much so that she may have provided the greatest surprise in the entire story. Her genius was hard not to admire, I mean she did play chess at the Kasparov level. At the same time, she was definitely neurodivergent in some way. It was admitted that she was a manic-depressive with a desire for suicide. Combine this personality with her role as the only person capable of successfully creating a species perfect for xenotransplantation, and you have a novel in which each chapter leaves you wanting more.