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Sky Dance
Bring back the lynx? Over my dead body!
A mutter passed through the crowd of environmental protestors, and Rory stepped forward. Your hunting has destroyed our hills and left them treeless wastes, devoid of wildlife. It s time that changed.
Lord Purdey s lip curled in a sneer. Listen, you lentil-eating cat lover, Scotland is owned by me and men like me. If we want to kill anything that moves and bulldoze your beloved hills flat, we will.
Someone from the group hurled a turnip. It struck Purdey a glancing blow and he crumpled slowly to the ground, just as the archaic class system he represented must eventually fall. Or so Rory hoped...
In his first two bestselling books, The Last Hillwalker and Bothy Tales, John D. Burns invited readers to join him in the hills and wild places of Scotland. In Sky Dance, he returns to that world to ask fundamental questions about how we relate to this northern landscape while raising a laugh or two along the way. Anyone who has stood and gazed at the majesty of the Scottish mountains will know this place and want to return to it. Now, as wild land is threatened like never before, it s time we asked ourselves what kind of future we want for the Highlands.
A mutter passed through the crowd of environmental protestors, and Rory stepped forward. Your hunting has destroyed our hills and left them treeless wastes, devoid of wildlife. It s time that changed.
Lord Purdey s lip curled in a sneer. Listen, you lentil-eating cat lover, Scotland is owned by me and men like me. If we want to kill anything that moves and bulldoze your beloved hills flat, we will.
Someone from the group hurled a turnip. It struck Purdey a glancing blow and he crumpled slowly to the ground, just as the archaic class system he represented must eventually fall. Or so Rory hoped...
In his first two bestselling books, The Last Hillwalker and Bothy Tales, John D. Burns invited readers to join him in the hills and wild places of Scotland. In Sky Dance, he returns to that world to ask fundamental questions about how we relate to this northern landscape while raising a laugh or two along the way. Anyone who has stood and gazed at the majesty of the Scottish mountains will know this place and want to return to it. Now, as wild land is threatened like never before, it s time we asked ourselves what kind of future we want for the Highlands.
320 pages, Paperback
Published September 5, 2019
12 people are currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
John D. Burns
9 books39 followersFree to down load; the first two chapters of The Last Hillwalker. Click here https://dl.bookfunnel.com/qpwf5mu3ik
Listen to an extract from the audio book
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/jo...
The combination of John’s love of the outdoors with his passion for writing and performance makes him a uniquely powerful storyteller. In his writing, John tells tales of his travels in the mountains, in his performance he talks of the profound relationship between men and wild places.
John has taken his one man plays to the Edinburgh Fringe and toured them widely around theatres and mountain festivals in the UK. John ‘s first play, Aleister Crowley: A Passion for Evil attracted great audiences in the Edinburgh Fringe of 2010.
His second play, Mallory: Beyond Everest, is a re-telling of the life of the legendary Everest mountaineer. The play was first performed in the Edinburgh Fringe of 2014 and in John portrays a man torn between his love of his wife and his burning ambition to conquer the world’s highest mountain.
Despite the serious subjects he deals with, humour is always close to the surface in everything he does. In The Last Hillwalker John brings together over forty year’s experience in the mountains of the British Isles to stories from our hills with humour and compassion.
Originally from Merseyside, John moved to the capital of the Highlands, Inverness, over thirty years ago, to follow his passion for the hills. For over 40 years he has walked and climbed the hills of Scotland whilst also making occasional trips to more exotic location like the Alps, the Pyrenes and the Canadian Rockies.
An expert ice climber, he was also a member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, and has taken part in numerous rescues in the Highlands. More recently he has rediscovered his love for remote bothies (isolated mountain shelters) and regularly visits the wilder places of his Scottish home.
John is an award-winning mountain writer and has just released his book about the wild places of Scotland, Bothy Tales. He is currently working on an audio version of his best selling book, The Last Hillwalker.
Listen to an extract from the audio book
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/jo...
The combination of John’s love of the outdoors with his passion for writing and performance makes him a uniquely powerful storyteller. In his writing, John tells tales of his travels in the mountains, in his performance he talks of the profound relationship between men and wild places.
John has taken his one man plays to the Edinburgh Fringe and toured them widely around theatres and mountain festivals in the UK. John ‘s first play, Aleister Crowley: A Passion for Evil attracted great audiences in the Edinburgh Fringe of 2010.
His second play, Mallory: Beyond Everest, is a re-telling of the life of the legendary Everest mountaineer. The play was first performed in the Edinburgh Fringe of 2014 and in John portrays a man torn between his love of his wife and his burning ambition to conquer the world’s highest mountain.
Despite the serious subjects he deals with, humour is always close to the surface in everything he does. In The Last Hillwalker John brings together over forty year’s experience in the mountains of the British Isles to stories from our hills with humour and compassion.
Originally from Merseyside, John moved to the capital of the Highlands, Inverness, over thirty years ago, to follow his passion for the hills. For over 40 years he has walked and climbed the hills of Scotland whilst also making occasional trips to more exotic location like the Alps, the Pyrenes and the Canadian Rockies.
An expert ice climber, he was also a member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, and has taken part in numerous rescues in the Highlands. More recently he has rediscovered his love for remote bothies (isolated mountain shelters) and regularly visits the wilder places of his Scottish home.
John is an award-winning mountain writer and has just released his book about the wild places of Scotland, Bothy Tales. He is currently working on an audio version of his best selling book, The Last Hillwalker.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 25, 2020
A really cleverly written story. Having read both Bothy Tales and The Last Hill Walker, which both had me chuckling and smiling wistfully, it was wonderful to read again John Burns' insightful and recognisable style. Altogether a different tale, but with the same humour amidst the serious elements, Sky Dance is both thought provoking and and enjoyable
May 28, 2020
Sometimes interesting but a bit too silly for my taste.
September 5, 2020
When those that want rewilding come to clash with the landowners of the Highlands it can only be explosive.
A very interesting story about the problems facing the Highlands, and where environmentalists clash with landowners, who just use the High,ands as their personal playground. Set over the course of a year, we follow Angus and Rory through four seasons in the highlands as they enjoy walking and camping in bothies, but over time they get to recognise the real problems. A bit of a slow starter with an explosive ending.
A very interesting story about the problems facing the Highlands, and where environmentalists clash with landowners, who just use the High,ands as their personal playground. Set over the course of a year, we follow Angus and Rory through four seasons in the highlands as they enjoy walking and camping in bothies, but over time they get to recognise the real problems. A bit of a slow starter with an explosive ending.
July 20, 2022
Loved this book as anyone interested in Scottish wild lands would be. The characters were so believable and yet there was an element of a Tom Sharpe farce faintly in the background. Cracking read from start to finish.
August 3, 2022
This was a fun read. As I’m getting ready for my first munro next month, I found it especially interesting and it made me even more excited to get out into the wild. Of course, the serious issue of rewilding should be mentioned and I like how Burns handled it.
May 6, 2020
A good tale
The writer takes us on a journey of the weekend bothy dweller, with land owners who suppose everything that might oppose their barren grouse moors
The writer takes us on a journey of the weekend bothy dweller, with land owners who suppose everything that might oppose their barren grouse moors
May 15, 2021
Not a bad story a bit unrealistic in parts and the attempt at regional accents becomes annoying after a while as they characters only seem to know stereotypical phrases and that is all they say.
January 23, 2020
High tensions in the Highlands
This is a campaigning novel crafted from a passion for the hills and wilderness of Scotland. It revolves around the conflicting perspectives of outdoor lovers and landowners. The author is known for his engaging reminiscences of hillwalking and staying in bothies, and his easy style makes for a good read. In Sky Dance he uses the vehicle of a novel and its fictional characters to illustrate both longstanding and contemporary conflicts between those who own the land and those who use it for leisure. The key players are Rory and Angus, two keen walkers, and the dastardly Lord Purdey and his gamekeepers. Other well-penned characters appear in support of the narrative, each adding a healthy and enjoyable dose of caricature and stereotype to the tale. There is humour and wry commentary on issues such as planning skulduggery, raptor persecution and re-wilding the lynx. The personal lives of the main protagonists adds further spice, and the finale is worthy of a Tom Sharpe farce.
If you are familiar with the Scottish highlands you will recognise the author’s intimate knowledge and experience – he writes convincingly of the settings for the action.
The tale maintains good pace throughout, and you are left in little doubt over the author’s own stance on the issues. It works as an argument as well as a novel – not an easy balance to achieve, although there are plenty of precedents – “The Constant Gardener” came to mind, but that lacked the elements of humour in Sky Dance.
The star rating for this book gave me a dilemma. 3 stars would be mean given that its both entertaining and gallops along nicely. The downsides for me were the cartoon regional accents afforded to Angus (Aberdonian), Jen’s broad Yorkshire straight from Last of the Summer Wine, and Sinead’s Northern Irish, all of which felt a bit contrived. The funny bits were widely spaced, although the demonstration in Edinburgh and the final confrontation were hilarious, so its a slightly generous 4 stars from me.
This is a campaigning novel crafted from a passion for the hills and wilderness of Scotland. It revolves around the conflicting perspectives of outdoor lovers and landowners. The author is known for his engaging reminiscences of hillwalking and staying in bothies, and his easy style makes for a good read. In Sky Dance he uses the vehicle of a novel and its fictional characters to illustrate both longstanding and contemporary conflicts between those who own the land and those who use it for leisure. The key players are Rory and Angus, two keen walkers, and the dastardly Lord Purdey and his gamekeepers. Other well-penned characters appear in support of the narrative, each adding a healthy and enjoyable dose of caricature and stereotype to the tale. There is humour and wry commentary on issues such as planning skulduggery, raptor persecution and re-wilding the lynx. The personal lives of the main protagonists adds further spice, and the finale is worthy of a Tom Sharpe farce.
If you are familiar with the Scottish highlands you will recognise the author’s intimate knowledge and experience – he writes convincingly of the settings for the action.
The tale maintains good pace throughout, and you are left in little doubt over the author’s own stance on the issues. It works as an argument as well as a novel – not an easy balance to achieve, although there are plenty of precedents – “The Constant Gardener” came to mind, but that lacked the elements of humour in Sky Dance.
The star rating for this book gave me a dilemma. 3 stars would be mean given that its both entertaining and gallops along nicely. The downsides for me were the cartoon regional accents afforded to Angus (Aberdonian), Jen’s broad Yorkshire straight from Last of the Summer Wine, and Sinead’s Northern Irish, all of which felt a bit contrived. The funny bits were widely spaced, although the demonstration in Edinburgh and the final confrontation were hilarious, so its a slightly generous 4 stars from me.
April 15, 2021
This is another fabulous read from John Burns, this time a novel focussed on the fight to rewild areas of Scotland. It's a book with an important message to get across.
As with the other John Burns I've read, this is easy to get into and the cast of characters are enjoyable, if in this case lacking a little depth.
The story moves from the fictional isle of Morvern, to Inverness and Edinburgh wih the descriptions of the outdoors and the wildlife being particular highlights.
The frontispiece says that while Sky Dance is a work of fiction, that doesn't mean it isn't true. And unfortunately, this is where I've dropped it a star. I read Sky Dance straight after Last Hillwalker and it is plain to see where some of the characters and passages in the novel draw their inspiration from. Maybe if I'd had a bigger gap between the two books I wouldn't have noticed.
I purchased this directly from Vertebrate and bought the hardcover. I mention this just to praise the high production quality of that edition.
As with the other John Burns I've read, this is easy to get into and the cast of characters are enjoyable, if in this case lacking a little depth.
The story moves from the fictional isle of Morvern, to Inverness and Edinburgh wih the descriptions of the outdoors and the wildlife being particular highlights.
The frontispiece says that while Sky Dance is a work of fiction, that doesn't mean it isn't true. And unfortunately, this is where I've dropped it a star. I read Sky Dance straight after Last Hillwalker and it is plain to see where some of the characters and passages in the novel draw their inspiration from. Maybe if I'd had a bigger gap between the two books I wouldn't have noticed.
I purchased this directly from Vertebrate and bought the hardcover. I mention this just to praise the high production quality of that edition.
April 25, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed Sky Dance. The tale is vivid and compelling, inviting the reader to experience the Scottish Highlands. I found the characters well developed. The plot is unique and engaging,with good structure and pacing. It kept my interest from start to finish. The seriousness of the issues at the heart of the novel is offset by the beauty of the setting and the witty and colourful presentation. From a literary viewpoint, I do think that the novel would have benefited from a bit more editing, but I did enjoy and appreciate the novel as is. Would highly recommend.
August 31, 2020
Good read
Really easy and enjoyable read if you love the mountains, Scotland and wildlife issues. Serious and amusing in parts. I would recommend it.
Really easy and enjoyable read if you love the mountains, Scotland and wildlife issues. Serious and amusing in parts. I would recommend it.
June 15, 2022
Sky Dance
A quite magnificent read, a passionate page turner for me. If you have a wee love of the outdoors, this is for you Recommended.
A quite magnificent read, a passionate page turner for me. If you have a wee love of the outdoors, this is for you Recommended.
July 31, 2022
I managed to get hold of a signed and number hard backed version of this great book. A grand read just a shame that it is not yet true to real life.
January 5, 2023
Very good, thoroughly enjoyed
July 30, 2024
the attempt at Doric is insulting but the story is ok.
August 19, 2025
Brilliant, funny but with a stark message throughout. Great read.
January 3, 2020
Sky Dance is a sharp commentary on the division surrounding the beauty of the Scottish hills, with a group of walkers set against the local wealthy landowners. I’ve walked and climbed in these mountains frequently but wasn’t really aware of the conflict, and this book does an excellent job of setting out the reasons behind people’s impassioned beliefs.
Burns’ writing is at its most insightful when describing the landscapes and the wildlife, giving life to minute details to transport the reader into the heart of these places. In one of the most vivid scenes of the novel, characters search through the undergrowth for the remains of a building long since abandoned to nature; Burns’ careful, evocative writing made this a scene that has come back to mind often when I’ve been walking in the hills. The description of one of the characters watching the sky dance for the first time and the lingering effect it has on him perfectly captures the way that brief moments of magic in the mountains can change someone.
The plot moves quickly through the course of a year, closely following the lives of a group of walkers. Sky Dance perfectly captures the spirit of a local mountaineering club – brought together from wildly different lives by a shared love of the outdoors – and I really enjoyed the depictions of their frequent gatherings in pubs or in bothies. Burns takes great care to explain the reasons behind why walkers and landowners do things a certain way in the outdoors, which would be really valuable for anyone less familiar with life in the hills.
Sky Dance left me intrigued to find out more about the politics behind land ownership and management in Scotland, more aware of the effects of my own actions in the hills, and determined to pay more attention to my surroundings next time I’m in the mountains – to spend more time watching wildlife and noticing the landscape instead of just rushing through it.
Burns’ writing is at its most insightful when describing the landscapes and the wildlife, giving life to minute details to transport the reader into the heart of these places. In one of the most vivid scenes of the novel, characters search through the undergrowth for the remains of a building long since abandoned to nature; Burns’ careful, evocative writing made this a scene that has come back to mind often when I’ve been walking in the hills. The description of one of the characters watching the sky dance for the first time and the lingering effect it has on him perfectly captures the way that brief moments of magic in the mountains can change someone.
The plot moves quickly through the course of a year, closely following the lives of a group of walkers. Sky Dance perfectly captures the spirit of a local mountaineering club – brought together from wildly different lives by a shared love of the outdoors – and I really enjoyed the depictions of their frequent gatherings in pubs or in bothies. Burns takes great care to explain the reasons behind why walkers and landowners do things a certain way in the outdoors, which would be really valuable for anyone less familiar with life in the hills.
Sky Dance left me intrigued to find out more about the politics behind land ownership and management in Scotland, more aware of the effects of my own actions in the hills, and determined to pay more attention to my surroundings next time I’m in the mountains – to spend more time watching wildlife and noticing the landscape instead of just rushing through it.
June 9, 2020
I got this book free on my kindle when they did an event for the Coronavirus quarantine, so I didn’t have super high expectations for this, but it turned out to be pretty good!
The plot was a bit thin on the ground at certain points but overall it was strong.
Nice bit of character development happening.
Some of the writing describing the Scottish highlands, the setting of the book, was absolutely beautiful and really gives you an insight into how much this landscape means to the author.
The issues raised are current issues facing the highlands today and they are written about in such a way that even someone that didn’t even know what the highlands were eventually will feel the anger and injustice that the author and many other nature lovers obviously feel about this issue. This is done for the most part by one character (Angus) that goes through this journey himself, from caring and knowing little about these issues, to being heavily involved with them by the end of the book.
The accents were a bit forced.
4/5
The plot was a bit thin on the ground at certain points but overall it was strong.
Nice bit of character development happening.
Some of the writing describing the Scottish highlands, the setting of the book, was absolutely beautiful and really gives you an insight into how much this landscape means to the author.
The issues raised are current issues facing the highlands today and they are written about in such a way that even someone that didn’t even know what the highlands were eventually will feel the anger and injustice that the author and many other nature lovers obviously feel about this issue. This is done for the most part by one character (Angus) that goes through this journey himself, from caring and knowing little about these issues, to being heavily involved with them by the end of the book.
The accents were a bit forced.
4/5
October 15, 2019
John D Burns in his book Sky Dance illuminates the Scottish Highlands, the landscape, the people who live there, the way’s of life that often don’t coexist and the future that this land could have.
I consumed this book in audio format which was perfect with the narrator deftly handling the multitude of accents that intertwine throughout the story.
For me the plot was simple, heavily signposted and really just a layer played out on the magnificent history of Scotland. Themes of love, outdoor pursuits, aristocracy & entitlement, politics and of course the future and rewilding are there to be consumed in an often light hearted way.
John D Burns has written two best selling books previously, readers of those will not be disappointed in his latest effort.
I consumed this book in audio format which was perfect with the narrator deftly handling the multitude of accents that intertwine throughout the story.
For me the plot was simple, heavily signposted and really just a layer played out on the magnificent history of Scotland. Themes of love, outdoor pursuits, aristocracy & entitlement, politics and of course the future and rewilding are there to be consumed in an often light hearted way.
John D Burns has written two best selling books previously, readers of those will not be disappointed in his latest effort.
October 13, 2019
I really enjoyed this book as it had me hooked right from the start. I love being in the hills but the book made my desire to go out there even greater.
I am well aware of the landowner issues in Scotland and the environmental damage they cause, so it was exciting to find out what the two heroes in the book would do next to fight these issues.
The book inspired me to look deeper into how I can support groups that fight landowner issues in Scotland and if it inspires more people this way I think that would be great.
All in all a brilliant book for so many reasons and I would highly recommend it.
I am well aware of the landowner issues in Scotland and the environmental damage they cause, so it was exciting to find out what the two heroes in the book would do next to fight these issues.
The book inspired me to look deeper into how I can support groups that fight landowner issues in Scotland and if it inspires more people this way I think that would be great.
All in all a brilliant book for so many reasons and I would highly recommend it.
January 29, 2020
Very enjoyable read with a mixture of insight, pace, comedy, character interest and relationship sub plots; enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews