Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Sky Dance

  • Fighting for the Wild in the Scottish Highlands
  • By: John D. Burns
  • Narrated by: Stewart Crank
  • Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (14 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Sky Dance

By: John D. Burns
Narrated by: Stewart Crank
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

"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 best-selling books, The Last Hillwalker and Bothy Tales, John D. Burns invited audiences 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.

©2019 John D. Burns (P)2019 Vertebrate Digital
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Wild Winter cover art
The Partisan Heart cover art
Bothy Tales cover art
The Last Hillwalker cover art
The Farthest Shore: Seeking Solitude and Nature on the Cape Wrath Trail in Winter cover art
Outpost cover art
The Unforgiven Dead cover art
Finding Hildasay cover art
Call-Out cover art
The Wolf Road cover art
The Wild Places cover art
The Accursed Moor cover art
My Farming Life cover art
Our Wild Farming Life: Adventures on a Scottish Highland Croft cover art
Grimm Up North cover art
Crone cover art

What listeners say about Sky Dance

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love this book for so many reasons.

Ok, the pronunciation of Scottish words and places is off sometimes and the plot is at times predictable and at others totally outlandish but it's a great story that kept me gripped and the narrators voice is good. Everyone living in the Highlands should read this book, although fictional it's also extremely enlightening as to the ridiculous land ownership situation we seemingly tolerate . Anyone living here will also enjoy the thinly veiled places and characters that will be all too familiar. Highly recommend.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Not bad

I couldn’t help comparing this to the author’s autobiographical works, and at first I was a bit disappointed. It lacks the humour of his earlier books and I found the pace quite slow, especially in the beginning. But it grew on me and I enjoyed it in the end. It’s a lighthearted look at some serious subjects which could otherwise be quite boring or depressing to read about. It will probably mean more to hill-walkers and environmental vegans than to normal members of the public. The narration was generally fine, although a couple of the accents grated.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Gripping novel

The conflict between landowners and hillwalkers in the Scottish highlands is explored through a diverse range of characters in Burns' gripping novel. The two main characters, Rory and Angus, are seen struggling with a posh landowner Lord Purdey after seeing a Harrier being shot on his land.

It's a bit of a mixed bag: adventure novel; a book about environmental activism and some Sherlock Holmes-esque investigation bits - this book has it all.

The narrator was fantastic in distinguishing between the many accents across the course of the book.

For someone who generally reads non-fiction, I thoroughly enjoyed this!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Good read

Overall a decent book, bit preachy at times with stereotypically 'baddies' which comes across a bit divisivea. I have an interest in the wild places of Scotland and the re wilding/land ownership/reintroduction of lynx and found the overall story good fun to read, great if you didn't know too much about it before hand, can be a bit 'explainy' if you already have a good idea and opinion on it. read 'the lynx and us' book for some supplemental non fiction if you get gripped by the subject.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Really enjoyed it, highlighted the grouse moor

Really enjoyed it, highlighted the grouse moor decimation of the natural eco system.
This is something as a southern Englishman I had never heard of. Ignorantly believing that this was how the Scotish landscape always was.
I have read all of Johns books and they ignite a wanderlust thats in all of us. Its a shame its 700 miles away.
Look forwards to the next book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Highly recommend.

A great old romp of a story, with a serious message but also a sense of hope and some good humour. Thoroughly absorbed by the characters as performed by Stewart Crank..

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

leftie vegan socialist propaganda

what a shame this could have been a nice countryside story but unfortunately it's all about the lefts hatred of anything that involves land owners and people who have done well in life. the sort of book that's sponsored by the guardian, Owen Jones and John monbiet. you know the type. the ones we don't want in the countryside. regular "daily mail" bashing, Brexit hating and I'm surprised they didn't include taking the knee and flying their "palestine" flags.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

SHOCKING NARRATION

Why on earth was this not narrated by a Scottish person instead of a Northerner doing a very bad impression of Scots and the pronunciation was terrible especially in words like BOTHY.......I was incredibly disappointed with the whole thing and abandoned it halfway through.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Terrible narration

Couldn't listen to this - so distracted and offended by appalling 'accents' by narrator
Sound quality also bad.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!