A Beautiful Friendship

Star Kingdom, Book 1

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Stephanie Harrington had always expected to be a forest ranger on her homeworld of Meyerdahl until her parents relocated to the frontier planet of Sphinx in the far distant Star Kingdom of Manticore. It should have been the perfect new home - a virgin wilderness full of new species of every sort, just waiting to be discovered. But Sphinx is a far more dangerous place than ultra-civilized Meyerdahl, and Stephanie's explorations come to a sudden halt when her parents lay down the law: no trips into the bush without adult supervision!

Yet Stephanie is a young woman determined to make discoveries, and the biggest one of all awaits her: an intelligent alien species. The forest-dwelling treecats are small, cute, smart, and have a pronounced taste for celery. And they are also very, very deadly when they or their friends are threatened - as Stephanie discovers when she comes face-to-face with Sphinx's most lethal predator after a hang-gliding accident.

But her discoveries are only beginning, for the treecats are also telepathic and able to bond with certain humans, and Stephanie's find - and her first-of-its kind bond with the treecat Climbs Quickly - land both of them in a fresh torrent of danger. Galactic-sized wealth is at stake, and Stephanie and the treecats are squarely in the path of highly placed enemies determined to make sure the planet Sphinx remains entirely in human hands, even if that means the extermination of another thinking species.

Unfortunately for those enemies, the treecats have saved Stephanie Harrington's life. She owes them - and Stephanie is a young woman who stands by her friends. Which means things are about to get very interesting on Sphinx.

©2011 Words of Weber, Inc. (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

The start of a very good series

If you liked the Honnor Harrington series, you will love this new series. The stars have different names but this is Honor as a teenager when she first met the tree cats. Many of the names are different, but the crossover's are along the same story line. For example: she calls her cat "Stinker". If you haven't herd the Honnor Harrington series I believe most will still enjoy this very much as it is a stand alone series. I am looking forward to and am sure I will purchase the rest of the series as they come out.

Wooden

This is a backgrounder to the Honor Harrington series, providing the back history of the first human/treecat interactions. It can stand alone as a story though I certainly wouldn't recommend it as an introduction to David Weber or the HH series. It wraps the human/treecat interaction in the "genius child" motif, and characters are either all good or all evil. If you're comfortable with storylines that rely on telepathy and empathy as the ground of alienness, then you might like this well enough. For myself, I thought it was an adequate story but not more. The narration is fine.

More of a YA book

This was more of a YA book unless you've been listening to the Honor Harrington series, which I haven't yet, and want to know the background of the tree-cats. This book is about how the tree-cats and two legs first got to know each other. The lead character is an 11-14 year girl and was the first one to discover them. Even though it's more geared towards young adults it was an entertaining listen. I might have given it a 5 but it was confusing in places (never did figure out how much time had passed in places because I wasn't sure how long a T year was and seemed to talk about different measures of time) and got a little too wordy and descriptive in places so you started to lose interest.

The narrator was very good and it was pretty easy to distinguish voices considering she had to do voices for the two legs plus the tree-cats.

Not bad for a YA / Teen novel

Would you try another book from David Weber and/or Khristine Hvam?

I love David Webers' novels so yes, I absolutely would. However, I like his military novels and this just didn't add up. I did like the backstory on Honor Harrington and her "cat" so that filled in some information.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Beautiful Friendship?

That's the thing - The book flowed well, listened well there just wasn't anything memorable about it. I guess I would have to say the end scenes in the woods were perhaps the best written - definitely had the feel of David Webers normal style.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Hard to say as it would be a movie geared towards teens.

As Long as We Both Shall Live

The struggle to keep Treecats safe from human exploitation puts Stephanie Harrington in mortal danger...

Good introduction to sci-fi for my daughter

I was looking for a book to capture my daughters' imagination about space travel and what life might be like on distant worlds. This one certainly did the trick. Young adult protagonist with furry sidekick on an alien planet; perfect fodder for her imagination to get going.

Writing wasn't amazing but it worked for her level (reading at a 6th grade level).

Great start

Interesting world and species
It will be interesting to see the evolution in communication and understanding between the species.
Can be a bit violent to “animals” for a younger reader.
Performance was very good - varied voices were well done.
Looking forward to the next book.

A great listen that goes by too quickly

If you are not familiar with David Weber's work or Honnervers, this is a great place to start. I have to warn you, once your hooked you will be hook by the great writing and the wonderful plot lines of Honnervers and the story lines.

Great Intro to Sci-Fi for Pre/Young Teen

I first met Sci Fi in 7th grade when my Librarian at school introduced to to Robt.Heinlein's iconic "Red Planet Mars" wherein A young terran meets 'Willis' a Martian of old age.

A Beautiful Friendship is a fine young peoples novel of similar genre. Narrator Khristine Hvam always does a good job..shes one of my favorite narrators.

"A Beautiful Friendship" is an excellent introduction for an advanced 8 year old-(my grand daughters age) up to, perhaps, a young teen.

Last year I gave my old iPhone to Grand daughter for Christmas, loaded with all the Magic Tree House Audiobooks. Brianna has loved Jack and Annie all year,but honestly it's time to move up..she knows those stories by heart.

Because her mom and I are both total Sci-Fi/Fantasy fans I've tried to find something to get her interested. Bought "Dragonriders of Pern"..my kids favorite to have read to them at night and even a fav. of mine as a young adult..but it was a bit too advanced for Brianna.

I think shes going to love this series, except for the slightly gory part where the 'Tree Cat" that Stephanie, the young protagonist, is connected with battles a much larger predator. I feel a bit iffy about my tender hearted grand daughter hearing about the fight where the Tree Cat gets hurt and the predator gets dead....we don't even read "Old Yeller" or "Ring of Bright Water" to her....she loves animals..well some advanced warning to her..maybe she will skip ahead.

Otherwise, I think this book is a grand introduction for her to the wonderful world of alien planets made earth like with families living on them.

There are funny& dramatic parts and some suspense too.

Stephanie is a much better role model for my 8 year old sweetie than Lady Gaga or Katy Perry in this grannys opinion.

I'm pleased that Audible offers such unique books for children.

Recommend for mature pre teens and up...Even a grandmother (I screen everything I buy her) can enjoy the book, though obviously not the target audience, I found myself drawn into the world of Stephanie and 'her' Tree Cat, Climbs Swiftly.

Beautiful

I really enjoyed listening to this audio book as much as I enjoyed reading the book. I really liked the character of young Stephanie Harrington, and Lionheart. Time to move onto the next audio book.