• A Beautiful Friendship

  • Star Kingdom, Book 1
  • By: David Weber
  • Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
  • Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (2,399 ratings)

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A Beautiful Friendship  By  cover art

A Beautiful Friendship

By: David Weber
Narrated by: Khristine Hvam
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Publisher's summary

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.

What listeners say about A Beautiful Friendship

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    1,281
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Story
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

remake of a remake but still quite fun

It is very similar to John Scalzi's Fuzzy Nation and probably an intentional remake of H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy like Scalzi's was. Did these authors decide to compete for who could do a better remake? It was very entertaining none the less. I listed to this one too out of curiosity, since it was on super sale, to see who's was better, This version was great! But I think maybe Scalzi's was a little better. This was a little more series and Scalzi has more humor.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Flat characters, dull, predictable story

It felt like the author found a 1,2,3 list of how to make money writing scifi for dumb girls.
"And girls love kitty cats, so maybe you can stick one in".
Painfully simplistic. Some other reviewers liked other books from this author, so I might try another, but this one was awful.

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2 people found this helpful

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

Nice

No where near the level of the mainline Harrington series, a bit simplistic. But the I guess it's directed towards a younger audience. Still, fills in some early history of the cats and the Harringtons.

If you are an adult start with On Basilisk Station, if your an emerging reader start here.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyment

If you could sum up A Beautiful Friendship in three words, what would they be?

Loved the environment, characters wewe bright and easy to follow. I loved the tree cats.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

To Sci-Fi or not to Sci-fi?

Space Sci-fi isn't my normal genre but I decided to give this book a try. I am surprisingly not disappointed. Stephanie is a spunky young lady who befriends a cat, but it isn't just any cat, it's a cat that can read mines with other sphinx. They are highly intelligent and once they choose a "human" soulmate, it's for life.
It is worth the credit in my humble opinion.

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2 people found this helpful

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

The coming of the treecats

As I have been reading all the books in David Weber's Honor Harrington series over the last few months, I was hesitant to pick up this audio book due to Harrington fatigue. Still, when I seen it on sale I had to give it a go. While this book is more aimed at younger readers, it takes a look at the history of Treecats which is something that is interesting.

This book looks at the society that forms when all the members are empaths as their world is being invaded by mind-blind creatures. The parts of the book that are written from the treecat point of view are some of the more thought-provoking parts of the book. I did find their acceptance of the evils of humanity to be a bit of a stretch though. The fact that Climbs Quickly instantly takes a dislike to someone because he can tell the words coming out of his mouth don't match his mental state did match my personal view of how an empath would feel about lying. A society where lying is nearly impossible would be drastically different from our society.

The story is rather on the simple side and is fairly predictable, but it was still fairly entertaining to listen to. The motivation for the villain is simply greed, but the underlying societal causes of that greed are examined. As light reading/listening material, this book is great. There are a lot of though-provoking elements for younger readers and the universe is interesting enough that I will likely listen to the upcoming books in this series when they are released.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A Beautiful Friendship

Really liked this book. It is a introduction to a new planet and a new species. Only wish Audible had the rest of this series! I have not listened to David Weber's other books but I will have to explore.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent read, excellent reader

Would you consider the audio edition of A Beautiful Friendship to be better than the print version?

I only listen to unabridged audio books, because I want to get the full story as the author intended, not a chopped up version. I wouldn't say that the audio book edition is better or worse because it has the exact same words in it. It can definitely be more convenient though, since it's it hard to read a book while driving, etc.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I like Stephanie because she reminds me a lot of Honor, and it's mostly about telling her story.

What does Khristine Hvam bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to think when I saw that Khristine Hvam was reading this book (hopefully this series). I've listened to the entire Honor Harrington series read by Allyson Johnson, and was expecting to have this done by her as well. I think that Khristine did a wonderful job though, and it does make sense to have a different reader do the prequel series of Star Kingdom.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Most good books/stories are, and this one was no exception. I mostly listen to books while walking to/from work or exercising, and I found myself looking for reasons to do those activities to listen more.

Any additional comments?

Excellent book, can't wait to read/listen to the rest of the series.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fun but a little light weight

A little slow at some points but it was... well... cute. When it came time to get real, the heroine didn't disappoint... she ceased to be cute. I am currently reading the Honor Harrington series and this insight into Tree Cats goes well with that series. I want a Tree Cat to adopt me.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great kids book

wonderful children's story. having a 14-year-old heroine with her cat being the ones who moved forward to save all the cats it's a wonderful storyline.

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1 person found this helpful