A Beautiful Friendship

Star Kingdom, Book 1

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

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.

WEll done performance

The discovery of a new sapient species in a fully plausible future is and engaging tale, but the whole story is a little weak. Even so the book is thoroughly enjoyable

Fun story- well written even for adults

I was a bit disappointed when I realized this is probably written for YAs but was soon captivated by the storyline. And the narrator is awesome!

Great Book

This is a very good book. Unlike the Safehold series there is almost no action, however even an action fan liek me enjoyed this book. The character development is astounding, even in the treecat's view. My only issue is that it is relatively shorter than the Safehold series, but I would still put it very high on my top 10 list. The choice for a narrator is also great, she was also able to pull of the male voices with enough definition that if the next spoken line was also a guy you could tell it was different person. I believe this series will be very close to Safehold in my favorite series list, and that alone is complement enough.

Not for Adults

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. I was fooled by a review that said this was a good listen even though it is a juvenille book. It really is too superficial for a good listen and too predictable.

If you’ve listened to books by David Weber before, how does this one compare?

I think it would work for age 10 - 13. Not for any one that has listened to his Honor Harrington series.

Did Khristine Hvam do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Yes. Although I always imagined the Tree Cats a little differently.

Was A Beautiful Friendship worth the listening time?

No, I sped through after about 2 hours, stopping every now and then to pick up characters. I could get all I wanted with about 30 minutes listening time.

Any additional comments?

This is a good book for your pre-teen or just teen. It is definitely not for adults.

A well-written introduction into the Honorverse

Where does A Beautiful Friendship rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I would say that it ranks on the upper tier of my favorites.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Who else? Stephanie

What about Khristine Hvam’s performance did you like?

She did an impressive job of imitating a young girl.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, not cry, but occasionally it made me laugh or listen intently to a specific part. One interesting thing about audiobooks- there's no stopping them. So when a moving part comes along, you just have to listen carefully.

Any additional comments?

Definitely worth it, since I wanted to get a start in the Honorverse where it all began, and this book fulfilled that.

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.

Very Enjoyable time spent

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

Discovery, struggle, adventure

Who was your favorite character and why?

Stefanie Harrington of coarse! A deep well rounded character.

Which character – as performed by Khristine Hvam – was your favorite?

Khristine Hvam did an excellent job doing all the characters. She is certainly becoming one of my favorite narrators.

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

Sure if only I had that much time.

Any additional comments?

I hope this "pre Honor Harrington" series can continue to flourish. I have listened to this book and the next book Fire Season. Thus far I have thoroughly enjoyed them both.

Excellent in every way for teens and adults.

This is a story for everyone who can appreciate the bond between humans and non-humans and who can respect life in all its many forms. Cats don't usually play major roles in literature. Mr Weber's cats are believable since they never lose their feline quality. They are allowed to be their own species while still having hope of being able to communicate with open-minded humans. A very enjoyable listen.

I forgot it was a "kid's book"

I love the tree cats so much in the 'Honorverse' so I grabbed this when I wanted something a little lighter to listen to because I can't always concentrate enough on battles in the main series when I just have something playing. Anyway this was a delightful thing to listen to. And a great way to give the tree cats a full history.

Delightful!

This is a fantastic look back in time to the advent of the alliance between tree cats and the human colonists of Sphinx. Narrator Khristine Hvam is delightful, with a broad emotional range, easily-distinguishable character voices, and an almost palpable care for the written material. Highly recommended for Honor fans.