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.

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.

good background

Stephanie at 14 tyears
good info on how our percosious heroine meets her soul mate
not as good a stiry as her later years but reader did excellent job as always

Fun!

Treecats Rule! Excellent for any age and Weber never lets me down!! We need more books about honor and integrity. Reader is always awesome!!

interesting start

Having listened to the Honour Harrington series. it was interesting to see how her family first met the treecats. I will be suggesting this series to a friend who has been looking for books for his own daughter.

Pretty Interesting Story

Pretty good world building, but the narrator wasn't very good in my opinion. I always love non-humanoid sentient aliens, especially since there aren't many around in books. The cast is pretty straight and white, though, and for how far it is in the future, you'd think things would be more different, so the story does have a few flaws. There is a bit of an endemic of telling instead of showing, and tons of exposition. The narrator isn't too good at doing voices (Climbs Quickly's voice sounds strongly like Naoto Shirogane in Persona 4, and that's not the worst of it), and sounds like she's smiling in innappropriate parts of the story, which mess up the tone.

Great Storyline

fun and spellbinding . Not too far fetched. Good for the younger crowd.
nice break.

A WONDERFUL story

It keeps me wondering what happens next on the edge of my seat. A lot of concern, wonder, amazement, and laughter in this book. Highly recommend.

a beautiful friend

a very delightful book. loved the reader. good lead in to the honor series.