A Beautiful Friendship (Star Kingdom) (edition 2011)

I wanted to like this. I just couldn't get sucked into it. ( )

This book has two short novels in it. In the first, Stephanie Harrington discovers another intelligent species on the frontier world Sphinx. The treecats are a telepathic race, and while they are not able to communicate with humans Stephanie and the Treecat Climbs Quickly discover that they can forge an empathetic bond. In the second book, Stephanie is fighting to protect the Treecats from those who would harm them, usually for some sort of financial reason.

I liked the first story better than the second one, because much of it is told from Climbs Quickly’s point of view. It was a good first contact sort of story and Weber did a nice job of making the Treecats voice different than humans. Their perspective and culture were different and I liked the flavor that added to the story. As for the second story, I stalled out for a long time. I was hoping that we might explore Stephanie and Climbs Quickly’s relationship or their bond. Unfortunately they didn’t go in this direction and Climbs Quickly didn’t even narrate all that much. In fact he came across more as a smart pet than anything else. That left the story of a smart young person who manages to save the day with the help of her unique friends. I can’t say anything made it more than just average. ( )

This is the first book in the Honorverse: Stephanie Harrinton by Weber; a sub-series in his Honorverse series aimed at YA readers. The second book in this series, Fire Season, is due out October 2012.

The audiobook was very well done, with excellent narration and good distinction between character voices. It was a good book to listen to.

Stephanie has been forced to move to the relatively unpopulated planet of Sphinx when her scientist parents acquire land there. During one of her hanger flights Stephanie crashes into the forest only to be saved by another sentient species on the planet which she nicknames tree-cats. She bonds with a tree-cat she calls Lionheart and a struggle ensues to ensure the safety of this new species. The book switches between Stephanie’s and Lionheart’s/Climbs Quickly’s viewpoints. This worked well for the story and gave us an excellent glimpse into both sentient life forms (humans and treecats).

I listened to Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi earlier this year and you can’t help by think of that book when you read this one. To be honest this book is a less action-packed, less humorous Fuzzy Nation aimed at a YA audience. It is a decently done YA science fiction novel, but I felt like I was reading a watered down version of Fuzzy Nation.

This book does addresses some interesting issues like discovering and exploiting sentient species on a non-earth planet. Unfortunately the story is very simple and predictable. Things are incredibly very over-explained and reiterated again and again. The description is so repetitive and things are explained in such minute detail that the whole story felt very dumbed down.

Stephanie makes an excellent heroine. She is smart, funny, honest, and brave. The relationship she has with her parents is also really well done. You can tell that their family relationship is based on mutual respect; it’s a family anyone would be happy to be part of. Lionheart and his clan are similarly respectful and reasonable with each other.

There were things that puzzled me though; like why was language such a barrier for so long between the humans and the tree cats? Stephanie and Lionheart are friends for over a year and they still have trouble communicating. You would think if both species are so intelligent then they would eventually start using hand signals or writing to communicate. This was just a major gap in logic that bothered me throughout the story.

Things are fairly well tied up at the end of the book, and although this is clearly not a stand alone novel, it could be read as such.

Overall a decent if somewhat flawed YA science fiction novel. I enjoyed the heroine and her family dynamic, the tree cats were also interesting. The story was very simplistic though and things were re-iterated to the point where the story felt a bit dumbed down. Also if you have read Fuzzy Nation by Scalzi then you have already read a very similar story that is funnier and more action packed than this one. I would tentatively recommend to middle grade or YA sci-fi fans; I don’t think most adults will find much here to interest them. I would highly recommend reading John Scalzi’s Fuzzy Nation instead of this book to explore similar topics. ( )

The obvious question posed by this book: Why does David Weber think he needs to write a Young Adult novel set in the Honorverse? Let's just say I have doubts about his need to commit to write still another series….

That said, it's a decent book, and fills in some of the Sphinx backstory. Half of the book's a direct reprint of the novella with the same name; the second half is new and, to me, far too predictable. Weber often goes out of his way to make his villains into real people; no such luck with this one, who's pretty much a cartoon.

There's an Honorverse glossary at the end of this book, by the way. Just thought I'd mention that; I'm sure new readers to the series will find it helpful, but only if they know to look for it.


This short review has also been published on a dabbler's journal.
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“A stellar introduction to a new YA science-fiction series set in the “Honorverse” of Weber’s popular adult novels…It’s rare to find teen science fiction that strays beyond dystopian fare. The environmental messages, human-animal friendship, humor, action, and inventive technology will make this series starter an easy hit with teen SF readers” – Booklist starred review

Hello – XO here. When my wife/boss/Captain, Nat, told me that my favorite author was going to release a YA novel, I squealed like a 12 year old girl. At which point, she decided that I had the correct qualifications to write a guest review for the Bibliojunkies. With that said, be gentle, I’m nowhere near as good as these ladies at writing reviews. Fortunately, they love me, and I can still read so…

I’ve read all of Weber’s Honorverse novels, actually ALL of his novels, usually within a few weeks of their release, so I was standing at the mailbox waiting for this one to arrive. I was a little cynical since this story was already released in a short story collection, but obviously the book was longer (Yeah, I can count too, usually). Weber made a few modifications to the original short story, and used it the lead off the book, with added story line following. I’ll also throw a plug in for the adult Honorverse series, if you are a fan of sci-fi, please check it out, and be sure you give it a chance; it starts out a bit slow with book 1, but book 2 and on are amazing.

The story follows young Stephanie Harrington, Great-Great-Great –yadda-yadda-yadda Grandmother of the Hero of the Honorverse books, Honor Harrington. Stephanie is smarter than her peers, as grown-up as most adults in town, and as curious as a, well, as a tree-kitten. She meets her companion while trying to solve the great celery mystery of 1518 DP (don’t ask, read it, it’ll make sense) and they instantly form a powerful, unexplained bond. This is a 12 year old, stuck on a planet that has seasons 15 months long, and she is the frst person to find and meet another member of a sentient race of non-humans. Not too shabby for someone who hasen’t even started high school (And for my daughters, just note, she’s set the bar pretty high, but I expect each of you to somehow do at least the same). What follows is an adventure that neither of them expected, but both of them are going to see through, regardless of the cost. I apologize in advance to Nat, Shel and Bel, but this book ROCKS the other YA books out there ! I can honestly say this is the BEST YA sci-fi book I have ever read (Number of YA sci-fi books read prior to this = 0).

There are no vampires, or werewolves, or love triangles, in fact, at 12ish, Stephanie still finds boys a bit “yucky”. There is no depressing dystopian world where everything is morose and sad. There is a bright young girl, her new friend, the sentient arboreal treecat Lionheart, some dastardly evil doers, and a supporting cast of furry, ferocious, friendly, fascinating treecats (see what I did there, chuckle at my hilariousness). I, for one, am now going to annoy my wife on a daily basis, asking when the next book in the series comes out.

~ The Executive Officer (a.k.a Nat's husband)

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