Lord of Thunder

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3095510.html

Long long ago, I think even when I was in primary school (so, more than forty years ago), I read The Beast Master, and it stuck with me. Not quite so long ago, I got it and its sequel, Lord of Thunder, in a single volume, Beast Master’s Planet. Both concern a future galaxy where Earth has been destroyed in the final act of a war with the alien Xik, and our protagonist, Hosteen Storm, is (as far as he knows) the only survivor of the Navajo. He is an ex-soldier, trained to have a psychic link with his animal conpanions - two meerkats, an eagle and a big tiger-like cat, and he is sent to the planet of Arzor to earn his living as a civilian.

Arzor turns out to be a sparsely settled planet whose show more main industry appears to be the ranching of the cattle-like frawns, carried out by human settlers in negotiation with the indigenous Norbies, who have a complex tribal structure and totem-based religion. Hosteen Storm becomes a horse wrangler. It’s basically the Old West in space, although nobody ever says that, with Storm set up as uniquely placed to bridge the communication gap between humans and natives. Basically he is a Magical Indian.

It’s also worth noting that there isn’t a single female speaking character in either book. Storm’s mother is mentioned in passing, but she is dead. The Norbies seem to be all male. Storm’s animals are female, which is interesting.

Lord of Thunder

The sequel has some string similarities to the first book (more alien tech under the mountains) but features an arrogant rich offworlder demanding that Storm penetrate dangerous Norbie territory in order to find his lost son. There’s a strong message that messing with the aliens is best left to the experts like Storm and his new family the Quades. The offworlder disregards Storm’s advice, with disastrous consequences all round which Storm has to try and put right, providing more exciting adventure. But I was not really satisfied with the end of the story, which introduced new hither-to unmentioned dangers, and then wrapped everything up rather quickly. I would not recommend it as strongly as the first volume.

Still, bearing in mind that both are books of their time, they are good reads. show less

Less good than Beast Master overall, though there are several scenes I like better. Logan gets a lot more fleshed out - not just a rebellious kid, but a young man looking for the right place for himself. The whole plot rests on some serious coincidences - the lifeboat landing where it did, the (nutso) Inner Planet guy (and why _did_ he think his son was there?), the way people kept finding each other in the magical spaghetti under the mountain (not only little twisty passages, but little twisty passages non-linearly connected to one another...heh, lots of Colossal Caves in there!). Admittedly Storm had help from Surra, but still. The basic plot was...no worse than most Nortons, but the solutions were coincidental just a bit too often. show more While I'm reading it I'm carried along, but as soon as I pause for a moment my suspension of disbelief falters - unlike Beast Master, which also has lots of coincidences but somehow manages to make them likely ones. When I'm done with Beast Master I'm remembering it with pleasure; when I'm done with Lord of Thunder I'm...more or less pleased to have read it, but I try not to think about it in detail. show less

I'm glad that Andre Norton did a sequel to The Beast Master, mainly because I liked the characters, but partly because there were a couple things in the plot that I felt needed to be addressed. Good news is that one item I was wondering about does have a follow-up in this volume, but unfortunately the author again left some unfinished story lines, they're just hanging there. Still, if you like this author, and especially if you liked the first book, I'd say this was worth reading. I'll probably keep it around on my shelves, as some of these books are getting hard to find.

This is the second in the Beast Master books, and is almost a direct sequel of the first story, continuing the themes from that book.

Hosteen Storm has settled into his new life on the desert planet of Arzor with his half brother Logan and step father Brad Quade. Logan is a clan friend to one of the Norbie tribes so when the tribe is called to an unprecedented gathering of the clans in the Deep Blue, Logan gets permission to tag along, just forgetting to tell his concerned relatives! On a trip to Arzor's Settler capital city, Storm is contacted by a rich off-worlder who'd heard a lifeboat, with his son aboard, had crashed in the same area so much against his own wishes, Storm is persuaded to run a scout mission to see what could be show more found. But his sponsor doesn't trust Storm's commitment and goes in with his own imported technology with tragic results. Storm and Logan find that the Ancients that had created the beautiful Garden Caverns they'd found the year before had also buried a huge complex filled up with a darker technology that had been brought back on line by another survivor of the lifeboat, only this one had only the loosest connection to reality and Storm and Logan, along with their Norbie friend Gorgol have to confront this alien technology before a native invasion of the settler lands could be launched... show less

This story was pretty good once I got into it, but I spent most of the book feeling disoriented and confused. I am pretty sure I read the book before this one in this series, but if so, I must have missed some vital background, because I only vaguely knew about Storm's Navajo ancestry. Still, I am sure I read the book in which his initial adventures on this planet happened, probably in March. Norton needed some more background reminders in this book. This is one series that probably ought to be read in order and back to back, in order to not get hopelessly lost.

We waited for YEARS for this one to come out, never really believing, but hoping nonetheless!

Lord of Thunder is not quite as good as Beast Master was (and DO NOT compare that hokey movie with AN's book!) BUt it is still a fun romp.
Hosteen has settled into life on the Quade ranch. He has come to terms with father, brother, grandfather and his past.
He and his team have built themselves a new life, in a new world... but the great battle is still running.
The Xik are not dead and gone. It is suspected there is a holdout pocket here on Arzor itself...
When a rich Outworlder's son goes missing nobody can dissuade him from going into the Blue.
The Quade brothers must follow him into wild NOrbie territory, hoping to stay alive to rescue him, show more locate the rumored Xik hideout and bring everyone back home.
What they discover is....NOT Xik. show less

This is even better than the 1at book. The main characters stumble on an abandoned underground alien installation and must survive the hazards within. They must also stop a war between the natives and human settlers