Beast Master's Planet [Paperback]

When Beast Master opens, an interstellar war has just ended, with Earth destroyed by the alien and incomprehensible Xik invaders. Demobilized Commando and expatriate Navajo, Hosteen Storm is relocated to the planet Arzor with his special forces team of meerkats, an eagle and a desert cat. He finds employment as a hired hand on a ranch in an amazingly harsh planetary environment. Acceptance follows in his new situation through his abilities and willingness to work. His animal team aids him and provides continuity with his past. Strange happenings lead Storm to investigate the possibility of a Xik holdout band operating on Arzor. Storm has to deal with his own isolation and loss, while making headway in solving a complex puzzle.

The fast moving story line follows his investigation, engaging your attention and sympathy. This is the first tale (1959) in a quartet of "Hosteen Storm" books. The last three additions were fielded in 2002, 2004, and 2006 co-written by Lyn McConchie.

The omnibus concludes with Lord of Thunder (1962), following Hosteen Storm when the Arzoran native population withdraws from normal contact with the human colonists. A rescue operation gone wrong results in Storm being stranded in a remote mountainous area of Arzor with an unusually mild climate for the seasonally extreme planet. The discovery of an ancient and alien weather control installation still humming away in mountain caverns leads to the reason for the withdrawal of Arzor natives from contact with humans. The very existence of the human colony on Arzor is in peril from the energies rising in the mountain peaks. The alien environment is expertly revealed, as Norton does so well. Storm's passage through the mystery is well presented and so well portrayed that readers can truly feel they have been looking over the shoulder of Hosteen Storm throughout the adventure.

Norton's reputation for solid science fiction was enhanced by these two stories, in concert with the Time Trader and Solar Queen series. She often had several story lines being published in parallel, a feat rarely accomplished by other authors since. These two stories are a firm foundation in appreciating Andre Norton's ability to spin an engrossing tale while creating a truly believable universe populated by substantive characters, both human and non.

"Beast Master's Planet" combines two of Andre Norton's best science fiction novels, "The Beast Master" (1959) and "Lord of Thunder" (1962) into a single volume.

Lifetime Grand Master of Fantasy, Andre Norton passed away on March 17, 2005 after a long and extremely fruitful career. Her first novel, "The Prince Commands (A Tor Book)" was published in 1934, and her last, "Three Hands for Scorpio" in 2005. Her magically detailed world-building skills and upright, against-all-odds characters will be sorely missed.

In this two-novel series, Norton fans might be on a strange planet (in fact, Earth has been destroyed by the alien Xik), but in otherwise familiar territory: a young, psychically-injured human is companioned with intelligent, mutant animals, and manages to survive on an alien world with their freely-offered assistance. Norton repeatedly used this theme in novels that followed "Beast Master," e.g. "Storm Over Warlock (Annotated, Science Fiction)" (1960), "Catseye (Dipple, Bk. 1)" (1961), and "The Zero Stone" (1968).

This particular series features a Navajo protagonist, Hosteen Storm, who is telepathically linked to the other members of his Galactic Commando team: the African Black Eagle, Baku; Ho and Hing, the two meerkats (Norton was into meerkats long before 'Animal Planet' popularized them); and a mutated, puma-sized cat named Surra. They are all exiles from an Earth that was reduced to "a deadly blue, radioactive cinder" by the alien Xik. Storm and his decommissioned team are now seeking employment on the planet Arzor, which has been colonized by humans, but was once the home of a long-vanished alien civilization (shades of Norton's 'Forerunner' books. There are also indigenous Arzorians, called 'Norbies' by the Terran settlers, and treated with the same contempt that European settlers in the Americas used to deal with the Amerinds.

Andre Norton was a scholar of Amerindian history and lore, and incorporated her knowledge into many of her novels, e.g. "The Sioux Spaceman" (1960), and this particular series. Her careful attention to detail brings the Norbies to life as few other SF authors were able to do with their aliens.

"Beast Master" has one of the most poignant scenes in all of Norton: Hosteen and his team stumble across an ancient alien artifact on Arzor: a whole mountain has been hollowed out to contain botanical specimens from many different planets, including a 'garden of Eden' from Earth. Now that Hosteen has located a miniature version of his lost home world, will he ever be able to force himself to leave it?

"Lord of Thunder" is a fine sequel to "Beast Master" although it doesn't have the same emotional impact as its predecessor.

This item came fast and looked in great shape. It is a Christmas gift so I hope he likes it. Will do business in the future! Thanks

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars