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A Beautiful Friendship (2011)

by David Weber(Favorite Author)

3.95 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1451637470 (ISBN13: 9781451637472)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Baen

series

Honorverse: Stephanie Harrington

review 1: I am wavering on the stars. I liked it, but I think it feels cobbled together. I listened to the audiobook. The reader had slight tendency to make the females whiny, but it wasn't so bad I had to stop listening. It may be just my personal preference, rather than a flaw in the book, but I find it very jarring when third person omniscient narration shifts to new character not previously introduced. Because this book started as three stories, these major characters aren't introduced until the 1/3 and 2/3 points. Once I have become really tightly attuned to one POV, finding myself suddenly inside a stranger's head is a bit disconcerting. If the POV shifts throughout the story, it is less disorienting. I did find the treecats' repeated statements of "oh, why can't we communica... morete with those two legs" a bit irritating. And Stephanie's "oh, I am just reading their body language". I mean, really. If the treecats are as complex thinkers are the narration implies, surely they have the ability to use objects as symbols? "This stone is me, this stone is another treecat. Look, other treecat is falling from a tree." This doesn't require that any actual words be exchanged.Overall, great setting. Sphinx is an interesting world, well elaborated. Good offshoot from the Honor Harrington series, probably for a younger audience.
review 2: David Weber does not write for young adults, he writes to them. Most youth would find this book slow-paced and a little condescending. It's a shame because the story ideas are good. I have high hopes that the other books in this spin-off series (written with Jane Lindskold) will be executed a bit better. The first third of the book is the short story "A Beautiful Friendship" from Worlds of Honor. The rest involves Stephanie Harrington and some adults trying to protect the treecats from outsiders. I think that is one of the major flaws of this book from a young-adult fiction standpoint. Outside of a brief scene where Stephanie is irratated by some kids from town and another where a 16-year-old boy is described as being on site while she practices shooting, she does not spend time actually interacting with other teenagers. less

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