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ravenlily's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
amyeewing's review
3.0
A lot of fun to read but a little of a let down at the end. Very much both a David Weber style book and a Young Adult novel.
alboyer6's review against another edition
4.0
Fun book. I now want to go back and read the Honor Harrington stories. I listened to the audiobook and that was done really well.
zaphod46's review
2.0
I can see the appeal, but adding a villain PoV just put me off on the rest of the story.
jklbookdragon's review
5.0
I've been reading the Honor Harrington books for years, if not decades, but I also like YA fiction, so this worked on a lot of levels for me. In fact, it was basically the best part of the Honor books with a single-planet scope that's managable, kind of like the first few Honor books. It also features the treecats very prominently, getting inside their heads the way that only the last few Honor books have done. I was on lunch break when I got to the pivotal scene that cemented the relationship between Stephanie and Climbs Quickly, and putting the book down to go back to work was one of the hardest things I've done!
Weirdly enough, one thing that bothered me was that in the appendix, things were described giving the human name, then the treecat name referred to it as "treecat name for such-and-so." I think given that the treecats were on Sphinx first, native plants and animals should be listed under treecat names, and referenced by "human name for whatever."
Totally enjoyable read, although the exciting scene I mentioned earlier where Stephanie & Climbs Quickly cement their relationship was definitely the best part of the book, even if it was, I think, less than halfway through.
Weirdly enough, one thing that bothered me was that in the appendix, things were described giving the human name, then the treecat name referred to it as "treecat name for such-and-so." I think given that the treecats were on Sphinx first, native plants and animals should be listed under treecat names, and referenced by "human name for whatever."
Totally enjoyable read, although the exciting scene I mentioned earlier where Stephanie & Climbs Quickly cement their relationship was definitely the best part of the book, even if it was, I think, less than halfway through.
lightsongsfayt's review
4.0
New to the Honorverse books of David Weber, but have read his Safehold series. I wasn’t sure about this book after the first quarter but started to enjoy it the more I listened. It is light hearted and has potential to be a good series. I’ll look for the next ones in the series.
paradoxically's review
4.0
I am such a sucker for these types of books (animal and human bonding! a friendship that will last a lifetime!) that it's almost embarrassing, haha. So. Did I enjoy this book? Yes, yes I did. Did I think it was well written? Not bad overall. Were the characters fully fleshed out and believable? Um, not... so much, but I enjoyed reading it anyway, so who cares!
Heh.
You have Stephanie, the main character, who starts off the book at the age of 12, but ends up (due to some time skips) to be about fourteen at the end of the book. She's smart, has been genetically modified to be a bit stronger and her body working more efficiently, and at the start of the book she is not well pleased with being on the planet Sphinx. This soon changes when an eventful encounter with a sentient native species--what she affectionately calls a treecat--lands her with bond with one of the treecats. And adventures ensue!
Well, really, it's more about Stephanie trying to learn more about treecats, trying to communicate with Climbs Quickly (AKA Lionheart), and dealing with the fallout from discovering a new species. One that's sentient, though most people don't believe that bit. Then there's her own struggle with trying to understand Climbs Quickly--treecats communicate telepathically, and humans are generally as telepathic is a brick.
The book is in third person POV, with most of it centered around Stephanie and Climbs Quickly, with little asides from her parents, some scientists, and so on and so forth. I'm a fan of a more limited POV, especially when a lot of the POV switches in this book seem more gratuitous than essential to the plot (a good portion of them seem to just showcase how special Stephanie is, haha), but this wasn't too bad. And it usually switched back to Stephanie or Climbs Quickly's voice fast enough.
The characters themselves are a little flat. Stephanie loves her parents and Climbs Quickly, is passionate about the environment and the animals. She's pretty much competent at everything and she's kind of smarter than most of the people her age. You're reminded of this pretty frequently, so if your tolerance for such things isn't high... well. Probably not the best book for you. On the other hand, at least she is competent and brave and not a bad sort of heroine all around.
The plot was a bit slow in the beginning, but really picked up once Stephanie and Climbs Quickly meet. It plodded along until that point, where I found myself perking up and reading with a little bit more interest. It's never really a huge high-flying adventure, but it at least kept my attention.
I enjoyed it. But unless it's really horrible, I tend to enjoy books where a creature and a human bond and are BFFs forever. 4 stars.
Heh.
You have Stephanie, the main character, who starts off the book at the age of 12, but ends up (due to some time skips) to be about fourteen at the end of the book. She's smart, has been genetically modified to be a bit stronger and her body working more efficiently, and at the start of the book she is not well pleased with being on the planet Sphinx. This soon changes when an eventful encounter with a sentient native species--what she affectionately calls a treecat--lands her with bond with one of the treecats. And adventures ensue!
Well, really, it's more about Stephanie trying to learn more about treecats, trying to communicate with Climbs Quickly (AKA Lionheart), and dealing with the fallout from discovering a new species. One that's sentient, though most people don't believe that bit. Then there's her own struggle with trying to understand Climbs Quickly--treecats communicate telepathically, and humans are generally as telepathic is a brick.
The book is in third person POV, with most of it centered around Stephanie and Climbs Quickly, with little asides from her parents, some scientists, and so on and so forth. I'm a fan of a more limited POV, especially when a lot of the POV switches in this book seem more gratuitous than essential to the plot (a good portion of them seem to just showcase how special Stephanie is, haha), but this wasn't too bad. And it usually switched back to Stephanie or Climbs Quickly's voice fast enough.
The characters themselves are a little flat. Stephanie loves her parents and Climbs Quickly, is passionate about the environment and the animals. She's pretty much competent at everything and she's kind of smarter than most of the people her age. You're reminded of this pretty frequently, so if your tolerance for such things isn't high... well. Probably not the best book for you. On the other hand, at least she is competent and brave and not a bad sort of heroine all around.
The plot was a bit slow in the beginning, but really picked up once Stephanie and Climbs Quickly meet. It plodded along until that point, where I found myself perking up and reading with a little bit more interest. It's never really a huge high-flying adventure, but it at least kept my attention.
I enjoyed it. But unless it's really horrible, I tend to enjoy books where a creature and a human bond and are BFFs forever. 4 stars.
aiki's review
3.0
Well, my husband is trying to get me to read Weber's Honor Harrington series, and started by handing me a YA trilogy telling the story of Harrington's grandmother and how she met an intellegent species that is a part of the Harrington series.
I don't know, just kind of "meh". If you just look at it as an overview of how treecats were discovered by humans and what the species and their interactions with humans are like, it's pretty good. But from a plot structure standpoint, this story was very hit-and-miss. There were gaps in the story where events are skipped over but never fully explained, and characters who seem to be thrown in with not enough exposition or introduction.
Maybe the next book will go into greater detail on those skipped parts? *shrug*
I don't know, just kind of "meh". If you just look at it as an overview of how treecats were discovered by humans and what the species and their interactions with humans are like, it's pretty good. But from a plot structure standpoint, this story was very hit-and-miss. There were gaps in the story where events are skipped over but never fully explained, and characters who seem to be thrown in with not enough exposition or introduction.
Maybe the next book will go into greater detail on those skipped parts? *shrug*