Rating: 
Summary: Another great Norton series bites the dust!
Review: ... About the new book: I have no problem with the plot focusing on a heroine rather than Hosteen Storm - Ms. Norton has done this before and very successfully, particularly in the "Warlock" series - but what a heroine! She is whiney, illogical, pouty, thoughtless, nasty,...and of course, a "troubled teen." The animals seem to love her but I can't figure out why. The very similar psychological trauma that took an entire novel to gradually resolve for Storm in the original novel is switched off for Tani by a hug and an "ah ha" moment. I always thought Hosteen was sexy but I had no idea that one hug from him could turn around 13 years of negative conditioning. What a guy! And we are expected to believe that a mature, strong, talented man of 26 is going to match-up with our childish Tani. No way. The background and action of the book is fine - which is why it got 2 stars from me instead of one. The view of life in the Nitra village was the best part of the book - if a little too naive. "Death Which Comes in the Night" and the return of the Xik threat was a great plot device that could have taken more pages and built more tension but certainly worked. The weakest part of the book, besides our so annoying lead character, was the dialogue. It was wooden. The short, simple declarative sentences must have been written for the virtually illiterate market. Maybe Tani wouldn't have been so bad a character if she hadn't been made to speak and think such dribble...
Rating: 
Summary: Beast Master's Ark
Review: After a long absence, the Beast Master has returned, and it is well worth the wait. It is another great Beast Master story, with its usual action, suspense and adventure. This time a new element has been added, romance, and I feel this really spiced up an already good story. I'd call this a "Must Read" for Norton fans.
Rating:
Summary: The return of the beast master.
Review: After a long absence, the Beast Master has returned, and it is well worth the wait. It is another great Beast Master story, with its usual action, suspense and adventure. This time a new element has been added, romance, and I feel this really spiced up an already good story. I'd call this a "Must Read" for Norton fans.
Rating:
Summary: I was not disappointed
Review: After my experience with other Norton series resuming with a co-author (Solar Queen's new books I read and quickly shelved to gather dust; Time Agents I enjoyed and re-read) I was a little concerned when I saw a new Beast Master book due out. Could they recapture what I loved in my all time favorite of Norton's SF? They did. Yes, there is a new character, a female character, and a beastmaster herself. But she's not just a female version of Hosteen Storm. Tani is a well-developed independant character, with her own distinct personality and past. Everything fits in with the pevious books. And the danger is suspenseful and well handled. I would have enjoyed this book even if it was not part of a series, but to see Storm, Logan, Brad; Surra, Baku, and Hing; all of my favorites - portrayed as I remembered them and in a story that kept me interested to the end was wonderful. And we even got to see more about the planet and its natives;and a bit more on the history that brought things to where they are. There's another book in the series coming, and I eagerly await it. It's very hard for a writer to bring in a new partner and resume an old series. But Norton and McConchie pulled it off in grand style with this one. Bravo!
Rating: 
Summary: My favorite Norton book ever was Beast Master ....
Review: and I was not disappointed in this sequel. While the ending was, as all the Norton "juvenile" novels, predictable, the voice of the novel was astonishingly familiar to me, even after the 30 years since I had read Beast Master and Lord of Thunder. I enjoyed it!
Rating:
Summary: My favorite Norton book ever was Beast Master ....
Review: and I was not disappointed in this sequel. While the ending was, as all the Norton "juvenile" novels, predictable, the voice of the novel was astonishingly familiar to me, even after the 30 years since I had read Beast Master and Lord of Thunder. I enjoyed it!
Rating:
Summary: Schizophrenic
Review: Andre Norton was born in 1912, which means she's ninety years old now. That's just a warning: this book is basically fanfiction masquerading as a novel. I doubt she had much, if any, imput into this novel; it uses her characters, and not much else. She certainly didn't write it. Norton used to write excellent juvenile fiction, generally (though not always) with male protagonists. From about 1954 to 1969, the books are generally worth reading. After that, folks, you're on your own. Norton started heavily into fantansy, generally with female protagonists. The books became very formulaic, and I found the "Witch World" books a serious yawn, except for "Year of the Unicorn." Two books from the classic era were "The Beast Master" and "Lord of Thunder." This is not the lousy movie of the same title, featuring Marc Singer in a bad dye job, I might note. Both books are interesting reading. This book purports to be a sequel to "Lord of Thunder". To be fair, the plot isn't at all bad, though it features irritating Mary-Suism via Tani (no last name), our heroine. Hosteen Storm thus becomes a bystander in his own series. Tani might have been an engaging character if Lyn McConchie had any discernable talent. Alas, she doesn't, not on the evidence here. The writing style is poor, often rushed. I agree with the other person who said it seemed like a first draft. And I've rarely seen a book with so many punctuation mistakes: missing question marks and possessives abound. Could I do a better job than this? Yeah. And so could your Aunt Sally. If Andre Norton is going to prostitute her own creations like this, I wish she'd choose a better collaborator. That's always supposing she even knows what's going on.
Rating:
Summary: exciting return to Norton's Beast master tales
Review: Death-which-Comes-in-the-Night is as deadly a killer as anyone will find. The creature hunts its prey in darkness, but leaves no traces that it has dined except the totally cleansed bones of the victim. No one has lived to tell anything about this deadly scourge that eradicates populations with ease. Death-which-Comes-in-the-Night assaults and feeds from the people of planet Arzor. Native American soldier Storm, who barely survived the Zik destruction of Earth, wants to stop the creature from razing his new home world and is willing to use his Beast Master skills to defeat the invincible foe. He needs help and it seems to have arrived with Tani, a genetic engineer from off-planet. Tani's mother does not want her daughter to follow the path of her deceased husband, a dedicated Beast Master; the lass grew up to hate Beast Masters, not knowing she is one of them. Only if these two individuals team up can they halt more than just a dangerous creature. They must try to stop a interstellar conspiracy that if successful will destroy all the human planets. After a forty year void, Andre Norton (and Lyn McConchie) returns to her Beast master novels (see THE BEAST MASTER and LORD OF THUNDER) with the highly exciting BEAST MASTER'S ARK. The story line is loaded with action that never slows down though there are no major surprises as the tale plays out, as the audience would expect. Still readers will cheer the heroes and wonder what this Death-which-Comes-in-the-Night truly is. Fans will want a fourth book and the reprinting of the first two novels. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Sloppy writing
Review: Good ideas, good plot. But very sloppy writing. Lots of repitition, lots of exposition. It reads like a poorly edited draft. As a Sci Fi Grandmaster, Norton should know better.
Rating:
Summary: Beast Master's Ark
Review: I have read all of the Beastmaster series and I thoroughly enjoy this novel. I liked the action and mystery of the novel.
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