The Beast Master

Beast Master Chronicles, Book 1

By: Andre Norton

Narrated by: Richard J. Brewer

Left homeless by the war that reduced Terra to a radioactive cinder, Hosteen Storm - Navaho commando and master of beasts - is drawn to the planet Arzor, to kill a man he has never met.

On that dangerous frontier world, aliens and human colonists share the land in an uneasy truce. But something is upsetting the balance, and Storm is caught in the middle. He had thought the war was over - but was it?©2009 Brilliance Audio (P)2005 Andre Norton

Critic reviews

"Miss Norton endows this story of a homeless, revenge-driven man with her own inimitable touch. The result is a compelling and compassionate tale." ( The New York Times Book Review)

Absolutely Top Notch

Every bit as enthralling as when I first read it some 45 years ago! Actually, hearing it read improved the experience, enormously.
Andre Norton is just as spellbinding a wordsmith now as she was then.
Thank you to Audible Books and the extraordinarily skilled reader for bringing this truly fascinating story to life. I can hardly wait to get to her other stories.

Outstanding Sci-Fi

I class this book with Frank Herbert's "Dune" series. Fantastic storyline, considering when it was written, with Richard Brewer drawing the listener in with his narration.

If you are fans of Frank Herbert, Clive Barker and even Isobelle Carmody, and enjoy sci-fi with a difference then this download is for you! I will certainly be downloading the sequel for this...

one of Norton's best

One of the best of sci-fi of the late 50s. probably not on everybody's reading list but that's a shame.

Looking back on Norton's work, even long time readers might be surprised to realize that her abiding theme was the aftermath of War. whether the hero was a veteran or a refugee or a displaced veteran with PTSD, as this novel concerns, most of her work, up to the first novel of the Witch World Series, spoke to the recovery and new beginnings of victims of war.

This book is one of the very few recordings where Audible gives the Norton books a professional reader that her work deserves. I gave him a four instead of a five because they should have selected a Native American reader. most of the rest of Andre Norton offerings on Audible suffer from well meaning but underperforming amateurs.

Good story. Marginal performance.

A fair story. Not as good as I remember it from my youth 55 years ago, or so. But an enjoyable stroll down memory lane. Norton has always been an exceptional story teller.

That brings us to the marginal performance. Why does the narrator, and his director, feel a monotone delivery with underlying tones of despair makes this as an enjoyable read. I felt totally drug down throughout the whole book. It was like struggling down the bottom a narrow, dark ravine in thigh deep thick, sticky mud. There was no life in the narration. I dearly hope this is not Mr. Brewer's normal style. If so, he has missed his true calling, professional reader is not it.

On to book two.

I really enjoyed the first book in the series!!

I really enjoyed this first book of the Beast Master Series. I have already bought the next book in the series Lord of Thunder. I really wish 🤞that I could find the rest of the books i this great series.