Treecat Wars (Honor Harrington - Star Kingdom Book 3)

the book is good in the fact that it smoothly continues the treecat saga and young stephanie through the aftermath of the fires that ravaged some of the planet. It is an almost seamless transition, but would do fine as a stand-alone.

A little slow in parts. I still like reading how tree cats see humans best. The villains in this one seem underdeveloped but I don't think they are quite done. Wonder if manicor rolyalty will show up in the next book.

I like this book but I rate a little tough than the store's rating description. Stephanie Harrington is a probationary ranger and as such it is both an honor and a challenge for her to attend forestry school on Manticore. It means leaving her boyfriend Anders behind when he may soon be going home cutting what little time they have together. Still it is not the kind of opportunity likely to come again soon when the reason you were chosen is because you are so junior and all the real rangers are badly needed. Unknown to Stephanie is that the unusually heavy fires of this past summer have had a devastating effective on the ability of some tree cat family’s ability to feed themselves. While she is gone war may break out. It will be up to Anders and Stephanie’s best friend Jessica to handle the situation in Stephanie’s challenge, but first they will have to deal with the new xeno-biologist team. Some of the members of the xeno-biologist team may have secret agendas not in the Treecats best interest. It will also be a challenge on a personal level between Anders and Jessica who will be spending a lot of time together. This series was intended for the older teen/young adult age group but has a pretty solid plot consistent with David's past work.

Imaginative story but somewhat juvenile even for juvenile fiction. Unlike Heinlein, the authors aren't willing to sever more adult themes to their readers. Too much teenage angst, not enough deeper conflict. Still, it's a good read.

Not titled correctly, should be "Stephanie's and Anders courtship".
I'am a fan of Honor and Nimitz (with-out the endless political verbiage)and thought Jane Lindskold would stay on tract, but (sadly) instead of the main subject of Treecat wars the majority of this novel is the teenage romance between Stephanie and Anders which I suppose is fine if I was looking for a romance novel.
I give 2 stars for a well edited and written novel, with some dialogue about and between the treecats. But a full length romance novel I was not expecting.

This final entry in the Treecat series for Young Adults is the weakest in the series. Took over 200 pages before story finally became interesting. Tough slog for the most part. Seems David Weber did very little of the writing of this novel, as it was too wordy and not nearly up to his usual standards.

The story takes place before Honor's parents have even met and human relations with treecats are limited. I found this less than fascinating although it was interesting as background for the more interesting books written earlier.

"Treecat Wars" is the third book in the "Star Kingdom" series set in the Universe of David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series but some four hundred years earlier. These stories are particularly aimed at young adults but can be read by older readers. They are not nearly as vast or sophisticated as the "Honorverse" books but are entertaining and well written.

This book is set shortly after "Fire Season (Star Kingdom)" in which Stephanie Harrington, who is a direct ancestor of Honor Harrington and had been the first human to be adopted by a Sphinx treecat, had to deal with teenage rivalries, forest fires, and a bunch of xenobiologists.

Stephanie was originally introduced in "A Beautiful Friendship (Star Kingdom (Quality))" which describes how, as a twelve-year-old girl from the first generation of Honor Harrington's family to move to the Manticore system, she came to be adopted by the treecat who she named "Lionheart." This was originally written as a short story which was first published in the collection "More Than Honor," can also be found in the more recent anthology "Worlds Of Weber" and was then extended to a novel.

For anyone who has never read any of the Honor Harrington books, "Treecats" are a small arborial sentient species native to the planet Sphinx who look a bit like six-legged cats with long tails. Among themselves they are fully telepathic: they can read the "Mind-glows" of humans well enough to be empathic, e.g. they can read emotions but not thoughts. Treecats find the mind-glows of many humans attractive and in some circumstances a human and a treecat can form a lifelong bond similar to those between the human and dragon characters of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight series. This relationship is referred to in Weber's novels as "adoption."

"A Beautiful Friendship" told the story of the first such bonding, of how Stephanie came to be known as "Death Fang's Bane" among the treecats, and began a theme which continues throughout the series about the struggle to have treecats recognised as an intelligent species with legal rights corresponding to human rights. No human alive in Honor's time has personal memories of Stephanie because Weber tells us in "Mission of Honor: Honor Harrington, Book 12," a book in the Honorverse main series, that the first generation of the "Prolong" technology which allows Honor and many characters of her generation to expect a vastly extended lifespan did not become available until about a hundred years before that book. E.g. three hundred years after the birth of Stephanie Harrington.

However, treecats can and do share memories, and one of the most important groups in their society are "Memory Singers" who act as a living library of important memories, some of which can be very old. Nimitz's wife Samantha, who has adopted Honor Harrington's husband Hamish Alexander, is a memory singer. And in A Rising Thunder (Honor Harrington) Samantha introduces Honor to "Sorrow Singer," a treecat memory singer who does indeed hold such a memory of Stephanie Harrington and can tell Honor, "You would have liked her. She was much like you in many ways."

A running joke in this book is to emphasise the similarity between Honor and her ancestor by having more than one of Stephanie's friends think that if she hadn't been determined to make a career as a Sphinx ranger Stephanie would have made an excellent battle fleet commander. Since many of those who read the "Star Kingdom" series will probably have first encountered this Universe through books about Stephanie's upmpteen-greats-granddaughter, who will indeed be a great fleet commander, the significance will not be lost on them, though the joke is perhaps funnier the first time than when repeated. There is one main difference between the two heroines: Honor is taller than most men while Stephanie is petite.

Like the first two books in the prequel series, a major focus of this book is on how an intelligent but non-technological species like the treecats might react to the arrival of human colonists on their world, and on the good and evil ways that a society of human colonists might react to the discovery that the planet where they have been building a home for several generations is home to a native intelligent species.

Sphinx's forest ecology is dependent on occasional natural forest fires, although these can threaten treecat clans and human homes alike. Because careless human activity can make this risk worse, the ranger service in which Stephanie is an apprentice is very concerned to control forest fires during the planet's "fire season." The previous eponymous book featured a particularly bad fire season. In this book we are introduced to two new treecat clans, both of which had been affected by those fires: one which had been seriously harmed by those fires, and one which had been hit even worse and pushed to the brink of extinction.

Despite the title there are no space battles in "Treecat wars" any more than there were in "A Beautiful Friendship" or "Fire Season." Like Honor's own parents and most of their family, Stephanie's parents are medical professionals. The original Republic of Haven, if it exists at all yet, has not decayed to become the corrupt and totalitarian "People's Republic of Haven" and so the military threat posed by the "Peeps" lies many years in the future.

However, the vast and ruthless conspiracy which will eventually become known as the Mesan Alignment did already exist in Stephanie's time, and we know that that at some stage prior to Honor's time the Mesans had taken an interest in treecats, which may affect Stephanie and Lionheart - or may even already have done so.

However, the greedy and corrupt wing of the Manticoran aristocracy - forerunners of the kind of people who formed the "High Ridge" government if you have read the Honorverse books - are capable of causing a lot of trouble all on their own. People who do not all wish the treecats well have plans for Stephanie and Lionheart. However, just as in later centuries not all the powerful people in Manticoran society are evil. The challenge will be to sort the good from the evil and the merely misguided ...

If you like the treecats in David Weber's other books you should read this. It's enjoyable and interesting as long as you are not among that part of Weber's fanbase who read him solely for the space battles.

If the event, however unlikely, that anyone reading this is a big fan of military or naval science fiction who has somehow managed to avoid reading any of the Honor Harrington books, click on the following link to the first book in Honor's story, "On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington)," and you are unlikely to be disappointed.

It was a real disappointment not to be able to find it on my Kindle after it was downloaded & paid for. the store has done something to my Kindle where I can't get out of the "store"...my Kindle worked fine before the store "tweaked" it.

Set in the same universe as Weber's Honor Harington series, Treecat Wars is the third novel in the prequel Star Kingdom series, one which is being co-written by Jane Lindskold. This series is aimed straight at the YA market, and focuses on a teenage Stephanie Harrington and the events following her discovery of the treecats on the planet of Sphinx. The first novel in this series, A Beautiful Friendship, was a massive hit for me, setting everything up nicely and delivering a thoroughly enjoyable read. Fire Season didn't manage to meet the lofty expectations I had, and ultimately fell flat on many fronts. It was with great trepidation that I picked up Treecat Wars, and I was pleasantly surprised with what I found with its pages.

One of the biggest problems I had with Fire Season was that it just wasn't sure what it wanted to be. Was it aimed at the older YA crowd, as the more adult themes and discussions suggested? Or was it aimed at a younger audience, with details of relationships and unsure pacing on the treecat front present? Fortunately Weber and Lindskold seem to have combined their writing much better this time, with Treecat Wars having a much more stable and even narrative. Yes, the anthropologists are still around, and discussion about sentience and treecat behaviour is still present, but it's easier to read, not as full on. The same goes for the relationships between our characters - it's not as young as it was previously. Don't get me wrong, both aspects are far from perfect, but they are at least consistent this time around. And let me tell you, that makes the world of difference.

Treecat Wars picks up in the aftermath of Fire Season, and while the human population of Sphinx is carrying on as normal, it's not the same for the treecats. This is perhaps the biggest focus of the novel, looking at a couple of treecat clans and examining the effect the fires had on them. It's done very well, with Weber and Lindskold expanding the treecats further, allowing us to see them as a society and their interactions with each other. Yes, this has been done in the earlier novels, but the events of Treecat Wars adds a depth that wasn't present before.

The relationships are also a large part of the story. With Stephanie and Karl off-planet, Stephanie's relationship with Anders is put to the test. Although he's only a planet away, it's clear that they both find it hard with only video messages to keep in touch. And Anders also has a friend in Jessica, and her treecat Valiant, that is around more often for the xenoanthopologists to talk to and see the human/treecat bond. While at times it comes across as simple teenager problems, at others there is a much better portrayal given which allows more empathy with the characters.

One of the more surprising things I found with Treecat Wars is the relative lack of focus on Stephanie and Lionheart. Instead, Weber and Lindskold have chosen to follow other characters, which is a departure from the previous novels. One of the big appeals of this series is the fact that we're following a Harrington, and especially the first to meet and bond with a treecat. Removing that from much of the story doesn't do itself many favours, though it does give the benefit of multiple viewpoints and opens up different avenues to explore.

For all its improvements over Fire Season, Treecat Wars is still a simple novel. The issues faced within by the characters are not overly challenging, and certainly not as action-orientated and exciting as I would have expected with such a rich and diverse environment to play with. It's a shame, because this series is starting to come together with a narrative that flows rather than stumbles. Now, if the issues and challenges faced by our characters could be have some more depth, and - let's be honest - more appeal and interest, things could get very interesting. All I hope is that the next entry doesn't simply meander along, but instead provides a meatier storyline.

Rated 2.5 of 5

It is a little strange that while I consider myself a 'cat person' (I've always had at least one, if not two cats living with me as long as I can remember) and I really like YA books, I have never been drawn to books which prominently feature feline characters. I was drawn to this book by one of the authors whose work I was curious to look at.

This is the third book in a series but I didn't feel that I missed too much by not having read the previous books. Weber and Lindskold do a good job of giving the reader the necessary background information.

Stephanie Harrington and her family are recent settlers on Sphinx (we get that cat connection right away!). Stephanie appears to have a strong psychic(?) bond with one of the native species, treecats, by the name of "Lionheart." This development is something that must be described in one of the earlier books. Stephanie is invited to speak before a council where she urges people to recognize the treecats as an intelligent species.

But something strange is happening. Treecats are being attacked in unusual numbers and as unlikely as it would seem, it appears the attackers are other treecats. Stephanie will need to get to the bottom of this and she needs to elicit help to do so.

This is an adventure fantasy for teen girls and as such it has touches of teen angst and plenty of up-and-down woes over relationships. The story has a good deal of potential for those of us who aren't teen girls - an indigenous life form facing a new threat with the arrival of outside life - but the plot does not seem to be the priority here. The priority is Stephanie Harrington and what she does and what she goes through.

I'd like to learn more about the treecats (which is a little unusual for me) and I am very curious about this bond with a teen girl. Why her? Why is she unique, or are there others who haven't mentioned it? And I'm very interested in a story about ecological damage. Which means I am curious enough to want to read the earlier books in the series and potentially curious enough to read anything that comes later. However, the book doesn't rate too highly because it just doesn't seem to really grab hold of any of these things directly, but instead tries to do it all which only muddies everything.

Looking for a good book? <em>Treecat Wars</em> by David Weber and Jane Lindskold is maybe just right for teen girls who love fantasy and cats, but it doesn't rise above this to appeal to other readers.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I am fairly surprised at how consistent Weber writing is. This is the third in this series but can be read as a stand alone if you like - I do recommend reading the first time as these are somewhat unusual in a series - they are all fun to read. Especially if you have pets or like animals -

The tone overall is a bit lighter than the earlier Honor Harrington series and deals with her ancestor. If you have read any of those its pretty certain that you will like this one. If not and you like to read science fiction, fantasy - or just a story with excellent writing you will enjoy this. Theoretically these are juvenile fiction, but don't let that stop you from reading it. Things have to labelled in some fashion and that just means that a young adult can read it - does not mean they are the only intended audience. You can read all about the story from the blurb - I don't bother to rehash it on reviews.

Trust me - if you like a well written fun to read and uplifting book, this would be an excellent choice.

Third in the Star Kingdom science fiction fantasy sub series for middle grade readers within the Honorverse overall series and revolving around Stephanie Harrington and her treecat, Lionheart.

My Take
As ever, I adore Weber's writing. And I have got to get reading Lindskold's! So far, I've only read her work when it's in conjunction with either a short story collection or with Weber, and I've been very impressed.

I hadn't ever thought of how encompassing a forest ranger's job is until Treecat Wars and Jill Shalvis' At Last , 5. It does make sense that they have to know law enforcement, firefighting, search-and-rescue, and environmental protection in addition to caring for plants and animals. Oh, geez, and PR…

An interesting back-and-forth from Stephanie's to the treecats' outlooks on events. It's very interesting, lol, when it comes to love. Poor Anders is so worried about how much Lionheart is "listening into", lol, ya can't help but feel for the guy. And Valiant has his thoughts about Jess' conflicted feelings — it's so much easier when life is mind-to-mind!
"Love at first sight is wonderful and romantic, but it also means you're in love with an impression, an idea, an appearance."

It's drama and trauma as Stephanie is, in turn, excited and depressed over this terrific opportunity, and it's Anders who gives Stephanie the best reasons for going.

Parents, this is a good story for kids with good values. Well, I think they're good, lol. Treecat Wars promotes kids engaging in what they love, being adventurous AND practical as well as heroic, ahem, safely, *grin*. They show consideration for others. And there is good parent behavior in here as well: a parent actually apologizing for his bad behavior, and even better, a parent telling his child he was proud of him. We tend to forget that children need positive reinforcement. Legitimate praise for doing well. There's a nice dig at people who actually believe that the color of a person's skin is indicative of human intelligence. Idiots.

I love, love, love that Valiant is so fascinated by gardening. I don't see how these idiot scientists can't see beyond their limited expectations!

It's Dacey's talent that helps Lionheart make the leap from reality to non-mind images. It's something so ingrained in our own culture, that we tend to forget that other cultures won't understand. Weber/Lindskold did a reasonably good job of conveying Lionheart's confusion over this. I especially love how Lionheart compared Dacey's paintings to "savoring the tiny differences between the People's remembered images of the same thing". Sure comes in handy when Stephanie needs to explain that the two of them will have to travel off-planet.

There's a clever bit in here about Stephanie's birthday present to Anders. It's also clever how Weber/Lindskold introduce a burgeoning love interest. And cute, if not so clever digs about Stephanie making a great fleet commander, oy.

I don't understand people like Gwen or Ozzie. Okay, so you made a bad investment. Sell it off. Don't go around killing or kidnapping people!

Anders makes an excellent point about Hidalgo wanting to "seal away the People in tidy little reservations where they can practice their folkways in peace" nor that "the lands 'given' to treecats wouldn't be the best". Hmmm, sounds like how we treated Native Americans.

Territory-wise, I can understand Keen Eyes wondering why the elders should have the final say about an event that no one of the People have ever experienced before.

Finally, it's a war that will change Keen Eyes' mind about two-legs.

The Story
Anders was able to come back to Sphinx due to Dacey’s desire to continue her work, and Stephanie’s thrilled to have the extra three to four months with him.

Then an unknown dream comes true — two slots are available in a “special accelerated training program for Forestry Service personnel on Manticore” — and Stephanie and Karl have been chosen to go!

Only, it will reduce the time she has to spend with Anders.

Meanwhile, the aftermath of the fire in Fire Season , 2, is tragic with the Swaying Fronds Clan desperate for a territory that can help them survive the coming winter. Nor are they the only clan that has been hurt, but nothing, nothing can excuse the murder of one of their own.

This is war!

The Characters
Stephanie Harrington, a.k.a., Death Fang's Bane *, is Honor's ancestress and the first human to bond with a treecat, Lionheart, a.k.a., Climbs Quickly *. She's still young — 15 ½ — but showing her worth already. Dr. Richard Harrington, a.k.a., Healer, is her father and a veterinarian. Her mother, Dr. Marjorie, is a plant biologist and geneticist. Dr. Saleem Smythe is her father's new assistant.

The eighteen-year-old Karl Zivonik, a.k.a., Shadowed Sunlight, is her friend and a fellow provisional ranger. Sumiko is, was, the girl Karl had intended to marry. Larissa is one of his sisters. Jessica Pheriss, a.k.a., Windswept, has been adopted by a treecat, Valiant, a.k.a., Dirt Grubber of the Damp Water Clan. Her parents are Buddy and Naomi, who's working with Dr. Marjorie, and her siblings are Melanie-Anne who is too trusting; Archie is her twin; the youngest sister, Tiddles, likes to tie bows on Valiant; Billiam; and, Nathan. Otis and Mookie are their dogs. Other friends include Toby Mednick who has gained confidence and Chet and Christine who are a couple and part of the tourist guide program. Trudy Franchitti is a contemporary, but not a friend. She's still dating Stan Chang, a doper.

Anders Whitaker, a.k.a., Bleached Fur, is almost 17 with an intense interest in treecats who came with his father's anthropological expedition last year. He and Stephanie have formed a romantic bond.

The expedition
Dr. Bradford Whitaker, a.k.a., Garbage Collector, has gone home to Urako in the Kenichi system in disgrace and to fight for the right to return. Anders' mother is a cabinet minister in the Kenichi system. Dr. Calida Emberly, a.k.a., Plant Woman, was the expedition's xenobiologist and botanist, and she will become the team's XO; her mother, Dacey Emberly, a.k.a., Eye of Memory, is the expedition's painter and scientific illustrator. It's thanks to her that Anders ends up back on Sphinx before he or Stephanie expected. Dr. Kesia Guyen specializes in linguistics and has expanded her area of work into organizing the minutia of treecat culture. Dr. Langston Nez specializes in cultural anthropology and has been Dr. Whittaker's senior assistant for years. Virgil Iwamoto and his pregnant wife, Peony Rose, have left after his resignation. I think Chancellor Warwick is with a university in the Kenichi system.

The interlopers include Dr. Cleonora Radzinsky, who is known for her work on nonhuman intelligence, also knows quite a bit about what could happen to land ownership if the treecats are accepted as having sentience; Dr. Gary Hidalgo feels strongly about the preservation of indigenous cultures in an uncontaminated state; the jerky Dr. Russell Darrolyn is "at the cutting edge of nonverbal communication studies"; Gretta Grendelson is an assistant with a biology bent who gets an unexpected "welcome" on arrival; and, the sneaky Duff DeWitt is one of Radzinsky's assistants.

Treecats, a.k.a., the People
Swaying Fronds Clan
Keen Eyes, a.k.a., Survivor, is one of the clan's scouts. Tiny Choir is their only remaining memory singer, and she's so young. Sour Belly is one of the older ones and lives up to his name; Wonder Touch is his mate and the opposite of him in character. Red Cliff had been drawn to their clan by "the most beautiful mind-glow he had ever sensed", Speckles, who earned a new name that day, Beautiful Mind. Bowl Shaper, Firm Biter and Hard Claw are hunters, and Knot Binder are part of the clan as well. Long Voice is a scout.

Trees Enfolding Clan
Nimble Fingers, a.k.a., Guide, is nephew to the vicious Swimmer's Scourge. Pleasant Singer is a memory singer.

Bright Water Clan
Many treecat clans are against the choices Lionheart/Climbs Quickly's People have made. Morgana seems to be the leader. Sings Truly is their senior memory singer. Broken Tooth is a half-crippled scout who had taught Climbs Quickly. Song Spinner was Sings Truly's teacher.

Damp Water Clan
Brilliant Images is one of their memory singers.

The Sphinxian Forestry Service (SFS) Rangers
Chief Ranger Shelton is Stephanie and Karl's boss and in charge of the Sphinx Forestry Service. Frank Lethbridge and Ainsley Jedrusinski have been promoted to Senior Ranger. The tourist guides program takes some of the pressure off the forest rangers.

Dr. Scott MacDallan, a.k.a., Darkness Foe, is the only other person on Sphinx who has been adopted by a treecat, Fisher, a.k.a., Swift Striker; his wife is Irina Kisaevna. She's also Karl's aunt, and he lives with them since his parents died of plague.

Governor Donaldson governs Sphinx. Patricia Helton is Donaldson's chief of staff. Minister Vasquez is as angry as Donaldson with Whitaker. The Franchitti family believes animals are for hunting.

Manticore
Forestry Service training program
Dr. Sonura Hobbard is the "official head of the official Crown inquiry into treecat intelligence" for Manticore. Those who don't like or fear treecats include Dean Charterman, dean of students at Landing University; the patronizing Dr. Harvy Gleason, officially a department head, but Stephanie believes he runs the School of Forestry (he's also Morrow's brother-in-law and truly angry that two kids are being enrolled in the Forestry Service training class). Those who like treecats include Dr. Mordecai Flouret, chairman of the College of Criminology. Dr. Emily Tibbets, a.k.a., Justice Tibbets, teaches introductory jurisprudence, and she's tough. Allen Harper is one of Charterman's assistants.

Carmen Telford and Jeff Harrison are some of the students in the training course who become friends with Stephanie and Karl.

The Adair Foundation is…
…a nonprofit involved in preserving biodiversity and is chaired by Gwen's cousin, the Earl of Adair Hollow, George Lebedyenko. Additional board members include Turner and Fitzpatrick. They're offering the endowment of a xeno-anthropology chair at Landing University in exchange for allowing outside scientists to be added to Whitaker's expedition. Oswald Morrow, one of the earl's financial managers, is working with Gwendolyn Adair (she's a director) of the Adair Foundation to discredit Stephanie and Lionheart. (They were responsible for Bolego being included in the expedition in Fire Season .) Angelique Frampton, Countess Frampton, is part of whatever they're planning…and heavily invested in Sphinxian lands.

The Charleston Arms is a very fancy and very private restaurant. Steve Cirillom is a footman there.

Genies are humans genetically modified to survive the planet they're colonizing.

* Each treecat has two names: the one by which s/he is known among the People (the treecats) and the human name given by his/her partner. The treecats also give humans a treecat name. Treecats are a sentient species found only on the planet Sphinx. They are somewhat in appearance to housecats, but are longer, have six legs, and communicate empathically. The babies are called kittens and each clan of treecats is ruled by a memory singer, one who holds all the knowledge of past.

The Cover
I think the cover is meant to be a uniform-clad Stephanie looking out the window of a spaceship as Lionheart’s attention is more on us.

The title is sadly true, for it's the Treecat Wars that bring the tragedy to Stephanie’s attention.

Well, this went in a new direction.
Book 3 of a YA series, you don't have to know the first 2 to like this one.

Stephanie & her treecat have an offer to go to forestry college - an amazing offer since she's so young, but she earned it. This takes her to a completely new stage, and gives some other people in her home-town a turn on the page. Meanwhile, the human settlers are limiting the space treecats can live after a fire burns them out, hence the war.... (with all these settlers, are they all white? seemed that way to me) And Stephanie isn't there to save the day! Someone else will have to save it :)

Stephanie goes off without her boyfriend, so relationships all around will come under the microscope, too.

Meanwhile, Ye Bad Guys are still around, and still want the tree-cats to be labeled non-sentient. If that doesn't work, there's some backup plans to work with...

Fun story.

This YA side series to the Honor Harrington epic is progressing nicely.

Stephanie Harrington (Honor's ancestor) and her treecat partner Lionheart is invited to Manticore for three months' advanced training in forestry. Her only regret is leaving behind her boyfriend Anders when she knows he'll have to go home to a distant planet in a year or so.

Meanwhile, a clan of treecats has been left (by the fires in the previous book) without a home range. Camped on the edge of another clan's range, they are living precariously at best, and they don't need George R. R. Martin to tell them that winter is coming. Violent conflict between the clans seems inevitable.

Anders and Stephanie's friend Jessica are the real protagonists of this volume. They ultimately realize that they must intervene to stop the violence and save the landless 'cats. But how? The answer is actually pretty much foreseeable by any intelligent reader, but none the less satisfying for that.

A continuation in the story of a girl and her mind-melded treecat. Unbreakable bonds with animals are a favorite theme and this story does nothing to change that mindset. Our mismatched pair are growing up together and trying to represent each other to their own people to assure their mutual respect and continued cooperation. Tension in the treecat community increases as forest fires destroy homes and hunting ranges and make relocation dangerous but still necessary as Winter is coming and on this planet, it lasts twice as long. Will the treecats have to kill their own kind to survive?

I am a huge fan of the Honor Harrington series and have been enjoying the Star Kingdom subset with Stephanie Harringotn and the Treecats.

The previous two books were entertaining young adult reading. This third book fell a little short for me. Don't get me wrong, it was still great.

I just found it didn't add much to the story-line and almost felt like some of the story-line was being recycled. I didn't think Stephanie's reaction to her boyfriend, Anders, falling in love with her best girl friend, Jessica, fit well. If my girlfriend fell for another girl while I was out of town, I'd freak out.

But I did like the interaction between Treecats in the wild immensely.

I wonder when Carl and Stephanie will finally get together.

More like a 4.25.

"Treecat Wars," book three in the Honor Harrington--Star Kingdom series, features the same good writing and ongoing character development as the prior two books, and moves the story along quite nicely, while giving us more information about the race of treecats and their symbiotic relationship with humans.

Although this appears to be a book aimed at "young adults," I'm guessing that adults will also find this series appealing.

Book number three in a series of three books. I do not know if there will be more books in the series. I like the fact that Baen published this book in trade paperback format with a YA price.

After the great fires across the planet, many of the treecats no longer have a place to live with available food. Finding a place to live without existing treecats is not easy and not all treecats are friendly to clans crossing their land.

Jane M. Lindskold is a great selection to continue David Weber’s tale of Honor Harrington’s ancestor, Stephanie Harrington as a teenager. . Treecat Wars(hard from Baen) takes place after the Fire Season (trade) which destroyed the habitats of many treecat tribes. One near starvation encounters another that can survive but the stress of the fires has driven one of them mad. At the same time Stephanie goes to Manticore for an advance course while her boy friend Anders and Jessica have to discover and rescue the starving treecat tribe. Light, well written teenage fun and I’m sure more is coming.
Review printed in the Philadelphia Weekly Press

Third in the series about Stephanie Harrington (Death Fang's Bane--first human to be adopted by treecats) and Lionheart, (treecat Climbs Quickly of the Bright Water Clan) Continuing the story of the struggles, prejudices, greed and political intrigue surrounding the treecats becoming part of the wider universe.
Tree cats on Sphinx are still being looked at to determine whether or not they should be declared sentinent. The battles continues with the major foe being unscrupulous land dealers and powerful lobbyists desirous of making good on their land portfolios at the expense of this vunerable group of beings.
The battle takes Stephanie off planet to Manticore and back, members of the group, wanting to disrupt the process of treecat status, having pulled strings to have her removed from Sphinx.
Attention to the treecats on Sphinx lands in the laps of Stephanie's friend Jessica and boyfriend Anders.
The aftermath of the fires in Fire Season (The Star Kingdom) is explored from the human and the treecat perspective.
Unwillingness to share land, a cold blooded killing, starvation and fear push the treecat clans to the brink of war. A Person (treecat) on the edge of insanity had, 'in defiance of custom, tradition and common sense...killed another.' This would have far reaching consequences for treecats and humans.
This third novel in the series ends with the presence of those who want to halt the process of treecats being declared sentinent as yet undetected, and therefore to all intents purposes, at large to continue their nefarious campaign.
A must for fans who wish too know all there is to know about the Harrington family antecedents and treecats in particular.

A NetGalley ARC

I loved getting to know the first person adopted by a treecat better, and it was a great story I was sorry to see end. My one complaint, and it's a minor one, is that I got confused a few times with all of the calling a person by their human name alone, then in another place by their treecat name alone, and back and forth. Maybe it's me, but I would have found it much easier to follow and not have to stop and backtrack a lot to figure which treecat name belonged to which human and vice/versa if you had put both together at least a few times for each human and each treecat; for example: Stephanie (Death Fang's Foe) when with humans talking, and the other way when it was the treecats talking.
And a side note: Where can I meet some treecats, and maybe get adopted by one? ;-)

Treecat Wars
David Weber and Jane Lindskold
Baen, Oct 1 2013, $18.99
ISBN: 9781451639339

On Sphinx, because of a fire he cannot send his experienced rangers to a class, Forestry Service Chief Ranger Shelton offers his Provisional Rangers teenage Stephanie Harrington and Karl Zivonik the two quotas he has at the three-month advanced training class on Manticore. Both are interested but Stephanie regrets the timing as she will have no time to spend with Anders Whittaker who just returned to the planet after months away. He encourages her and her parents, Richard the xeno-veterinarian and Marjorie the xeno-botanist, approve her going.

While Stephanie leaves off-planet for school, due to the inferno Swaying Fronds Clan scout Keen Eyes seeks a new home for his Treecat group, but is limited in his search as the two legged species and the Swaying Fronds Clan occupy much of the surrounding ranges. At the same time the Adair Foundation sends xeno-anthropologists from Manticore to Sphinx, but they differ in attitude towards the Treecats than previous off-world visitors.

The third Star Kingdom young adult science fiction (see Fire Season and A Beautiful Friendship) is an enjoyable tale though much of the focus is not on the heroine who is away at school. When Stephanie appears it is more about her long distance relationship with Anders then her bond with Climbs Quickly. The insight into a different culture engages the audience as the two-legged argues over whether Treecats are sentient or not.

Harriet Klausner

I love the Honor Harrington series, the Crown of Slaves and Torch of Freedom novels, and anything about treecats in general. I loved the first two in the treecat series, and this was no exception. Some moments brought tears to my eyes.

The reason this gets only 4 stars is because I feel (and this is my subjective opinion) it would have been a better story without the totally unnecessary teen romance elements in it. Maybe I'm too old for stories like this (I was 25 now), but I wasn't about to pass by another treecat story just because it's meant for teenagers.

If you don't like romance, just skip through the occassional one or two pages where they describe the teen romance moments and enjoy the 97% of the rest of the novel that is pure treecat stuff :D

If I were a young female reader I'd probably rate this higher. I expected more treecat from the title. Instead, it was a teen angst story in which the teens save the (little) world. In other words, it's a book for teens, not adult Honorverse fans. If you are a fan of treecats, their sidestory is interesting and adds a little background to the treecat world. BUT it has none of the action, really twisted politics, and complex characters that make Weber's Honor Harrington books so good.

I enjoyed this tale right up until the end. It was a bit disjointed, jumping from Steph & Karl to Anders & Jessica then to Keen Eyes then to the villains. But at the end with Karl being adopted, just stop with the adoptions, at this rate by the end of the series everyone on the planet will be adopted!

I'm a big David Weber fan and, as usual, this book is well written with an interesting story line. I was unfamiliar with Jane Lindskold until I read the preceding novel. My only disappointment was that these two novels appear to target a younger (teens) audience and read a bit like a young adventure/romance novel rather than the fast-moving action novels I associate with David Weber alone. That said, I obviously enjoyed the books, since I've purchased both, and continue to follow these authors in future works.

I absolutely love these books in the treecat series. So wonderfully written and crafted by all the various authors who contribute. Reminds me of Anne McCathrey's Dragons of Pern series. Can't wait for the next one.

I am fairly surprised at how consistent Weber writing is. This is the third in this series but can be read as a stand alone if you like - I do recommend reading the first time as these are somewhat unusual in a series - they are all fun to read. Especially if you have pets or like animals -

The tone overall is a bit lighter than the earlier Honor Harrington series and deals with her ancestor. If you have read any of those its pretty certain that you will like this one. If not and you like to read science fiction, fantasy - or just a story with excellent writing you will enjoy this. Theoretically these are juvenile fiction, but don't let that stop you from reading it. Things have to labelled in some fashion and that just means that a young adult can read it - does not mean they are the only intended audience. You can read all about the story from the blurb - I don't bother to rehash it on reviews.

Trust me - if you like a well written fun to read and uplifting book, this would be an excellent choice.