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Beast Master / Hosteen Storm #2
Władca gromu
The second volume of the series telling the adventures of the Beast Master - Hosteen Storm, a demobilized member of Earth's special forces connected by a telepathic bond with a team of fighting animals. The situation on the planet Arzor is escalating again. Humanoid natives are gathering in unprecedented numbers, united by the disturbing call of the Lord of Thunder despite ancient family feuds.
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Drugi tom cyklu opowiadającego o przygodach Władcy Bestii - Hosteena Storma, zdemobilizowanego członka ziemskich oddziałów specjalnych połączonego telepatyczną więzią z zespołem walczących zwierząt. Na planecie Arzor znowu zaostrza się sytuacja. Humanoidalni tubylcy gromadzą się w niespotykanej dotąd liczbie mimo odwiecznych waśni rodowych. Zjednoczyło się niepokojące wezwanie Władcy Gromu...
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Drugi tom cyklu opowiadającego o przygodach Władcy Bestii - Hosteena Storma, zdemobilizowanego członka ziemskich oddziałów specjalnych połączonego telepatyczną więzią z zespołem walczących zwierząt. Na planecie Arzor znowu zaostrza się sytuacja. Humanoidalni tubylcy gromadzą się w niespotykanej dotąd liczbie mimo odwiecznych waśni rodowych. Zjednoczyło się niepokojące wezwanie Władcy Gromu...
212 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1992
6 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
About the author
Andre Norton
694 books1,385 followersAndre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton, was a pioneering American author of science fiction and fantasy, widely regarded as the Grande Dame of those genres. She also wrote historical and contemporary fiction, publishing under the pen names Andre Alice Norton, Andrew North, and Allen Weston. She launched her career in 1934 with The Prince Commands, adopting the name “Andre” to appeal to a male readership. After working for the Cleveland Library System and the Library of Congress, she began publishing science fiction under “Andrew North” and fantasy under her own name. She became a full-time writer in 1958 and was known for her prolific output, including Star Man’s Son, 2250 A.D. and Witch World, the latter spawning a long-running series and shared universe. Norton was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America and authored Quag Keep, the first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game. She influenced generations of writers, including Lois McMaster Bujold and Mercedes Lackey. Among her many honors were being the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master. In her later years, she established the High Hallack Library to support research in genre fiction. Her legacy continues with the Andre Norton Award for young adult science fiction and fantasy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
June 8, 2020
Even though this is a sequel to The Beast Master it works well as a standalone novel. If you always bear in mind its original intended market then it is an exciting, fast-paced, adventure story. Almost the opposite of space opera, this is a drama acted upon a limited stage – with a fair amount of stage-strutting and histrionics to be sure – but Hosteen Storm, the Navajo Terran Beast Master, and his telepathic animal team are heroes in both deed and word.
As always with Andre Norton's science fiction the imagination dominates the science. This does, however, allow for greater scope in world-building. Arzor, or the bit of it described in the story, is much like the 19th-century American West, with the horned Norbies as the native population and the Terran settlers herding their frawn and caring for their imported horses. Everyone is waiting for the arrival of the Big Dry, the sun scorched and arid dry season when settlers huddle around their water sources and Norbies retreat into their own shelter.
However, this year strange things happen. The Norbies are being summoned en masse into the Blue, the high mountain region of Arzor, and seem to be under a motivation to suspend their tribal feuds. Logan, Hosteen Storm's half-brother, has – to use an old term from the British Empire – gone native and joined the Norbies in their migration. And then a wealthy off-worlder called Lass Widders arrives who wants to launch an expedition into the Blue to find what he insists is the crash site of a space vessel carrying his son – and no money or resources are to be spared in finding him.
It all results in Hosteen trailing into the Blue to find out what is going on. In the process he comes across Logan. The pair get captured by Norbies and on the way to what seems to be their sacrifice come across Widders' space craft. What follows is the re-introduction of Arzor's ancient Forerunner civilization (first described in The Beast Master), as Hosteen and Logan are forced into the vast cave system beneath the mountain peaks of the Blue.
There is the usual Norton fascination with dark tunnels hiding goodness knows what, all of which is probably carnivorous and hungry, as the two heroes wander around discovering that the Forerunners had left some of their machines working and the lights on. The story takes a final complication with the appearance of survivors from the space wreck, one of whom is a deranged mad scientist of the old school who has enough knowledge to make the alien technology work – mainly the weapons. Hosteen and Logan have to capture him and leave him to Norbie justice and so quell the unrest.
Just a couple of points. Lass Widders' story about his son's shipwreck is originally presented as being highly suspicious as he flashes his cash along with his arrogant intolerance. However, in the caves, it turns out that he was only telling the truth. Sadly both he and his son meet grisly ends, thankfully off-stage. It all comes across as a bit of a needless red herring – there was an easier way of introducing the character of Dean, he was the mad scientist, on to Arzor. And then, in the depths of the caves, you have Hosteen and Logan's dismayed fear at coming across the skeletal remains of a large beast with three eyes – it almost unmans them, to use an old-fashioned term. It surprises me that they were unaware of Terran spiders, which usually have more than three eyes, and then there are the compound eyes of various insects. For me, seeing teeth large enough to be called fangs would have been the thing that released the old rectal and anal sphincters.
But that is just nit picking. Lord of Thunder is an enjoyable escapist adventure, one for the lockdown that will take your mind off Covid 19 for a few hours.
As always with Andre Norton's science fiction the imagination dominates the science. This does, however, allow for greater scope in world-building. Arzor, or the bit of it described in the story, is much like the 19th-century American West, with the horned Norbies as the native population and the Terran settlers herding their frawn and caring for their imported horses. Everyone is waiting for the arrival of the Big Dry, the sun scorched and arid dry season when settlers huddle around their water sources and Norbies retreat into their own shelter.
However, this year strange things happen. The Norbies are being summoned en masse into the Blue, the high mountain region of Arzor, and seem to be under a motivation to suspend their tribal feuds. Logan, Hosteen Storm's half-brother, has – to use an old term from the British Empire – gone native and joined the Norbies in their migration. And then a wealthy off-worlder called Lass Widders arrives who wants to launch an expedition into the Blue to find what he insists is the crash site of a space vessel carrying his son – and no money or resources are to be spared in finding him.
It all results in Hosteen trailing into the Blue to find out what is going on. In the process he comes across Logan. The pair get captured by Norbies and on the way to what seems to be their sacrifice come across Widders' space craft. What follows is the re-introduction of Arzor's ancient Forerunner civilization (first described in The Beast Master), as Hosteen and Logan are forced into the vast cave system beneath the mountain peaks of the Blue.
There is the usual Norton fascination with dark tunnels hiding goodness knows what, all of which is probably carnivorous and hungry, as the two heroes wander around discovering that the Forerunners had left some of their machines working and the lights on. The story takes a final complication with the appearance of survivors from the space wreck, one of whom is a deranged mad scientist of the old school who has enough knowledge to make the alien technology work – mainly the weapons. Hosteen and Logan have to capture him and leave him to Norbie justice and so quell the unrest.
Just a couple of points. Lass Widders' story about his son's shipwreck is originally presented as being highly suspicious as he flashes his cash along with his arrogant intolerance. However, in the caves, it turns out that he was only telling the truth. Sadly both he and his son meet grisly ends, thankfully off-stage. It all comes across as a bit of a needless red herring – there was an easier way of introducing the character of Dean, he was the mad scientist, on to Arzor. And then, in the depths of the caves, you have Hosteen and Logan's dismayed fear at coming across the skeletal remains of a large beast with three eyes – it almost unmans them, to use an old-fashioned term. It surprises me that they were unaware of Terran spiders, which usually have more than three eyes, and then there are the compound eyes of various insects. For me, seeing teeth large enough to be called fangs would have been the thing that released the old rectal and anal sphincters.
But that is just nit picking. Lord of Thunder is an enjoyable escapist adventure, one for the lockdown that will take your mind off Covid 19 for a few hours.
January 25, 2018
Lord of Thunder is the sequel to Andre Norton’s The Beast Master. It is the much easier book of the two to find, but it is also the much weaker book. Which isn’t to say that it is bad. It is to say that if you want to read the first book—and you should—go ahead and pick up the omnibus version.
Lord of Thunder sees Hosteen Storm on a new adventure on the wild Arzor. I didn’t find the adventure quite as satisfying. More importantly, Lord of Thunder lacks the thematic weight—the feelz, for you kids out there—of The Beast Master.
Lord of Thunder opens with Hosteen Storm ranching his own land, settled in as a member of the rancher community and as a part of his new, adopted household. The first sign that the peace is not to last is news that the Norbies are heading en masse into uncharted territories where it is taboo for man to tread. During the Big Dry. Norbies don’t commit what might amount to mass suicide lightly. That, of course, has the ranchers on edge. More fuel is added to the fire when a very rich man arrives from off-world to look for his son, whose starship may have crash landed deep in the forbidden zone of Arzor. And he wants Storm to guide him out there, whether Storm likes it or not.
As I alluded to above, Lord of Thunder doesn’t really build on the emotional weight of Storm’s backstory and impetus for choosing Arzor post-service. Norton was somewhat limited in what she could do after the big reveal at the end of the first book, but she didn’t do as much here as she could have. That tied the story of The Beast Master together, giving it thematic weight and making it more than just a good adventure story.
And the adventure story in Lord of Thunder isn’t quite as good. In particular, I was disappointed in the absence of Storm’s team for much of the story. His meerkat (now with a litter of pups) doesn’t accompany him at all. He loses track of the big cat Surra and the eagle Baku for a very long stretch of the book. As a science fiction book, Lord of Thunder might be better than The Beast Master, but I’m not much of a science fiction fan, and that has never been the strength of these books.
Lord of Thunder sees Hosteen Storm on a new adventure on the wild Arzor. I didn’t find the adventure quite as satisfying. More importantly, Lord of Thunder lacks the thematic weight—the feelz, for you kids out there—of The Beast Master.
Lord of Thunder opens with Hosteen Storm ranching his own land, settled in as a member of the rancher community and as a part of his new, adopted household. The first sign that the peace is not to last is news that the Norbies are heading en masse into uncharted territories where it is taboo for man to tread. During the Big Dry. Norbies don’t commit what might amount to mass suicide lightly. That, of course, has the ranchers on edge. More fuel is added to the fire when a very rich man arrives from off-world to look for his son, whose starship may have crash landed deep in the forbidden zone of Arzor. And he wants Storm to guide him out there, whether Storm likes it or not.
As I alluded to above, Lord of Thunder doesn’t really build on the emotional weight of Storm’s backstory and impetus for choosing Arzor post-service. Norton was somewhat limited in what she could do after the big reveal at the end of the first book, but she didn’t do as much here as she could have. That tied the story of The Beast Master together, giving it thematic weight and making it more than just a good adventure story.
And the adventure story in Lord of Thunder isn’t quite as good. In particular, I was disappointed in the absence of Storm’s team for much of the story. His meerkat (now with a litter of pups) doesn’t accompany him at all. He loses track of the big cat Surra and the eagle Baku for a very long stretch of the book. As a science fiction book, Lord of Thunder might be better than The Beast Master, but I’m not much of a science fiction fan, and that has never been the strength of these books.
November 25, 2018
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3095510.html
Long long ago, I think even when I was in primary school (so, more than forty years ago), I read The Beast Master, and it stuck with me. Not quite so long ago, I got it and its sequel, Lord of Thunder, in a single volume, Beast Master’s Planet. Both concern a future galaxy where Earth has been destroyed in the final act of a war with the alien Xik, and our protagonist, Hosteen Storm, is (as far as he knows) the only survivor of the Navajo. He is an ex-soldier, trained to have a psychic link with his animal conpanions - two meerkats, an eagle and a big tiger-like cat, and he is sent to the planet of Arzor to earn his living as a civilian.
Arzor turns out to be a sparsely settled planet whose main industry appears to be the ranching of the cattle-like frawns, carried out by human settlers in negotiation with the indigenous Norbies, who have a complex tribal structure and totem-based religion. Hosteen Storm becomes a horse wrangler. It’s basically the Old West in space, although nobody ever says that, with Storm set up as uniquely placed to bridge the communication gap between humans and natives. Basically he is a Magical Indian.
It’s also worth noting that there isn’t a single female speaking character in either book. Storm’s mother is mentioned in passing, but she is dead. The Norbies seem to be all male. Storm’s animals are female, which is interesting.
Lord of Thunder
The sequel has some string similarities to the first book (more alien tech under the mountains) but features an arrogant rich offworlder demanding that Storm penetrate dangerous Norbie territory in order to find his lost son. There’s a strong message that messing with the aliens is best left to the experts like Storm and his new family the Quades. The offworlder disregards Storm’s advice, with disastrous consequences all round which Storm has to try and put right, providing more exciting adventure. But I was not really satisfied with the end of the story, which introduced new hither-to unmentioned dangers, and then wrapped everything up rather quickly. I would not recommend it as strongly as the first volume.
Still, bearing in mind that both are books of their time, they are good reads.
Long long ago, I think even when I was in primary school (so, more than forty years ago), I read The Beast Master, and it stuck with me. Not quite so long ago, I got it and its sequel, Lord of Thunder, in a single volume, Beast Master’s Planet. Both concern a future galaxy where Earth has been destroyed in the final act of a war with the alien Xik, and our protagonist, Hosteen Storm, is (as far as he knows) the only survivor of the Navajo. He is an ex-soldier, trained to have a psychic link with his animal conpanions - two meerkats, an eagle and a big tiger-like cat, and he is sent to the planet of Arzor to earn his living as a civilian.
Arzor turns out to be a sparsely settled planet whose main industry appears to be the ranching of the cattle-like frawns, carried out by human settlers in negotiation with the indigenous Norbies, who have a complex tribal structure and totem-based religion. Hosteen Storm becomes a horse wrangler. It’s basically the Old West in space, although nobody ever says that, with Storm set up as uniquely placed to bridge the communication gap between humans and natives. Basically he is a Magical Indian.
It’s also worth noting that there isn’t a single female speaking character in either book. Storm’s mother is mentioned in passing, but she is dead. The Norbies seem to be all male. Storm’s animals are female, which is interesting.
Lord of Thunder
The sequel has some string similarities to the first book (more alien tech under the mountains) but features an arrogant rich offworlder demanding that Storm penetrate dangerous Norbie territory in order to find his lost son. There’s a strong message that messing with the aliens is best left to the experts like Storm and his new family the Quades. The offworlder disregards Storm’s advice, with disastrous consequences all round which Storm has to try and put right, providing more exciting adventure. But I was not really satisfied with the end of the story, which introduced new hither-to unmentioned dangers, and then wrapped everything up rather quickly. I would not recommend it as strongly as the first volume.
Still, bearing in mind that both are books of their time, they are good reads.
January 7, 2019
In this sequel to Beast Master, Hosteen Storm discovers the Norbie natives of Arzor are traveling to an isolated area based on some unexplained mystical reason (he equates this to Native American "medicine"). As an offworlder is desperate to have Storm find the guy's son who crashed in a particularly dangerous spot, going along with the tribes makes good sense. Storm discovers a lost, sinister computerized base of some alien race, which a PTSDed survivor of Earth's destruction plots to use to conquer Arzor (and maybe more).
This isn't bad but it's not as well knit as Beast Master (though the beasts play a larger role than the first book). The effort to rescue the son amounts to little more than a McGuffin excuse to get Hosteen into the right place to discover the lost high-tech fortress. And while the citadel is eerie, the endless wandering through it gets a little tedious. Still worth reading, but the first book is best.
This isn't bad but it's not as well knit as Beast Master (though the beasts play a larger role than the first book). The effort to rescue the son amounts to little more than a McGuffin excuse to get Hosteen into the right place to discover the lost high-tech fortress. And while the citadel is eerie, the endless wandering through it gets a little tedious. Still worth reading, but the first book is best.
July 22, 2020
It's pulp scifi with an 'Amerindian' bent.
I liked the dialogue, the conflict between local Norbies (American Indianish native aliens) and the human settlers. The sense of culture was pleasant. The action isn't very good, and an awful lot of it melds into blurry description. I had difficulties following scenes, blocking, and costumes. The pacing is very slow, but that worked for me, given the nature of the text.
Worth a read. A reader of pulp scifi can go through it in a moderate afternoon.
I liked the dialogue, the conflict between local Norbies (American Indianish native aliens) and the human settlers. The sense of culture was pleasant. The action isn't very good, and an awful lot of it melds into blurry description. I had difficulties following scenes, blocking, and costumes. The pacing is very slow, but that worked for me, given the nature of the text.
Worth a read. A reader of pulp scifi can go through it in a moderate afternoon.
June 11, 2025
I was not thrilled with this book. Norton is one of my favorite sci-fi authors. This is a way.book in a series and I love the first book. In this the settlers are confronted with a crash of an off world spaceship which crashes in an area the native population be sacred. The attempt of an expedition to save the crash victims causes the native population to rise up. A crazed veteran wreaks havoc using alien technology to destroy his enemies. Our heroes do prevail but face many difficulties along the
December 19, 2025
perhaps not the most nuanced of allegories, but still plenty of fun world building. 'frontier' stories are always better when the perspective of native peoples are respected, and Norton builds adequate flesh around the bones of her indigenous actors. the idea of medicine magic remains vague throughout the story, leaning maybe too much on the painful trope of the magical savage. despite this, the Beast Master and his companions are an interesting pack to spend time with and this short novel leaves you wanting more stories told of the world and characters.
March 27, 2021
A continuation of the story of Hosteen Storm. A rescue mission into native territory is hampered by the seasonal drought and restless natives. The colony is endangered by strange lightening in the mountains. Holsteen has to try and rescue a human that crash landed there in addition to trying to figure out what's going on in the 'medicine' mountain.
All in all I found this actually a little slow and lacking something. I could not find myself truly invested in Hosteen.
All in all I found this actually a little slow and lacking something. I could not find myself truly invested in Hosteen.
November 16, 2017
This is the second book in the Beast Master or Hosteen Storm series. It takes place about nine months after the last book, and continues with the problem of outside forces attempting to start a war between the settlers and natives on the planet. To complicate the problem, some ancient civilization has left behind artifacts that can be used for modern warfare.
March 9, 2018
This tale was slower than I remembered, probably because I skimmed more when reading vs. listening. I liked seeing Hosteen and Logan acting as brothers, though they were separated for much of the book. A good science fiction plot, and even a bit of a quest as the guys search the mountains for trouble.
March 12, 2018
Another re-read of a book in my collection. Not as strong as the first book but still a good read and interesting. Just a note, that I find it interesting the above link as #2 in Hosteen Storm saga since the other three are really all by another author and not nearly as well written.
May 30, 2019
This is even better than the 1at book. The main characters stumble on an abandoned underground alien installation and must survive the hazards within. They must also stop a war between the natives and human settlers
July 16, 2025
1.5 rounded up. Spent too much time muddled in the middle with too many uninteresting details that didn't really matter, with an ending that really wasn't and should have been a bit longer instead of flash, bang, bad guy is dead, the literal end.
June 20, 2017
Fun read.
October 25, 2021
Read in 60's and now again almost 60 years later. Andre Norton (Ace books) was my first foray into reading s-f right after Tom Swift Jr books.
January 3, 2022
Fun read! Very classic pulp scifi, though only female characters are literal animals
February 25, 2023
The cover art is by far the best aspect of this book.
September 14, 2015
For its time, Norton's story of Beastmaster Hosteen Storm was pretty decent, with non-white, non-'earth-humanoid' species behaving like sane people with expertises of their own. But in 2014 it definitely feels patronizing. Just as the indigenous peoples' (Norbies) tribes on the planet where he lives get called into the backcountry for a religious/social/political medicine gathering, Hosteen Storm gets mixed up in a rich man's plan to try to rescue his son from a crashed escape pod in that forbidden territory.
Chasing down his half brother, who is (helpfully) a blood brother to a Norbie and is heading out with them, Storm negotiates for some help from the Norbies to do some investigation, and tackles the situation which is even stranger than they guessed, and involves relics of an older civilization.
Yes, the situation is resolved by the earth-humanoids, but as the earth humanoids caused the situation, Norton has Storm make the case that it is their responsibility to deal with the problem. Do I buy this? I don't know.
Chasing down his half brother, who is (helpfully) a blood brother to a Norbie and is heading out with them, Storm negotiates for some help from the Norbies to do some investigation, and tackles the situation which is even stranger than they guessed, and involves relics of an older civilization.
Yes, the situation is resolved by the earth-humanoids, but as the earth humanoids caused the situation, Norton has Storm make the case that it is their responsibility to deal with the problem. Do I buy this? I don't know.
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February 2, 2010It's not uncommon that the sequel to a book is not as good as the first volume. This is no exception.
Mind, it's an okay book. But it's not as good as the original. Note that there's a disconnect here: the villain in this piece is an Earth-human--so he must be mad, right? After all, Xiks are inherently evil, so they can be evil and still sane, and it's all right to battle and kill them. Humans are (it's implied) innately good, and therefore if one does ill, he or she must be insane, right?
This edition doesn't seem to be very durable--the glue on my copy seems to've perished, and for a while I thought I'd lost pp 100-110, though I later found them.
Mind, it's an okay book. But it's not as good as the original. Note that there's a disconnect here: the villain in this piece is an Earth-human--so he must be mad, right? After all, Xiks are inherently evil, so they can be evil and still sane, and it's all right to battle and kill them. Humans are (it's implied) innately good, and therefore if one does ill, he or she must be insane, right?
This edition doesn't seem to be very durable--the glue on my copy seems to've perished, and for a while I thought I'd lost pp 100-110, though I later found them.
November 24, 2023
of this 5 part series i found this 2nd book to be my least favorite
am not saying its not well written am just saying its the weakest of the 4 books.
i had a harder time getting into it and Andre Norton is my favorite author ever.
as an owner of over 100 of her books there are only a very few i dont care for.
so its a personal thing.
it seemed less about the main character Hosteen Storm and more about the guy they were chasing all over the place.. story seemed shallower and less engaging to me.
i re read it recently to see if i was feeling the same this time. i was.
am not saying its not well written am just saying its the weakest of the 4 books.
i had a harder time getting into it and Andre Norton is my favorite author ever.
as an owner of over 100 of her books there are only a very few i dont care for.
so its a personal thing.
it seemed less about the main character Hosteen Storm and more about the guy they were chasing all over the place.. story seemed shallower and less engaging to me.
i re read it recently to see if i was feeling the same this time. i was.
February 20, 2015
This story was pretty good once I got into it, but I spent most of the book feeling disoriented and confused. I am pretty sure I read the book before this one in this series, but if so, I must have missed some vital background, because I only vaguely knew about Storm's Navajo ancestry. Still, I am sure I read the book in which his initial adventures on this planet happened, probably in March. Norton needed some more background reminders in this book. This is one series that probably ought to be read in order and back to back, in order to not get hopelessly lost.
January 11, 2024
Every time I read this, it's like I've forgotten how good it is and I get to rediscover it all over again. In this volume, the situation of Arzor gets fleshed out more and more, and more of the ancient aliens (sorry) who'd left behind dangerous toys. All in all, great fun and easy to get lost in, thinking about what else is happening in this universe.
October 30, 2016
Another in the Beast Master series with Hosteen Storm. When the natives all give up their jobs and disappear into the Big Blue, Hosteen leads a group there to rescue the survivors of a crashed space pod. They discover an installation from a people before their time and a crazed survivor who has decided to become the ruler of the planet.
September 29, 2008
Very enjoyable sequel to Beast Master, another page-turning easy-to-read-but-well-written romp featuring native american indians, alien races, fragile inter-racial politics, long-defunct alien artefacts, tribalism, animal telepathy, and sign language. What more could you ask for?
January 25, 2024
A worthy sequel to The Beast Master, but this novel is named for the antagonist. Storm is on another adventure involving the Norbies and ancient alien tech. Solid SF suitable for young adults but still a pleasure for older readers.
May 7, 2008
Sequel to Beastmaster.
June 10, 2009
Second in the Beastmaster series
May 4, 2011
hmm, not at all the same cover as on mine! Found recently at a used book sale for a quarter - AN's was the first SF I ever read, I think.
June 15, 2011
Meh. Not really up to the level of the author's best work.
September 19, 2011
The second in this series. Again, Storm Hosteen works with his animals to unravel a mystery. Storm meets another race and must help stop a war. I liked it and will read the next in the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews