Beast Master's Circus

Beast Master / Hosteen Storm #4

by Andre Norton, Lyn McConchie

Someone is kidnapping the animals of beast masters' teams. On planet after planet, telepathically gifted people are being attacked-some of them murdered-by a conspiracy to take their precious animals.

Laris, an orphan who trains exotic alien creatures for an interstellar circus, knows that somehow her employer is connected to the deadly plot. She also knows that those involved will kill her if she talks.

Beast master Hosteen Storm has heard about the plot, but when the circus comes to Arzor, he doesn't realize his mortal peril. The circus, with its many colorful acts, is danger cloaked in the swirling excitement of the show. Laris loves all animals, and is herself able to communicate with them. When she meets Hosteen and becomes friends with him and his family, she desperately wants to warn him, to save him and his animals. But as the circus nears the end of its stay on Arzor, the deadly plotters prepare to strike at those Laris cares about . . . and at her, if she interferes!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks, Adult, Young Adult

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Andre 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.

Reviews

[Marquita Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite in the series so far. Love Laris and her strange hybrid big cat Prauo.

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Redemption

One theme in this novel could be redemption. That even at the end change can come. It could also be, being quick to judge can lead to ends, And being forgiving can make a world of difference. But it isn't in the theme that a great author shines. Norton paints a very human story and you become part of the characters. That is why I loved this story.

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young orphan refugee is purchased by a circus. She has the ability to be a Beast Master and is bound to a large cat. The head of the circus is a member of a guild of thieves and is receiving animals from killing Beast Masters and taking the animals. While on Azor, the young girl is invited to the ranch. Logan falls in love. They still the animals and the chase is on.

[Eamonn Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a number of Beast Master books but this is the first one I have read. I was a fan of Andre Norton’s fiction in youth and particularly remember ‘Steel Magic’, ‘Fur Magic’ and ‘Octagon Magic’ which now cost vast sums on the internet. Although this book is credited to the late lamented prolific author and her name comes first on the title page it was written by Lyn McConchie. Andre Norton co-wrote the outline, apparently. Lyn McConchie has done a good job of turning the plot into a readable book.

The background of the Beast Master series is this: The Xik, an alien race, destroyed Earth. The Corps of Beast Masters and their telepathically linked animal chums now guard Earth’s colony worlds against the dreaded Xik and other threats. As in Star Trek and Star Wars, the galaxy has many populated worlds and trade ships ply the routes between them. However, the worlds seem to be autonomous with different legal systems and some are more unpleasant than others. The war with the Xik left many refugees who are often stuck in camps. Some get out by becoming bonded servants to employers who may or may not be scrupulous and kind.

Laris, our heroine, is a bonded servant to Dedran who runs a circus and uses her to perform with the animals, a task for which she has a knack. Laris is an orphan and does not know who her parents were but there are indubitably Beast Master genes in her lineage. She establishes a telepathic link with Prau, a large cat-like creature, and they become friends. She soon realizes that Dedran and his assistant Cregar are actually working for the Thieves Guild and the circus is merely a cover to enable them to travel from world to world with animals. Their real job is to steal the clever beasts that belong to old members of the Beast Master corps as the Guild wants them for some nefarious purpose. Unfortunately for them, the beasts tend to pine away and die when separated from their beloved masters.

Laris has little choice but to go along with their schemes but when the circus goes to the planet Arzor, and Dedran uses her to spy on Beast Masters Hosteen and Tani Storm and family, she gets restless. The family treat her well and she has to betray them. Can she change her life? Can she get free of Dedran and the circus while still keeping her beloved Prau? Will she go to jail for the criminal acts she has already committed as a bonded servant to the evil circus owner? Will she find true love?

The story rolls along nicely and comes without too much fuss to a conclusion that is rather too predictable. It passes the time well enough and is quite pleasant in an easy, undemanding way, like a Randolph Scott western on a rainy Sunday afternoon. A good read, a cosy ride, moderately recommended in a three-star kind of way.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had been hoping to read something by Andre Norton for a while now...took me a while to figure out that this wasn't really by Andre Norton, but rather done using the Beast Master setting (I guess I should go find the original and read that instead). The writing was...lacking. The ideas in it all would have made an all right story (except the weird possibly-underage love thing going on), but the writing just didn't do what it needed to. Switching perspectives was a constant issue, and toward the end time got all mixed up in places and I could barely understand what was going on. Might have been more fun had I read the other Beast Master books first, but I'm unsure on that.

[Len · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cocktail of science fiction and film noir with a dash of Lime. This is a more satisfying story than the earlier Norton/McConchie collaboration Beast Master's Ark. Where Ark suggested McConchie treading lightly over a Norton plot and desperate not to bruise the master's toes, Circus seems to be more solidly McConchie using Norton characters and tropes to her own ends. It is hard to recognise Norton in the shift from science fiction adventure on Arzor to detective thriller on Trastor and the idea of a travelling circus brings to mind an author with a youthful legacy of Enid Blyton rather than pulp fiction.

Apart from dear old Hosteen Storm, who is as heroic and wooden as ever, the characters have personality and liveliness – there are even young heroes who are prepared to have a kiss and a cuddle because they are falling in love. I had a sense that McConchie wanted to skate through the opening sequences explaining Laris' background, the existence of a circus with animal acts goodness knows how many centuries into the future, and the abduction of Beast Master animals during the attack on the Nitra village and the Quade ranch on Arzor and get to the gritty detection of a criminal gang.

The whole scene is set in the Norton universe recovering from the destruction of the Xik wars. On Trastor, where the villains have centred their operations, there are now rival forces playing their own power game. On one side the Patrol, on another the Thieves Guild, and in the middle Under-governor Larash Ti-Andresson representing the planet's security against Dedran the circus master, the enigmatic Cregar, and the violent Baris and Lady Ideena.

At one point, just after Baris and Ideena have been killed, Tani, Hosteen's wife, says about the animal thief, “I think it's the third man,” and I am thrown into comparing Trastor with post-war Vienna and mixed up identities.

Who's Harry Lime? I suppose the nearest is the amnesiac and multi-named Jas Cregar. Holly Martins? A combination of Laris and the Quade family. Larash has to be Major Calloway. Sadly Anna Schmidt doesn't win a place. The chase is on to track down the third man – in this case also to bring his boss to justice. It's a nice fantasy. If only there had been a zither player on Trastor and Dedran's circus had a Ferris Wheel I would have been content.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good book in the Beast Master series, this one expands quite a bit on the fictional universe of the setting. Expanding beyond the planet of Arzor, we get a better look at the post-war setting, and some of the societal problems that exist in it.

The main protagonist is a new character, a young woman who encounters the protagonists from the earlier volumes early on in the story.

I think this is a good book, but rated it down a notch because it uses a plot technique that I personally find annoying. The idea that we know what is going on in the heads of all the protagonists, and if only they'd willingly share information the problems they face would be resolved much more quickly.

In the case of this book, there are extremely good reasons why they don't share that information, which is part of why I still enjoyed it despite all of that.

[Thistle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This must have been some book in the middle of a series. I think it's also the first book by Andre Norton that I've read.

In it a girl was owned by a bad guy. Some kind of war was happening (I assume the rest of the series focused on that, this felt more like a side-story), and the owner of the space ship (and owner of the girl) was part of the Thieves Guild. Apparently the Thieves Guild, as the name implies, were bad guys.

Having a Thieves Guild set in space/in the future was really jarring, it feels more like an old D&D idea than something that would exist in the time of space travel.

The writing (technical) was okay. Not bad, not good. I didn't really buy the characters as real people. But more damning, I didn't buy the cat as a real animal. I gave up at that point (10%).

[Wilson E. Stevens Sr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in the series, and ties into the other books very well. A very good plot, good character development, and an interesting read. From the science known in 2021 some of the procedures described for spaceships in this book wouldn't work. This book was first published in 2004 and followed the science procedures first described in the 1959 Beast Master book. This helped to tie the series together better than any change to update to modern thoughts about spaceships and spaceship landing. In no way does this detract from the story.

[Dr susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sci fi adventure, but....

The title is misleading. I expected Storm to be the main character, not the girl Laris. I had to remind myself multiple times that abused people often don't seek help or escape their abusive situations due to fear for themselves and their pets, because I didn't like what she was enabling. I did enjoy the story, especially the alien creatures.

[Eva S. Gholami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beast Master's Circus

I have been reading Andre Norton since junior high. I am re-reading many of her books. I love them as much now as I did then. She pulls you into her stories and you want to keep reading. Great characters, great stories.

[Maggie Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving these books. I am reading my 3rd right now and can't wait to read them all. What a great
series and wonderful charactors! Stories are so unique and original. Could not out think any of
them. Thank you Andre Norton, never read a book by her I didn't absolutely enjoy. M Collins

[richard.bjorklundgmail.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pleasant surprise to find a pair of old favorites extended into a series

It was a pleasant surprise to find a pair of old favorites extended into a series.
Andre Norton was a favorite author of my younger days, and I still enjoy rereading her works.

[Donna Tulip · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this as my first blind date with a book at my library!
This was the fourth book in the series, I do wonder if I would have liked it better if I would have at least read the ark first (third book).

[Earlleen Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very original and good story

I have come to love the characters in this very interesting story. I am sure I shall read this series again. I could hardly put it down. One of my favorite series by Andre Norton.

[Lara Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice read.

The series could go on and on. I don't think I would get tired of it.
One more to go.

[Mike Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent series with interesting characters, a well written plot line and continuity.

[Jacqueline Jacobelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story.

I also lived this story. Adventures in other worlds, places with furred companions. Another. Great Andre Norton story with action, romance, ect.

[Liane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy light read. Points off for dated language choices - it's hard to imagine this was written in 2003-4. For that reason, I don't want to read any more in this series.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was written a long time ago, but it stands. Really good story.

[Jules Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the fourth title in Andre Norton's Beast Master series. The first two (The Beast Master and Lord of Thunder) were written by Norton in 1959 and 1962. Three sequels were published as collaborations in the 2000s. The cover says by two authors, but it was obvious within a couple of chapters of this one that the only input by Norton herself was a story outline, if that. It got only more obvious as the book went on, because McConchie a) has not written a convincing pastiche of Norton's writing style, b) is not as good a writer. McConchie's own website states that all three of the "collaborations" were written solely by McConchie from brief collaboratively written outlines.[return][return]I don't have a problem with high quality sharecropped novels -- after all, I like good fanfic, and I'm perfectly happy to pay for pro-published fanfic if it's good enough. However, for me this example isn't good enough to buy, although it's worth checking out from the library if you want to read more about the beast masters. A particular irritation for me was that McConchie is addicted to head-hopping, and is not good enough to make it transparent. This is not just using an omniscient point of view -- this is dropping into a different character's head for a paragraph or two, sometimes in mid-paragraph, in order to provide information that the main character for that chapter can't know. By contrast, Norton had very tightly controlled point of view -- and as a result was the author who got me thinking at a young age about how different POVs work, and how it can be used to give different effects. Thus the head-hopping had a fingernails-down-blackboard effect on me, although other readers might not be irritated by it.[return][return]The primary focus of this book is Laris, a young woman who accepted bonded servant status to a circus owner to escape a refugee camp. Laris has a valuable talent with animals, and is used both in the ring acts, and behind the scenes to look after the animals. In her time with the circus, she's realised that it has ties to the Thieves' Guild -- and the latest scheme is the abduction of beast master's animals. When the circus heads to Arzor, she's used in a plot to acquire Hosteen Storm's animals. Laris's sympathy is with Storm and his family, but Laris has a beast companion of her own to protect... There's enough backstory dropped in that you could read this as a standalone, although I'd really have to suggest you go and get the original pair of books instead.[return][return]The story's enjoyable and fits in well with Norton's world, even if I didn't like some of the writing. Would I read the other two novels McConchie wrote using Norton's setting and characters? Yes, but going by this one I wouldn't go to any great trouble or expense to acquire them, and I probably wouldn't keep them once I'd read them.

[Rishindra Chinta · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this in 2009. I didn't know that it was the fourth book in a series that had its first installment published 50 years before. I was just looking for some sci-fi novel to read. This one didn't particularly interest me but I decided to just read it. It was alright, I guess. I didn't really like the authors' writing styles because I just thought some descriptions were too vague, like the animals and the airships and all. Maybe I would have understood it better if I actually read the three books that preceded it first. Yeah, maybe they describe everything better in those books. But I didn't like the story much either. It just seemed a bit insipid because, well I don't know, its about people who can communicate telepathically with animals. It just didn't seem very creative to me. I like sci-fi, like H.G. Wells's The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau, but this didn't seem sci-fi-ish enough. I probably should have read the other books first (I might then have liked this one more) but I don't feel like reading them now. Nor do I feel like reading the next book in the series. But maybe the series just wasn't for my age group.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beast Master's Circus (Beast Master / Hosteen Storm, #4)
Norton, Andre
the story begins with a young orphan child forced into bond labor for a corrupts circus group. The circus is a cover for the thieves guild who have plans that need to be covered. On edge the poor child, Laris has to do things she would rather not do, including steal and be associated with murder. Laris has to find a way out for herself and her best friend Prauo, a strange large cat, who she had found as a child. she had raise Prauo, and her employers used her love for the large cat to keep control of her. She finds herself on Arzor, six months after storm and tani's wedding. and finds her connection to the family may be the way out of her problems. but before she can begin to trust them the circus is moved on to another planet, as one of the members goes back with higher thugs to steal the beast master's animals for the thieves guild.

[Aelvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's the fourth book in a series, so I expect a great deal of my confusion about people and worlds was due to that rather than a deliberate omission. This reads well enough on its own, although the story does toss around a LOT of names and places expecting you to already know them. The setting tended to be very vague and generic. Almost nothing was described well enough to really imagine, which was rather upsetting. Also, although I understood the main character's dilemma, I expected her to do more; in the end, it felt like she got everything just by passing along a few hints and sitting there. The people who took her in felt pretty flat; they were generic good guys with a rather standard melodramatic past and seemingly no problems before she stepped into their lives. It was interesting enough that I'll probably look for the earlier books in the series, but I'm not willing to recommend it as a stand-alone. Neutral.

[Taj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love all (ok the majority) of things Andre Norton
the Beast Master has always been an absolute favorite so am happy the series has been created :) this 4th book is well written & story enjoyable - it includes enough from the original stories to keep a good continuity while introducing a new main character whose life gets tangled up in theirs.
it also allowed said main characters to expand and not have to be always in one place as it were, giving the opportunity for more series potential

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another whiny girl, and I can clearly see that Arc and Circus are intended to hook up with Storm and his brother; I would have greatly preferred if the books had stayed about the brothers and their world, their family, instead of these "pick up" books, that are about "romance" (if you can call it that; I can't) I'm just disgusted that these girl characters seem only to have been written to be with the brothers. They don't have much personality beyond annoying.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Beast Master novel was actually written by Lynn McConchie.

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

While none of these collaborative efforts can compare to The Beast Master, this was an enjoyable read.