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### From Publishers Weekly Telepathic beasts and the efforts of Laris, a young animal trainer, to escape her bondage to Dedran, a greedy Circus Master, add intrigue to this latest installment of Norton and McConchie's Beast Master series (Beast Master's Arc, etc.). Laris, an orphan and hardworking refugee, loves the creatures she cares for as much as she hates Dedran, who "owns" her until she can earn enough credits to buy her freedom. Fortunately, on the space-traveling freighter The Queen of the Circus and during its stops on various planets, she develops a special telepathic bond with Prauo, a big alien cat who joins her, along with Cregar, another unhappy circus employee, in trying to thwart Dedran's nefarious plan to assist fellow Thieves Guild Members in stealing and cloning gifted beasts. This big top of the future includes illegally obtained "tigerbats" and rare Terran dogs, as well as two colorful crooks, Ideena and Baris, who manage to infuse the somewhat stale plot with much-needed humor. The hints regarding Laris's true identity may be a bit too obvious for more clever readers, while older SF/fantasy fans will likely find the story too tame. Still, animal-loving young adults should be well satisfied. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist Some 50 years ago, Norton created Hosteen Storm, a beast master of Native American ancestry. A former soldier able to communicate with a team of animals, Storm now lives with his family on the planet Arzor, where he and his team protect the land and its residents. When a circus featuring exotic animals visits Arzor, the Storm family meets Laris, a young woman who performs exciting feats with a number of alien species. But Laris is bonded to the circus master, Dendran, who has ties to the interstellar Thieves Guild. At about the same time, word arrives of murders of beast masters on other planets and the loss of their teams. With McConchie's collaboration, Norton adds another fine tale to her long list of good stories with enthralling characters, one that can be enjoyed as much by those who are just encountering her work as by those who have read her with pleasure for half a century. *Frieda Murray* *Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved*