Beast Master's Ark
Beast Master Hosteen Storm has endured great perils to carve out a life for himself on Arzor, the colony planet he's called home since the destruction of Earth by the alien Xik. On a planet with alien life forms and untold secrets from it's pre-Human past, there are always dangers in the wild, especially the vast desert and rugged mountain region known as Big Blue.
But nobody has ever experienced a threat like the devastating scourge the natives call Death-Which-Comes-in-the-Night. Something is killing grazing animals... and has begun to attack humans as well, leaving nothing but the bones of its victims behind.
Hosteen, aided by his telepathically linked animals, knows that if he can't stop the killings Arzor will be decimated. His only ally is a young woman who has beast master ability, but was raised to mistrust others with such a power. At stake is the safety of all those on Arzor, and on other colony planets as well. Because Death-Which-Comes-in-the-Night is a scourge that if not stopped here, could spread.
Andre Norton
Andre Alice Norton (1912-2005) was an American science fiction and fantasy author (with some works of historical fiction and contemporary fiction) under the noms de plume Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston. Norton published her first novel in 1934, and was the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master Award from the World Science Fiction Society in 1977, and won the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) association in 1983.
Hosteen Storm/Beast Master
Hosteen Storm/Beast Master consists of five primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.