by David Weber
First published 2012
Stephanie Harrington feels her treecat companion Climbs Quickly's distress flooding through their mental bond. The fourteen-year-old Provisional Forest Ranger knows something terrible is happening in the forests of planet Sphinx, but she cannot understand the desperate alien mother's cries that torment her friend. Climbs Quickly, who calls Stephanie "Death Fang's Bane," cannot translate the anguished calls from his fellow treecats directly into human language. Stephanie and ranger Karl Zivonik follow the waves of emotion to discover blazes threatening a treecat clan. The fires arrive during Sphinx's natural burning season, but someone is using this cycle for personal profit. These enemies want to eliminate the treecats who block their plans for greater land and power. Stephanie must save the endangered clan while protecting the most crucial secret of all. The treecats are not simple animals but intelligent beings who deserve rights and freedom. If humans discover this truth too soon, it could destroy any chance for peaceful coexistence between the species.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, mystery, fantasy
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, secret-identity
Setting: Planet Sphinx
Period: Burning Season
287 pages · Hardcover · Baen