The Warrior’s
Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
Published :
Baen, 1986
Series : Book 4
of the Vorkosigan Saga (internal chronology)
The Book :
“Between the seemingly impossible tasks of living up to his
warrior-father's legend and surmounting his own physical limitations, Miles
Vorkosigan faces some truly daunting challenges.
Shortly after his arrival on Beta
Colony, Miles unexpectedly finds himself the owner of an obsolete freighter and
in more debt than he ever thought possible. Propelled by his manic "forward
momentum," the ever-inventive Miles creates a new identity for himself as
the commander of his own mercenary fleet to obtain a lucrative cargo; a
shipment of weapons destined for a dangerous warzone.” ~goodreads.com
I had a plan to read the entire Vorkosigan Saga, start to
finish, months ago. I read through
Falling Free, Shards of Honor, and Barrayar, and enjoyed them. And then… I think I got distracted? I kept planning to read the next one,
but I never quite got around to it.
At any rate, I do still plan
on reading the whole series. I
have the next four books (by internal chronology) lined up and ready to
go. I think I took a break from
the series at a good point, at least.
Barrayar ended Cordelia’s
adventures, and The Warrior’s Apprentice kicks
off Miles’s story. I still think
that Shards of Honor and Barrayar are the best starting place for
anyone who wants to get into the series, but keep in mind that I haven’t read
them all yet!
I’m reading this
series in order of the internal chronology. Therefore, there will be some spoilers of Shards of Honor and Barrayar in this review.
My Thoughts :
The Warrior’s
Apprentice was clearly the start of a new generation of adventures in the
Vorkosigan Saga. All of the babies
and toddlers from the time of Barrayar
have now become teenagers and young adults. Of course, there was the irrepressible 17-year-old Miles
Vorkosigan, but there was also Miles’s crush, Elena Bothari, his irritating
cousin Ivan, and the young Emperor Gregor, who was just coming into his power.
Starting with this novel, I began to be impressed by the increasingly complex
web of interpersonal relationships that this kind of generational saga can
portray. Nothing from the previous novels was forgotten, and the old conflicts,
secrets, and vendettas still played a role in the story. In fact, some of the tensest moments in
the story for me involved the younger generation innocently prying into secrets
that were better left buried.
It is Bujold’s deft hand at characterization that makes her
expanding character base and their web of relationships engaging and easy to
follow. Some of the characters
were ones that I was already familiar with from the previous novels, such as
Miles’s parents and the troubled Bothari.
Others, such as the group of the ‘Dendarii Mercenaries’ were not really
as deeply characterized, but still managed to be easy to tell apart. Of the Barrayar babies, Miles, Elena, Ivan, and Gregor were memorable from
their first impressions alone.
Though Miles and Elena were the most present in the story, I was still
left with the impression that Ivan and Gregor would be interesting characters
to explore further in the future. Altogether, in terms of establishing
relationships and characters, I think this novel was a highly successful
introduction to Miles’s life.
Though many of the secondary characters had their own
subplot arcs, it was Miles’s coming-of-age issues that formed the backbone of
the novel. While Miles is pretty
hyper-capable, I liked how his state of mind was portrayed. He was an essentially well-meaning
young man who had, as a result of the environment of his upbringing, a good
amount of unexamined prejudices.
While he is highly skilled at strategy, he also doesn’t always clearly
perceive the full consequences of his actions. Basically, a lot of his flaws
are a result of his youth and inexperience, and I enjoyed watching him start to
overcome them. The main problems
he personally struggles with in this novel are his desperation to prove himself
to his parents and his awkwardness in dealing with a crush on his childhood
friend Elena.
Much of his intense desire to prove himself seemed linked to
his parent’s attitudes regarding his physical handicap. As we know from
previous novels, Miles’s body was harmed before his birth by poison gas
associated with an assassination attempt on his father. His parents felt extremely guilty about
the damage their political career inflicted on their son. The dynamic that played out here was
actually very realistic, though the specific situation was, of course, science-fictional. From the parents’ point of view, his
physical disability was evidence of their failure to give him a good start in
life. Their guilt is not because
they feel their son is inadequate, but because they gave him a much more
difficult life than they intended. From Miles’s point-of-view, things look
quite different. As Miles said,
after his father once again apologized for the damage:
“Apologizing to me again, thought Miles
miserably. For me. He keeps telling me I'm all right—and then apologizing.
Inconsistent, Father. He shuffled back and forth across the room again, and his
pain burst into speech. He flung his words against the deaf door, "I'll
make you take back that apology! I am all right, damn it! I'll make you see it. I'll stuff you so full of
pride in me there'll be no room left for your precious guilt!" ~The Warrior's Apprentice, Near the Beginning
Miles adventures essentially started with the twin goals
of proving himself to his parents and impressing Elena. His flirting with Elena was almost painful
to read, because he was so awkward and inexperienced at courting. While he didn’t have a consciously
sexist attitude, his upbringing on Barrayar
inevitably left him with some strangely incongruent ideas about the
opposite sex. His experiences over
the course of the novel forced him to examine his own ideas and assumptions
more closely, and, I think, to become a better person for it.
While Bujold’s characters and their development is
proving to be the main draw of this series for me, the adventures themselves
are also a lot of fun. I’ve seen
mention of Miles and his ‘forward momentum’ several times before, so I’m
guessing this is going to be a continuing dynamic. Miles dives into any interesting situation he finds with
both feet, relying on his charisma and his strategic flexibility. This story
was a bit lighter and more humorous than Cordelia’s adventures in the previous
two volumes, and Miles seemed completely unstoppable. I commented on Barrayar
that Cordelia seemed a little bit too much like an unbeatable action hero, and
Miles’s adventures left me with the same feeling. He’s able to manipulate pretty much everyone around him, and
he manages to gain a lot of trust based on some pretty flimsy lies. All the same, though, Miles is simply a
ton of fun to read about. His
story, so far, is consistently both exciting and humorous, with just enough
moments of seriousness. I am
looking forward to reading more about Miles’s life!
My Rating : 4/5
The Warrior’s
Apprentice is another entertaining installment in the Vorkosigan Saga. This novel kicks off Miles’s story, as
he heads out as an inexperienced 17-year-old in search of adventure. There’s plenty of adventure to be had,
and he soon manipulates his way into someone else’s war by pretending to be the
owner of a mercenary fleet. While
Miles’s unstoppable successes were on the edge of credibility, the story was full
of fast-paced, often humorous fun. I enjoyed the adventures, but my favorite part of this novel
was the characters. The Warrior’s Apprentice introduces a
new generation of players, including the now-grown babies and toddlers of Barrayar. Bujold’s characters are as well-drawn as always, and I
particularly liked how the addition of the new generation built on the web of
relationships and loyalties from the generation before. I’m actually already near the end of The Vor Game, and I can’t wait to see
how Bujold’s saga unfolds!
PS: Isn't that cover just atrocious?
