Book Review: The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan Saga)
The Warrior’s Apprentice introduces Miles Vorkosigan as the ongoing lead protagonist of this book series, following on from his parents who were the leads in the previous two books. A lot of people say you can start the saga with this book but I would definitely recommend reading Shards of Honour and Barrayar first. I think you’d definitely be confused by quite a few aspects of Warrior’s Apprentice if you hadn’t bothered.
The beginning of the book is fantastic. 17 year-old Miles desperately wants to live up to his Vor heritage and become part of the military. Unfortunately, his brittle bones and impairments (caused by an assassination attempt when he was in vitro), means he fails the physical tests required. I loved this part. My heart just broke at Miles’s [obviously mistaken] belief that his parents and grandfather think he’s a disappointment.
The middle part of the books has Miles travelling to his mother’s planet of Beta where his initial plan is to find the truth about his childhood friend (and unrequited love) Elena Bothari’s mother. The background of Elena’s parentage was explained in Shards of Honor and Barrayar and this is another reason why I think you need to read those two books first. I guess LMB explains things, in a manner, but there’s a lot of implying the reader already knows the devastating truth.
Along the way, Miles somehow finds himself the leader of a band of mercenaries and involved in an interplanetary war, weapons smuggling, and a payroll heist. Unfortunately, this part of the book dragged for me a bit. I know it was supposed to show how charismatic, intelligent and empathetic Miles is despite his handicaps but, at times, it became confusing and a little young adult for my liking. (Confusing as in, there seemed to be too many characters and political situations I needed to follow.) I much preferred the book once its setting returned to Barrayar.
Miles’s life as a mercenary of course, highlights that even though Miles thinks otherwise due to his physical issues, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and he’s perfectly suited as a military strategist.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Elena’s. She is so overtly feminist that, at times, it felt like it was just too much, if you know what I mean. I much preferred Cordelia’s more subtle feminism.
Unlike most other reviewers of this series, I can’t say I hated Ivan, Miles’s cousin. Okay, he’s dumb but he still was fiercely loyal to Aral and Miles which I appreciated.
Elena Bothari’s father redeemed himself to me in this installment. There was a lot about him in the previous two books that made me uncomfortable but his paternal protectiveness with both Miles and Elena made me realise he was at least trying to right wrongs from the past. The love Miles gives him in return definitely made me tear up.
Actually, the recurring theme of parental love was my favourite thing about this book. Miles’s complicated relationship with his father, and Aral and Cordelia’s equally complicated one with his grandfather, to me were the heart, and heartbreaking best moments, of the story. There are even pseudo paternal moments between Aral and Emperor Gregor that were heartbreakingly sad. (I love Aral so much and adored every scene he was featured in and every time Miles tried to emulate him. *sigh*)
Again, LMB wrote this in 1986 and you’d expect a lot of the scifi aspects to be dated but again, LMB does extremely well. Not that I think the scifi gadget/weapons/battles are the important part of these books. It’s all about the characters and LMB’s penchant for dialogue heavy scenes always supports this theory.
Anyway, I guess in the grand scheme of things, I didn’t love this book as much as its two predecessors but it is still a nice introduction to Miles. I definitely instantly loved him and can’t wait to read the journey LMB takes him on.
4 ½ out of 5
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