The Warrior's Apprentice

At first I struggled with it. It's a bit jumpy at first. As I texted my friend when I was partway through, "Like he's failing out of school, now there's a party, now he's on Beta Colony, it wasn't clear to me what the book was actually about. But now that he is on his smuggling run with his weird crew it is super fun."

And indeed, groups of weird people who must work together to run a spaceship is basically my favorite genre of science fiction, and this is a particularly well-executed example of it. I like how Miles bluffs his way into a situation, and then is forced to escalate his bluffs again and again, and soon he supposedly runs a massive mercenary organization... and then he does run a massive mercenary organization! I loved his show more "inspection" of the mercenary ship he captures. Forward momentum! Miles himself is the kind of character I love, of course: logical, honorable, cunning, clueless. Basically Hornblower in space, how could I not like him?

I had some niggles, aside from the opening—a romance subplot didn't convince me too much, the stuff about a certain character felt a bit too icky but not handled sufficiently well—but on the whole this was a highly enjoyable book, one that gave me exactly what I want. As I write this, I have not yet got to my next Vorkosigan book, but I hope to do so soon! show less

I seem to always end up re-reading these books around the turn of the year, and when I came to this one again, I blitzed through it as usual. If you asked me any other time, I wouldn't say it's one of my favorites in the series, as it takes Miles completely out of his Barrayaran milieu for 90% of the book and away from all the other characters I like best.

What I always forget, until I've actually opened it again, is that Miles doesn't need his supporting cast to make him compelling; as soon as the story really gets going, the reader is picked up and carried along by Miles' "forward momentum" and dragged helplessly and happily in his wake, just like everybody else within in few light-years radius of him, right to the breathless and show more perfect conclusion.

I still haven't figured out who the scantily-clad maiden and the dashing rogue on the cover of my edition are supposed to be, though. The only maiden in this book would never dream of being scantily-clad in public, and all the rogues are too concerned with not dying in combat to worry about being dashing. show less

There are two good reasons why I didn't get around to these books sooner: First, I didn't know where to start, and second, I confused them with the much less fun Seafort Saga.

Miles Vorkosigan is heir to an epic military-political tradition on the half-feudal half-interstellar planet Barrayar. His problem is that an assassination attempt on his mother left him with brittle bones in a culture that hates weakness and deformity. After failing out of Military Academy by breaking both his legs on the obstacle course, a very depressed Miles goes to visit his mother on libertine Beta Colony, and inadvertently walks his way into command of a broken down freighter, an interstellar arms deal, and a private war with a fleet of interstellar show more mercenaries.

This book has some of the usual milSF tropes: psuedo-Prussian/Tsarist empires, hotshot protagonists with lovable flaws, escalating challenges. Bujold, unlike a lot of people working in this field, is actually a competent novelist and makes it work. Miles earns his victories and his pain. Even if it sometimes seems like he has a direct line to God (or the author), Miles himself is very clear on the combination of deception, energy, and actual insight that gets him through boarding actions, fleet battles, and some rather desperate political maneuvering. Great fun, and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!

****

Re-read: I first read this book in August of 2014. I reread it because after reading The Vor Game in my Hugo read through, I had such a good time that I had to go back and read this book to. It's a fine introduction to the world and to Miles. Returning to this book, I think I saw with more clarity Miles' crushing "great man" syndrome. Still amazing, still five stars, but if there's anything that's different I didn't like the supporting cast as much. They seemed to exist as obstacles for Miles to conquer, and object lessons in failure, rather than people in their own right. Of course, this might just fit in with the profoundly self-centered young Miles. I remember being 19 too. show less

Wow, this book is a wild ride. Space pirates, royal princes, political intrigue...it's all here. Better yet, for me at least, the story is full of enjoyable, funny and essentially off-the-wall-crazy characters.
The main character is Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, the son of the Prime Minister who was exposed to a chemical agent at birth that left him a fragile 5-foot midget in a world where imperfections are reviled. Miles has the disadvantages and Machiavellian brains of Tavi from Jim Butcher's Codex Alera, the self-restraint and mentality of Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the general demeanor of someone who just drank a quadruple espresso. Initially, his gleeful pursuit of a mystery that had the potential to emotionally show more devastate his dearest friend had me worried he was a sociopath. Then I finally realized that although he is indeed self-centered, he honestly hadn't thought that far ahead and was just clumsily rampaging after answers like a toddler on a sugar high.

It adds up to a character who impulsively throws himself into insane situations, then proceeds to bluff his way into winning the game without ever letting his opponents realize that he never actually held a single card. Case in point: the story starts when Miles attempts to join the military, but fails the physical because a jump in the obstacle course leaves him with broken bones. Clearly the next logical step is to go on a trip to the Beta colony, gather a bunch of outcasts, bluff his way into leadership of a bunch of mercenaries, and start a new career under a false identity as a space pirate. Yup. Most of the logic behind Miles' actions boils down to "it seemed like a good idea at the time." As he comments at one point, "I didn't want them. They just happened in the process of scrambling from crisis to crisis." It's a bit reminiscent of a certain sorcerer's apprentice who is quickly swamped by his own cleverness--where the title comes from, perhaps?--but Miles is rather better at staying afloat. Although his impulsivity is bound to get him into trouble, his craftiness and logic allows him to pull himself out of the frying pan--although often while throwing him into an even bigger fire.

I listened to this on audio, and absolutely loved the narrator and the way he spun the story. However, I think I would have had more trouble had I actually been reading this. Bujold loves decorating every sentence with what I consider a surfeit of adjectives and adverbs, e.g., "There came a double rap upon his door, authoritatively firm, courteously brief.". I also grew to have the same reaction against the overused phrase "smiled ironically" as I did to Jim Butcher's characteristic tic of "arched an eyebrow": every time I heard that phrase, I wanted to trumpet out, "Don't DO IT!", just like Aunt Dahlia's response to "most disturbing, sir" in Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster.

I had this series recommended to me several times, but kept avoiding it. I reasoned that any author who called her Work (I was sure it would be capitalized, and quite possibly prefixed with "Great") the "Vorkosigan Saga" must take herself quite seriously. I'd also heard it called a "Space Opera", and I feared some sort of interstellar love chase. However, I was thrilled to discover I'd characterized this series entirely wrong. It is full of creativity and humor and doesn't take itself seriously in the least. For all that, we have complex relationships between the characters, some clever portrayals of class distinctions, enjoyable cultural contrasts, and quite a bit of political maneuvering. We also have the strong and sturdy Ella Bothari, the rather twisted, psychopathic,and complex Sergeant Bothari, and a whole host of dubious, entertaining, and very fun characters who end up conscripted into Miles' insane plots. I don't feel this book left me with any deep concepts to think about, but for all that, I really enjoyed the ride. I'm sorry I waited so long to find out just how much fun this series is. show less

Well, Miles is certainly as interesting as his parents! And unlike a lot of the TALENTED BOY SAVES UNIVERSE type of sci-fi, this one delves quite a bit into the consequences, characters, viewpoints, and doesn't get all military porn.

God, if only I had discovered this series when I was younger, I think it would have changed a lot of my views on science fiction and stories in general.

Thank you, Bujold, for not taking the easy way out in storytelling.

Wonderful!

This was a reread for me; I don't know how many times I've read it before, but certainly more than once, yet it still made me laugh out loud (possibly more so than before) and shed a tear or two. I even found it unputdownable, not so much because I was wondering "I can't wait to find out what happens next!" as because I was anticipating "Oh; this is where that happens".

Miles, sole child, son and heir of Aral and Cordelia, Lord and Lady Vorkosigan of Barrayar, has suffered from before birth from a bone wasting toxin, the effects of which have stunted his growth to over a foot below his intended height of over 6 feet and left him with brittle bones. This in a society which still considers mutants with superstition and practices show more infanticide, in the back country, on babies perceived to be genetically defective.

All his short :0) life, Miles has tried to prove himself to his grandfather, a Barrayaran war hero of the old guard, and to measure up to his father, also a war hero and - until recently - regent for the emperor. His lifelong dream, which he is on the brink of achieving at 17 as the story opens, is to join the Imperial Military Service - if he can pass the physical, a mere formality for his peers.

When his dream crashes about his ears, he is initially at a loss as to what to do with himself. But Miles has a frenetic energy, to go with his driving ambition, which he uses to dance and charm his way from situation to crisis, not to mention a fertile imagination with which he manufactures seemingly impossible triumphs from impending disasters. Or, as he puts it, 'forward momentum'.

His other cherished dream involves his childhood friend, Elena Bothari, daughter of his formidable bodyguard. When he is sent off-planet, he sees this as an opportunity to whirl Elena away from her circumscribed life in the hopes that it will win him her heart and hand. If only a little problem like an intergalactic mercenary war didn't keep getting in the way ...

I like Miles. He is as honour bound as his parents, and his word costs something to give - which plays its part in creating awkward situations. But I think he has more fun.

I love Sergeant Bothari, who really comes into his own in this book as Miles's personal bodyguard, driven sometimes to the edge of his endurance in an effort to protect Miles from himself as his ambitious plans endanger his fragile bone structure.

As ever, I love Aral and Cordelia. I like the way Bujold conveys the depth of Aral's feelings for his son, or even his adversary, just in his posture. And Cordelia; well

She went off toward the library, muttering her favourite swear-word under her breath, "Barrayarans!"

Funny, touching, fun, great pacing and characterisation.

Absolutely recommended!

5 stars show less

The Warrior’s Apprentice is a true space opera featuring interplanetary wars, spaceships hurling through wormholes and much blasting of exotic weapons with names like plasma arcs, stunners and needlers. What made this book stand out for me was how Lois McMaster Bujold created such a great balance between the rollicking adventure story and her superb character development.

In this book we meet the grown, almost mature, Miles Naismith Vorkosigan. He is extremely clever, witty, and in possession of a silver-tongue. He has the ability to talk anyone into just about anything, and yet he is humble and will go out of his way to keep from inflicting pain. Miles is as engaging a character as one would wish, for, heroic, trustworthy and caring. show more A brilliant strategist, the fact that he stands under 5 feet tall, and his bones are extremely brittle are all that stand between him and entry into the Barrayar Military Service. When he fails the entry level tests, he leaves his home planet of Barrayar and goes to visit his grandmother on the planet of Beltan. Through a series of misadventures he finds himself in possession of a spaceship and then accidentally creates a mercenary army. With the help of his friends and his cousin Ivan, he manages to come full circle back to his home planet.

There are other fully fleshed characters that help move the story along as well. Bothari, the bodyguard that has been at Miles’ side since infancy, his daughter Elena, and the aforementioned cousin Ivan along with the various mercenaries that join up along the way. Sergeant Bothari, an old favorite from the previous books, is a man with a twisted, dark past, of which the character repents of, but carries inside himself with a grave and solemn dignity.

A truly fun story, with moments of laugh-out-loud humor, but also a few moments that can bring one to tears. I was sorry at the end of Barrayar to say goodbye to Cordelia as the main character, but now, having met Miles, I am eager to continue on with him in the drivers’ seat. show less