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Book: Warrior's Apprentice
I finished this book some time ago, which means I probably remember it just well enough to talk for 15 minutes :o) Oh, it's Warrior's Apprentice, by Lois McMaster Bujold.
This is a science fiction novel about a boy named Miles. The plot in this book doesn't matter that much to me, because it's the characters who shine forth. Wait, actually, the characters don't really matter that much to me either, because it's Miles who shines forth. Miles is the disabled son of some kind of lord, and he wants to go to space school like all the other kids. With that simple premise, Bujold follows through to fill out numerous kinks of mine:
1. Daddy issues. Mommy issues! Family issues.
2. The difficulty and pressures of living up to an image (and Miles's image, like my own personal one, is more his own than his family's, and thus far harder to live up to. Although he does have family issues, and his family putting pressure on him, the pressure he puts on himself is far worse, I think).
3. Making the best out of who you are (without waiting for it to come to you).
1+2+3 = fucked up, crazy sad funny sweet amazing shenanigans. In other words, I really loved this book; I really love Miles; and I really, really love space pirates.
The book starts off with Miles trying out for Space School (or whatever it's called. Whatever Ender did, you know? Or that's what I thought). I thought because the book was called Warrior's Apprentice, he was going to get into Space School, and that it would be kind of Ender's Game-y, or maybe Ender's Shadow-y, because Ender was the wonder child and Bean was the under dog. Miles starts out as the underdog, no doubt about that. I also had no doubt he would get into Space School with his brain, since his body obviously had trouble keeping up.
Miles has something like dwarfism, you see, and his bones are brittle like Samuel L. Jackson in that Bruce Willis movie. (This is a result of Miles's mother getting attacked when she was preggers with Miles. [...] She was attacked by aliens, but they were aliens from the planet she was on and only alien because it was another planet. It was nothing like Alien. Think more Star Wars, people. And Sammy L.) Anyway, so Miles was definitely getting into Space School, and it was going to be all about how everyone hated him there.
Except three pages in this book, Miles has failed to get into Space School, broken both his legs, and oh-yeah-will-never-get-into-Space-School-again.
The rest of the book is how Miles goes off to be a space pirate instead. He doesn't mean to; it's an accident. Space piracy just happens to some people.
You see why I loved this. Apparently I need to post more about it in installments.
This is a science fiction novel about a boy named Miles. The plot in this book doesn't matter that much to me, because it's the characters who shine forth. Wait, actually, the characters don't really matter that much to me either, because it's Miles who shines forth. Miles is the disabled son of some kind of lord, and he wants to go to space school like all the other kids. With that simple premise, Bujold follows through to fill out numerous kinks of mine:
1. Daddy issues. Mommy issues! Family issues.
2. The difficulty and pressures of living up to an image (and Miles's image, like my own personal one, is more his own than his family's, and thus far harder to live up to. Although he does have family issues, and his family putting pressure on him, the pressure he puts on himself is far worse, I think).
3. Making the best out of who you are (without waiting for it to come to you).
1+2+3 = fucked up, crazy sad funny sweet amazing shenanigans. In other words, I really loved this book; I really love Miles; and I really, really love space pirates.
The book starts off with Miles trying out for Space School (or whatever it's called. Whatever Ender did, you know? Or that's what I thought). I thought because the book was called Warrior's Apprentice, he was going to get into Space School, and that it would be kind of Ender's Game-y, or maybe Ender's Shadow-y, because Ender was the wonder child and Bean was the under dog. Miles starts out as the underdog, no doubt about that. I also had no doubt he would get into Space School with his brain, since his body obviously had trouble keeping up.
Miles has something like dwarfism, you see, and his bones are brittle like Samuel L. Jackson in that Bruce Willis movie. (This is a result of Miles's mother getting attacked when she was preggers with Miles. [...] She was attacked by aliens, but they were aliens from the planet she was on and only alien because it was another planet. It was nothing like Alien. Think more Star Wars, people. And Sammy L.) Anyway, so Miles was definitely getting into Space School, and it was going to be all about how everyone hated him there.
Except three pages in this book, Miles has failed to get into Space School, broken both his legs, and oh-yeah-will-never-get-into-Space-School-again.
The rest of the book is how Miles goes off to be a space pirate instead. He doesn't mean to; it's an accident. Space piracy just happens to some people.
You see why I loved this. Apparently I need to post more about it in installments.
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I start my self in Bujold's Miles-universe with Mirror Dance, and it still one my favorite Bujold books, and the angst goes to eleven.
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I personally think Miles is insane. He does not accept the realities around him, and despite his cleverness I think there's a lot of sheer luck involved in him getting said realities to sometimes bend to his will. But I think more people should be insane as he is, and rage against the dying of the light.
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Heh. I think that describes Miles' entire life.
I love Bujold's secondary characters too (Cordelia, of course, Ekaterin, Gregor, Alys, Ivan, etc), although I can't recall how developed or involved in the story they are at this point in the series.
I also love that Miles' family issues are not because his parents were awful, but because of what you said in #2.
In conclusion, space pirates FTW!
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Yeah, it's really nice to see someone have mommy and daddy issues without being an orphan or victim of abuse, but rather coming from a relatively happy home. Of course so many of Miles's issues do stem from his disability, and really have nothing to do with parents. But I love that he has a relatively nice relationship with them while still having troubles with them, too.
It is fun to find other fans of this series!
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Bujold sometimes does too much of telling, not showing with Miles' intelligence, particulary in the early books (way much of dumb luck instead of actual cunning and strategy), but it gets better when he grows out of space piracy =) (Komarr and Civil Campaign are especially shiny, imho)
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Interesting! What I really wanted to write about was Bujold's writing style, which kind of fascinates me, but I couldn't get to that in the posting time I allotted myself. I'm definitely going to read more of the series, because I loved Miles, but I recently finished some of the prequels and that bit about telling/not showing bothered me quite a bit.
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If you've just started, I really envy you... there is so much good for you to discover in the books to come, while all I have is re-reading of all stories waiting for Bujold to go back to this 'verse'.
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Awesome books. Have you read Shards of Honor (the one where Miles' parents meet)?
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How did you like them?
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I've only read The Warrior's Apprentice, though most of the rest are on my Amazon List of Doom, to be ordered when they won't distract me from essays and the like. But I loved it, despite it having a terrible 80's cover! MILES, the accidental mercenary captain.
I loved his parents, especially his father, who clearly doesn't mean to put undue pressure on him, but really, really does. And just the way that nothing quite works out conventionally. And all the really complicated politics, its very much shades of grey morality. Did I mention how much I love shades of grey morality?
And MILES. I adore him. Incoherently, it seems.
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I read Shards of Honor and Barrarryar too, the ones about his parents, and didn't like them near as much. There seemed to be more "shades of gray morality" in them than in Warrior's, but the way the issues were presented seemed rushed and rather simplistic. I guess I don't remember Warrior's enough to say what I thought about the morality issues, but I really really love shades of gray, too!
I love how Miles's parents are good and loving, but he still has trouble with how he relates with them. A lot of real families are like that and it's nice to see it explored. Abused children and orphans are very real, but other people have stories too!
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But as you say, it's not so much the characters in general as it is Miles specifically; neither Ethan of Athos, which is set in the Vorkosiverse but doesn't have Miles, nor any of her fantasy stuff I've read has any other characters that are nearly as much fun.
Space piracy just happens to some people.
Indeed. Forward momentum, and all. :)
(Oh, and hi! I found you a while back via a rec to your "Angel gets a puppy story," and stayed for the awesome meta and such.)
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If you are done with the series you might have a look at the
If you like Lois McMaster Bujold... (http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2008/11/10/if-you-like-lois-mcmaster-bujold/) recs, courtesy of Dear Author (http://dearauthor.com/).
Cheerio,
M.
P.S.: Awesome work on