Katherine
The Warrior’s Apprentice Author: Lois McMaster Bujold Rating: 4/5
First, I have to mention how absolutely crazy it is that this book, published 2nd, has references that work perfectly for both the 1st and *7th* published books (which are direct sequels)?? They’re really specific, too. Bujold, how??? I’d definitely recommend reading Shards of Honor and Barrayar first. You can start here, but there’s one character who is so much richer because of what happens in those books and it’s better for it.
Second, it’s really amazing to see a disabled main character in an 80s sci fi that doesn’t involve somehow magically curing his disability or making it moot through technology. Representation of disability is STILL rare, and I felt it was well done here. Seeing a character deal with the stigma and prejudice through deflecting with humor, sometimes anger, and often by showing he is capable was really good. I liked the portrayal of a teenager trying to desperately prove he was good enough for a heavily militaristic, ableist society, and how that leads into a massive snowball effect of consequences. Is it absolutely ludicrous how far it goes? Yep. But you see every step along the way through this gifted young maniac with… let’s say excessive initiative.
What I didn’t love about this book was the amount of “well isn’t that convenient” or highly improbable events that happened. There are three main examples of this, and that did detract from my reading experience. Imagine a character creates a problem one chapter, then the very next chapter they find a way too convenient way to help with the problem (not solve it, necessarily- in fact I’d argue that convenient solution made things worse…) but I digress. This happened a bit too much for my taste.
However, despite that downside, I continue to love Bujold’s writing and characters. Bujold comes up with the most *incredible* sentences and passages at times. They’re very quotable, whether profound or comedic. The plot may have been a bit convenient at times, but the character arcs were really, really good and the emotional scenes were very impactful.
The Warrior’s Apprentice Author: Lois McMaster Bujold Rating: 4/5
First, I have to mention how absolutely crazy it is that this book, published 2nd, has references that work perfectly for both the 1st and *7th* published books (which are direct sequels)?? They’re really specific, too. Bujold, how??? I’d definitely recommend reading Shards of Honor and Barrayar first. You can start here, but there’s one character who is so much richer because of what happens in those books and it’s better for it.
Second, it’s really amazing to see a disabled main character in an 80s sci fi that doesn’t involve somehow magically curing his disability or making it moot through technology. Representation of disability is STILL rare, and I felt it was well done here. Seeing a character deal with the stigma and prejudice through deflecting with humor, sometimes anger, and often by showing he is capable was really good. I liked the portrayal of a teenager trying to desperately prove he was good enough for a heavily militaristic, ableist society, and how that leads into a massive snowball effect of consequences. Is it absolutely ludicrous how far it goes? Yep. But you see every step along the way through this gifted young maniac with… let’s say excessive initiative.
What I didn’t love about this book was the amount of “well isn’t that convenient” or highly improbable events that happened. There are three main examples of this, and that did detract from my reading experience. Imagine a character creates a problem one chapter, then the very next chapter they find a way too convenient way to help with the problem (not solve it, necessarily- in fact I’d argue that convenient solution made things worse…) but I digress. This happened a bit too much for my taste.
However, despite that downside, I continue to love Bujold’s writing and characters. Bujold comes up with the most *incredible* sentences and passages at times. They’re very quotable, whether profound or comedic. The plot may have been a bit convenient at times, but the character arcs were really, really good and the emotional scenes were very impactful.