Threerings Reads The Vorkosigan Saga
I've been liveblogging my reading of The Warrior's Apprentice on another site, and thought I would post it here. Mostly for ashfae.
Cut for length and spoilers for the entire book.
What I know
-So I was spoiled for the at least general set-up of the series. I know that Miles goes to a warrior academy or something and is injured during a test and becomes disabled and then...adventures?
-There are prequels about his mother, but I'm not starting with those. I did a fair bit of reading about what order to read things in and decided to start here.
-pirates?
Chapters 1-2
So, ok, I'm glad that the part that I know happens really fast. It means there isn't a lot of suspense for me leading up to the accident, but at least it's not half the book waiting for the tests, knowing he's gonna fail.
-Also I didn't know he was already disabled before this accident, which changes things a lot. I think I really like it. It's nice to have someone who's grown up with a disability as the POV character. I like the way it seems to make him bitter and determined at the same time.
-Ow, ow, ow, two broken legs. I legit am terrified of breaking bones.
-So I really expected Miles' family to be assholes about him failing. I guess I just expected his family to be so "pro-warrior" that they would be antagonists, but actually they're kinda alright. His mother seems pretty awesome. Also his grandfather is way more understanding than I expected him to be. He says it's not Miles' fault and he did his best, which is probably as good as you could expect...
-So yeah, I'm really enjoying this so far. I like the tone. I tend to avoid Sci-fi as much as possible because of bad experiences with what I consider extremely "masculine" sci-fi literature, but so long as this doesn't get bogged down in technology to the detriment of the characters it won't bother me. And I don't think that is likely to happen, given the first two chapters.
Chapter 3-4
-Ok, I somehow missed that I was already through Chapter 4. Page turning book is page turning.
-I think Miles/Elena is adorable, and I'm kinda really rooting for him to win her over.
-Also accurate depiction of funerals is accurate. I remember running off to my bedroom with a bottle of wine and one of my oldest friends during my father's.
-Miles' father is kind of awesome. Again I didn't expect that. Also his mother is some kind of free love advocate. Rock.
-I'll admit to not quite following all the mystery about Elena's birth. She was born from an artificial womb....but what does that mean? Is she actually the bodyguard's daughter?
Chapter 5
-OMG, this is so awesome. Miles comes across a drunken possibly suicidal pilot holding a ship hostage...and he buys the ship and swears the man's loyalty to him, pissing off pretty much an entire planet in the process.
-Also there's some world building regarding Betan society (you have to have a permit to have children, any kind of sexuality is permitted) and the pilots (who have computers implanted in their brains that allow them to fly the ships.)
-But no, seriously, this is pretty much just Miles being awesome.
-also he scammed the owner of the ship by offering radioactive land as collateral. HAHA.
Chapter 6
-And then Miles recruited an army deserter to his cause (which I guess he hasn't figured out yet). Because the alternative was to turn him over to be executed.
-And he's planning to smuggle weapons for some other planet, into a warzone, to pay for the ship he bought.
Chapter 7
-And now he's inadvertently pretending to be a mercenary with his own army. This book is wild. It's like he's just accidentally, coincidentally become a con artist and a smuggler. Cause why the hell not, I wasn't doing anything today.
-So Barrayar and Beta were at war, and Miles mother was fighting on the opposite side of his father and switched sides? Ok, the prequels are starting to sound interesting.
-And Miles has been drinking liquor mixed with speed (creme de meth?) for days...sure that's a good idea.
-The ship takes off as they're being ordered back and the drugs wear off...this is a hilarious clusterfuck.
Chapter 8-9
-So they're approaching the border where they have to smuggle their cargo through and they find out the pilot will be held captive.
-Except when they actually get boarded, the mercenaries want to take Elena instead and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE and they kick the mercenaries asses.
-They then formulate a plan to take over the mercenaries ship. They capture the pilot, and Miles allows his bodyguard to torture him for the access codes to the ship. By RIPPING THE IMPLANT OUT OF HIS HEAD, WHAT?
-Then they split up and capture the ship.
-I haven't mentioned it, but I find it odd that there is a Betan third gender called hermaphrodites. At first I was like, ok whatever, but now there's been several references to them and it seems to be implied that the hermaphrodites are people who have chosen a non-distinct neutral gender? Possibly they are born that way, but I kinda don't think so? Which makes me a bit uncomfortable at the use of the word hermaphrodite. But I guess I have to wait and hope that at some point we get a more detailed look at that part of society.
-So Miles won't let them kill anyone, but they can't figure out what to do with them all. He goes back to check on the pilot they tortured only to find him having a stroke and almost dead because Bothari RIPPED OUT HIS FUCKING IMPLANT, GEEZ. So he dies, and Miles flips the fuck out trying to save him and cause he totally was just responsible for someone's death.
Chapter Ten
-Wait a damn minute. Miles starts talking to the mercenary captain and the first mate about how shoddy they are as soldiers and then he's presenting himself as a military expert....IS HE ABOUT TO TAKE OVER THE MERCENARIES, TOO?
-So yeah, now he's running an entire mercenary crew because he's convinced them he's the leader of an elite mercenary group who is going to train them and the best will be promoted. Meanwhile he's totally bullshitting and trying to keep them busy so they don't revolt and kill him. I can't believe this.
Chapters 11 and 12
-So there ends up being a battle when they get to the refinery where they are supposed to get paid. And in the end Miles ends up with a refinery of his own, and two battleships under his command. And he's still fucked because he has no money, no way to pay the mercenaries, and his original ship is broken and can't get them home.
-So what? Is he going to end up taking over a couple of planets in the end? (Probably, if not this book, then eventually.)
-Miles is a truly interesting character. He's super intelligent, really bold, fairly fearless, and manipulative, but he's not at all a sociopath. He cares about people and doesn't want anyone hurt. But he's also a warrior, without ACTUALLY BEING a warrior. I expected him to kind of rebel against his whole warrior society, but instead he's ended up acting as a really good commander. Except for the part where it's all a huge lie and he's broken about every rule there is. It's really fascinating, since obviously he ended up learning a huge amount from his family and all the warriors around him and in some sense it's inevitable that he ends up as an officer even after having the normal path to that life closed off to him.
Can you tell I'm probably not going to sleep tonight without having finished this book. All I've wanted to do all day is read it.
Chapters 13 and 14
-Mostly battle aftermath stuff.
-Elena and Baz get caught snuggling, her father nearly kills Baz. I saw this coming, but still think Miles' crush on Elena is cute and I'd like it to go somewhere.
-Naturally the currency they give him for the weapons, what he's been working for all this time, is totally worthless. And also naturally Miles goes on pretending it isn't.
-And now the planet wants to hire Miles' imaginary fleet....and he's agreed.
Chapter 15
-So, random coincidence brings Elena's long lost mother on board, and she murders Bothari, who was a torturer and rapist during the war. And Elena is the product of rape....You know, honestly, it's shocking and all, but it feels like this was really rushed through and it didn't really have the impact it should have if there had been more build up.
Chapters 16 and 17
-Right so I read these before bed and now don't remember what I meant to say.
-Miles goes through a severe depression before finally coming up with a strategy to drive the other mercenaries away by taking their money.
-Then he's hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer
-And then the Admiral of the other mercenary army shows up and freaking ASKS TO JOIN MILES' ARMY.
Chapter 18
-So this is a really exciting but complicated chapter.
-First there's the fact that Miles now has over 3000 people in his mercenary group. And he has no idea what to do with them now
-Second, Baz asks Miles for permission to marry Elena, and Miles freaks out and then Elena freaks out on him for worrying about what her rapist father wanted for her. The speech she gives about how she's an actual person and not an ideal, not a way for her father to be redeemed, is great. She can't even think about going back home because everyone one there knew her father's past and didn't do anything about it.
-Third, in a really complicated chain of reasoning, Miles figures out that there is a plot back home to convict him of treason in order to both discredit his father and get him out of the line of inheritance. It's very exciting.
Chapter 19
-So Miles leaves his mercenaries under Baz's command, after seeing Baz and Elena married. I like that he genuinely still wants her, but knows it would be bad for her to be with him. He also tries to encourage her mother to at least pretend to care about Elena.
-His cousin Ivan plays the reader stand-in, telling Miles how awesome it is that he left home with essentially nothing and won a war and has all the spoils of it. But Miles negates all of that, saying he doesn't want spoils, he doesn't want an army, in fact he's about to be tried for his life for the crime of having a private army. He blames himself for enjoying it a bit, while back home his father was suffering in his place. Which right there is pretty much why Miles is such an attractive character. He has strong empathy for others, and he didn't ever do any of this for greed, but either just because he could, or because he had no other choice.
Chapter 20 and 21
-Working his way back home, paying off debts on the way, Miles arrives on the last day of his trial and walks in to surprise everyone. He forces one conspirator to confess.
-Ultimately he is pardoned, and he tells t he emperor everything about his trip. They decide to settle the mercenary question by secretly adopting the mercenaries as part of the Imperial secret service.
-Ans Miles' dad talks him into military academy as a way of keeping an eye on him and preventing this from happening again. I'm going to imagine since there are a shit-ton of more books that this is not entirely sucessful.
-And then Miles buries Bothari and it's all bittersweet and shit.
Epilogue
And that epilogue is thoroughly charming, showing how Miles continues to be astoundingly brilliant in school, and making friends from his enemies to boot.
So yay! I really, really enjoyed that. I'll be taking a break to finish reading the Inheritance trilogy, now that my copies of books 2 and 3 have arrived. Then I'll come back to this, probably with "The Mountains of Mourning" and The Vor Game since I have those in this same volume. Unless I find the prequels cheaply before then.
Cut for length and spoilers for the entire book.
What I know
-So I was spoiled for the at least general set-up of the series. I know that Miles goes to a warrior academy or something and is injured during a test and becomes disabled and then...adventures?
-There are prequels about his mother, but I'm not starting with those. I did a fair bit of reading about what order to read things in and decided to start here.
-pirates?
Chapters 1-2
So, ok, I'm glad that the part that I know happens really fast. It means there isn't a lot of suspense for me leading up to the accident, but at least it's not half the book waiting for the tests, knowing he's gonna fail.
-Also I didn't know he was already disabled before this accident, which changes things a lot. I think I really like it. It's nice to have someone who's grown up with a disability as the POV character. I like the way it seems to make him bitter and determined at the same time.
-Ow, ow, ow, two broken legs. I legit am terrified of breaking bones.
-So I really expected Miles' family to be assholes about him failing. I guess I just expected his family to be so "pro-warrior" that they would be antagonists, but actually they're kinda alright. His mother seems pretty awesome. Also his grandfather is way more understanding than I expected him to be. He says it's not Miles' fault and he did his best, which is probably as good as you could expect...
-So yeah, I'm really enjoying this so far. I like the tone. I tend to avoid Sci-fi as much as possible because of bad experiences with what I consider extremely "masculine" sci-fi literature, but so long as this doesn't get bogged down in technology to the detriment of the characters it won't bother me. And I don't think that is likely to happen, given the first two chapters.
Chapter 3-4
-Ok, I somehow missed that I was already through Chapter 4. Page turning book is page turning.
-I think Miles/Elena is adorable, and I'm kinda really rooting for him to win her over.
-Also accurate depiction of funerals is accurate. I remember running off to my bedroom with a bottle of wine and one of my oldest friends during my father's.
-Miles' father is kind of awesome. Again I didn't expect that. Also his mother is some kind of free love advocate. Rock.
-I'll admit to not quite following all the mystery about Elena's birth. She was born from an artificial womb....but what does that mean? Is she actually the bodyguard's daughter?
Chapter 5
-OMG, this is so awesome. Miles comes across a drunken possibly suicidal pilot holding a ship hostage...and he buys the ship and swears the man's loyalty to him, pissing off pretty much an entire planet in the process.
-Also there's some world building regarding Betan society (you have to have a permit to have children, any kind of sexuality is permitted) and the pilots (who have computers implanted in their brains that allow them to fly the ships.)
-But no, seriously, this is pretty much just Miles being awesome.
-also he scammed the owner of the ship by offering radioactive land as collateral. HAHA.
Chapter 6
-And then Miles recruited an army deserter to his cause (which I guess he hasn't figured out yet). Because the alternative was to turn him over to be executed.
-And he's planning to smuggle weapons for some other planet, into a warzone, to pay for the ship he bought.
Chapter 7
-And now he's inadvertently pretending to be a mercenary with his own army. This book is wild. It's like he's just accidentally, coincidentally become a con artist and a smuggler. Cause why the hell not, I wasn't doing anything today.
-So Barrayar and Beta were at war, and Miles mother was fighting on the opposite side of his father and switched sides? Ok, the prequels are starting to sound interesting.
-And Miles has been drinking liquor mixed with speed (creme de meth?) for days...sure that's a good idea.
-The ship takes off as they're being ordered back and the drugs wear off...this is a hilarious clusterfuck.
Chapter 8-9
-So they're approaching the border where they have to smuggle their cargo through and they find out the pilot will be held captive.
-Except when they actually get boarded, the mercenaries want to take Elena instead and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE and they kick the mercenaries asses.
-They then formulate a plan to take over the mercenaries ship. They capture the pilot, and Miles allows his bodyguard to torture him for the access codes to the ship. By RIPPING THE IMPLANT OUT OF HIS HEAD, WHAT?
-Then they split up and capture the ship.
-I haven't mentioned it, but I find it odd that there is a Betan third gender called hermaphrodites. At first I was like, ok whatever, but now there's been several references to them and it seems to be implied that the hermaphrodites are people who have chosen a non-distinct neutral gender? Possibly they are born that way, but I kinda don't think so? Which makes me a bit uncomfortable at the use of the word hermaphrodite. But I guess I have to wait and hope that at some point we get a more detailed look at that part of society.
-So Miles won't let them kill anyone, but they can't figure out what to do with them all. He goes back to check on the pilot they tortured only to find him having a stroke and almost dead because Bothari RIPPED OUT HIS FUCKING IMPLANT, GEEZ. So he dies, and Miles flips the fuck out trying to save him and cause he totally was just responsible for someone's death.
Chapter Ten
-Wait a damn minute. Miles starts talking to the mercenary captain and the first mate about how shoddy they are as soldiers and then he's presenting himself as a military expert....IS HE ABOUT TO TAKE OVER THE MERCENARIES, TOO?
-So yeah, now he's running an entire mercenary crew because he's convinced them he's the leader of an elite mercenary group who is going to train them and the best will be promoted. Meanwhile he's totally bullshitting and trying to keep them busy so they don't revolt and kill him. I can't believe this.
Chapters 11 and 12
-So there ends up being a battle when they get to the refinery where they are supposed to get paid. And in the end Miles ends up with a refinery of his own, and two battleships under his command. And he's still fucked because he has no money, no way to pay the mercenaries, and his original ship is broken and can't get them home.
-So what? Is he going to end up taking over a couple of planets in the end? (Probably, if not this book, then eventually.)
-Miles is a truly interesting character. He's super intelligent, really bold, fairly fearless, and manipulative, but he's not at all a sociopath. He cares about people and doesn't want anyone hurt. But he's also a warrior, without ACTUALLY BEING a warrior. I expected him to kind of rebel against his whole warrior society, but instead he's ended up acting as a really good commander. Except for the part where it's all a huge lie and he's broken about every rule there is. It's really fascinating, since obviously he ended up learning a huge amount from his family and all the warriors around him and in some sense it's inevitable that he ends up as an officer even after having the normal path to that life closed off to him.
Can you tell I'm probably not going to sleep tonight without having finished this book. All I've wanted to do all day is read it.
Chapters 13 and 14
-Mostly battle aftermath stuff.
-Elena and Baz get caught snuggling, her father nearly kills Baz. I saw this coming, but still think Miles' crush on Elena is cute and I'd like it to go somewhere.
-Naturally the currency they give him for the weapons, what he's been working for all this time, is totally worthless. And also naturally Miles goes on pretending it isn't.
-And now the planet wants to hire Miles' imaginary fleet....and he's agreed.
Chapter 15
-So, random coincidence brings Elena's long lost mother on board, and she murders Bothari, who was a torturer and rapist during the war. And Elena is the product of rape....You know, honestly, it's shocking and all, but it feels like this was really rushed through and it didn't really have the impact it should have if there had been more build up.
Chapters 16 and 17
-Right so I read these before bed and now don't remember what I meant to say.
-Miles goes through a severe depression before finally coming up with a strategy to drive the other mercenaries away by taking their money.
-Then he's hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer
-And then the Admiral of the other mercenary army shows up and freaking ASKS TO JOIN MILES' ARMY.
Chapter 18
-So this is a really exciting but complicated chapter.
-First there's the fact that Miles now has over 3000 people in his mercenary group. And he has no idea what to do with them now
-Second, Baz asks Miles for permission to marry Elena, and Miles freaks out and then Elena freaks out on him for worrying about what her rapist father wanted for her. The speech she gives about how she's an actual person and not an ideal, not a way for her father to be redeemed, is great. She can't even think about going back home because everyone one there knew her father's past and didn't do anything about it.
-Third, in a really complicated chain of reasoning, Miles figures out that there is a plot back home to convict him of treason in order to both discredit his father and get him out of the line of inheritance. It's very exciting.
Chapter 19
-So Miles leaves his mercenaries under Baz's command, after seeing Baz and Elena married. I like that he genuinely still wants her, but knows it would be bad for her to be with him. He also tries to encourage her mother to at least pretend to care about Elena.
-His cousin Ivan plays the reader stand-in, telling Miles how awesome it is that he left home with essentially nothing and won a war and has all the spoils of it. But Miles negates all of that, saying he doesn't want spoils, he doesn't want an army, in fact he's about to be tried for his life for the crime of having a private army. He blames himself for enjoying it a bit, while back home his father was suffering in his place. Which right there is pretty much why Miles is such an attractive character. He has strong empathy for others, and he didn't ever do any of this for greed, but either just because he could, or because he had no other choice.
Chapter 20 and 21
-Working his way back home, paying off debts on the way, Miles arrives on the last day of his trial and walks in to surprise everyone. He forces one conspirator to confess.
-Ultimately he is pardoned, and he tells t he emperor everything about his trip. They decide to settle the mercenary question by secretly adopting the mercenaries as part of the Imperial secret service.
-Ans Miles' dad talks him into military academy as a way of keeping an eye on him and preventing this from happening again. I'm going to imagine since there are a shit-ton of more books that this is not entirely sucessful.
-And then Miles buries Bothari and it's all bittersweet and shit.
Epilogue
And that epilogue is thoroughly charming, showing how Miles continues to be astoundingly brilliant in school, and making friends from his enemies to boot.
So yay! I really, really enjoyed that. I'll be taking a break to finish reading the Inheritance trilogy, now that my copies of books 2 and 3 have arrived. Then I'll come back to this, probably with "The Mountains of Mourning" and The Vor Game since I have those in this same volume. Unless I find the prequels cheaply before then.