![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
'The Warrior's Apprentice'
I decided to go back and reread a favourite book while ill, so here's 'The Warrior's Apprentice' by Lois McMaster Bujold.
I've read this book at least three times over the years, but I'd forgotten just how fabulous it was. Reading it for the 4th (ish) time while ill this week, I found myself laughing aloud in pure delight.
Miles is cursed with a hyperactive, intelligent mind in a body that forever lets him down. Brittle bones break all too easily, and in a culture that values physical strength and perfection, that's a big problem.
His resentment at being unable to do the things he really wants to do leads him to help another desperate man, and suddenly he's in a situation where one thing piles on top of another and he's juggling eggs in an evermore complex pattern as he accidentally 'acquires' a band of mercenaries.
Here's where his upbringing comes in handy. Miles has always wanted the military life, he's inherited his father's gift for tactics, but this military life is a trap of a kind that he fails to spot until it is almost too late.
Can Miles stop everything from crashing down around him?
Bujold's characters are wonderful - each of her books usually works as a stand-alone (this one included), but it's great to have extra glimpses of characters whom we've met in the past or will see more of in the future. Her female characters are intelligent and capable of challenging the cultures that surround them.
The book is also funny. Mile's thoughts about his idiot cousin Ivan, his efforts at playing matchmaker, and many other scenes besides.
In a nutshell, the book is wonderful space opera, with great characters. Read it!
I've read this book at least three times over the years, but I'd forgotten just how fabulous it was. Reading it for the 4th (ish) time while ill this week, I found myself laughing aloud in pure delight.
Miles is cursed with a hyperactive, intelligent mind in a body that forever lets him down. Brittle bones break all too easily, and in a culture that values physical strength and perfection, that's a big problem.
His resentment at being unable to do the things he really wants to do leads him to help another desperate man, and suddenly he's in a situation where one thing piles on top of another and he's juggling eggs in an evermore complex pattern as he accidentally 'acquires' a band of mercenaries.
Here's where his upbringing comes in handy. Miles has always wanted the military life, he's inherited his father's gift for tactics, but this military life is a trap of a kind that he fails to spot until it is almost too late.
Can Miles stop everything from crashing down around him?
Bujold's characters are wonderful - each of her books usually works as a stand-alone (this one included), but it's great to have extra glimpses of characters whom we've met in the past or will see more of in the future. Her female characters are intelligent and capable of challenging the cultures that surround them.
The book is also funny. Mile's thoughts about his idiot cousin Ivan, his efforts at playing matchmaker, and many other scenes besides.
In a nutshell, the book is wonderful space opera, with great characters. Read it!
no subject
no subject
no subject
I always describe Warriors Apprentice as being like the woman who ate a spider to catch a fly - Miles seems to get himself into bigger and bigger messes with every turn!
no subject
I love her Science Fiction. Her first fantasy, Spirit Ring didn't do a lot for me, but I enjoyed Chalion, but I keep reading and re-reading Paladin of Souls.
I've got it in hardcover, paperback, 2 different ebook formats and (unabridged) audio book now. I love Paladin of Souls.
no subject
no subject
no subject
Have you been reading 'The Sharing Knife' Series? I like them overall, though i found the second book less engaging then the first and third.
no subject
Agreed on all points. Spirit Ring made me think that she just couldn't Do Fantasy, but Curse of Chalion changed my mind on that completely, and Paladin of Souls tends to be re-read more than Curse of Chalion.
no subject
no subject
So there's an extra inducement - grin.
She's a great writer and many fan friends of mine enjoy her books.
no subject
no subject