This is a hard copy anthologizing/reissuing "The Warrior's Apprentice," "The Mountains of Mourning," (novella) and "The Vor Game." It turns out my family had owned a hard copy for eons but I'd never tried it, probably because it was part of a series and I wasn't sure where to start? IDK, but having read the Cordelia books I was very ready to jump back into this world!
"The Warrior's Apprentice" follows Miles after he fails the entrance exams to the Imperial military academy. Because of the poison he was exposed to in utero, he's topped out at 4'9" with very brittle bones; however, as the son of Cordelia and Aral, he's a natural military genius. He takes some time off visiting his grandmother on Beta Colony, and likes this plan because he thinks he might be able to find the place where the mother of his childhood friend/crush is buried, and impress her, after their computer hacking attempts fall short. The "seventeen-year-olds' skewed priorities" premise is fun. However, Miles quickly fails upward, and winds up accidentally acquiring a few, then several, then many, mercenaries loyal to him. This quote is actually from "Mountains of Mourning," but it sums up "Warrior's Apprentice" to a tee:
Holding two deuces and the joker. He must surely either concede or start bluffing like crazy...
(The Tumblr post about "you ever fuck up so hard you accidentally overthrow a dynasty" seems relevant here, although Miles is more concerned about
keeping his emperor on the throne than deposing him.)
Bothari, who we met in the Cordelia books, is Miles' lifelong bodyguard (he carried Miles around before he learned to walk, at age four and a half). Early on, Miles realizes the horrors of war, when he orders Bothari to torture a captured pilot until he spills his secrets; Bothari removes the man's brain implants, which winds up killing him, and Miles carries that on his conscience forever afterwards. Later, we get closure of sorts to Bothari's plotline; again, I'm not entirely thrilled with the way he goes back and forth between "a character who makes bad decisions but has the potential to grow beyond them" and "Cordelia's dog." (He and Miles have a conversation about "hey if I die you'll bring my body back to bury at your mother's feet, like a dog, right? "...????" "Your father said I could. He gave me
his word as Vorkosigan." Miles, speaking for the reader: "okay, when my father and I give
our word as Vorkosigan that means it has to be done, that is a long-running theme of this series, but also
why are we having this conversation.")
Bujold is very good at "leaving out the parts people skip." I thought the Cordelia books were a little crisper in terms of "one thing following into the next;" these novels are a little more "things happening
to Miles/him failing upwards," so they don't quite rise to those heights. However, "Mountains," and "Weatherman," the novella that got turned into the opening chapters of "Vor Game," are very tautly paced!
"Mountains" sees Miles journey into the Dendarii mountains (namesake of the mercenary troop) to investigate a case of infanticide; an infant who was born with a cleft lip was found dead a few days later, and the mother suspects the father. The Barrayarans' extreme prejudice towards "mutants" means that Miles is a very prominent symbol of change, and Aral putting him on the case makes that even more prominent. (I guess it's hinted at that Barrayaran was inadvertently separated from the rest of the galaxy early in their terraforming process, so evolution went awry and everyone's inherited a fear of "mutants" ever since, but I wanted a little more about that.)
What's powerful about this is the relationship that Miles has with his late grandfather, Piotr, and the shadow he casts over the story. Piotr was very prejudiced against Miles, but Miles still burns offerings for him. This lends a stark contrast to the way the mystery plot resolves, and the fact that Miles can speak so highly of him says a lot about his own character:
"He was called the last of the Old Vor, but really, he was the first of the new. He changed with the times, from the tactics of horse cavalry to that of flyer squadrons, from swords to atomics, and he changed successfully. Our present freedom from the Cetagandan occupation is a measure of how fiercely he could adapt, then throw it all away and adapt again. At the end of his life he was called a conservative, only because so much of Barrayar had streamed past him in the direction he had led, prodded, pushed, and pointed all his life."
"Weatherman" sees Miles sent to be a weather officer on an Arctic island where infantrymen train so he can learn to work with, and under, ordinary people who don't share his intellect. Hazing ensues. So do even worse problems, and while Miles is really trying not to rock the boat (so he can get promoted to an actual spaceship), he winds up having to defy authority anyway--on behalf of people he has good reason to dislike! Bujold's afterword (in this edition anyway) has some fascinating backstory about how she came up with some of these themes.
Anyway, after that, it goes back to mercenary shenanigans, and again, I feel like this part is not quite as compelling but still very good. There's a great scene when one officer in the mostly-male Dendarii complains about how someone else betrayed them and took over, and a woman officer politely points out "actually, if the rest of you had paid attention to how he treats me, maybe you could have assessed his character earlier." Their different reads of the situation say a lot about how sexism can inadvertently take hold in institutions, without being too heavy-handed about it. Another very funny and too real situation: the bigwigs are like "our security systems are
classified and
airgapped, how could anyone have exfiltrated data?" "Well, it just takes one person who's looking up information on the classified network and also willing to talk to someone outside via the unclassified network." "Are you saying we have to be on guard against
insider threats, too?!?" Being a spy is hard :(
A few more highlights:
"I wish I'd known more about this [his unusual prenatal situation] as a kid, I could have agitated for two birthdays, one when Mother had the cesarian, and one when they finally popped me out of the replicator."
"If he gets extradited home, the penalty's quartering. Technically."
"That doesn't sound so bad." Hathaway shrugged. "He's been quartered in my recycling center for two months. It could hardly be worse. What's the problem?"
"Quartering," said Miles. "Uh--not domiciled. Cut in four pieces."
Hathaway stared, shocked. "But that would kill him!" He looked around, and wilted under the triple, unified, and exasperated glares of the three Barrayarans.
"Betans," said Baz disgustedly. "I can't stand Betans."
The boys, once the facts penetrated their sleepiness, thought it was all just great, and wanted to return to the tent and lie in wait for the next assassin. Ma Karal, shrill and firm, herded them indoors instead and made them bed down in the main room. It was an hour before they stopped complaining at the injustice of it and went back to sleep.
"I saw casualties in Vordarian's Pretendership before you were born--"
I was a casualty in Vordarian's Pretendership before I was born, thought Miles, his irritation growing wilder.
This is way too real, please tell me there is fanfiction of it:
Miles knew about criminal orders, every academy man did. His father came down personally and gave a one-day seminar on the topic to the seniors at midyear. He'd made it a requirement to graduate, by Imperial fiat back when he'd been Regent. What exactly constituted a criminal order, when and how to disobey it. With vid evidence from various historical test cases and bad examples, including the politically disastrous Solstice Massacre, that had taken place under the admiral's own command. Invariably one or more cadents had to leave the room to throw up during that part.
The other instructors hated Vorkosigan's Day. Their classes were subtly disrupted for weeks afterward. One reason Admiral Vorkosigan didn't wait till any later in the year; he almost always had to make a return trip a few weeks after, to talk some disturbed cadet out of dropping out at almost the finale of his schooling.
One question: Cordelia is in-universe famous, at least on Beta Colony, their version of history credits her with killing Vorrutyer (which she didn't do) and singlehandedly changing the tide of the war (which she did). Miles travels under the name "Mr. Naismith" as his mercenary identity, and this somehow doesn't raise any questions. I assume the intended in-universe explanation is "she's not actually that famous beyond Beta," but I can think of several other theories:
- "Naismith" is like the "Smith" of Beta, "Mr. Naismith" is everyone's "John Doe" name
- "Naismith" is a rare name, but it's everyone's "George Washington" name because of Cordelia, everyone realizes it's an alias but it's the obvious alias an idealistic Betan would pick
- everyone assumes he named himself after this Naismith for the irony because he's so small!
The
cover art is a double-sided Jack (the playing card) with one view of Ensign Vorkosigan and the other direction as Mr. Naismith. I can't tell if his facial features are supposed to be distorted/strangely proportioned because of his disabilities? At the risk of being a prejudiced Barrayaran I must admit he doesn't look very attractive to me :/ but I'll try to keep an open mind, appearance isn't everything!
Bingo: "Warrior's Apprentice" and "Mountains of Mourning" were originally published in the 80s; the former was also a previous readalong.
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