The Warrior's Apprentice

Fast paced, military sci-fi. The action flows well and is enjoyable. The science and strategy seem to be a bit below the standards set by John Ringo, David Weber and Jack Campbell. The side characters are a bit shallow and I often forgot which character had which back story shortly after they were introduced.

Overall I'd judge it as a fun read, but not for readers who prefer well developed characters.

Still good on a reread many years later. Miles is an unstoppable force.

This time I listened to the audio version very ably narrated by Grover Gardner.

A fun, fast-paced read. Reading the series in chronological, rather than publication order this is the first book where Miles is the main character. He's one of those characters with boundless energy and enthusiasm who, although he is very intelligent, manages to get into quite a lot of trouble because he doesn't really think things through. Oh well, he's only about 17 years old in this...

I really enjoyed this book. Am looking forward to the next one.

Executive Summary: I really enjoyed this book, and I'm a lot more eager to continue on with the series than I was after [b:Shards of Honor 531792 Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga #1) Lois McMaster Bujold https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388212776s/531792.jpg 9673658].Audiobook: Grover Gardner does a good job once again. He's speaks clearly and with good inflection and volume. I don't feel like he added anything extra to the book to make this a must listen, but it's certainly a good option.Full ReviewDespite this being the series that made Ms. Bujold's career, I came to her work instead through her Chalion books instead. I really liked her as an author. Of course those are fantasy which is much more in my wheelhouse than Science Fiction books seem to be. I know this series has a “recommended” reading order from the author herself, but I'm stubborn about reading things in publication order. In my opinion if the books were meant to be read in a different order, they should have been written/released in that order. As a result I started with [b:Shards of Honor 531792 Shards of Honor (Vorkosigan Saga #1) Lois McMaster Bujold https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388212776s/531792.jpg 9673658] and continued on with this one.I must say I enjoyed this one much more than the first. I'm not sure if it's how much I enjoyed the character of Miles Vorkosigan, or the general pacing/direction of the plot, but after a so-so feeling from Shards, I'm pretty excited to continue this series now.I didn't know much going into this book apart from what I remember from the first one. At first I thought it was a flashback novel with how Vorkosigan came to be where he was in the first book, only to realize that no, I was reading a book set several years later about his son. Oops.The physical issues Miles has, make him an interesting character amidst a world that values strength and proficiency at war. Of course he's only half Barrayan, which also puts him apart from his peers as well. I'm always drawn to characters who outthink their opponents rather than simply through superior force.I believe that much of the series focuses on Miles, which makes me happy because he is by far the character I'm most interested so far. I am however interested in revisiting his parents down the road as well. This is a long series and I've only just begun, but I suspect I may put a good dent in it by the end of the year, at least as long as the next books end up being as good as this one was.

God, the covers for these books are awful. Although I found some of the plotting a bit needlessly convoluted, the character work and thematic development really sang. The audiobooks for the series have also made reading them a joy.

Miles Vorkosigan is a fantastic character. It's been great fun getting to know him and his manic no-holds-barred approach to life.

Narrator of audio book does a great job, his delivery felt perfect for Barrayar and Barrayarans.

My first encounter with Miles Vorkosigan was [b:The Mountains of Mourning 10959881 The Mountains of Mourning (Vorkosigan Saga) Lois McMaster Bujold https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1301700641l/10959881.SY75.jpg 2709863], which I liked, so I tried this one next, and found it too military for my taste, reminding me somewhat of Gordon Dickson's Dorsai books. Much later, I realized that I prefer reading about Miles's civilian career.

I really liked the first two books in this series, which focused on Miles' mother, Cordelia. But this one was just OK to me. It took a long time to get to the action, and even when it all started, so much of the action happened off-page, when the main character was unconscious or elsewhere. Not inspired to dig into this series any more at this moment.

I'm not often a fan of “Mary Sue” characters. They're overpowered and everything seems to go their way for the sake of the plot. Miles Vorkosigan could easily be considered such a character, except for two things.

First, he's severely crippled. His mother was poisoned by an assassin while he was still in her womb, and the result was a twisted spine and brittle bones. Second, he's unintentionally successful. He doesn't realize his own brilliance and charisma, which leads to him hilariously stumbling from one victory to the next.

After flunking out of military academy for failing his physical tests, Miles has his dreams of following in his legendary father's footsteps crushed. In an attempt to fix his financial difficulties, he purchases an old spaceship. From there, he ends up recruiting a ragtag team for a smuggling expedition, and things spiral wildly out of control.

I don't read a lot of sci fi—perhaps because I suffer from the mistaken impression that it emphasizes technology over people—but this is exactly the kind of book that makes me want to fix that. It's got humor, heart, and prose that makes me forget it was written more than thirty years ago.

The Warrior's Apprentice is a fun read that offers and exciting jumping-in point to Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga. I look forward to continuing the series.

Others have said in their reviews why this book is such a disappointment. I guess I expected more, or at least something different from what I got. I will still probably read more of the series (afterall, some of the books have won Hugos), but not anytime soon. My to-read pile is just too large.