Warchild
By: Karen Lowachee
Synopsis: Eight year old Joslyn Musey (Jos) is hiding inside his home ship, the Mukudori, when it is attacked by the infamous pirate Vincenzo Marucs Falcome. His parents do not survive the attack, but Jos is taken captive, catapulting him into a world of pirate training, sharpening his skills, and learning to survive while in captivity.
When the pirate kidnappers begin to fight with a group of aliens, Jos uses the confusion and warfare to escape his captives. However, his freedom is not found as he is next taken captive by the aliens and taken to their homeworld by Warboy, a human sympathizer. While on the alien world of Aaian-na, Jos trains to become an assassin. Jos's new assignment in this new role is to spy on a ship and report information back. However in this new role, Jos begins to have experiences and meet people who make him question the ideas of "good" and "bad" and his role in the universe.
Science Fiction Characteristics:
World Building: A very common aspect of science ficiton is world building. In Warchild, the reader gets to explore various worlds, warships, alien species, pirates, and other elements that come together to build the Warchild universe.
Series-Based: Like many science fiction novels, Warchild is part of a series. Warchild is a trilogy with two backs coming after it titled Burndive and Cagebird.
Coming-Of-Age Sub-genre: The reader meets Jos when he is eight at the beginning of the book and ends when Jos is 18. The reader watches him grow up and suffer the consequences of growing up in a war-torn and confusing galaxy. Despite his unusual and intense life in multiple captivities, he also wrestles with questions that any person his age may deal with such as "Who do I want to be?". This ambitious novel, a blend of military sci-fi and coming-of-age sci fi tackles difficult subjects such as child abuse, sexual assault, and child psychology while retaining the fascinating world-building and action.
Read-A-Likes:
The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Bright of the Sky By Kay Kenyon
Darcy, this book sounds like it is really good. I will add it to my list. It sounds like it really explores moral and social issues. This characteristic is one of the reasons that I like science fiction books.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this book or author before but your summary and overall annotation really makes me want to check it out. Great job! Full points!
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