Warchild by Karin Lowachee

[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

13) Warchild is the second Karin Lowachee novel I've read, after Burndive, which I have already reviewed here. Warchild is earlier both publication date-wise and chronologically, but having read both, I think the order I accidentally ended up with is the superior order. Burndive is more interesting if you don't know where Jos Musey's loyalties lie. I suggest you read Burndive first.

I would love Warchild alone for having an alien race with multiple nations and multiple cultures, and yet having that not be the focus of the story. If the novel also has a fascinating set of characters, exciting space adventures, and a complicated and morally murky neo-space opera plot, those are just bonuses.

Jos Musey is your prototypical 'survivor'. Abducted off the merchant ship he lived on with his parents by a cruel and rapacious pirate captain, he manages to escape... into the hands of the feared striviirc-na. And he passes from their alien stronghold to serve as a soljet aboard merciless Hub captain Cairo Azarcon's flagship, Macedon. Throughout, his loyalties blur as he quests for someone or something that deserves those loyalties. Nobody is consistently good. Eventually, Jos must learn that the point of putting your trust in someone is to let them know that even if they let you down, you'll still trust them. It is a difficult lesson. Trust is hard.

Lowachee has a lot of well-executed language play. The book opens in 2nd person narration, a gimmick that works surprisingly well at inserting the reader into the shoes of the young Jos, and a gimmick that Lowachee knows to turn off before it becomes annoying.

Linguistics nerds will love the section where Jos is taught a language of the striviirc-na (one of several! glee!). Lowachee takes care to create an interesting and self-consistent language and uses it effectively throughout the whole novel.

And word play, too, helps create the sense of immersion in the universe, as when we find that Macedon's crest features Alexander the Great. Those sorts of little consistencies make Warchild a great place to get lost in another world.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I think I need to find Ms. Lowachee's books. Thank you for this review.