The Warrior's Apprentice

A Miles Vorkosigan Novel

By: Lois McMaster Bujold

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Miles Vorkosigan makes his debut in this frenetic coming-of-age tale. At age 17, Miles is allowed to take the entrance exams to the elite military academy; he passes the written but manages, through miscalculation in a moment of anger, to break both his legs on the obstacle course, washing out before he begins. His aged grandfather dies in his sleep shortly after, for which Miles blames himself. Miles is sent to visit his grandmother Naismith on distant Beta Colony, accompanied by his bodyguard, Sergeant Bothari and Bothari's daughter, Elena. Miles passes himself off as a mercenary leader as he picks up a ragtag crew, and soon Miles' father Aral is under political attack back home as garbled rumors of Miles' mercenary operations trickle back. Miles must abandon his new fleet and dash back to Barrayar to stop the plot.

©1986 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"The pace is breathless, the characterization thoughtful and emotionally powerful....Highly recommended." (Booklist)

Engaging, plot driven story

Any additional comments?

The performer's voice takes a little getting used to, but I came to like it after a while. This isn't a particularly deep book, but it's engaging and kept my interest.

Miles Vorkosigan! 10 stars

Miles manages to accidentally build a fleet of mercenaries. Narrated by Grover Gardner, and narrated really well. Not only does he voice the characters well, but he brings the droll humor and sarcasm to life that the author pens so well. Well worth a credit and your time. Don't miss this series.

My favorite audiobook series of all time

Everything is perfect. Grover is amazing, LMB is one of the best writers around. Awesome.

Ear and Brain Candy

Would you consider the audio edition of The Warrior's Apprentice to be better than the print version?

Who reads print?

What does Grover Gardner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His smooth delivery with enough inflection and voices to keep it interesting makes for pleasurable listening. He captures the humor and essentially the whole range of human emotions and behavior portrayed in these books. Grover Gardner has been a trustworthy companion of many hours.

Any additional comments?

After over 650 audible volumes and many other audiobooks from libraries, CD's and tape, I almost never "reread" a book. There are only 2 series and books of 3 authors that I have read multiple times. McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series is one of those, and this is one of the key novels in the series in which the main character comes of age, driving himself and associates into accomplishments beyond his dreams and into too much power for his own good. The good story is told with drive, yet a lightness of touch that makes the listening something that you can enjoy while working in the garden or trying to go back to sleep. I think its the energy and accomplishment of the well developed characters against terrible odds, but with an often humorous acceptance of their initially severe limitations.

Characters you will want visit with repeatedly

Wonderful to watch Miles grow.
Great job with making his weakness the worst possible in his society.
Excellent to watch him doggedly overcome challenges.

Fantastic!

Grover Gardener’s voice perfectly fits Bujold’s sardonic and thoughtful writing style. I loved every second, few books or ongoing series have such a magnetically likable cast! Mile’s first big adventure is one I feel compelled to revisit every few years for all of its memorable moments of comedy, action, and heartbreak. If you’ve never read Vorkosigan before, well, read Shards of Honor and Barrayar first, but then read Warrior’s Apprentice once you’re officially hooked on these Vor lords!

Absolutely loved this series and introduced me to her work

I’m surprised more people haven’t read and reviewed this book and series. It has all the elements of smart plot, amazing albeit different MC, tons of action, and additional interesting characters, all impeccably written. Recommend Curse of Chalion series as well.

Miles @ 17

This is the first of the Vorkosigan series with Miles as the main character. I love the whole series and I have read all of them to date. Miles does have a nack for stumbling into bad situations and coming out smelling like a rose by the skin of his teath. I have listend to other audio presentations of this and "Vor Game" and I think these are better and I hope they are planing on doing the whole series including the 2 non-Vorkosigan books, "Falling Free" and "Ethan of Athos". I hope that Blackstone does "Shards of Honor" and "Baryarr" so people will know how Miles came to be. I noticed that Blackstone now has the next book after "Vor Game", "Cetaganda" and I hope that Audible gets it soon.

Amazing Saga, but the casting...

This book is the natural starting point of a brilliant universe. Timeline may put a couple of prequels first, but this is where the tale begins. I love the book enough to now own it in 3 formats.

The casting of the narrator... the casting. Sigh.
Gardner is an impressive narrator and I'll be looking for his stuff. He has a great, resonant voice with great inflection, solid pacing, just about everything I want in a narrator. But, he (IMHO), was the wrong choice here. The main character is a 17 y.o. kid. Every time the narrator tried to slide up his vocal range, I couldn't get Jack Benny's voice out of my head.

I was truly impressed with Gardiner in general, to the point I am bothered to leave a 2 star rating, but the rating is for the narration of THIS book and it was just jarring enough to me that I have to, if I'm to be honest.

A new generation

A new generation of Vorkosigan populates this novel. Friends, family, enemies, and unknowns around nearly every corner. For me this book falls between Barrayar and its seriousness and the previous two books and their playfulness. As usual, Bujold packs a few moments into the book that can take your breath away. How she pulls off the fun alongside the champion heavy weight emotional punches is a skill many an author wishes they possessed.

I think I have grown too much in love with epic story telling. The greatest epics have the personal connection Bujold gives us along side some dire or grand adventure which Bujold also gives us. There is also some unknown ingredient that is needed for me that I don't get from Bujold's writing. It is like her books are "just" worthy of nomination for the Hugo or Nebula award but some other book should win. I have certainly been happy and joyful about other authors that write only good and very good books. I am happy and joyful about Bujold's books, I suppose, but I find myself waiting for Dune, Pandora's Star, The Green Mile, or some other show stopper of a novel. My problem, not hers :)