Warchild

April 15, 2002
Eight-year-old Jos Musey's childhood ends when his parents' merchant ship falls prey to pirates and slavers. Destined to be the personal slave of his captor, Jos escapes only to find himself a prisoner of the strits, an alien race at war with humanity. Trained as a spy by his captors, Jos is released to become a human weapon but the war he fights is a war to achieve his own destiny. Winner of the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest, Lowachee's sf debut provides a poignant tale of survival and courage reminiscent of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Polished storytelling and convincing worldbuilding make this a good selection for most sf collections.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2002
The latest winner of Warner Aspect's first-novel contest makes highly successful use of a thoroughly familiar plot line. When pirates destroy the merchant starship that is eight-year-old Jos' home and kill the rest of his family, he is enslaved with the rest of the children. Determined and desperate, he escapes on an alien world, only to end up in the hands of the " strint," aliens at war with humanity, whom Jos was brought up to hate and fear. They raise him, train him to be a warrior and spy, and eventually send him back among his own people. His ostensible mission is to learn more about humanity to help end the war. But he is dubious, sharpening his internal conflict of loyalties. The book is consistently good, especially at rendering Jos' viewpoint at different ages, and seasoned sf readers may look on it as an update of Heinlein's " Citizen of the Galaxy" (1957). As for the winning author, anyone who is this good the first time out demands to be heard from again.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)