This was quite a difficult read and vastly different from the two previous books in the series, in terms of the character's psychology and internal voice. Like Jos from Warchild, Yuri had also been taken by the space pirate Falcon and made into a protege, however, he turned out very different from the experience. Where Jos refuses to acknowledge the abuse he suffered at the hands of Falcone, Yuri talks fairly candidly about what he's been through, making this book absolutely brutal and heartbreaking at parts. Still, the novel is incredibly engrossing, and Karin Lowachee is excellent at writing damaged characters without portraying them as mere victims.

The characters and relationships in this book were handled with such nuance and complexity for the most part. In particular, really loved the relationship between Yuri and Finch, although it is not clear why Yuri is so attached to Finch-- in some ways I felt that he was replacing Estienne with Finch as his new anchor. It would be interesting to see how their relationship develops or changes in the future as Yuri heals from his past. ( )

Trigger warning: rape, self harm, child abuse, child grooming…

Cagebird is the third novel in Karin Lowachee’s science fiction series exploring how a war psychologically impacts boys. The series starts with Warchild, which I still believe to be the best in the series. While each book has a different protagonist, I would recommend reading them in order.

At the age of four, Yuri Kirov’s home was destroyed in one of the initial attacks in the war between the humans/alien war. When the pirates found him, he was a child refugee who became trained as Falcone’s protege. Now at twenty-two he is a killer and a criminal serving out a life sentence on Earth. Then two men from the Black Ops decide that they’d rather Yuri return to the pirates to be their spy and weapon, but their plan puts him in more danger than ever.

In my review of Warchild I talked about how brutal and uncomfortable to read the book was. This is even more so for Cagebird, and at a certain point it just became too much. There are multiple, explicit rape scenes, all taking place before Yuri is fifteen. I question the necessity of showing such graphic scenes, especially as they were all flashbacks and not part of the current narrative.

Speaking of flashbacks, it felt like they comprised the majority of the book. I felt that this had the effect of putting the focus on all the horrible things that had happened in Yuri’s past instead of on a healing arc, which ended up feeling skimped. For a book where one of the end messages is “look to your future not your past,” Cagebird sure did spend a lot of time on the graphic details of Yuri’s past.

The current timeline did have a lot of promise, but I feel that much of it was underdeveloped. Take Finch’s character – he played such a large role in Yuri’s arc but he never felt like he was well characterized and developed. He seems to only exist in connection to Yuri.

So why did this book cross the three star mark? Because whatever the faults of the book, Karin Lowachee can write. She immediately establishes Yuri as having a distinctive voice, and I did end up feeling like I understood and sympathized with him, which from what I knew about him going in, I wasn’t sure would happen. There’s also some value in the messages of the current timeline, such as “you can get acclimatized to any environment, but it doesn’t mean the environment is a good one.”

What it comes down to is this: Does Cagebird‘s good points outweigh the focus on the sheer brutality? For me, it didn’t, and it’s not a book I’m going to ever reread. On the other hand, I am willing to continue with the series if Lowachee ever publishes a fourth book. I would still recommend Warchild and Burndive but I would advice anyone contemplating Cagebird to be aware of their own limits before starting.

Originally posted on The Illustrated Page. ( )

This seemed like tourism to me. Like visiting a very painful place, looking around, taking a few pictures, and leaving. I don't trust Lowachee to write authentically, at this point. ( )

Warchild, Burndive, Cagebird

Interesting series. I got these because I'd seen them highly reviewed somewhere; of course, now I don't remember where.
In many ways, they're basic military SF - I'd recommend them, with some reservations, to fans of Lois McMaster Bujold, maybe CJ Cherryh.
Each one has a different young man as the protagonist, but they follow one timeline, and link to each other, with many shared characters.All of them are very homosensual. All the young men are super-cute, and there is much tousling of hair. (Is the author's hair an erogenous zone? It's really non-stop.) At times I was like, "Um, am I reading yaoi here?" At other times... well, it gets disturbing. That's where my reservations arise. I wouldn't normally 'warn' any reader off a book for content, but if you are sensitive about child abuse, I would not recommend the second two in this series, and especially not the third, due to explicit scenes of rape and abuse. It doesn't just discuss it, but while condemning the perpetrators, it's still oddly mixed with the eroticism.
The first one is the best of the bunch. Not necessarily BECAUSE, but it is much more restrained and understated. You know bad things happened to the protagonist, but he is in denial, and refuses to talk about them. This actually makes the trauma very real and believable. With the second and third, I almost felt like the author was just trying to see how far she could push it...
The first book, Warchild, sets up the world: Humanity has become spacefaring, and discovered a moon full of valuable resources. Unfortunately, it was already colonized by an alien scientific mission. Humans try to take over, and a war starts. Some humans sympathize with the alien cause, and go over to their side. Meanwhile, vicious starfaring pirates take advantage of the social instability, and prey on whoever and whatever they can get their hands on. One of the worst of the pirates is Falcone, a former space Marine captain with an obsession with raising young boys to be his proteges... and treating them in ways that leave them horribly damaged, in the process. The main character here, the adorable Jos Musey, is orphaned by an attack by Falcone on his family's merchant ship, and taken by Falcone, who has plans for him. However, Jos takes advantage of the chaos of an alien attack to escape... and finds himself in the hands of sympathizers, who train him in alien martial arts. Next, he's sent undercover to infiltrate the marines...
These are are kind of 'familiar' scenarios, but the book does a great job of portraying emotional manipulation and conflicting loyalties.
Burndive is the second book. (And kind of oddly titled - a 'Burndive' is virtual reality hacking, and there is very little of it in the book... less than in the first book.) The protagonist here is, of course, cute. He's the son of the most famous Marine captain, and a bit of a celebrity. He's also a spoiled brat, and not really nearly as compelling a character as that of Jos. Ryan (the spoiled celeb), has a bit of a drug problem, but his bigger problem is assassination attempts... his father's attempts to make peace with the aliens haven't gone over well in some circles, and some people are more than willing to kill him to get to his dad. The dad takes him abouard his ship - both for safety, and as a bit of a boot camp program to whip him into shape and get him to grow up a bit. Space action ensues... and we learn more about Falcone, the captain, Azarcon, and why he hates pirates more than aliens.
In the third, Cagebird, we get to see thing from the point of view of the 'bad guys.' The protagonist here is Yuri - yet another of Falcone's proteges. This one hasn't run away or escaped... he's become a captain under Falcone's command. However, he's far from not-messed-up - he's full of emotional conflict, and has a tendency to cut himself. Of course, he's also a bad-ass that will just as soon kill you as... The narrative switches from showing how Yuri got to where he is, with training (mostly to be a prostitute) under Falcone, to the present, where military and political negotiations involving pirates, symps, aliens, marines, and the human HubCentral government are ongoing.
These three books are all there are to the series; but it doesn't really feel quite done. The second two concentrate on Falcone's story arc - and really neglect the part of the story that has to do with Niko (the Warboy) and the alien/human conflict. There's definitely room for another book here. ( )

As far as I'm concerned, this is the best book of the series, and one of my all time favorite books ever. My full review is here, on Hot Stuff for Cool People. ( )