Warchild
By Karin Lowachee
Warner Aspect - April 2002
ISBN: 0-446-61077-1 - Mass Market Paperback
Science Fiction
for Violence, sexual innuendo

Reviewed by: Jo Rogers, MyShelf.Com
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The life of a child during wartime is a point of view often overlooked or ignored. But this is the story told in WARCHILD, Karin Lowachee's debut novel.

What is it like to be a child during a war? Most American children have never experienced the things Joslyn Aaron Musey goes through. The battles are not fought on our home soil, not like this. Jos has never been on a planet. He lives with his parents on a deep-space merchant ship, the Mukudori, a name that means "starling."

Jos' parents often trained for attacks from the enemy. In this case, the enemy was an alien race of humanoids called the striviirc-na. But they weren't the only danger for merchant carriers like Mukudori. There are also pirates, enemy sympathizers who kill all the adults on a merchant ship, take all the weapons, technology and the children, then destroy the ship. They then sold the weapons and technology, and took the children to a place called SlavePiont, where they were then sold as slaves.


Jos' parents always hid him in a safe compartment for the duration of the drill, then came back and helped him climb out when the drill was over. Then, one day, when Jos was eight years old, pirates attacked his ship. This time, his parents didn't come back. Jos left his hiding place, because with the ship dying, he couldn't remain and live. He and several friends were captured by a pirate named Falcone, and taken aboard his ship, the Genghis Khan.

Falcone sold all the children but Jos. Jos was a beautiful child, and his good looks would earn him a good spot as a slave. Most of the children sold became sex toys for their owners, and Falcone showed Jos vids of what would be expected of him later. First, though, he was taught table manners and other things.

Though Falcone never raped Jos, Jos hated him for what he was. He went along with what Falcone wanted of him, because he was afraid not to. Disobeying Falcone meant a beating, and one was enough for Jos. He hated the constant fear, the looks from the crew and, most of all, the look, the smell and the presence of Falcone.

Thus it was, when Falcone took him to Chaos Station, he looked for an opportunity to escape. It came in the form of an attack from the striviirc-na. Falcone had said he would shoot Jos if he ran, but Jos ran anyway, hoping to get away during the melee. But Falcone made good his threat. However, one of the aliens picked him up and saved his life.

The alien was actually a human sympathizer named Nickolas-dan, and he taught Jos the alien side of the conflict. For the first time, Jos could put a face on the mysterious enemy and know how they looked at humans and their ways. It changed how he felt about EarthHub and the war.

The way Jos looked at the war and what he did to help it end is a fascinating look at how misunderstandings can start a conflict and how greed can keep it fueled to the destruction of many. It is a child's view of an adult situation that is an eye opener. The characters are realistic, in that they are not perfect. The plot is quite credible, showing how misinformation disseminated by the ones with the most to gain from a conflict can cause the death and suffering for many innocent people on both sides of the war. The end leaves many unanswered questions and leaves room for a sequel. I certainly hope to see a continuation of Jos' story and much more from the pen of a rising star in the field of science fiction.

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