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fajrdrakoAbout a year ago I'd heard that a graphic novel version of "The Warrior's Apprentice" was being published in France. I haven't been able to track it down to buy it (yet) but I had requested it from the public library, and with uncanny timing, it arrived last week. Uncanny timing because we're starting an official read of it on one of the Dunnett lists next week.
So I read it this morning. Great fun. Presumably they are doing the whole Miles series - the overall title is "La Saga Vorkosigan" and this is vol. 1, "L'apprentissage du Guerrier". Because of the title I expected it to be an adaptation of the whole novel, but no. It's only the first half of "The Warrior's Apprentice", and a little bit from later on, because it actually starts with the climax - and then goes back to the beginning as a flashback. Very suitable, actually.
I'll put links to the pictures under a tag.
1. Gregor is portrayed as being blond. I had to run to the text to make sure I wasn't misremembering, but no, Gregor is introduced in "Barrayar" as "a dark-haired boy". So they took liberties... Probably because there were already so many dark-haired characters, they wanted to differentiate him. Or maybe Gregor was just going through a sort of Goth period, and dyed his hair.
2. The cover is by Alain Brion, in quite a different style from the interior art by Jose Maria Beroy.
The cover here shows Miles leaping out of a space ship, gun blazing, with Elena looking alramed and Bothari looking dour. The costume design is pretty much the same as in the interior, but the character design isn't.
3. A scan showing Barrayrar. I thought at first this must be the Imperial Residence, but no, it must be Vorhartnung Palace.
If you look closely, the lightflyers look a little like Rolls Royces or Bentleys. I like that. And they have little skis to land on.
4. The art throughout, at least the Barrayaran scenes, has a delightful art nouveau flair that never occurred to me but which fits perfectly. Aral's uniform, which would otherewise be pretty drab, has fancy bits and pieces of design.
That's Koudela with him in this picture.
5. Vorkosigan House is a sort of Art Nouveau version of the Brighton Pavilion. I like it.
I like the looming portrait of a Vorkosigan ancestor behind them. Miles' room has round windows like that of Dr. Strange, or maybe a Hobbit house. And it looks suitably lived-in and elegant at the same time.
6. As for Beta Colony... I was saying how I couldn't really picture it. This helps, a lot. We get the spaceport:
I'm not sure what all the squiggles in the air are - they look like sound effects out of manga. Maybe they are supposed to be music. Or holovids in progress. Cool, anyway.
The exterior of Miles' grandmother's house:
I'd always imagined the whole house as interior - i.e., being accessed by an undergound tunnel/road. I.e., that what passed for 'out of doors' on Beta Colony had a ceiling. But this artist thinks the houses, though underground, have skylights and bits built up above-ground. Interesting! And when you look at it... this is just the area where the lightflyer lands. No roads, which much be underground.
And the interior:
I like the depiction of the holo-vid entertainment, and the nice traditional tea service.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-27 05:13 am (UTC)Alas, ISTR Lois posting on the list a while back that the rest of the series had been cancelled due to poor sales. But I could be wrong.
La Saga Vorkosigan
Date: 2012-02-27 07:27 pm (UTC)What a pity. It was good.