''Cagebird'' is a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
by Canadian author
Karin Lowachee Karin Lowachee is a Guyanese-born Canadian author of speculative fiction.
Lowachee is the author of four novels, ''Warchild (Lowachee novel), Warchild'' (2002), ''Burndive'' (2003), ''Cagebird (novel), Cagebird'' (2005) and The Gaslight Dogs (2010) ...
. It was published by
Warner Aspect
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Grou ...
in 2005, as the third book in the
Warchild Universe. ''Cagebird'' was the winner of the
Prix Aurora Award
The Aurora Awards (french: Prix Aurora-Boréal) are a set of primarily literary awards given annually for the best Canadian science fiction or fantasy professional and fan works and achievements from the previous year."Literary glow of Auroras lur ...
and the
Gaylactic Spectrum Award
in 2006.
Plot summary
The novel begins with Yuri Terisov, the jaded former protégé of the infamous dead
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
, Captain Vincenzo Falcone, and the Captain of the pirate ship ''Kublai Khan'' in prison on earth, where his is approached by Black Ops agent Andreas Lukacs. Lukacs offers to free Yuri from prison in exchange for his help in infiltrating the pirate network, which Yuri agrees to in exchange for the protection of his cellmate Stefano Finch.
Yuri fakes his own death and his is smuggled out of prison with Finch to Pax Terra, the station orbiting above the earth, where he is picked up by his ship. He finds, however, that his ship has been taken over by his Lieutenant Taja Roshan and is first forced to kill her taking back his ship.
Once that is done, he contacts Falcone's former Lieutenant, Caligtiera, about the Black Op's offer, who proposes that together they destroy the Earthhub Military Carrier ''Archangel''. Yuri finds that he cannot bring himself to do this and informs the ''Macedon'' of his plans. He destroys his ship and kills Lukacs, who had intended to use the pirate to gain power, then flees to the ''Macedon'' whose crew includes two of Falcone's other protégés.
This story alternates with the story Yuri's childhood, which tells how his colony was destroyed by the striviiric-na when he was four. His family was split up and he was sent to live in the bleak
refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...
on the partially terraformed planet Grace. When he is nine, Falcone recruits him from the camp and takes him on as his protégé and eventually as a
geisha
{{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha
{{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female ...
.
Yuri falls in love with his geisha mentor, Estienne, and is indoctrinated, but this indoctrination fails when Yuri is forced into geisha duties at fourteen, which is essentially prostitution, with the aid of Falcone's cruelty. Despite this, Yuri is eventually given his own ship.
When Falcone's ship, the ''Genghis Khan'' is destroyed, Yuri is sent to seek revenge on the ''Macedon's'' captain, Cairo Azarcon, by attempting to murder his son, Ryan Azarcon. He fails on his first try intentionally, but almost succeeds on his second, which is what lands him in prison. This portion of the story is told in more detail, through Ryan's perspective in the Universe's second book,
Burndive
''Burndive'' is a science fiction novel by Karin Lowachee. It was first published in 2003 by Warner Aspect. ''Burndive'' is the second book in Lowachee's Warchild Universe.
Plot summary
Ryan Azarcon lives in a fishbowl. He is the son of the inf ...
.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cagebird
2005 novels
2005 science fiction novels