Review: an interesting study in civility or the lack thereof
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 9, 2012
After reading Ship's Boy, curiosity got the better of me and I picked up Midshipman.  Many of the characters are unique but the story is fairly common; an unlikely hero whose efforts move him to the front of the line even though he "belongs" at the back. That the hero, Dave, is a rabbit and a recently freed slave is definitely unique but the prejudice held against him is not.As an engineered species, it seems clear that there where parameters established in the genetic development of Dave's species that would deliberately cause them to remain "inferior" to their creators (humans).  If I'm not mistaken Dave, his father and possibly Freida are "different" and someone caused that "difference" by making a modification to their genetic structure.  Slavery is evil but these creatures were created to be slaves and to exceed their "specification" it seems they need a genetic upgrade so I don't quite see the liberation scenario.  What is displayed with clarity is the total lack of civility some humans are capable of displaying as a result of ignorance, hatred and prejudice.The author was a bit skimpy with information concerning these two primary powers that are at war.  I don't really have a sense of their history.  The space battles had some unique elements and moved well. All in all I think it was worth the time to read.