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Fiction. Science Fiction & Fantasy. HTML: The dwarfish, fetally-damaged yet brilliant Miles Vorkosigan has more than his share of troubles. Having recently escaped an assassination plot whose tool was a brainwashed clone of himself, Miles has set the clone, Mark, free for a new chance at life. But when he decides to let his clone brother assume his secret identity and lead the Dendarii Free Mercenary on an unauthorized mission to liberate other clones from the outlaw planet of Jackson's Whole, things start to get really messy. The mission goes awry, Miles's rescue attempt goes even more wrong, and Miles ends up killed and placed in cryogenic suspension for future resuscitation. Then, as if that weren't bad enough, the cryo-container is lost! Now it is up to the confused, disturbed Mark to either take Miles's place as heir of the Vorkosigan line or redeem himself by finding and saving Miles..… (more)
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As Mirror Dance opens, Mark has been laying low since the events of Brothers in Arms left him free to pursue his own desires. At the top of that list of desires is freeing his fellow clones from Jackson's Whole, saving them from their terrible fate as brain-transplant recipients, and proving himself as much of a hero as his own clone progenitor/older brother Miles. In order to stage this kind of operation, however, Mark has to pose as Miles, and briefly "borrow" some of the Dendarii Mercenary Fleet. This part of the plan goes off without a hitch, and soon Mark, Bel Thorne, and a squad of Dendarii commandos are on their way to Jackson's Whole.
Once the raid actually starts, however, things rapidly start going downhill. Security forces are alerted, the clones don't want to be rescued, and Mark's team is pinned down without means of escape. To make things worse, older brother Miles comes swooping in to save the day -- only to get shot through the heart by a stray bullet. In the aftermath of the raid, Miles realizes that while he, the clones, and most of the Dendarii have gotten safely off the planet, the cryochamber that contained Miles's corpse somehow got lost in the chaos. Now Mark must not only find Miles's body -- and hope against hope that it can still be repaired and resuscitated -- but he must also learn to find his own place in the universe: no small task for a clone whose entire life has been built around someone else.
Review: Is it wrong that what is now my favorite Vorkosigan Saga book is one in which Miles himself is mostly absent? Because Mirror Dance is told primarily from Mark's point of view, and it was truly, truly, excellent from beginning to end.
Actually, I suspect that the fact that Mirror Dance focuses so heavily on Mark is a large part of what makes it so good. At this point in the series, readers have had five books to get familiar with Miles: how he thinks, how he speaks, how he acts. So by giving us a new lead character who is so like Miles, and yet so different, Lois McMaster Bujold really gets the chance to showcase her talent for character development. Mark is fascinating in the ways that he resembles Miles, and in the ways in which they differ radically, despite their identical genes. Bujold sells it well, giving them each a distinct personality, so that there's never any question about who's who. Even in the opening pages, where the character's identity is purposefully left vague, there's a clear sense of something being not quite right with Miles -- because of course, it's not Miles, it's Mark.
Grover Gardner's narration of the audiobook should also be given due credit here. I've said in the past that he has become the voice of Miles in my head, but I'm going to have to amend that: he's now officially the voice of Miles and of Mark. He manages to create a voice for Mark that is so similar to that of Miles, yet at the same time, completely distinct and recognizable. It adds a fantastic layer on top of Bujold's already masterful character development.
As interesting as I found the Miles/Mark dichotomy, there were a number of other things about Mirror Dance that were equally memorable. I particularly loved the parts of the book that featured Mark on Barrayar, trying to navigate his way through his newfound family and the responsibilities that come with it. It was wonderful to see Aral and Cordelia having major roles in the plot again, and heartwarming to watch their distinct ways of interacting with Mark. I also liked the chance to see Barrayaran society -- so familiar after all of the previous books -- through the eyes of a relative outsider.
Mirror Dance is without question the darkest of the Vorkosigan Saga books so far. It's got a heavy psychological aspect to it, and there are some nasty remnants of past horrors in Mark's psyche that get brought to the surface, not to mention parts of the plot that are not exactly light fare. Still, it's not unrelentingly dark; one thing Miles and Mark share is a dry wit, so there are a fair few funny spots scattered throughout, and a sense of family, and of duty, and of hopeful possibility that runs underneath it all. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: Mirror Dance is not a stand-alone novel by any means; at the very least, it needs to be read after Brothers in Arms. But it's so good that it would be worth reading the rest of the Vorkosigan Saga just to get there.
Second, even if this is one of the strongest stories in this space opera series, this is not the place to start. In some series, such as Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover, order does matter--the books, though sharing a universe, are designed to be read independently. Except in a few instances, that's not the case with the Vorkosigan saga. You'll be confused, you'll encounter spoilers for earlier books, and the book's impact will be blunted. So I'd start with the omnibus Cordelia's Honor or Young Miles.
I probably should add one other caveat for those following the series--this is definitely the darkest work in the series thus far. Content includes sexual abuse and torture. Yet ultimately this is a great ride. In the last book Brothers in Arms we encounter Miles clone brother Mark. Not quite his evil twin, but as Miles puts it, at times his idiot twin. The very presence of Mark seemed almost farcial in the last book, and at first in this novel I didn't like him very much. But over the course of the book I did gain quite a bit of sympathy and fondness for Mark and for the ways he provided a great foil to Miles. And their mother Cordelia shines here as a kickass heroine every bit as formidable as her talented sons. (Her take on Miles at one point was hilarious and insightful both.) I'd say actually this is the one Vorkosigan adventure thus far where other character rival Miles in interest. A great read.
He spends most of this book dead. Well, mostly dead. He's killed, and then put in a box frozen, and then the box gets lost. And the
I'll be honest - this is one of the two books in the Vorkosigan series (along with the next book, Memory) that I find it impossible to be objective about, because for the first half of the book, I sit there watching the characters making mistakes that will lead them inevitably into disaster - and they're the exact same mistakes that I would have made - that I *have* made - and Bujold portrays it so realistically that it's painful to read.
Also, talk about your ugly covers!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Miles is in fact absent for much of it and Mark takes centre stage.
A good book is one you don't want to end and I didn't want this one to end.
Several years ago, after a
I’m certainly no elitist and am far from an intellectual, however after reading many of the newer works listed above, and thinking back on some of the work of Philip Dick, Frank Herbert and Jack Vance, a book such as Mirror Dance almost comes across as a Young Adult offering, very simple in comparison. Many of the characters and technological advances are stereotypical and hackneyed. There is just nothing new here and no reason to recommend it.
As it relates to many stories in its genre, it was perfectly readable, but when compared to others (even from the same time period) it was mediocre at best. When compared to some of the more recent, highly original work, it suffered greatly by comparison. If this were the first science fiction book you read, you might be satisfied, but after reading dozens of others previously, you’ll find little to differentiate or recommend it.
This continues the story between Miles and his clone and is one of the more powerful books by Bujold since the two featuringing Miles' mother. Enjoyed this a lot. Perhaps my favourite of the series so far.
One reason I love Bujold is for her fierce commitment to love of the unwanted/different/difficult people in our lives. She always stretches my mind and my heart a bit with each story. I subtracted half a star from this only because of the extreme situations and descriptions of torture in the story. It reduced my desire to read the story a second time, although, I probably will.
One of my other favorite characters, Miles and Mark’s mother, Cordelia plays a major role in this book and I loved getting reacquainted with her. Bujold cleverly has Miles set aside for a good deal of the story, making Mark the main character and allowing the reader insight into his thought processes. Of course, eventually Miles comes back into the story in a forceful way as both he and Mark battle the forces of evil.
This is my favorite book of the series so far, I loved the story, the characters, and the writing. This was a great adventure told with passion, flare, and humor. I know that I am on the verge of gushing but really, this was another great instalment in a great series.
Mark, Miles' clone brother, who we met in Brothers in Arms has decided to disguise himself as Miles so that he can rescue House Bharaputra's clone creche on
The story alternates between Mark's viewpoint and Miles' viewpoint. Of course, Miles isn't dead but is out of commission for much of the book, so it is up to Mark to clean up his mess. This book is probably darker than most of the books in the series, but there are some light parts as well. Miles is brilliant as always, and we learn a lot about Mark and his motivations. By the end of the book, I found myself liking Mark more than I had at the beginning and hoping that he would find a way to redeem himself.
Bujold is an amazing author. The Vorkosigan Saga is action-packed, but also full of good characterization. She puts you inside the mind of the main character/characters and you can follow their motivation. Terrible things happen to the protagonists, but they always manage to think their way through to salvage the situation. I hadn't read any of these books until last year - I don't know why I waited, and I'm very sorry I did. I'm also sorry that I can see the end coming all too soon, as I am now over half-way through.
Bujold says that she writes each novel as a standalone, but frankly, one would miss so much of the story by not reading these books in the internal chronological order.
The first third had a lot of back story in it. If a person hadn't read any of the series, they would appreciate it. BUT, it's a series. Skip books at your own risk & let
The middle got into Mark's head until it was just boring. He had a horrible life & a lot to figure out.
Got it.
Got it.
Got it.
Got it.
(Bored yet? I was.)
Saying anything about the end would spoil it, so I'll just say that once the action picked back up, the story flew along & dragged me along. Totally worth putting up with the rest.