Mirror Dance
by Lois McMaster Bujold
Vorkosigan: Publication Order (9), Vorkosigan: Chronological Order (9)
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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 show more 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. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is my favorite Vorkosigan book so far- it starts with a raid concocted by Miles' clone "Mark", introduced in the previous book in the series. Mark impersonates Miles and takes the Dendarii mercenaries on a raid at Jackson's Whole, where Mark was cloned and raised, in order to free the clones currently being raised there as bodies that will be sacrificed in order to allow wealthy/powerful people to transplant their brains into those bodies.
The raid goes sideways, Miles returns and discovers what happened, and he launches a rescue mission that also goes sideways resulting in Miles being shot through the chest and killed while Mark is rescued. We learn about a battlefield process to freeze the head and preserve it for re-animation show more with a cloned body, but in the aftermath Miles' body is lost and nobody knows where it went.
Mark then goes back to Barrayar, where he expects to be punished, and instead is treated like the prodigal son by Miles' parents. We then follow his transformation from assassin to Vorkosigan heir, and eventually the action-packed finale to retrieve Miles after his revival.
Parts of the book are a tough read, torture scenes in particular, and the Jackson's Whole villains are a bit cartoonish. But Mark's growth is interesting, and there is more exploration of Miles' need for his alter ego Naismith. And the finale of the book is a rocking page-turner. show less
The raid goes sideways, Miles returns and discovers what happened, and he launches a rescue mission that also goes sideways resulting in Miles being shot through the chest and killed while Mark is rescued. We learn about a battlefield process to freeze the head and preserve it for re-animation show more with a cloned body, but in the aftermath Miles' body is lost and nobody knows where it went.
Mark then goes back to Barrayar, where he expects to be punished, and instead is treated like the prodigal son by Miles' parents. We then follow his transformation from assassin to Vorkosigan heir, and eventually the action-packed finale to retrieve Miles after his revival.
Parts of the book are a tough read, torture scenes in particular, and the Jackson's Whole villains are a bit cartoonish. But Mark's growth is interesting, and there is more exploration of Miles' need for his alter ego Naismith. And the finale of the book is a rocking page-turner. show less
Mirror Dance is a direct sequel to Brothers in Arms. (It's also a follow-up to one of the stories in Borders of Infinity; I pity anyone who thought the novella collection was skippable!) Brothers in Arms introduced Miles's clone, Mark. I enjoyed that book a lot, but I think in that book Mark was primarily constructed as a foil to Miles: Miles is a person with so many obligations weighing him down, so what would it be like for there to be a version of Miles with seemingly no obligations at all? As I wrote in my review of that book, though, "it seems to me there's more thematic depth to be mined from the character of Mark than we actually get here, since Bujold's emphasis is largely on the action and intrigue plot."
Bujold returns to Mark show more in this book because she wants to take Mark seriously, not just as a foil to Miles. Who is Mark? These are the questions Mark himself is wrestling with, of course; the one obligation he does have is that he wants to save his clone-brethren, the other people raised just to substitute for someone else. But beyond this, who is he? He has no idea.
It's all quite good, and goes places I didn't expect. It's a bit difficult to explain exactly what makes Bujold so good, because a lot of times it's not so much about what happens as how it happens; with layers of compassion and reality that make the whole thing come to life and make any earnest moments feel totally earned. My favorite parts of the book were the ones where Mark goes to Barrayar and meets the mother and father he never knew he had—never even knew he could have. But he needs them. As Cordelia says, "People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in." Mirror Dance chronicles the slow acceptance Mark makes of these other people into his own life, because if he doesn't do it, he will have no life. Mark is perennially frustrated to learn how many people Miles has made an impression on: "He's not a man, he's a mob," he thinks at one point. But those people made Miles who he is, too. We're all mobs. Mark is frustrated because he feels like, as a clone, he's a pale reflection of Miles. But if we don't reflect others, there's nothing to us. By the end of the book, Mark is a proud reflection of Miles.
There's lots of good action, too, of course, and jokes, and some genuinely moving bits; there was one part where I was genuinely worried for a main character and was misting up. There hasn't been a bad Vorkosigan book so far, and there's been several very good ones, but I think of the nine I've thus read, this one is probably the best. show less
Bujold returns to Mark show more in this book because she wants to take Mark seriously, not just as a foil to Miles. Who is Mark? These are the questions Mark himself is wrestling with, of course; the one obligation he does have is that he wants to save his clone-brethren, the other people raised just to substitute for someone else. But beyond this, who is he? He has no idea.
It's all quite good, and goes places I didn't expect. It's a bit difficult to explain exactly what makes Bujold so good, because a lot of times it's not so much about what happens as how it happens; with layers of compassion and reality that make the whole thing come to life and make any earnest moments feel totally earned. My favorite parts of the book were the ones where Mark goes to Barrayar and meets the mother and father he never knew he had—never even knew he could have. But he needs them. As Cordelia says, "People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in." Mirror Dance chronicles the slow acceptance Mark makes of these other people into his own life, because if he doesn't do it, he will have no life. Mark is perennially frustrated to learn how many people Miles has made an impression on: "He's not a man, he's a mob," he thinks at one point. But those people made Miles who he is, too. We're all mobs. Mark is frustrated because he feels like, as a clone, he's a pale reflection of Miles. But if we don't reflect others, there's nothing to us. By the end of the book, Mark is a proud reflection of Miles.
There's lots of good action, too, of course, and jokes, and some genuinely moving bits; there was one part where I was genuinely worried for a main character and was misting up. There hasn't been a bad Vorkosigan book so far, and there's been several very good ones, but I think of the nine I've thus read, this one is probably the best. show less
This is the best of the Vorkosigan series so far. Bujold has taken the evil twin sci-fi concept and given it a twist. Miles' "evil" clone Mark causes havoc for Miles with serious consequences for all.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Miles is in fact absent for much of it and Mark takes centre stage. And I ended up liking Mark a lot, so much so that my heart was in my mouth at the end.
A good book is one you don't want to end and I didn't want this one to end.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Miles is in fact absent for much of it and Mark takes centre stage. And I ended up liking Mark a lot, so much so that my heart was in my mouth at the end.
A good book is one you don't want to end and I didn't want this one to end.
In Mirror Dance, we really get to know Miles' clone-brother Mark, who was introduced briefly as an antagonist in Brothers in Arms. Here, though, much of the book is told from Mark's perspective, and we really get to know his motivations and struggles. Mark impersonates Miles to gain access to his military resources for his own causes, and when his plans inevitably go awry, Miles has to sweep in to fix everything. Unfortunately, Miles gets "killed" in the process, but the technology of the day would allow him to be revived if anyone could find the body. What follows is a political game of hide-and-seek where Mark and a revived Miles bounce around the various powers of the Jacksonian system trying to navigate a way to stay alive. Despite show more my reservations about Mark at first, he grew on me as a character and I really liked how he dealt with the situation in the end. show less
Despite the whole evil-twin setup, this novel pulls off something much deeper and exciting than I would have expected. Twists and turns, complicated plots, and severe complications are studded in this novel. It's more than satisfying to read, and it sucks you in quite nicely.
Mile's corpulent brother has become more than fascinating in his own right. His growth is not only in his waistline. :) His black gang friends are very humorous. I'm glad to know that Mile's genes can express his insanity in so many flavors.
The first time I read it, I was shocked by the main reversal. I think I even yelled at the book. This was okay. I was surrounded by many people in the English department that often did the same thing. It became a mark of pride in show more whatever you were reading if it evoked such a strong reaction without making you also throw the book across the room.
I HAD to KNOW, and that drive was enough to make me stay up all night both times I read the novel, tearing through it and sacrificing health to do so. You know, just like Miles would. show less
Mile's corpulent brother has become more than fascinating in his own right. His growth is not only in his waistline. :) His black gang friends are very humorous. I'm glad to know that Mile's genes can express his insanity in so many flavors.
The first time I read it, I was shocked by the main reversal. I think I even yelled at the book. This was okay. I was surrounded by many people in the English department that often did the same thing. It became a mark of pride in show more whatever you were reading if it evoked such a strong reaction without making you also throw the book across the room.
I HAD to KNOW, and that drive was enough to make me stay up all night both times I read the novel, tearing through it and sacrificing health to do so. You know, just like Miles would. show less
Bujold stretches her legs away from interstellar thrillers and into a little psychodrama. Miles' "evil" clone Mark is back, and he starts by borrowing the Dendarii Mercenaries for a mission to dispense some indiscriminate justice on the Jackson Whole clone-immortality business. The commando raid goes wrong, Miles' rescue mission goes even more wrong, and when the dust settles, Miles Vorkosigan is (mostly) dead and missing in action, and Mark has a lot of explaining to do to all the people that he's hurt.
The second act, on Barrayar, is some of the best stuff that I've seen from Bujold, as Mark tries to find his own identity while dealing with an alien culture, and come to terms with his parents Cordelia and Aral. Cordelia Vorkosigan is show more who author insert characters want to be when they grow up (in a good way). Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw are irritatingly smug pikers.
Unfortunately, the third act is not as strong. Mark embarks on a rescue mission to recover Miles-or his body. This goes poorly, and Mark is captured and tortured by a very unpleasant sadist. This isn't the first time that sex, torture, and violence has come up in the series, and like in Shards of Honor, I don't buy it as natural part of the story. Not to seriously analyze authors, but Bujold seems to like breaking her protagonists, and with Miles putting his life together, she needed to introduce Mark as New Xtreme Miles. I don't mind grimness where it fits: Reynold's Revelation Space has war criminals torturing each other against a backdrop of extinction machines wiping out humanity, and I love it. But somehow that sort of arbitrary sadism doesn't fit into the Vorkosigan universe.
In the middle of the book, Cordelia describes Miles as a knight-errant. The Vorkosigan books have a romantic heart. I guess the idea is to make dragons for our heroes to slay, but scarier than any dragon is a dedicated, resourceful, and dangerous human being with goals utterly opposed to your own. Miles Vorkosigan makes a great protagonist because of his energy, his ability to inspire, and his total disregard for the norms of civilized behavior when it suits him. For a book that plays with the idea of 'mirroring' as motif, Mirror Dance misses a chance to create an antagonist capable of looking back at our heroes. show less
The second act, on Barrayar, is some of the best stuff that I've seen from Bujold, as Mark tries to find his own identity while dealing with an alien culture, and come to terms with his parents Cordelia and Aral. Cordelia Vorkosigan is show more who author insert characters want to be when they grow up (in a good way). Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw are irritatingly smug pikers.
Unfortunately, the third act is not as strong. Mark embarks on a rescue mission to recover Miles-or his body. This goes poorly, and Mark is captured and tortured by a very unpleasant sadist. This isn't the first time that sex, torture, and violence has come up in the series, and like in Shards of Honor, I don't buy it as natural part of the story. Not to seriously analyze authors, but Bujold seems to like breaking her protagonists, and with Miles putting his life together, she needed to introduce Mark as New Xtreme Miles. I don't mind grimness where it fits: Reynold's Revelation Space has war criminals torturing each other against a backdrop of extinction machines wiping out humanity, and I love it. But somehow that sort of arbitrary sadism doesn't fit into the Vorkosigan universe.
In the middle of the book, Cordelia describes Miles as a knight-errant. The Vorkosigan books have a romantic heart. I guess the idea is to make dragons for our heroes to slay, but scarier than any dragon is a dedicated, resourceful, and dangerous human being with goals utterly opposed to your own. Miles Vorkosigan makes a great protagonist because of his energy, his ability to inspire, and his total disregard for the norms of civilized behavior when it suits him. For a book that plays with the idea of 'mirroring' as motif, Mirror Dance misses a chance to create an antagonist capable of looking back at our heroes. show less
Summary: To the Jackson's Whole geneticists who created him, he's a perfect clone, a work of art. To the Komarran terrorists who raised him, tortured him, and trained him, he's the ideal assassin. To Barrayaran Imperial Security, he's a dangerously unknown quantity and potential threat. And to Miles Vorkosigan, he's a wayward younger brother. But who is Mark Vorkosigan, really?
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 show more 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. show less
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 show more 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. show less
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Author Information
103+ Works 85,559 Members
Science fiction and fantasy author Lois McMaster Bujold was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1949. After graduating from Ohio State University, she worked as a pharmacy technician at Ohio State University Hospitals. Her first short story was published in Twilight Zone Magazine in 1984 and her first three novels were published in 1986. She received the show more Nebula Award for Falling Free and The Mountains of Mourning and the Hugo Award for The Vor Game, Barrayar, Mirror Dance, The Mountains of Mourning, and Paladin of Souls. She also received the Locus award for Mirror Dance and Paladin of Souls, the Minnesota Book Award for Komarr, the Mythopoeic Award for The Curse of Chalion, and a Romantic Times 2003 Reviewers' Choice Award for Paladin of Souls. She is best known for her series featuring Miles Vorkosigan. She currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Awards
Series
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Mirror Dance
- Original title
- Mirror Dance
- Original publication date
- 1994-03
- People/Characters
- Miles Vorkosigan; Mark Vorkosigan; Elena Bothari-Jesek; Taura; Elli Quinn; Bel Thorne (show all 20); Vasa Luigi, Baron Bharaputra; Lotus Durona, Baronne Bharaputra; Georish Stauber, Baron Fell; Baron Ryoval; Gregor Vorbarra; Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan; Aral Vorkosigan; Simon Illyan; Sgt. Pym; Alys Vorpatril; Ivan Vorpatril; Kareen Koudelka; Rowan Durona; Lilly Durona
- Important places
- Jackson's Whole; Vorbarr Sultana, Barrayar; Escobar; Komarr
- Dedication
- For Patricia Collins Wrede, for literary midwifery above and beyond the long-distance call of duty.
- First words
- The row of comconsole booths lining the passenger concourse of Escobar's largest commercial orbiter transfer station had mirrored doors, divided into diagonal sections by rainbow-colored lines of lights.
- Quotations
- The traffic was worse than London's and, if possible, even more disorderly, or ordered according to some rule involving survival of the fittest.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Welcome to the beginning."
- Blurbers
- Miler, Faren; Heck, Peter
- Original language
- English
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Statistics
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- 2,936
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- 6,052
- Reviews
- 61
- Rating
- (4.23)
- Languages
- 8 — English, Estonian, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 26
- ASINs
- 8