Miles Errant (Brothers in Arms / "The Borders of Infinity" / Mirror Dance)

Two things. First, the rating. I acknowledge this isn't an undying classic. If you're looking for science fiction with literary prose, go read Ursula Le Guin or Ray Bradbury or William Gibson. Or for the "Big Ideas" go to Robert Heinlein or Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke. What Bujold offers is different--characters you care about and want to spend time with, and in that regard, I'd say this installment offers some of the strongest stories in the series I've read yet--and given its Miles Vorkosigan is one of my favorite literary characters, I'd say that merits the five stars.

Second, even if this is one of the strongest volumes in this space opera series, this is not the place to start. In some series, such as Marion Zimmer Bradley's show more Darkover, order does not 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, if you haven't already, go look up the omnibus editions of Cordelia's Honor or Young Miles.

This volume offers up three tightly related stories. First, "Borders of Infinity" is a short story that demonstrates why Miles is one of my favorite fictional characters, as he's stripped of everything but his most lethal weapon--his wits. The second novel, Brother in Arms, Miles discovers he has a clone, Mark--one meant to replace him by his enemies--and that he has to try to make a brother. The next novel, Mirror Dance heavily features Mark, sharing the point of view with him. It's the darkest work in the series yet, but also one of the strongest. One where not only Miles, but Mark and their indomitable mother Cordelia gets to shine. show less

This is probably my favorite series of all time. I've read it many times, and just finished reading it again. The characters and the world Bujold creates are outstanding, but what is perhaps the most fascinating is the way she uses those characters and setting to tell so many kinds of stories: classic space opera, murder mysteries, psychological thrillers, and even straight-up comedy of manners, a la Jane Austen. Her themes are universal and tend to at least touch on the theme of the search for identity in all her books. Miles Errant is an omnibus of Borders of Infinity, Brothers in Arms, and Mirror Dance. All are outstanding. The writing is elegant, the humor subtle and yet LOL-funny, and the plot satisfyingly original. Her creation of show more Miles Vorkosigan is a true literary masterpiece, and also I'd like to marry him. Truly, these book are not-to-be-missed. This series of books introduces a complicated familial twist into Miles's life. The first time I read these, I didn't like these books, and now I think they are some of the best in the series. Mark will grow on you. Trust me. show less

This is an omnibus of "The Borders of Infinity", "Brothers in Arms", and "Mirror Dance". All feature Miles Vorkosigan after he's gotten over the worst of adolescence, finding his way to being an adult. "Borders" is a long short story, or novella, in which Miles is dropped into hell and does the impossible. Pretty straightforward caper/heroism. In the two novels, his clone brother Mark appears, and is sorted out. I rather like Mark, though Bujold goes rather over the line into easy-peasy psychological mumbo jumbo to have him handle some horrors*. Mikes dies, is cryogenically preserved and revived, and finds this quite sobering.

*Of course, I'm just fine with all the previous tidy psychological sleight-of-hand, not to mention faster than show more light travel. show less

THE BORDERS OF INFINITY:

The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold is a novella about Miles Vorkosigan and chronologically comes after Labyrinth, another novella. I first read it about five years ago and have now reread it as part of the ongoing Vorkosigan Saga reread you might have noticed if you're a regular reader of this blog.

This was one of the more memorable novellas in the Vorkosigan Saga, I thought. My memories of it turned out to not be entirely reliable — it's not set on an ice moon prison, just a normal crappy but almost habitable planet. What I remembered liking most about the story was Miles being clever, but of course I couldn't remember his actual plan when I was rereading. In any case, Miles being clever is hardly show more something new for readers familiar with the character.

The most notable aspect of this story is that it is not really funny like most of the Vorkosigan stories are. Miles is in a crappy PoW camp, surrounded by death and brutality, and outside of the camp watching Cetagandans have total control over their lives. Even Miles can't remain indefinitely upbeat in such a situation, even when he has faith that rescue is coming. Bujold uses the opportunity to show us another side of war, which has at most only been hinted at in previous books. We saw wartime prisoners of the Barrayarans in Shards of Honour, but what we saw there wasn't nearly as bleak as the situation in The Borders of Infinity (which is not to say it couldn't have been as bad in a Barrayaran rather than Cetagandan PoW camp, just that Cordelia and Aral didn't allow it to be so).

Overall, this is a solid instalment in the Vorkosigan Saga and one that works pretty well as a standalone story. You don't have to know anything much about Miles's past to make sense of this present and there are only a few oblique references to external events, the missing of which wouldn't diminish the story, in my opinion. I recommend it to fans of Bujold and the other Vorkosigan stories and suggest that it is a reasonable sample of the same with the caveat that they are usually a bit more cheerful (albeit sometimes darkly so).

4 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog.

BROTHERS IN ARMS:

Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold is my latest re-read of the Vorkosigan Saga. Chronologically it follows on directly from the novella "Borders of Infinity" and I think it would be really weird not to read them in that order.

The events in this book take place over about a week on Earth, in London. With no rain. Miles and his Dendarii fleet stop by for repairs and to continue avoiding the Cetagandans who have a hit out on Miles. While there, he gets embroiled in events centred around the Barrayaran embassy, because there is always trouble wherever Miles is.

While I remembered the most crucial development in this book from my first read through, I had completely forgotten that this was the first time we met Duv Galeni and also that Ivan was in it. Furthermore, because I knew what happened later, there were some extra hilarious bits, mostly near the start. Excellent and seemingly innocent foreshadowing on Bujold's part.

This book made me laugh more than I expected, which was pretty much what I wanted from it. As far as recommendations go, any regular readers of my blog will know that I recommend reading Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga generally. In this specific case, I'd say Brothers in Arms stands alone well, but I would still recommend reading the earlier books in the series to better enjoy the series as a whole. There's also a little bit of background knowledge from earlier books that places this one into better context — although Bujold does a reasonable job of explaining it to the reader anyway.

5 / 5 stars

MIRROR DANCE

Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold is the latest instalment in my chronological read-through of the Vorkosigan Saga. It follows on chronologically from Brothers in Arms, dealing with the ramifications of some of the events in that earlier book. As a result, this review contains major spoilers for Brothers in Arms (and so does the blurb). You have been warned.

I remembered this wasn't a very cheerful book, which at least helped me manage my expectations, even if I didn't entirely remember the order of certain events. The book tells part of the story in alternating chapters from Mark's and Miles's points of view, at times focussing in on the brother with the most pertinent/pressing storyline. We get to know Mark a lot better as he gets to know himself. Finally free of his creators and captors, no longer forced to imitate Miles, he spends some time working out what's important to him, and then working it out again and again as things go awry.

Unlike many of its prequels and sequels, Mirror Dance isn't very cheerful or funny. There were maybe two finny scenes in the whole book, and the first one came a significant portion of the way in. Do not pick this up looking for a light and fun read. This book has some horrible bits, with serious torture, much worse than anything we saw in earlier books, although partly along the lines of what was hinted at earlier with regards to Jackson's Whole and especially House Bharaputra. That's not to say that it's not a good book — it absolutely is — but it's cerebral and deals with psychological issues and, well, Mark isn't as much of a quipper as Miles is.

I definitely recommend this book to fans of the Vorkosigan Saga and Bujold generally, just be warned that it's darker and less humorous than many of the earlier books. I wouldn't choose it as a book to cheer up with. That said, it delves into some really interesting issues and is definitely worth a read. Mirror Dance is also a terrible place to start reading the Vorkosigan books and I strongly recommend reading Brothers in Arms (at least!) first.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more reviews on my blog. show less

August 2019 reread:

"The Borders of Infinity" - 3.5* - An OK story but not to be read independently of the rest of the series in my opinion. It serves to set up the next novel more than anything else...
"Brothers in Arms" - 4* - Miles visits Earth!
"Mirror Dance" - 4.5* - The only reason I didn't give this 5* is that having read this before, some of the shock and tension was gone.

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This 4th omnibus in the Vorkosigan series contains the novella "The Borders of Infinity" (66 pgs; 3★) and two novels, "Brothers in Arms" (241 pgs; 4★) and "Mirror Dance" (432 pgs; 4★).

The Vorkosigan series is such fun reading! I found the 3 stories in this omnibus were connected by a shared theme of identity -- what makes us who we are? How show more much of ourselves comes from outside versus innate traits? These questions are highlighted by the introduction of a surprising new character Miles' clone and therefore younger brother, Mark Vorkosigan.

I love the fact that after I surface from the adventure of these books, there is more to mull over. show less

Easily five stars! The arc in this particular omnibus was especially wonderful to me, as I love sibling relationships and this was the most interesting sibling relationship I think I've read so far. And so well handled. As a friend told me, it was very human, much more human than I was afraid it would be, and with a happy ending besides! I have never been so pleased to be wrong in my predictions in all my life! :)

The brothers' story. Not I feel the best of her Vorkosigian works, but not too shabby either. Again this is an omnibuss of a short story and two novels - one substantially longer than the other! All three do have a vaguely common theme in that at times we're all our own worst enemy.

Borders of inifinity - short story, those nasty Tau Cetains again. Miles has to think his way out of a POW camp.

Brother in Arms. Miles gets a clone twin, Mark. Who has been raised as a subtle attempt to replace him and further a terrorists groups aims. Miles discovers this on Earth, where he suddenly finds his life as Lord Vorkosigan and as Admiral Naismith becoming combined. There's an alomst farcial degree of chasing around and switching from one character show more to another. If you liek farce you'll porbably find this funnier.

Mirror Dance - a long novel. Much like in Brothers in Arms this is told in alternating viewpoints between Miles and Mark. Mark wishes to exert his independance by showing he to can do waht Miles does. Unfortunetly his good intentioned raid turns unlucky, and Miles has to rush in to save him. Miles doesn't enjoy better luck. What with several clones of Jackson's Hole, the clones of Miles and some new clones in the form of an extended medical family, the whole thing gets very silly. Lots of rushing around, is it you? But the fast pace and the seemingly endless plot twists do combine to make a high tension story. Some of these plot twists seem somewhat unnecessary and the book could have been a lot shorter, but it does develop Mark finally into a character with almost as much personality as the other Denarii captains. Unfortunetly this time out the captains get little airtime. show less