Mirror Dance (Vorkosigan Saga Book #11) by Lois McMaster Bujold
1994 - Baen ebook - 560 pages
Clone Mark masquerades as Miles Vorkosigan (his progenitor) and dupes Miles' mercenary force, the Dendarii, into a mission to free clones held "prisoner" on Jackson's Whole, an anything-goes freebooters' planet where Mark was created and raised. When Miles finds out, he attempts to rescue his troops and his brother, with disastrous consequences.
Note:
Mirror Dance won the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel in 1995.
Amazon has it down as #9 in the series, Goodreads has it down as #8. I've got it as #11 using the series internal chronology and including all the novellas, and technically even that isn't right because of the standalone Falling Free which precedes the entire series. Oh well
I liked:
The characters. Some science fiction places the characters a distant second to the ideas but the 'Vorkosiverse' is pretty much the polar opposite, where the characters are first and foremost and explored in depth.
Two main characters here, Mark and Miles, although Miles is missing for a big chunk of the novel, allowing Mark to take centre stage. Both of them go through major character growth here.
The twists. There are quite a few, most of which I didn't see coming. One of them had my mouth hanging open in disbelief
The wit. It's very funny in places.
Lots of returning characters who haven't been seen for a while.
I disliked:
It's some 200-odd pages longer than any of the other books in the series so far and, despite a great plot, there still isn't enough to justify it. It hangs around too long in the end, to the point where I'd think I'd finished it, turn the 'last' page and think 'You're joking! Another chapter??!'
She puts Mark through the grinder once too often and in very unpleasant ways. The reader already knows he was tortured in the past, so does he really need to be tortured again to make us feel for him?
When I first considered reading the 'Vorkosigan Saga', this was the book that really caught my interest. The idea of two versions of Miles running around creating havoc reminded me of some of my favourite sf tv episodes (notably Star Trek's 'Mirror, Mirror' and the extended sequence in Farscape's brilliant third season where two John Crichtons take the idea farther than I've seen anywhere else), and it was just too enticing to pass up. Mirror Dance delivers on nearly every level, but especially the character development, where it truly excels. If only it was a hundred pages shorter. If it wasn't for that, it'd easily be the best in the series so far. Not a bad place to give the series a go, although probably best read after Brothers in Arms.
Memorable Quotes:
Mark to Aral and Cordelia:
