Mirror Dance
by Lois McMaster Bujold
1995 Hugo
Award Winner
Narrated
by Grover Gardner
Got it
from: Public Library
18h 6m
I didn’t
know it but Miles Vorkosigan had previously escaped an assassination attempt by
his own clone (curse the scattered nature of Bujold’s Hugo winners!). Eerie right.
Well, it turns out Miles forgives him (Mark Pierre), because of the
terrible conditions he’s been put through as a clone, and allows him to take on
his own secret identity as Admiral
Naismith. Well, as Naismith, his antics
(trying admirably to save the rest of the clones on the planet Jackson’s Whole)
get Miles shot with needle grenade and his cryo-frozen body lost somewhere…anywhere. And you can imagine this causes some
problems.
Mark
In Mirror Dance, Lois McMaster Bujold continues with just
about everything I loved about Barrayar. Cordelia’s appearances are few, but she’s
still so…well, she’s still so Cordelia. And
Mark, despite being a clone, is SO Cordelia too. Mark was exasperating, fascinating, pitiable,
disgusting, and just the world’s biggest underdog ever. He was one of the most conflicted characters
ever – and believe me – Mirror Dance WILL force
you to live through his excruciating mess and you WILL feel like an emotional
punching bag. As with Cordelia in Barrayar, Bujold uses Mark as a mirror for our own ugliness
and beauty.
As an
example (one of many) let’s consider Mark’s pain after the attempted rape of a
10-year old, (artificially) physically-matured clone.
In short, blunt phrases, he described
exactly what he had just tried to do. It
all came out sounding terribly ugly, though it had been her beauty that had
overwhelmed him.
…and he knew he had alienated the one
person who might have spoken for him. It
hurt, a killing hurt, to have so little and then lose it.
Chapter 10
Despite
being disgusted by Mark, his real human pain and a honestly terrible past makes
it hard not to feel bad for him as well as the clone girl. It’s disturbing, it’s sad, and I didn’t like
what seemed like light treatment for his actions, but I also really wanted him
to have a normal connection with another person. It made me feel horrible and complicit but also
even more bound up in Mark’s pain. Needless
to say, it stimulated some soul searching.
I think
this might be that thing I admire most about Bujold. She can make some really interesting and
troubling cultural observations look like any other light-hearted fun SF
romp. Despite the fact that there’s a
heck of a lot to unpack from a book under 400-pages (I think all three Hugo
winners have been), Mirror Dance is just as
readable as anything. She’s dynamic and
it is really something to behold.
Miles
Sometimes
when people die, they stay dead…other times, they don’t. In only a few books from this series, I
already know Miles is one of those people who will be in the latter
category. Being that this is only my
third Vorkosigan novel though (and one of them took place before Miles was
born), I still don’t really know much about Miles. He seems to be the world’s most slowly
unfolding character…or maybe it’s just me?
As such, Miles’
convalescence was only interesting insomuch as the technology is
interesting. He’s scrappy, he doesn’t
give up, he has kind of a thing with
women, I get all that, but I still don’t feel like I know him very well and
while it was pretty shocking that he’d be so thoroughly and completely incapacitated,
I struggled care as much about him as I did Mark, who in only one book was just
so damn absorbing.
Well okay,
who am I kidding? At some point, I’m
going to have to acknowledge that Miles is tipping the scales and becoming a
character that is just fun to be around.
Maybe starting with The Vor Game
was a jarring first experience, and he was absent in Barrayar, but hey, now that I’m actually taking stock of
my Miles experiences, they’re actually pretty crazy/fun/ny. He’s been frozen into the snow, blown-up, gassed
in-utero then grown in a petri dish, cloned, and nearly killed how many times
now? Since I’m being honest with myself and the internet, I guess I have to
admit now that it’s going to be pretty exciting to see how many different ways Bujold
can find to beat him up throughout the rest of the saga…and how long Miles can maintain his indestructible pluck. She really puts him through it!
Recommendation
I enjoyed
this book, though I’m not sure I was actually ready for it. I think I needed to get a few more Vorkosigan
books under my belt prior to Mirror Dance. Luckily, Mark was interesting enough to keep
me engaged. At the same time, just the
act of writing this review has seriously increased my appreciation for the book
and the series as a whole. Of the three
Hugo winners, I’d put this one in the middle, just behind Barrayar, which is to say it is a thoroughly enjoyable
read!
HEP SCORE
Universe 4/5
Social/Political
Climate 5/5
Dialogue 4/5
Scientific
Wonders 3/5
Characters
5/5
Well
folks, that’s two reviews in as many days.
Lately they’ve been a little short and maybe not my finest, but I’m
nearly caught up now. Maybe I go for a Grandslam
and get another done tomorrow?!
And
since I’m finally into books I read in January, this one counts for Carl’s 2013
Science Fiction Experience, for which I also hope to have some non-book reviews
done in the coming weeks too. Yay!
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