''Mirror Dance'' is a Hugo- and Locus-award-winning science fiction novel by
Lois McMaster Bujold
Lois McMaster Bujold ( ; born November 2, 1949) is an American speculative fiction writer. She is an acclaimed writer, having won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record (not counting his Retro Hugos). Her no ...
. Part of the
Vorkosigan Saga
The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold.Lillian Stewart Carl and John Helfers, ''The Vorkosigan Companion'', Baen Books 2008, The first ...
, it was first published by
Baen Books
Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...
in March 1994,
and is included in the 2002 omnibus ''Miles Errant''.
Plot summary
Mark,
Miles Vorkosigan
Miles Naismith Vorkosigan is a protagonist of a series of science fiction novels and short stories, known as the Vorkosigan Saga, written by American author Lois McMaster Bujold.
Personality
Traits
Miles is both brilliant (especially in militar ...
's
clone, masquerades as him and dupes his mercenary force, the Dendarii, into undertaking a mission to free about 50 clones on Jackson's Whole, an anything-goes freebooters' planet where Mark was created and raised. These teenage clones are scheduled to have their brains replaced by those of their wealthy, aged progenitors. When Miles finds out, he attempts to rescue his troops and his brother from the mess Mark has made, but is killed by a needle grenade. He is frozen in a
cryonic
Cryonics (from el, κρύος ''kryos'' meaning 'cold') is the low-temperature freezing (usually at ) and storage of human remains, with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Cryonics is regarded with skepticis ...
chamber on the spot, but the medic in charge becomes separated from the rest of the men while retreating under fire. The medic uses an automated shipping system to send the chamber to safety, but is killed before he can tell anyone what he did and where he sent it.
The Dendarii flee the debacle and take Mark to Miles' parents on Barrayar. Cordelia accepts him as another son and has him acknowledged legally as a member of the family. After a while, Mark becomes frustrated by Barrayaran Imperial Security's lack of progress; he is convinced that Miles is still on Jackson's Whole, and decides to go there himself. Cordelia helps by buying him a starship. He invites some of the Dendarii along, including Captain Quinn, Miles' second-in-command and lover.
Meanwhile, Miles has been secretly received and resuscitated by the Duronas, a research group cloned from a medical genius and employed by Jackson's Whole magnate Baron Fell. They hope they have Miles (rather than Mark) under their care, but he is suffering from normal, hopefully temporary, post-revival
amnesia
Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
, so they are unsure. The Duronas wish to hire the Dendarii, who are known for pulling off difficult extractions, to help them escape from Jackson's Whole. Miles' memory takes some time to return.
Mark finds Miles, but is captured by Miles' old nemesis, Baron Ryoval, and tortured for five days. His personality fragments into four sub-personalities: Gorge the glutton, Grunt the sex pervert, Howl the masochist, and Killer the assassin. Together, the first three protect Mark's fragile persona, while Killer bides his time. When Ryoval's assistant informs him that Mark seems to have adjusted remarkably quickly and is actually enjoying the torture, a frustrated Ryoval decides to study his victim alone. Killer takes the opportunity to kill Ryoval, enabling Mark to escape. Mark sells Ryoval's security access codes to Baron Fell for a large sum of money and the Durona Group's freedom.
Miles' short death and revivification have serious repercussions for his health. Mark has his own problems, thanks to his strange upbringing, complicated by the torture. When he asks his mother for help, she sends him to Beta Colony for psychiatric treatment and therapy.
By necessity, this novel is told from the viewpoints of Miles and Mark. This was the first novel in the Vorkosigan series to be written this way, though not the first time Bujold has employed this style; the first occasion was in ''
Falling Free
''Falling Free'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, part of her Vorkosigan Saga. It was first published as four installments in ''Analog'' from December 1987 to February 1988, and won the Nebula Award for Best No ...
''.
Awards
''Mirror Dance'' won both the
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,00 ...
and the
Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
The Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel is one of the annual Locus Awards presented by the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The award f ...
in 1995.
References
{{Locus Award Best SF Novel
1994 American novels
1994 science fiction novels
American science fiction novels
Hugo Award for Best Novel-winning works
Novels by Lois McMaster Bujold
Vorkosigan Saga
Cryonics in fiction