Mirror Dance

Immediately after meeting Miles' clone, Mark, in Brothers in Arms, we get to spend a ton of time inside his head in Mirror Dance. The chapters alternate between Mark and Miles as they both struggle to come to terms with the idea of having a brother. Among political intrigue and epic fights, of course.

The book opens with Mark attempting to free some of his fellow clones from House Bharaputra on Jackson's Whole. Unbeknownst to him is that Miles has a rough history with another house. Which becomes a problem, since Mark is impersonating Miles to pull this off. He fails swiftly and spectacularly, and Miles has to ride in to the rescue. Then their positions are flipped, and Mark has to figure out how to save Miles.

There's some great action at both the beginning and the end of this book. The middle slows down significantly in order to take an extended pit stop on Barrayar, so Miles can get to know his biological parents. I'd forgotten how much I loved (and missed) Cordelia until this book, and it was lovely to spend so much time with her.

This was one of those books where I alternated between wanting to read it all at once, actually skipping sentences and paragraphs in a few places before going back to read them, and wanting it to last forever. I'd shoot through 100 pages without coming up for air, then force myself to put it down for the night and pick up something else instead. I love a book that will make me feel conflicted on that level

At this point I never want the Vorkosigan Saga to end. It's a good thing I'm barely halfway through it (with another forthcoming book recently announced!)

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