fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsfantasy book reviews Kage Baker The Company 1. In the Garde of IdenIn the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker

Rescued from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition, feisty little Mendoza is enrolled in a special school and becomes a cyborg agent of The Company, a group of immortal merchants and scientists who travel backwards in time in order to make money for The Company and to benefit mankind in various ways.

Mendoza is educated and trained as a botanist and, for her first mission, she’s sent back to 16th century Europe to document and study samples from the famous Garden of Iden in England. She’s hoping to discover some extinct or rare species that she can analyze for medical use by future scientists.

Undercover as a Spaniard, at first Mendoza is afraid of the people she meets and despises them for their ignorance, brutishness, and lack of hygiene. But soon she discovers that some of them are not so bad, and then she even makes the mistake of falling in love with a mortal — an English Protestant mortal.

fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviewsSet both in the 24th and 16th centuries, In the Garden of Iden (the first of Kage Baker’s The Company novels) is a unique historical science fiction romance. The metaphysics of time-travel and how The Company operates in time are clearly laid out (e.g., agents can’t bring anything into the future, but they can hide things in the past and recover them later), making the time-travel aspect of the story believable. Bloody Mary’s England makes a great backdrop for a historical novel — the Protestant Reformation is fascinating history and allows the exploration of racial, political, and religious conflict. It also makes a romance between a Spanish woman and an English man interesting — not to mention a romance between a human and a cyborg — although I thought Mendoza’s relationship developed too fast to be completely believable and satisfying. The climactic scene in which the English Protestant defends his faith in the face of persecution, and Mendoza starts to wonder if immortality is really such a blessing, is truly beautiful and moving.

What I liked best about In the Garden of Iden was the premise of The Company, which is run by the mysterious Dr. Zeus. Nobody seems to know who he is. Does he even exist? What are The Company’s plans and goals? Do they know what they’re doing or how their interference might change the future? I can’t wait to find out more.

I listened to Blackstone Audio’s production of In the Garden of Iden, which was narrated by Janan Raouf. It was a lovely performance, though sometimes I could not be certain whether the cyborg characters were speaking to each other out loud or on their special “channel” that only cyborgs can hear (this is indicated in italics in the book). It would have been nice to have some indication of that (perhaps a bit of static in the background?), but I was able to figure it out. I do hope that Blackstone Audio will be producing more of Kage Baker’s The Company novels.

The Company — (1997-2013) Black Projects, White Knights and Gods and Pawns are story collections. Rude Mechanicals and The Women of Nell Gwynne’s are novellas. Publisher: The first novel of Kage Baker’s critically acclaimed, much-loved series, ‘The Company’, introduces us to a world where the future of commerce is the past. In the twenty-fourth century, the Company preserves works of art and extinct forms of life (for profit of course). It recruits orphans from the past, renders them all but immortal, and trains them to serve the Company, Dr. Zeus. One of these is Mendoza, the botanist. She is sent to Elizabethan England to collect samples from the garden of Sir Walter Iden. But while there, she meets Nicholas Harpole, with whom she falls in love. And that love sounds great bells of change that will echo down the centuries, and through the succeeding novels of The Company. Breathtakingly detailed and written with great aplomb, In the Garden of Iden is a contemporary classic of the science-fiction genre.

SFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company 1. In the Garden of Iden 2. Sky Coyote 3. Mendoza in Hollywood aka At the Edge of the West 4. The Graveyard Game 5. The Life of the World to Come 6. The Children of the CompanySFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company 1. In the Garden of Iden 2. Sky Coyote 3. Mendoza in Hollywood aka At the Edge of the West 4. The Graveyard Game 5. The Life of the World to Come 6. The Children of the CompanySFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company 1. In the Garden of Iden 2. Sky Coyote 3. Mendoza in Hollywood aka At the Edge of the West 4. The Graveyard Game 5. The Life of the World to Come 6. The Children of the CompanySFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company 1. In the Garden of Iden 2. Sky Coyote 3. Mendoza in Hollywood aka At the Edge of the West 4. The Graveyard Game 5. The Life of the World to Come 6. The Children of the CompanySFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company 1. In the Garden of Iden 2. Sky Coyote 3. Mendoza in Hollywood aka At the Edge of the West 4. The Graveyard Game 5. The Life of the World to Come 6. The Children of the CompanySFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company 6. The Children of the Company 7. The Machine's Child 8. The Sons of Heaven 9. Not Less Than Gods SFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company 6. The Children of the Company 7. The Machine's Child 8. The Sons of Heaven 9. Not Less Than Gods SFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company 6. The Children of the Company 7. The Machine's Child 8. The Sons of Heaven 9. Not Less Than Gods Kage Baker Not Less Than Gods fantasy book reviewsSFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company The Empress of Mars, Gods and Pawns, Rude MechanicalsSFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company The Empress of Mars, Gods and Pawns, Rude MechanicalsSFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers SFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company The Empress of Mars, Gods and Pawns, Rude MechanicalsKage Baker In the Company of ThievesThe Women of Nell Gwynne'sSFF book reviews Kage Baker The Company The Empress of Mars, Gods and Pawns, Rude Mechanicalsfantasy and science fiction book reviews

Nell Gwynne’s Scarlet Spy contains the novella The Women of Nell Gwynne and the story “The Bohemian Astrobleme.”  (So you don’t need to buy The Women of Nell Gwynne).

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  • Kat Hooper

    KAT HOOPER, who started this site in June 2007, earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience and psychology at Indiana University (Bloomington) and now teaches and conducts brain research at the University of North Florida. When she reads fiction, she wants to encounter new ideas and lots of imagination. She wants to view the world in a different way. She wants to have her mind blown. She loves beautiful language and has no patience for dull prose, vapid romance, or cheesy dialogue. She prefers complex characterization, intriguing plots, and plenty of action. Favorite authors are Jack Vance, Robin Hobb, Kage Baker, William Gibson, Gene Wolfe, Richard Matheson, and C.S. Lewis.