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Product Details
Series: The Company (Book 1)
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Tor Books; Reprint edition (December 27, 2005)
Time travel is nothing new to science fiction. Even the idea of people travelling through time to preserve (or to try to alter) the timeline of the world is not new to science fiction. The idea of hiding in the shadows of history to preserve that which would otherwise be lost, though... I was really impressed with the premise of "In the Garden of Iden". I thought the idea of a company that could make employees of 'indigenous' people and send them along ('along' mind you, not 'through') history to preserve plants, animals, art works, etc. only as long as they did not change history in the process to be a neat, if not revolutionary idea. Baker pulls off the idea quite well to in this book. She gives us a good feel of history unfolding while the characters of the book go about their mission in a country that's teetering on the verge of a new dark age just before it's greatest era begins. The science in the book is well-researched. The history in the book is very well researched. Even the romance manages to push the reader into an interesting parallax between love and practicality. Surprisingly enough, the one thing that bothered me about the novel was the stipulation in the premise that people sent back couldn't change "recorded history". I found myself wondering what constitutes 'recorded history'. We as a race have so much difficulty sorting the fact from the lie and the myth in our 'recorded' history - even in the past century - that I wondered how valid an argument this could be. Perhaps it's an idea that she'll pursue in a later "Company" novel. I'd be interested to see what she could do with it... All in all, I really enjoyed this novel. I blew through it like I haven't blown through a science fiction novel in a long time.Read more ›
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
In the Garden of Iden is Kage Baker's debut novel of "The Company." It's a science fiction novel set in the 1550s, during the reign in Britain of Queen Mary. Baker's fluid style is a joy to read and her transformation from "modern" English to Renaissance and back to modern is wonderful. This is a marvelous debut and I can't wait to read more in the series. I've loved Kage Baker's work ever since I read her stories in the various Year's Best Fantasy books, and I was eager to dive into a novel written by her. It was definitely worth the wait. Her prose style is wonderful and she seamlessly changes dialogue depending on who's talking, thus giving us the dialect of the time alongside the modern phrasings of a group of cyborgs honed by time travelers. I'm not expert enough to tell whether or not she gets the Renaissance dialogue right, but she certainly makes it feel right. It really makes you feel like you are there listening. Another thing Baker avoids, for the most part, is making the romance cloying. While there were a few times where Mendoza and Nicholas became annoyingly written, most of the time this was turned on its head by a choice comment from Joseph (the leader of the expedition and Mendoza's recruiter) or something else happening. She doesn't overwrite the romance scenes and she deftly "fades to black" when the sex scenes are about to start. Thus, while the novel definitely has some adult themes, there are no actual scenes that should keep kids away from the book. Instead, she writes two adults who love each other deeply but know that there are some serious potential problems that might get in the way of that love. The concept of the Company is very interesting.Read more ›
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Before I picked up this book I had pretty much been down on my luck when it came to reading a decent sci-fi novel. Like any genre, most of the books are not written well and it's sometimes hard to find the few authors that are good. I finally hit the jackpot with Kage Baker and boy, was I relieved. In the 24th century a company known as Dr. Zeus has discovered not only the means to time travel but also the secret of immortality. Whether it was right to do so or no, it used its time travel capibility to effect events in the past so that in the 24th century, the company rules the world. There were some scientists that had signed on to the venture with the understanding that time travel would be used to help mankind. In an effort to do this the business types at Dr. Zeus go back to different time periods and create immortal agents from humans of the time. The mission of these agents is to save valuable cultural artifacts that would otherwise be lost forever. Flash backward to 1500's Spain in the height of the Spanish Inquisition. A nameless child of an impoverished mother is imprisoned wrongfully and is set to be tortured. An agent shows up offering her freedom. She takes it. She becomes known as Mendoza and enters the process of becoming immortal. The agents are in actuality cyborgs who are stronger and faster than a human. I thought it was really cool that while the world goes about its business there is a secret society of immortals carrying on their business in underground facilities, or in remote areas. Their business being to preserve some of man's and nature's lost treasures. Mendoza is sent to England and the Garden of Sir Walter Iden who is famous for having the most extensive samples of flora in the world.Read more ›
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