Customer Reviews

Life of the World to Come

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Now that I'm caught up with Kage Baker's "Company" novels, waiting for the next one has been excruciating. At the beginning of December, however, The Life of the World to Come was finally published, and it was well worth the wait. Baker adds a lot more detail to the "Company" universe, telling us much more of the future than we even received in The Graveyard Game as we barrel toward the unknown event horizon of 2355, where not even Doctor Zeus Incorporated knows what happens. For any fans of the Company, rest assured that this book is well worth reading. If you're not familiar, then definitely don't start with this book. While it is understandable (for reasons I'll get into later), you'll lose a lot of the richness of the plot.

I was expecting this book to be mainly about Mendoza, and since I had not read the cover jacket, I was quite surprised when the book left her and never returned (except very briefly near the end). Instead, we get the story of Alec, who has appeared in a few Asimov's stories but who I never really knew how he fit into everything. The Life of the World to Come explains it all. Were you bothered about how Mendoza always seemed to be meeting reincarnations of her old lover? This book explains it quite rationally, making the Company seem even darker even as the scientists involved with his origin believe that they are doing good for the world.

The book does a wonderful job of explaining everything and keeps up a good pace as well. We see extended scenes of Alec while he's growing up and see how his personality is shaped by the strange, overly politically correct world that he's surrounded by, as well as the feeling that he was completely unwanted by his parents. His only true friend is the Captain, a former computer playfriend that he reprogrammed to be the ultimate artificial intelligence and now his companion in everything he does. He even goes so far as to get a cyborg implant so he can always be connected to the Captain. Mixed in with these scenes so we never get too bored by too much Alec are the scenes with the scientists. These are, at times, even better than the Alec scenes.

Rutherford is a historian that wants desperately to return to the old times. His ultimate goal is to recreate the Inklings, the writing group that Tolkein was a member of. He and his companions, Frankie Chatterji and Foxen Ellsworth-Howard have fake wine, fake tea, a fire that only their service to Dr. Zeus allows them to have (fires are against the law). They serve a couple of purposes in the book. First, they explain Alec's background so the reader knows it before Alec does, along with explaining what happened with Mendoza in the 16th century and the 19th. Secondly, they give us a little bit of insight into the company workings, or at least one side of it. When they realize that the third incarnation of what they are doing is happening in real time (contemporary to them, rather than in the past), they get an odd thrill. There's no way to know how it will turn out. It makes them nervous, too, as Alec has already become too unpredictable for them. Baker captures these scientists perfectly. They have many idiosyncrasies like a lot of scientists have and each one is truly three dimensional.

The star of the show, however, is Alec. He is a very rich character and Baker is able to fully examine him. He is damaged by the way he grew up, and he's even more damaged when he finds out the truth behind his childhood. Baker never falters in her telling of the two intertwining stories, always capturing the reader's interest and moving on to the other story just when the reader needs a break. The opening, told from Mendoza's point of view, gives us an update on how she's doing and becomes even more important when we see the same scenes from Alec's point of view later on. For not being in the book much, we find ourselves caring even more about Mendoza as she does something that leaves her in quite the precarious circumstance.

For fans of Joseph and Lewis, Mendoza's fellow immortals, I'm sorry to say they are not in this one. The way The Graveyard Game left off, that's too bad, but we must wait until the next one. Baker is slowly building up to the event in 2355, and she's ratcheting up the tension as she goes. The Life of the World to Come progresses the story a little bit, but it also fills in a lot of back detail. It's clear that Alec will play an important part and so it's imperative we get to know him first.

Both Baker's characterization and her plotting skills are on vivid display here. Do yourself a favour and pick this book up.

David Roy

After a long wait, it was thrilling to get my hands on "The Life of the World to Come." It is a superb installment in the line of Company novels, yet functions just fine on its own chronicling the life of Alec Checkerfield in the sterile dystopia of the 24th century. Baker's books and short stories constructing the intricate legacy of Dr. Zeus, Inc. have been hilarious, heart-breaking, and compelling. "The Life of the World to Come" finally gives readers insight into the more mysterious inner workings of the Company and what might be done to ultimately bring about its demise.

Sure, this latest novel leaves quite a few unanswered questions while tying up a whole slew of open ends left by "Mendoza in Hollywood" and "The Graveyard Game." That's really the beauty of this series, though - its captivating nature through the well-timed revelation of more and more pieces of puzzle as the overall story progresses. These glimpses of the truth are satisfying tidbits of Company lore that keep us reading. This novel delivers the truth about Alec/Edward/Nicholas; a little more insight into the silence that falls in 2355; knowledge that the Company might not be as infallible as previously thought; and a time-travelling trip to Mars. It's quite a ride.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book (as well as the four preceding it, plus the short stories contained in "Black Projects, White Knights" and the chapbook "The Angel in the Darkness"). It's an excellent addition to Baker's previous works. I, for one, can't wait to find out what Joseph and Budu are going to do once they've reemerged on the scene and how Labienus and his band of immortal malcontents have managed to stay under the radar. But these are questions for another book, and you can believe I'll keep reading after being given a prize like "The Life of the World to Come."

Alex Richards

In the twenty-fourth century, Dr. Zeus, Incorporated discovered time travel. However, rather than benefiting humanity, the firm plundered history taking valuable artifacts so the shareholders became wealthy. One of the top agents the botanist Mendoza fell in love with an apparent sixteenth century English native only to watch him die at the fiery stake; next Mendzoa fell in love with his doppelganger in nineteenth century Hollywood only to see him murdered. This time the cyborg killed the culprits. Threatening to expose Dr. Zeus while grieving, the firm exiles her to 150,000 BCE ("More or Less").

The millenniums pass as Mendoza waits for rescue until the arrival of a time-shuttle piloted by the twenty-fourth century, one of the wealthiest people in the world Alec Checkerfield. He is a triplet to her deceased beloveds and wants to destroy Dr. Zeus. Mendoza wants to believe him as he is identical to her two loves, but has doubts about his sincerity and questions three men born in different centuries over a millennium looking like identical triplets. Dr. Zeus must be involved but how?

Each book adds to the complexities of the previous novels yet keeps the underlying theme and principles, and Mendoza consistent as no series (at least that this reviewer can think of) has previously accomplished by book five. THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME is an excellent entry that can stand alone yet enhances the story lines from the previous tales making them and this entry even more enjoyable and multifaceted. If a reader was stranded in 150,000 BCE with one series of novels to accompany them, Kage Baker's masterpiece would be on most sci fi fans' short lists.

Harriet Klausner

I don't generally like reading books in a series until the entire series is available. Even though I had read all of the "Company" books up until this one, I held off quite a while before reading this volume and I regret it. I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

If you have not read the previous book about the Dr Zeus corporation and their cyborgs who live throughout time, collecting artifacts, plants, information and running other errands for their masters, you should begin the "The Garden Of Iden".

Although Botanist Mendoza is the central figure of the 1st book, she comes and goes in subsequest books and other stories are told that flesh out the entire world Kage Baker has created. Mendoza plays a role here, but the primary story is of Alec Checkerfield, a creation of three rather kooky Inkling-wanabees in the far future. It ties him and the other two love interests of Mendoza together.

We see a very good glimpse of the future - it is a ridiculously regulated society but one that could be a logical extension of our own.

Is Checkerfield the reason for the silent period that follows July 9,2355? or are there other forces at work. All questions are not answered here but a great number are.

This is a must read for fans of the Company series.

Each Company novel I pick up pulls me further and further into Baker's intricately wrought plot. Each time I fear she will drop the ball - if only due to the sheer number of interlocking stories she's written for this world - she simply adds another perfectly logical twist. I adored "In the Garden of Iden" and, LA native that I am, thought I was in heaven with "Mendoza in Hollywood". I think the thing I like best about these books are the oodles of historical references (See the erroneous ideas about the Los Angeles River" in "Hollywood" Hee!). "The Life of the World to Come" features even more of them - amusingly personified in Alec Checkerfield's childlike, ignorant, genius creators. The world of the 2350s is a wonderfully imagined, sublimely ridiculous, PC post-modern Disneyfied hoot where history and popular culture are interchangeable to the point of being nearly indistinguishable. Alec's story drags a bit with the engineered emotional trauma you can see coming a mile away, but I love his unscrupulous AI id/father figure, the Captain - maybe I'm just a sucker for pirates, or scheming supercomputers bent on world domination, or both. The one thing that I don't like about this book is the cliffhanger ending. A warning to those expecting some sort of resolution with this book - you won't get it. What you will get is a brisk plot liberally sprinkled with hints and clues, and an ending that will leave you desperately wondering, "What happens next?"

Here's my metaphorical expression of what reading this book was like: you went to a restaurant a few years back, and ordered chocolate mousse for dessert. When they brought it, there was at least a quart of it, piled high in a bowl. Dang, you think, can't be that good if there's that much - whoa. _Good_ chocolate mousse. You eat every delicious theobromine bite. For months afterward, you rave about this mousse to all your friends. Finally, you realize you're remembering the memory, and start to wonder if it was as good as you've been saying.

Then, one day, you go back. You order the mousse. And it's JUST AS GOOD as you remembered.

I've read all the Company books - Garden of Iden, Sky Coyote, Mendoza in Hollywood, Graveyard Game, Black Projects/White Knights - and I enjoyed this one just as much. Minor spoiler - this is not the last novel in the series. When I got to the end and realized that, I was torn between dismay (wanted the Big Ending) and relief (yeah! more books!).

If you want more Mendoza, more Alec, and a look at Degenerate Humanity in the 24th Century - get this book!

This is the fifth novel in Baker's "Company" series about Dr. Zeus, Inc., which operates as a massive plutocratic conspiracy down through history. It's certainly the best since the first two, _The Garden of Iden_ and _Sky Coyote._ The frame story is about the immortal Mendoza's imprisonment on Santa Catalina in the Back Way Back of 150,000 years ago, and the sudden appearance of Alec Checkerfield, 7th Earl of Finsbury, in a stolen time shuttle. Of course, he's the image of Nicholas and Edward, her two lost loves of the first two books. So what's going on? Telling that takes up the rest of the book, and it's based on Baker's preparatory short story, "Smart Alec." Actually, this book stops just before what I expected was going to be the big climatic scene, so I shall have to wait impatiently for the *next* (and probably last) volume. Alec is certainly a fascinating character, a manufactured hero who outsmarts his makers through the help of an AI he modifies by removing its moral restraints, and which eventually becomes an equally powerful opponent to Dr. Zeus. The "pretend Inklings" of the 24th century, who constitute a small circle of idea men for the conspiracy, are also much more convincingly portrayed than in the last couple of volumes, where they had an annoying comic book, straw-man quality. Baker is an uneven writer -- but when she's hot, she's smokin'.

Kage Baker has created a world as complex and rich as our own, because it is our own, and she has found out who is running it...
Sometime in the future, a few hundred years from now, someone will invent time travel - What will they do with it? Go back in time and loot the treasures of the ages? Maybe steal the first draft of Hamlet for posterity. Perhaps nudge a city-state at the right time to provoke a war that is part of the historical record, but choose the timing to allow the discreet "disappearence" of artifacts that will have immense value when they are recovered in the future? Wouldn't it be nice to know what the Library of Alexandria contained? Who were the white Gods of the Aztecs? Why are there so many stories of advanced civilizations that lived on the mountain and then disappeared?

Of course this much meddling in history takes a lot of resources - fortunately the company who invented time travel was also able to develop a cybergenic process for immortality, albeit one that only works on small children. Down thru the ages these immortals toil to save the best works of humanity from itself... But who guides them? Doesn't there come a time when an immortal, or group of immortals, takes a step back and says, "Why am I working for them?"

In The Life in the World to Come, Kage Baker brings us into the future and shows us some of the people who have created the past. A very enjoyable read that incorporates a rich commentary on today's society and where it might be headed. Kage is a gifted writer who evokes a wide range of real people, with real emotions, that live in real locations in the present, what they might become in the future.
I for one hope that she doesn't just "wrap it up". There is too much good story left to tell. I am enjoying every minute of it. The more you read of "The Company" series, the more you want to know. "The Matrix" is a very shallow story by comparison.

Long before finishing Kage Baker's THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME, I experienced an irresistible urge to look up "picaresque hero" in my old English lit crit textbook. (So there is a reason why we keep these things!)

And what I found confirmed a not-too-bad memory of what we're dealing with in this rollicking book about time travel gone slightly wonky. Baker's endearing child-genius, Alec Checkerfield, does indeed grow up to be everything the picaresque or anti-hero was meant to be. He's a drifter, an outsider, a risk-taker, a heartbreaker, a goon, a gentleman, a thief, a saint...all of them and more.

In technical terms, Checkerfield is a 24th-century cyborg, but his software "conscience" since childhood has been the zany yo-ho-ho character of an old-fashioned South Seas pirate, which makes for some pretty interesting dialogue. In Baker's skilled hands, the lead adventurer not only talks to himself but also gets good answers!

Roving around the remaining civilized continents of a vastly depopulated and rigidly legislated world in his (what else?) futuristic sailing ship, Checkerfield turns his hand to everything from smuggling to espionage. One moment he's a Robin Hood of the high seas, and the next we find him trying to understand the spirituality of his estranged priestess-mother. And then there's the love-lust interest, an enigmatic seductress, also trapped in time, whose motives are never fully revealed. It's all such tantalizing fun.

Just like Alec's brief enthusiasms and passions, the storyline flits back and forth across the time continuum, revealing more and more complexity and introducing an odd assortment of mortal and synthetic characters who play essential roles in ensuring that true history is not distorted beyond repair. Not surprisingly, we learn that our "hero" is really several genetically enhanced entities who have emerged in previous centuries, sometimes coming to bad ends. When they turn up in Alec's consciousness to fight it out for control, new options for co-existence are discovered, thanks to the advice of Alec's old friend, the internal pirate.

Baker's story leaves Alec and his various pacified nemeses under full sail, but not heading towards the sunset and a tidy denouement. Now more like a questing Flying Dutchman than salty old pirate, he's off to new adventures in a world where time, space, and cyberspace are in constant creative ferment.

THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME is a compulsive page-turner that can keep even the most restrained reader on the edge of anticipation from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Pauline Finch

After reading the latest installment in Kage Baker's "Company" series, I'm torn between wanting the next volume to wrap things up and fearing it will do just that. The premise of these novels and the excellent short stories that have accompanied them is quite clever, and Ms. Baker has a large enough canvas to keep working this material for decades.

However, I'm not sure that this chapter is quite as self-sufficient as an earlier reader suggests. While starting here would be less confusing for someone new to Baker than the previous, much darker novel, I'd still recommend reading at least "In The Garden of Iden" and "Mendoza in Hollywood" first, if you can find them. They are essential to understanding the relationship between Mendoza and Alec, while "Sky Coyote" and "Graveyard Game" focus primarily on Mendoza's cyborg colleagues.

I don't think I'm overstating the case to suggest that Baker is simply the best new science fiction writer to hit the field in at least a decade. She has reawakened my interest in the genre, when it was drowning in a sea of fantasy and military sf-clones. Great stuff!