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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Time travel, historical romance and immortal cyborgs. Really, what's not to love about this book? A good start to an exciting series.
A really incredible book, possibly the best book in the Company series. Mendoza is saved from the dungeons of the Inquisition to become an immortal cyborg working for Dr.Zeus, a company that has harnassed both immortality and timetravel. For her first trip to "the field", she travels to Tudor England to rescue rare plants from extinction. Unfortunately for her, she falls utterly in love with a remarkable mortal man--who is devoutly Protestant when Queen Mary takes the throne. Mendoza observes the mortal world with both a teenager's verve and naivete and a genius immortal's knowledge.
Lots of clever time travel and cultural stuff up top, but turns bodice ripper about halfway through (the main character's bodice is literally ripped in the first of many moments of angst and passion, which felt a little on the nose), where it lost me.
This is based on the idea of what would happen if somewhere in the future the figure out how to make people immortal and also how to time travel. It's given in this story that you can't change history and you can't bring objects forward through time, but other than that, there's nothing you can't do. Even better, why not make immortal slaves and have them do all the dirty work for you? This is the story of one of those slaves...er, employees...as she becomes immortal during the Spanish Inquisition and then attempts to save various plants from extinction. Very little time was spent in the science fiction aspect of this story such as the time traveling, the immortality, and the rescuing of plant species. Instead, a great deal of time was spent dwelling on a romantic relationship that seemed improbable from every angle. This was entertaining, but nothing spectacular. I'd be willing to give the second book in this series a try, but I won't be in a rush to do so.
The ending really redeemed this one...you know about 80% of the way through when there actually started being conflict.
I really wanted to like this, but no. I think it was another casualty of the "just like Connie Willis, we swear!" time travel recommendations that never pan out (see also: The Anubis Gates).
This one has a great premise and interesting characters. It's basically a historical romance, light on the history and light on the sci-fi. I'm definitely interested in continuing the series, although I hope that the next installment has a little more in the way of a plot.
Sometime in the future The Company develops time travel and the ability to make humans immortal. They go back in time and find young children, make them immortal and train them as operatives who work for The Company through out the ages. This is the first book in the series and involves Mendoza, a young Spanish girl who is saved from the Inquisition, is made into an immortal, trained as a botanist and sent back into the wide world when she’s 19.
On her assignment she meets a mortal dude and falls for him, which ya just know isn’t gonna end up good.
I liked it. The concept is cool. Sort of a historical novel mixed with sci-fi. I’ll probably check out more from the library.
On her assignment she meets a mortal dude and falls for him, which ya just know isn’t gonna end up good.
I liked it. The concept is cool. Sort of a historical novel mixed with sci-fi. I’ll probably check out more from the library.
Okay, the love story part of this book should have made my rating only 3 stars, but I loved the premise so much that I decided to be generous.
It is the future. Dr. Zeus (also known as "The Company") has invented time travel. And in order to prove they could travel through time, they invented immortality too. Immortality, though, comes with a price. Cyborg transformation, anyone?
And time travel is really expensive. But it can also be quite lucrative when you have agents working on your behalf to acquire wealth, knowledge, soon-to-be endangered plants and animals, and lost works of art for you. Don't try to change the past though. If the past is recorded, you can't monkey with it. Luckily, there is plenty that happened in the past that no one bothered to write down.
This first novel takes place during the Spanish Inquisition and the reign of Mary I (Bloody Mary). Holy crap, did I stumble into yet another Tudor historical novel without even knowing it?
Once again, didn't much care for the love story part but really loved the history part.
Thanks for the recommendation Adele.
It is the future. Dr. Zeus (also known as "The Company") has invented time travel. And in order to prove they could travel through time, they invented immortality too. Immortality, though, comes with a price. Cyborg transformation, anyone?
And time travel is really expensive. But it can also be quite lucrative when you have agents working on your behalf to acquire wealth, knowledge, soon-to-be endangered plants and animals, and lost works of art for you. Don't try to change the past though. If the past is recorded, you can't monkey with it. Luckily, there is plenty that happened in the past that no one bothered to write down.
This first novel takes place during the Spanish Inquisition and the reign of Mary I (Bloody Mary). Holy crap, did I stumble into yet another Tudor historical novel without even knowing it?
Once again, didn't much care for the love story part but really loved the history part.
Thanks for the recommendation Adele.
As part of my Basically Books! Winter challenge, this was my first sci-fi. It was a light one I must say, being situate in 1555 England and not somewhere in the far future with robots and new species and planets etc, as I thought a sci-fi book would be.
The plot
It's a love story. An original one, but still, a love story. Ninteen-year-old botanologist, Mendoza, has her first love story with a mortal, on a case in England. It was very fun to read about how she felt and how she adored her lover, in a naive way that I think almost everyone had when falling in love for the first time. How she thinks everything will be settled and solved as long as they don't part. But, as almost always happens with first loves, it ends. It ends in a fairly dramatic way, as Nicholas, her lover, is burnt as an heretic by the English church.
Other than the love story, Baker manages to describe very well the surroundings, the spirit of that age and the historical facts.
I chose this book after reading a short story of the author in [b:Wizards: Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy|126437|Wizards Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy|Jack Dann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171915574s/126437.jpg|121762], a fantasy one, which I loved. then decided to read something else by the same author as well. So, I did a little research and found out about the Company series. I ended up with the Garden of Iden, being the first novel of the series.
But, being so, I wasn't as impressed by the writing as I was when reading the short story. I think that's because this was Kage Baker's first book, and naturally, she wcouldn't be perfect right from the start.
Overall, I expected more of it. As a love story it's pretty nice, but I expected more adventure from it, a little more action. I am going to read more Company books soon, but this one I wouldn't reccomend as a great read.
Also, I wanted to add that I hate the cover! If I saw it on a book store, I would have ignored it completely!
(ok, this review sucks, but it's only because I wasn't very impressed by the book! Sorry, guys!)
The plot
It's a love story. An original one, but still, a love story. Ninteen-year-old botanologist, Mendoza, has her first love story with a mortal, on a case in England. It was very fun to read about how she felt and how she adored her lover, in a naive way that I think almost everyone had when falling in love for the first time. How she thinks everything will be settled and solved as long as they don't part. But, as almost always happens with first loves, it ends. It ends in a fairly dramatic way, as Nicholas, her lover, is burnt as an heretic by the English church.
Other than the love story, Baker manages to describe very well the surroundings, the spirit of that age and the historical facts.
I chose this book after reading a short story of the author in [b:Wizards: Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy|126437|Wizards Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy|Jack Dann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171915574s/126437.jpg|121762], a fantasy one, which I loved. then decided to read something else by the same author as well. So, I did a little research and found out about the Company series. I ended up with the Garden of Iden, being the first novel of the series.
But, being so, I wasn't as impressed by the writing as I was when reading the short story. I think that's because this was Kage Baker's first book, and naturally, she wcouldn't be perfect right from the start.
Overall, I expected more of it. As a love story it's pretty nice, but I expected more adventure from it, a little more action. I am going to read more Company books soon, but this one I wouldn't reccomend as a great read.
Also, I wanted to add that I hate the cover! If I saw it on a book store, I would have ignored it completely!
(ok, this review sucks, but it's only because I wasn't very impressed by the book! Sorry, guys!)