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A review by amynbell
In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
4.0
This book has been on my radar for ages, and I'm glad to have finally read it. It's set up as a time travel novel, but it adds another facet to it in that the time travelers are immortals. These immortal time travelers are all recruited by The Company during their childhood and are surgically altered to become immortal. They go forward in time the normal way (living year by year), but they are able to travel back in time in a time travel ship of some sort. It seems that the main point of The Company is to observe history and preserve those things we've lost from history such as plant and animal species and art.
I really wanted this to be a 5-star book. And I think that what kept it from being was that the author seems to have written it with a view to create a series from it. As such, it's obvious that the book has a series arc more than a book arc. Yes, there is a tense ending, but it's almost surreal because the mortals our main character are going to meet are all going die and pass on whether by natural causes or tragedy. The book seems more to meander through Mendoza's first love with a mortal and the idea of immortality rather than to be a book compelling the reader toward a specific goal or hard ending.
I like the idea of exploring history with an immortal. This book is set in Tudor England with Bloody Mary on the throne. I think I perhaps appreciated it more having recently read [b:The Lady Elizabeth|1933181|The Lady Elizabeth|Alison Weir|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1431623866s/1933181.jpg|1935630]. I have a hard time, however, imagining immortals living an eternity of pretending to be something they're not. Of course, a large portion of England is pretending to be Catholic during Mary's reign lest they meet with death, so at least they've got plenty of company with their pretending.
I don't feel an urgency to read the next book like with some series. There isn't a cliffhanger luring me to it. However, it does sound interesting as it's set in the New World with the Mayans. I could see myself reading it just for the pleasure of reading rather than a need to find out what happens next.
I really wanted this to be a 5-star book. And I think that what kept it from being was that the author seems to have written it with a view to create a series from it. As such, it's obvious that the book has a series arc more than a book arc. Yes, there is a tense ending, but it's almost surreal because the mortals our main character are going to meet are all going die and pass on whether by natural causes or tragedy. The book seems more to meander through Mendoza's first love with a mortal and the idea of immortality rather than to be a book compelling the reader toward a specific goal or hard ending.
I like the idea of exploring history with an immortal. This book is set in Tudor England with Bloody Mary on the throne. I think I perhaps appreciated it more having recently read [b:The Lady Elizabeth|1933181|The Lady Elizabeth|Alison Weir|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1431623866s/1933181.jpg|1935630]. I have a hard time, however, imagining immortals living an eternity of pretending to be something they're not. Of course, a large portion of England is pretending to be Catholic during Mary's reign lest they meet with death, so at least they've got plenty of company with their pretending.
I don't feel an urgency to read the next book like with some series. There isn't a cliffhanger luring me to it. However, it does sound interesting as it's set in the New World with the Mayans. I could see myself reading it just for the pleasure of reading rather than a need to find out what happens next.