Rating: 
Summary: An erudite, charming, witty novel.
Review: Having been fortunate enough to read an advance copy of IDEN, I'm in a position to rave about it and urge you to BUY THIS BOOK as soon as you can! I won't bother with the plot, as the Kirkus review covers that pretty thoroughly. I'll content myself with saying that just when I thought I was getting too picky to like ANYTHING, this book came along and revived my faith in -- well, in novels. IDEN is an erudite, charming, witty novel which made me both laugh out loud AND snivel into my kleenex. Once I started this book, I grudged any interruption and couldn't wait to get back to it. I hope we'll see more from Kage Baker soon.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: I have a few simple words of advice. If you like:
sci-fi -you might be a little disappointed with this book.
historical fiction - you'll enjoy it (I did and I don't even like historical fiction)
romance (like me) - you'll simply adore Mendoza and Nicholas.
I must also inform you that the beginning is slow and boring, but just slog through the first 50 pages or so and you'll be thanking me for making your reading-life so much better.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Promise, Disappointing Finish
Review:
As an aficionado of sci-fi I thought In the Garden of Iden had a terrific premise which showed great promise. The Company is a 24th century enterprise that travels through time, rescues persons from the past and makes them immortal. These immortals are subsequently assigned to specific periods in history with the purpose of preventing life (plants, animals, etc) from becoming extinct and preserving them for the future. Mendoza is one such immortal. Rescued from the Spanish Inquisition she is trained as a botanist and is assigned to 16th century England to collect rare herbs from the garden of Walter Iden (hence the book's title). Once there she breaks one of the Company's rules by falling in love with a mortal named Nicholas. And therein lies the problem with the book. The storyline then turns from sci-fi into a basic romance novel that could have taken place anywhere, at any time without a sci-fi perspective. Disappointing. Author Kage Baker seemed to have had good thing going but didn't follow-through on her original concept. Ms Baker writes well but I would be hard pressed to want to read another one of her Mendoza sci-fi novels. Three stars, though, for a novel idea and for her writing.
Rating:
Summary: Blood Mary and the romantic problems she causes
Review: 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. Time travel and cyborg technology have been invented, so what they do is send operatives back in time to recruit local people, train them in secret facilities (bringing them up to modern standards), turn them into immortal cyborgs, and allow them to do the job of preserving things. They take samples of various things that will become extinct, hide them away for a thousand years, and then "discover" them again in the present. One of Baker's most inspired creations is a radio that broadcasts at a frequency that humans can't hear, and which operatives can listen to and find out what is going on locally. Thus, there is a news story about the reintroduction of Papal law in the British parliament, along with commentary similar to a CNN broadcast. It was very innovative. Baker also does a credible job with the characters. All of the operatives (there are four) in the house are interestingly written and have some sort of way to keep them straight. Nefer is stuck in limbo while she's waiting for an assignment in northern England, and she's also the resident animal expert. Thus, she has an affinity for them and takes umbrage at what she sees as the torturing of a goat (the owner tried to graft a horn on its forehead and called it a unicorn). Joseph has the worn feel of a man who's been around for hundreds of years and has seen it all, but yet he knows exactly how it feels to be a first-time operative. He's incredibly understanding with Mendoza, forgiving her the jitters and mistakes that any rookie will have. He is a wonderful mentor to her as well. I didn't feel like I knew Flavius very well, but he's not in the book much so there isn't a reason to flesh him out further than he already is. The local characters have their character hooks and are recognizably different, but aren't anything special. The romance would not work if Nicholas is badly done, so it's a good thing that Baker saved her best for him. He is well-rounded with intelligence and wit, and the verbal sparring between Mendoza and him is great. His beliefs are very strong, and he sticks to them through everything. Watching Mendoza try desperately to convince him to run away from the inquisition that is coming to England is almost heartbreaking. With the exception of a few times, the book sparkles when the two of them are on the page, and he is a worthy companion for Mendoza. When things start to go sour, it's on an understandable basis and Nicholas reacts as he should. The plot is a bit slow-moving, but it is interestingly told. There are a few places it drags as Baker takes a detour to do a little philosophizing. The trigger event for the climax also feels a bit artificial as Joseph makes a mistake that I didn't really think he would make with his experience in the field. Then again, these people are human so mistakes do happen to the best of them. It just felt a little bit too much like it was there just so that the plot could start moving. Baker has created a wonderful little sci-fi story and if she can continue to write this strongly, she will continue for a very long time. The fact that there are already 3 other books, along with a short story collection, bodes well for the success of the series. If you want something new to try, this would be a good one to start with. Even if you don't like science fiction, you might find something in here to enjoy. David Roy
Rating: 
Summary: A good read with a clever premise
Review: Baker has come up with a variation on the "future do-gooders go back in time and meddle with history" theme, in which, in order to avoid paradox, the work is all done by people from the past. Children or teens who are about to die are recruited, modified physically so that they will live forever, and given assignments to preserve "lost" treasures from the past, which will later be "discovered" in the future by the Company. In this first episode, a girl known only as Mendoza is saved from the Spanish Inquisition and sent to England under Bloody Mary to preserve plants from a private gentleman's garden, the "Garden of Iden" of the title. She falls in love with a mortal, with disastrous and heartbreaking results. The book is well-written in a direct, if not particularly artful, style. The characters and motivations are complex enough to avoid most of the usual cliches. In particular, Baker uses her scholarly knowledge of the Elizabethan era to depict the clashes between Catholic and Protestant forces in England with considerable depth and sympathy. I haven't read any of the sequels, but if they measure up to this book, this series should be a source of considerable entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Original? Yes. Sci-Fi? No.
Review: Garden of Iden by Kage Baker certainly is original but this is not a Sci-Fi. Except for the few pages in the early chapters, the story takes place entirely in the 16th Century England, evolving around a romance between Mendosa, the heroin and the time traveler and Nicholas. This is a historic romance period. So those who enjoy romance may enjoy this book but this is not for a serious Sci-Fi readers.
Rating:
Summary: Wildly entertaining
Review: I read a lot of science fiction and am continually amazed at the criticism of this genre for "not being scientifically accurate" It it's science you're after, try Scientific American or, for a more poetic venture, one of Dennis Overbye's fine studies. But don't read science fiction for detailed proofs of invisibility, ESP, teleportation or time travel. I judge a science fiction book not only the originality of the ideas, but also on their plausibility within the context of the story. In this case, Kage Baker succeeds admirably not only in presenting a well-crafted tale but also by making the "science" of time travel interesting and familiar. She has taken a worn-out idea and transformed it into something new and wonderful with its own set of rules - a veritable world within the world. The idea of a conglomerate gaining a monopoly on time travel and using it just for these means is not only plausible but probable. The use of special children who trade death for servitude is very probable. Mendoza, the heroine, is realistic - more than those superwomen of the future with their powers and weapons. Despite her near immortality - and despite warnings and quiet suggestions from Joseph, her rescuer/father confessor - she forms an emotional bond with a mere "mortal". The hide and seek game of possessing great powers and using them when no one is looking is always amusing. In this case, the greatest power of all is love, one that captured the heart of the botanist. Joseph anchors this story through memories, tales and dry wit. The writing is subtle, spare and beautiful and in the end one feels a great sympathy for Mendoza and unrequieted love. The ideas in this novel are so original and so well presented that I will most assuredly purchase the next book in the series.
Is this a Romance novel crudely disguised as science fiction. If so, it was extremely enjoyable and I am looking forward to the next entry in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! A Great Debut - looking forward to more by this author
Review: Truly original novel with a great mix of history and future. I cared about the characters and there are several places where it was almost too painful for me. This made me think more of Connie Willis' Doomsday Book than her others. If you like this one, you might also try Sheri Tepper's most recent novels. I'm looking forward to more by this author and hope she can keep this high level in future novels of "The Company".
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