Rating: 
Summary: exellent epic escapist science fiction
Review: I can definitely count Kage Baker as one of my favorite authors (as well as Daniel Keys Moran and Dan Simmons). I have enjoyed all of the company novels and this was no exception. The storyline is quite complex and has some of the most well developed and intricate characters that I have ever read; they also possess a quality that most characters in novels recently have lacked: you actually care what happens to them and how they evolve! So to the person who said "Baker may be losing his grip on the plot" well ... first of all if you have truly READ the books you would know that Kage Baker is a LADY and second, the story is only expanding and becoming truly intricate. Thank you and good night!
Rating: 
Summary: What's next?
Review: I found this one more intriguing as we get closer and closer to 2355. The only problem I have is all of Ms. Baker's obscure hints as to past events. Luckily, she is a prolific short story writer and we can find out what actually happened to Lewis in Ireland, etc. Please publish book five soon!
Rating:
Summary: You weren't expecting closure... or were you?
Review: I have to admit that my review is going to be a bit skewed because I was definitely expecting things that this book did not deliver. I don't necessarily think it's Kage Baker's fault. She really didn't lead me on or anything. But really, I was expecting to find out exactly where Mendoza was, to find out what happens after 2355 (when the big silence falls), and to understand what the heck was going on. I don't really feel like I got any of those things from this book, but I did get a very entertaining and fun story.The most important thing for you to know before you buy this book is that you should do some pre-reading. Although the story does stand on it's own, it will make a heck of a lot more sense if you've read Baker's earlier Company books. BUT in addition to reading the books (Garden of Iden, Sky Coyote, and Mendoza in Hollywood), you'll understand a lot more of what is going on if you read Baker's short stories featuring several characters important to the story. The only place that I know of to get these stories is online at fictionwise.com. It's a set of 6 stories that explain where the heck these characters came from and what they are doing. If there is any shortfall in this book, it is in the details missing from the story but present in the short stories. Since I had read the short stories already, this didn't bother me. But if you haven't read the short stories, I personally think you will spend a lot of time scratching your head and going "what the heck?", "huh?", and "who is THAT?!?". When last we saw everyone's favorite Company operative Mendoza, she was having a major breakdown and killing a bunch of mortals. Then she disappeared. Graveyard Game (which has oddly few graveyards) is about her friends Joseph and Lewis searching for her. Joseph was the operative who originally recruited Mendoza and it seems like he feels a lot of personal guilt for what has happened to her. Lewis has a bit of a crush on Mendoza and he's also fascinated or possibly obsessed by her love affair with "the tall Englishman" (Edward). This book is radically different than the early Company novels because all of those novels start in the past. This novel starts around the current time and moves forward from there. One of Baker's major strengths in earlier novels is that she is great at writing historical fiction. She puts in all sorts of neat details and goes to the extra effort to make her history believable. In earlier novels, I could always understand the perspective of the cyborgs with their technological sophistication reacting to backwards mortals. However, in the Graveyard Game, Baker does a relatively good job of showing people in the future. I had a harder time understanding the world she was creating, though. Overall, as with all of the earlier company novels, a fun read and definitely worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: You weren't expecting closure... or were you?
Review: I have to admit that my review is going to be a bit skewed because I was definitely expecting things that this book did not deliver. I don't necessarily think it's Kage Baker's fault. She really didn't lead me on or anything. But really, I was expecting to find out exactly where Mendoza was, to find out what happens after 2355 (when the big silence falls), and to understand what the heck was going on. I don't really feel like I got any of those things from this book, but I did get a very entertaining and fun story. The most important thing for you to know before you buy this book is that you should do some pre-reading. Although the story does stand on it's own, it will make a heck of a lot more sense if you've read Baker's earlier Company books. BUT in addition to reading the books (Garden of Iden, Sky Coyote, and Mendoza in Hollywood), you'll understand a lot more of what is going on if you read Baker's short stories featuring several characters important to the story. The only place that I know of to get these stories is online at fictionwise.com. It's a set of 6 stories that explain where the heck these characters came from and what they are doing. If there is any shortfall in this book, it is in the details missing from the story but present in the short stories. Since I had read the short stories already, this didn't bother me. But if you haven't read the short stories, I personally think you will spend a lot of time scratching your head and going "what the heck?", "huh?", and "who is THAT?!?". When last we saw everyone's favorite Company operative Mendoza, she was having a major breakdown and killing a bunch of mortals. Then she disappeared. Graveyard Game (which has oddly few graveyards) is about her friends Joseph and Lewis searching for her. Joseph was the operative who originally recruited Mendoza and it seems like he feels a lot of personal guilt for what has happened to her. Lewis has a bit of a crush on Mendoza and he's also fascinated or possibly obsessed by her love affair with "the tall Englishman" (Edward). This book is radically different than the early Company novels because all of those novels start in the past. This novel starts around the current time and moves forward from there. One of Baker's major strengths in earlier novels is that she is great at writing historical fiction. She puts in all sorts of neat details and goes to the extra effort to make her history believable. In earlier novels, I could always understand the perspective of the cyborgs with their technological sophistication reacting to backwards mortals. However, in the Graveyard Game, Baker does a relatively good job of showing people in the future. I had a harder time understanding the world she was creating, though. Overall, as with all of the earlier company novels, a fun read and definitely worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: A fortunate preview
Review: I was both fortunate and cursed if you will, by the occasion of borrowing a galley copy of this book. The latter for I shall have to wait another 18 months or so before reading the possible fifth book in the 'Novels of the Company' series. (Provided I cannot again get chance at a preview). The former for it is an excellent ride of a book, carrying me on a Mr. Toads wild ride at times around the world. The best thing I could say about this book I think would be to tell you that I intend to purchase this book immediately. And, I've already read it once! I'm also a fan of Asimov's Science Fiction and Amazing Stories, both of which have printed related novellas and short stories which really add extra flavor to this book series. I constantly found myself connecting the dots as they say, which added to the experience. Mind you the story stands on its own, but I implore you to read the whole lot! Ms. Baker is a consumate story teller, I found myself really THERE with Joseph and Lewis. If you pick up this book I guarantee you will never look at two locals in California the same again, Catalina Island and Ghiradelli Square. I defy you not to laugh out loud at the antics of Joseph and Lewis in San Francisco in the late 1900's. I found myself saying "Of course he would! I would!" I cannot type more for fear of spoiling my favorite parts for the rest of you. Read this book! If for no other reason than so you may wait with me for the next wonderful installment! -wayne
Rating:
Summary: There goes another good night's sleep
Review: If you have an early meeting tomorrow morning, DO NOT start reading this book tonight.
Rating:
Summary: Another Good Company Novel
Review: Kage Baker churns out another of her fantastic novels starring a group of immortal time-traveling cyborgs. 'The Graveyard Game' picks up where 'Mendoza in Hollywood' left off. Mendoza, having violated Company directives, is exiled to Back Way Back, many many thousands of years in the past. 'The Graveyard Game' relates the quest of two cyborgs, Facilitator Joseph (a main character from Books 1 & 2) and Literature Specialist Lewis, to find Mendoza and discover the ugly truth behind The Company's secrets. Secrets like, what happened to the prehistoric Enforcers? What lies behind the mysterious date of 2355? And what happens to good cyborgs gone bad? I love Baker's Company novels. They're well-written and easy to read. Baker creates enjoyable characters that stay within their parameters. They don't veer off into directions that leave the reader shrugging shoulders in exasperation. I enjoy the fact that Baker incorporates Cyborg characters from her other novels and short stories. It's fun to see how the various characters mature and grow over the centuries (especially watching Latif grow from a child to a cyborg). Baker's novels are light easy reading. They won't challenge you, but they will intrigue you and more than likely keep you up past your bedtime. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Baker Game
Review: Oh, golly. If the Dr. Zeus series were a watch, with the denouement sitting at 12:00 midnight, "The Graveyard Game" would tick us forward to one minute prior to climax, then stop. We would tap the crystal. We would hold it to our ear to see whether it was still ticking. We would howl our misfortune when we realize that the watch has truly stopped without revealing the true nature of the company and the mysterious 2355 date that figures so strongly in the lives of the immortal cyborgs. "The Graveyard Game" is a fascinating book, a much more accomplished and purposeful book than "Mendoza in Hollywood", but it is not the end of the story. I viewed "Mendoza in Hollywood" with a sense of good humor because it felt as though author Baker was slowing down, taking her time, teasing us a little so that this book would feel all the more momentous. Now that I realize it really was just filler, I feel a little more let down, a little more on the hook. But that doesn't mean this is not an enjoyable story. We get to know Joseph, who is Mendoza's cyborg "father", and Lewis, who loves her deeply, as they take their time and try to unravel the mystery of her disappearance. Lewis' extended attempts at writing a novel using a photograph of the secret agent who tried to run away with Mendiza are telling, poignant and funny. Joseph's single-mindedness in tracking Mendoza down is intense and touching. Baker's writing is clever, as always. In every Company novel, she comes up with at least one idea that makes you think, "Huh. Why didn't I think of that?" And her facility in writing a book about a character who does not actually appear would make Samuel Beckett blush with envy. If you are the type of person who tears their hair out at cliffhangers, you might want to wait for the next book before starting this one. But if you read it anyway, don't say I didn't warn you.
Rating:
Summary: Great concept, someone is destroying the immortals
Review: The 'Company' controls time, sending its immortal agents to capture and 'save' lost plants, books, artwork, and whatever else might have value in the future. Yet all of the company's power seems unable to prevent the spread of plagues that decimate the world's population and earthquakes that destroy much of the rest of the world. Or is it, perhaps, that the company is behind this destruction and lying even to its own agents? Two immortals, Lewis and Joseph, share an obsession with a strangely vanished immortal, Mendoza. Immortals are not supposed to disappear--they are, after all, immortal and Joseph and Lewis have all the time in the world to find her. As they investigate, they discover that more and more of the immortals have vanished, are vanishing as the world counts down to the year when all future communications ends. Just by looking, Lewis and Joseph create powerful enemies, yet they seem compelled to continue, to take risks that their thousands of years of life must tell them are dangerous. Their obsession continues to tug them on, however. Kage Baker does a wonderful job describing a future that is bleak largely because of people trying to do good--and an organization of incredible power but riddled with factions seeking their own, conflicting, goals. The concept drives the novel even when some of the individual characters are not fully motivated. I found THE GRAVEYARD GAME to be both page-turning and thought provoking--a powerful combination.
Rating: 
Summary: thoroughly unimpressed
Review: The premise is that there are a number of immortal cyborgs doing mostly nothing for decades. They have amazing nano-repair robots inside them and can deal with anyhting except chocolate... (very likely. NOT) Then there are these two cyborgs who want to find out what happened to a certain Mendoza who never shows up in the book. So they spend a couple of centuries on this. Towards the end some troglodyte branch of humanity shows up, who have amazing science and have been hiding from humanity for many thousands years. (Why were they hiding if they are so superior?) There was no reason to care for any of these characters. The story has no logic, coherence or plausibility to it. Side characters come and go without any reason for them to be there.
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