The Life of the World to Come

Rating:
Summary: Baker's latest Company novel is a must-have
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Worlds Without End...Amen
Review: Baker has outdone herself this time, authoring, in my opinion, the best yarn since the spectacular "Garden of Iden". Like the X-Files, it is the mythology of the Company and not the agents's adventures that beckon. I mean, if there is a choice between retrieving an extinct hemlock or understanding what happens at the "end of time" which would you pick?

The first chapter captivates - the ever-sardonic Mendoza who, despite all the frenetic activity, remains the heart and soul of the saga. She is trapped but placid, waiting for the inevitable arrival of her lover of the ages. And sure enough he arrived, probably because it is recorded in the mysterious record kept by Dr. Zeus of all historical events. (History cannot be changed we are repeately told.)

Again we wax literary with faux sidetrips to England and a trio of ultra-engineers who are interested in the past - a device that could have grown stale but remained fresh. They develop a plan (or so they think) for creating a benevolent Messiah. He is, of course, Mendoza's love - Edward, Nichalous and now Alec. By the way, the Puritans won the battle. For the "good of the people", society has banned meat, liquor, cigarettes, sugar, strenuous games, "anti-social" activity, religion, deep emotions. It is a culture both bland and sterile with dwindling kids and emotions.

Even the best-laid plans go awry. In this case, it is a toy for the young Alec and it becomes an important part of his life as it evolves from tutor to helper to confidant to Confessor. Behind all the myriad events is the ubiquitous Dr. Zeus - man or machine? - pushing buttons, manipulating people, going to any lengths to keep the upper hand. The book concludes right before the end of history - just in time for another novel with Alec and Mendoza. I can't wait.

Rating:
Summary: So Satisfying
Review: Finally, a new Company novel that ties up some of the loose ends. This one is the best yet. I can't wait for the final novel - and this one certainly ends with a cliff-hanger!

I can't rave enough about this author! She is incredibly inventive and I will be sorry when this series ends.

As other reviewers have mentioned, you will definitely want to start with her first novel "In The Garden of Iden". Don't just jump into this one. This series is more like one REALLY long novel.

I found this book somewhat less boring and less anguished than the previous novels. I am hoping that Mendoza gets a happy ending soon.

Rating:
Summary: If this is the sort of thing you like, you'll like it a LOT
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: Lost and not found
Review: I thought the book was poorly written. I found myself lost. Trying to make sense of the story. I did not like how it kept going back and forward with no easy flow. I find myself mad at the lost time I took to read this book to only find that this was not the first or last book in this series.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best SF writers of our time!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Best Yet
Review: Kage Baker's writing has reached new levels with this novel. Absolutely fantastic read! You Must read the other books in the series first, starting with Garden of Iden. But this book just left me drooling in anticipation for the next one.

Rating:
Summary: Wrap It Up!
Review: Liked the book, love the premise of the series, but please, Kage Baker, do not drag us through endless volumes, crawling towards some far-off conclusion that never comes (as we've seen so often in recent years with some wildly popular authors). Keep it witty, don't lose the dark humor and scathing indictment of a future where humanity is too afraid to live -- but wrap it up in the next volume, for pete's sake. Don't drag us through two or three more books to get where we need to go, as I have this sinking feeling you might be planning to do. Yes, I know there was a lot of back story to pull together (most of which was enjoyable, tho' repetitive in some cases) but blast off now in that pirate ship to a satisfying and tightly plotted ending that explains what happens in that big silence. And let Mendoza be happy. And your faithful readers will be, too.

Rating:
Summary: A wrench named Alec is thrown into the works
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good new installment, but....
Review: _____________________________________________
This is a pretty good new installment in the Dr. Zeus Company time-travel series, but suffers from weak and silly future-villains [1], a scientifically-absurd tragedy on Mars [2] and a cliffhanger ending for the next episode. Other than that, it's fine. And I mean that -- Our Kage is a helluva storyteller, but the Company series is floundering in the Revelations of the Dark Secrets phase, sigh. Overall grade: "B-"; disappointing.

I'd really like to see Baker wrap up the Company series and move on to other things.
Such as more books like her delightfully amusing _Anvil of the World_....

Pamela Sargent's more-positive ("A-")review: Google scifi.com
Quote: Kage Baker... has the enviable ability to take the props of so many science fiction stories-time travel, cyberspace, repressive future societies and other such staples-and view them and use them so idiosyncratically and with such wit and amusement that they seem fresh.
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[1] Dr. Zeus's "Advanced Enforcer Design Team" is so silly as to be (almost) charming. Especially, AEDT goes walkabout in 24th century London! But, the 'dumb moderns' schtick goes on, and on, and on....

[2][possible minor SPOILER] Olympus Mons erupts! after terrorists set offa small, conventional-explosive bomb. Which qualifies for Dumbest Geologic Plot Element of 2004.


Happy reading--
Pete Tillman