Rating: 
Summary: A fresh interesting book
Review: Mendoza is a 4 year girl being destined to die at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition until she's rescued by an operative of Dr. Zeus Inc. This is a company from the 24th century that founded a school in Neolithic times to create immortals to serve their needs throughout history. Mendoza is made immortal through bionics, etc, educated, and sent off on her first mission to England, which happens to be enduring the reign of Bloody Mary. Time travel and immortality are concepts seen a lot in SF, and don't often hold my interest any more unless the writer is really talented. I think Kage Baker is really talented. The premise for this story could have easily lead to a space opera, Buck Rogers in the 16th Century. Instead Baker makes it personal, getting into the head of this young woman who has been saved from the Inquisition and made immortal. We see her misplaced arrogance at her own perfection, and we see how and why that arrogance crumbles. We also have the pleasure of being slowly exposed to this wonderfully developed society of immortals that Mendoza belongs to. Their culture results in a lot of the book's humor. I can't think of a better compliment than to say after I read this, I immediately went out and bought the next books.
Rating: 
Summary: What An Interesting - If Flawed - Premise...
Review: Time travel is nothing new to science fiction. Even the idea of people travelling through time to preserve (or to try to alter) the timeline of the world is not new to science fiction. The idea of hiding in the shadows of history to preserve that which would otherwise be lost, though... I was really impressed with the premise of "In the Garden of Iden". I thought the idea of a company that could make employees of 'indigenous' people and send them along ('along' mind you, not 'through') history to preserve plants, animals, art works, etc. only as long as they did not change history in the process to be a neat, if not revolutionary idea. Baker pulls off the idea quite well to in this book. She gives us a good feel of history unfolding while the characters of the book go about their mission in a country that's teetering on the verge of a new dark age just before it's greatest era begins. The science in the book is well-researched. The history in the book is very well researched. Even the romance manages to push the reader into an interesting parallax between love and practicality. Surprisingly enough, the one thing that bothered me about the novel was the stipulation in the premise that people sent back couldn't change "recorded history". I found myself wondering what constitutes 'recorded history'. We as a race have so much difficulty sorting the fact from the lie and the myth in our 'recorded' history - even in the past century - that I wondered how valid an argument this could be. Perhaps it's an idea that she'll pursue in a later "Company" novel. I'd be interested to see what she could do with it... All in all, I really enjoyed this novel. I blew through it like I haven't blown through a science fiction novel in a long time. While some of the topics it deals with are quite heavy, the overall read is really light. If you're looking for a fun, light book with a genuinely interesting premise, I recommend picking "In the Garden of Iden" up. Personally, I'm looking forward to getting on to the rest of 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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