The Graveyard Game
THE GRAVEYARD GAME (Kage Baker) - Four Stars
Now it starts to get intersting.
The Graveyard Game, Kage Baker's fourth book in "The Company" series, lives up to the promise of the first three and plunges headlong into a massive, X-Files-style conspiracy story, spanning thousands of years of time and every continent on the globe.
At the end of the previous novel (Mendoza in Hollywood), Mendoza lost her shit and killed a bunch of humans. Needless to say this was frowned upon, and as punishment she was sent to a place called "Back Way Back," several hundred thousand years in the past. Graveyard Game follows recurring character Joseph and (minor character until this novel) Mendoza's friend Lewis as they try to uncover where she is and how to rescue her. It is in attempting to do this that they begin to uncover unsettling hints at not just one but several much, much larger mysteries: just how many agents for the Company have disappeared? Why are they disappearing? Why does the same human being that tormented Mendoza in one incarnation in 1500s England and in another incarnation in 1800s California seem to keep recurring through history? What are his connections to the Company? And is there really a secret sub-species of humans hidden underground that is sworn to destroy the Company?
The book also finishes with a delightful twist that changes the playing-field completely for the books to come. I'm already anticipating the next volume.
Kage Baker is better than almost any sci-fi writer I've encountered at writing sci-fi stories that aren't overwhelmed by the sci-fi element. Too many writers make the sci-fi portion the point of their stories; Kage Baker writes interesting mysteries and human dramas where science fiction is merely an element of the plot, not the over-riding force.
Now it starts to get intersting.
The Graveyard Game, Kage Baker's fourth book in "The Company" series, lives up to the promise of the first three and plunges headlong into a massive, X-Files-style conspiracy story, spanning thousands of years of time and every continent on the globe.
At the end of the previous novel (Mendoza in Hollywood), Mendoza lost her shit and killed a bunch of humans. Needless to say this was frowned upon, and as punishment she was sent to a place called "Back Way Back," several hundred thousand years in the past. Graveyard Game follows recurring character Joseph and (minor character until this novel) Mendoza's friend Lewis as they try to uncover where she is and how to rescue her. It is in attempting to do this that they begin to uncover unsettling hints at not just one but several much, much larger mysteries: just how many agents for the Company have disappeared? Why are they disappearing? Why does the same human being that tormented Mendoza in one incarnation in 1500s England and in another incarnation in 1800s California seem to keep recurring through history? What are his connections to the Company? And is there really a secret sub-species of humans hidden underground that is sworn to destroy the Company?
The book also finishes with a delightful twist that changes the playing-field completely for the books to come. I'm already anticipating the next volume.
Kage Baker is better than almost any sci-fi writer I've encountered at writing sci-fi stories that aren't overwhelmed by the sci-fi element. Too many writers make the sci-fi portion the point of their stories; Kage Baker writes interesting mysteries and human dramas where science fiction is merely an element of the plot, not the over-riding force.
posted by Kevin at 10:22 PM
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