The Life of the World to Come
THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME (Kage Baker) - Three Stars
The fifth book (of eight?) in Kage Baker's "The Company" series details the life of Alec Checkerfield, the third—uh, shall we say "incarnation"—of Mendoza's lover (Nicholas in "The Garden of Iden"; Edward in "Mendoza in Hollywood").
Most of the novel is pretty interesting: an almost LeCarre-ish cloak-and-dagger story of Alec (and his best friend, "The Captain," a sentient A.I. in the persona of a 16th-century pirate) trying to unravel his connection to Dr. Zeus, Inc. and the company's secrets. It details how Alec unravels his past(s) and steals a time machine (and, in rather contrived fashion, stumbles across Mendoza, trapped 150,000 years in the past). There is also a side-story that uncovers the mind-set and workings of three movers and shakers in the company. By the time the book wraps up it feels like it's close to the denouement, so I'll be interested to see how Baker stretches/delays the plot arc through three more novels.
In my last Kage Baker review, someone warned me that the story goes off the rails here. Well... not yet. There is a point of concern for me towards the end of the novel, when Alec meets his previous selves. I still have mixed feelings about this plot twist and how it was executed. But the series hasn't nuked the fridge just yet.
A side note: Christmas brought many books, so hopefully there will be more reviews in the New Year. The five currently on my nightstand:
Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer) (currently reading)
The Famished Road (Ben Okri)
Black Swan Green (David Mitchell)
World War Z (Max Brooks)
The Book of Jhereg (Steven Brust)
The fifth book (of eight?) in Kage Baker's "The Company" series details the life of Alec Checkerfield, the third—uh, shall we say "incarnation"—of Mendoza's lover (Nicholas in "The Garden of Iden"; Edward in "Mendoza in Hollywood").
Most of the novel is pretty interesting: an almost LeCarre-ish cloak-and-dagger story of Alec (and his best friend, "The Captain," a sentient A.I. in the persona of a 16th-century pirate) trying to unravel his connection to Dr. Zeus, Inc. and the company's secrets. It details how Alec unravels his past(s) and steals a time machine (and, in rather contrived fashion, stumbles across Mendoza, trapped 150,000 years in the past). There is also a side-story that uncovers the mind-set and workings of three movers and shakers in the company. By the time the book wraps up it feels like it's close to the denouement, so I'll be interested to see how Baker stretches/delays the plot arc through three more novels.
In my last Kage Baker review, someone warned me that the story goes off the rails here. Well... not yet. There is a point of concern for me towards the end of the novel, when Alec meets his previous selves. I still have mixed feelings about this plot twist and how it was executed. But the series hasn't nuked the fridge just yet.
A side note: Christmas brought many books, so hopefully there will be more reviews in the New Year. The five currently on my nightstand:
Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer) (currently reading)
The Famished Road (Ben Okri)
Black Swan Green (David Mitchell)
World War Z (Max Brooks)
The Book of Jhereg (Steven Brust)
posted by Kevin at 11:49 AM
1 Comments:
Have you read "To Reign in Hell" also by Steven Brust? Its an amazingly fun twist on the story of the Fall of The Angels. I do agree that most of the story of "The Life" was fun... but...I lost it at the end when the other incarnations of Alec came out. Which is what I meant about the wheels coming off. I am impressed with your ability to hold off on reading the rest of the books. When I get stuck on a series, I am usually single-minded about it, until I can get to the end. Kudos to you! :D Thank you for letting me know about the Steven B novels, I'll have to hit the library now. :) Good Reading to you sir!
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