Baker, Kage - In the Garden of Iden

[oyceter]

I read this after several people on LJ raved about Kage Baker, and I am completely puzzled. Alas.

In the future, people have figured out how to time travel. Also, there's some giant conglomorate called the Company that sends operatives back in time to save endangered species and etc. Mendoza was recruited when she was nearly burned alive or something at the tender age of five. Yay for the Spanish Inquisition.

Anyhow, now 18, Mendoza accompanies two other operatives to Tudor England, right before Elizabeth takes the throne. She falls in love with Nicholas Harpole, not-so-secret Protestant, various things happen..

Unfortunately, I was pretty much bored through the entire book. I'm not sure why. The very modern dialogue between the operatives vs. the Elizabethan dialogue gave me whiplash, I didn't care about any of the characters, and it took me forever to get through the book. I think I'm missing something. Also, I never quite connected with Mendoza.

I think a large part of the problem was that I completely didn't get the allure of Nicholas, and since a large part of the book was about the two falling in love, Mendoza's dilemma (he's a mortal, she's not), Mendoza's fears for his safety (not such a great time for Protestants), etc. To be honest, I had no idea why she was in love with Nicholas or why he liked her, and so all the worrying and angsting and etc. ended up not interesting me.

Maybe other people who like the period or time travel better would like this.

Comments

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. I really, really like Kage Baker's books and short stories, but out of all her works, this is the one I love with a devastating passion. I'm sorry it didn't work for you.

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

Sorry to comment so SCARY late but I just saw oyceter's link to this review on the Goodreads page for this book -- oh, I loved it too! No other book or story in the series quite lived up to this one for me. It was amazing. Just thought I would let you know I loved it as well!

[applewoman.livejournal.com]

I didn't really get to love Kage Baker until I'd read several of the novels in the Company series. They get better, I think. In the Garden of Iden is my least favorite.

You might enjoy The Anvil of the World more. It's my favorite of her books. It's a fantasy novel set in a completely different world, and it is whacked out in just the right way. Also much less depressing than the Company novels; one could refer to it as something of a lark. Some of the dialogue was ROTFLMAO funny. I had to go find people I could read bits of it aloud to. So...I'd suggest trying that one next.

[cofax7]

Anvil was much funnier than I expected. I enjoyed it a lot.

[riemannia.livejournal.com]

Well, this is the only Baker I truly loved. I'd be curious to reread it and see if I still liked, though I suspect I would. I identified with Mendoza and found Nicholas very attractive and I loved the alien in Elizabethan society aspect.

But obviously it didn't work for you!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It has taken her until the most recent volume in the series to write what I really wanted to read, which is about the "present"/future with the Company itself in it. Back in time? Meh, whatever; been done before, and better.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I was eyeing these books at the bookstore, not sure whether to read. I started rely too much on the cover art, and I like it on them. ;)

I am not sure if I want to read about time travel right now though.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I was so thoroughly unimpressed by this I've never bothered to pick up another Baker, despite frequent recs. Though The Anvil of the World is tempting.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

I was also unimpressed by In the Garden of Iden (and didn't understand what all the fuss was about) and really, really liked The Anvil of the World, which struck me as being much more original.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

I share your puzzlement. I read In the Garden of Iden after really liking her stand-alone fantasy, The Anvil of the World, and was entirely underwhelmed. The premise was mildly intriguing, but I thought the romance was just boring, and I didn't at all get why Mendoza fell for Nicholas in the first place (especially given her general contempt for mortals up until that point).

Also, the period detail didn't convince me at all. There's an absolutely matter-of-fact mention of how Mary I had Edward VI poisoned and also tried to poison Princess Elizabeth which bounced me right out of the narrative -- for a while I honestly thought that we were in alternate history territory, because that's not a speculation (much less a fact) I'd ever heard before, in much Tudor-related reading.

I second bluepencil's rec -- The Anvil of the World is great. Anything with a pair of sorcerers having a Fatally Verbal Abuse duel gets my vote. :)

[canandagirl.livejournal.com]

It's too bad the book didn't work for you, the way you describe it, it sounds like it could've been a pretty good story.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the modern commentary on Elizabethan events and things. :) At any rate, this is my least favorite of the Company novels - I like them as they pick up steam and the metaplot starts showing up.

But I'll fourth, fifth, or sixth the recommendation for Anvil of the World.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I had exactly the same reaction you did about two weeks ago, and actually stopped reading in the middle because I was bored. Which is a damn shame, because the premise had promise. My favorite books involving that time period are still John Crowley's Aegypt and Love and Sleep.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

One more "Iden is lame, try Anvil" response.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I liked the backstory with the Company but not the actual plot. The series does get better as it goes along, because the closer it gets to the present, the more internal Company business and the less historical stuff. However, I don't actually recommend that you read two more novels you won't like in order to get to the point where it starts getting good.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

I liked it a lot in spite of the fact that time-travel not a favourite trope and very iffy about a lot of historical novels. But then, I don't like a lot of other things that other people rave about. 'It's a good thing we don't all like porridge, or there'd be a world shortage of oatmeal.' (Or, to revert to my youth, 'Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks')

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

My reaction was pretty much exactly the same as yours, but then I have really little tolerance for Twue Wuv let alone this particular version of it. And while I can sort of see commentary on the Elizabethan age from a time-traveller POV being worth doing, the whole value of late-twentieth/early-twenty-first century culture these time travellers have, and appear to have had for millennia, just blows my suspension of disbelief away entirely. The Elizabethan stuff itself was OK.