Well, I've finished Kage Baker's Company series with The Sons of Heaven. What can I say about it outside of spoiler protection?
- I really, really hate what happens with Mendoza. Only having read nine prior books kept me reading past chapter 7.
- Unfortunately a lot of the resolution of the overall plot depends on Mendoza's thread, and so it's hard for me to decide whether I find the conclusion satisfactory. Certain elements of it, sure, but overall? Can't really say.
- Similarly, there are a lot of players to keep track of by this point, and the book spends a lot of time shifting among them. I think some of them might deserve more time, and a late addition was gratuitous, but again, can't really say.
- Though I'm pretty sure that all of the major questions get answered in terms of what happens to everyone and so on.
- As someone who is (1) an adopted child and (2) 39 weeks pregnant, I find the attitude the novel takes toward children really very peculiar indeed.
Thus, between the pacing issues I've been mentioning and the serious problems I had with this book, I can't recommend the series. But a quick look around the Internet suggests that most people's reactions were far more positive than mine, so, well, who knows?
A spoiler post follows.
- categories: books » sf and fantasy » Company, The
- all posts about Kage Baker (13 total)
Comments:
#1 :: Dan Blum wrote on July 23, 2008 at 2:32 PM:
#2 :: Kate wrote on July 23, 2008 at 2:43 PM:
It's tricky, because while for some people the series jumped the shark with book 4, for me it wasn't until all the way at the end . . . It's like the Dark Tower series, you can't predict how people will react to the ending without spoiling it for them, which is unfair, but on the other hand it's a heck of a time investment.
At least the books in this series are pretty short and fast reads. I think I'd need to put three of them together to match any one Jordan or Martin volume.
#3 :: Dan Blum wrote on July 23, 2008 at 5:39 PM:
Yeah, it's short enough that I may break down and read it eventually anyway.
I started reading Martin and after two volumes decided to wait until the series was finally done, so I could a)decide if it would ultimately be worth my time and b)not have to re-read the early volumes so many times (as many characters and plot threads as he has, there is no way I would remember what was going on from one book to the next if I didn't re-read).
#4 :: Kate wrote on July 24, 2008 at 7:34 AM:
I also stopped Martin after two books and for the same reasons, though one of the ways Chad & I pass time on long car drives is him telling me the plots (also for Jordan and Erikson).
#5 :: David Tate wrote on July 24, 2008 at 11:38 AM:
I'm not sorry to have read the series; the early books *were* very good, and there were some extremely cool ideas floated here and there. I hated the ending, but in an odd sort of way the ending was so divergent from where I would have expected it to go that I can almost pretend it never happened. Kind of like all of those alleged Star Wars movies after "The Empire Strikes Back"...
#6 :: Melissa Devnich wrote on July 27, 2008 at 8:55 PM:
So... if my reaction to the second-to-last one was "What the HELL happened to Mendoza's personality?" is it better that I leave this one unread?
#7 :: Kate wrote on July 27, 2008 at 8:56 PM:
Melissa: Yes.
#8 :: Melissa Devnich wrote on July 28, 2008 at 8:04 AM:
AARGH. Okay, heading off to read your spoiler review.
#9 :: Melissa Devnich wrote on July 28, 2008 at 8:10 AM:
Aaaaaand now returning from said review with the following highly intellectual comment:
WHAT.
#10 :: Kate wrote on July 28, 2008 at 8:11 AM:
Melissa, if you want explication--since the spoiler review was written for people who've read the book--feel free to ask over there.
But, yeah.
#11 :: mythago wrote on July 29, 2008 at 12:45 AM:
I think I'm one of the book-4-shark-jumping people. Part of it may just be that I've always found Mendoza profoundly irritating. But part of it is that there's a point where I just felt like, okay, can we get to the finale now?
#12 :: Kate wrote on July 29, 2008 at 7:37 AM:
mythago: okay, can we get to the finale now?
Yeah, I hear you.
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That's kind of disappointing to hear. On the other hand, if I follow your advice it's a bunch of books I can scratch off my "to-read" list, which would be just as well. And Baker has a prequel to The Anvil of the World coming out soon if I want to read her in particular.