The Children of the Company

Bit of a fix-up this, as short stories and novellas are stitched together to chart the rise and rise of Labienus as he plots across millennia to overthrow his human masters, defeat his immortal rivals, and commit lots of germ-based genocide. It's chilling and horrifying, bit also funny and warm and clever. I quite like it when the books skip across time like this, plot threads and characters weaving in and out, gives it a great sense of epic scale and impending crisis.

While a bit long a times, this was a fascinating look at the Company through the eyes of Labineus and Victor. I especially liked the sections featuring Victor in San Francisco just before the 1906 earthquake and the one featuring Kalugin in the sunken ship telling his story to a worm.

Take a ride through time with the devil. In this book of the Company series, we meet Executive Facilitator General Labienus. He's used his immortal centuries to plot a complete takeover of the world since he was a young god-figure in Sumeria. In a meditative mood, he reviews his interesting career. He muses on his subversion of the Company black project ADONAI. He considers also Aegeus, his despised rival for power, who has discovered and captured a useful race of mortals known as Homo sapiens umbratilis. Their unique talents may enable him to seize ultimate power.
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I wasn't sure if I was going to like this entry in Kage Baker's brilliant series. I was expecting it to be a story told with show more Labienus as the protagonist (I certainly wouldn't call him a hero) and since he's not exactly a nice guy, or doing nice things, I didn't have any particular need to climb inside his head.

Instead, Labienus and his machinations are the thread that holds the book together, but it is really closer to a collection of short stories that let us in on the "other side" of mysteries and events we've already encountered in the earlier books in the series. As such, it is totally unsuitable to be read as a book on its own, but for anyone following the tales of Dr Zeus Inc. it's actually a brilliant addition.

Among other things, we find out what really happened to Lewis in Ireland, how Victor defeated Budu in San Franciso as the earthquake began to rumble under the ground and get another glimpse into the "childhood" of Latif. I also understand Edward a lot better than I did before. I still don't like him, but I understand him better.

The story that caught my heart most was the one that told us what actually happened to Kalugin, who until this was missing and presumed (by the reader at least) to be the victim of foul play. Both proved to be true true in a clever, sad little story. I hope Kalugin gets rescued by the end of the series, and I rather suspect he was never cut out to be an immortal. But as Mendoza's fate has shown us, making an inappropriate person immortal is a mistake that can't be undone.

The saddest tale is that of Hendrick Karremans, the Recombinant mentioned briefly by Joseph in The Graveyard Game, and his short life and death. It was beautifully written, narrated by Victor, who I think may prove to be more of a loose cannon than anyone suspected.

Baker has done it again, exactly when I didn't expect her to. She writes in styles that really shouldn't work and pulls it off. I remain entranced.

The Children of the Company
Kage Baker
9/10 show less

My rating is for those who've read previous books in the series. This is not a place to begin! This is more anthology than novel. The nominal main character is Labienus, a vile immortal busy plotting to be the winner in whatever chaos will apparently take place in 2355. Much of the book though is not about Labienus, but about other "children" of the Company. Their stories are either told in his flashbacks or in their journal entries. The strength of this book, and of the series in general, lies in the variety of tales told and the ways different immortals have dealt with their role in the not always clear bigger scheme of things. That's why I find Labienus the weakest part of the book because he's so one-sided and unrepentantly evil, show more rejoicing in the deaths of mortals at the drop of a hat, and not shying from doing away with a troublesome fellow immortal. show less

This is the sixth novel in Baker's 'The Company' series, not counting the short story collection 'Black Projects, White Knights" (which I'll probably read next). At this point, I'd have to say this does not work as a stand-alone novel. To enjoy this book, you really have to know what came before, and be interested in what's eventually going to happen (in the 24th century). I did enjoy the book - but because I do really like this series. Mainly, it forwards the growing concepts the The Company is more and more corrupt than we initially guessed, and rebellion is fomenting among some powerful parties. The story mostly has to do with a secret genetic experiment to cross the mysterious troglodyte race mentioned in previous novels with humans show more - but at this point in the saga, there's a lot of different characters and elements, and bringing them all in and forward doesn't make for an extremely cohesive plot. But - I've still really got to get the last two book in the series! show less

Apparently this book has several previously published short stories woven into it, which helps explain the varied POVs and time periods. Yet it hangs together quite well and gives a wider perspective on the power struggles within The Company.

(Amy) This book lacked some of the awesome that is associated with the earlier volumes, mostly by being primarily a collection of vignettes with a rather loose - and uninteresting - framing story. Many of the vignettes themselves were interesting, but I think they suffered for being squeezed into this form, and would have served better if left to be another collection of short stories instead. Nonetheless, given how much I've enjoyed previous Company books, there was an awful lot of awesome to be lost before the book would drop anywhere near average, let alone below readability, and it still managed to clear both of those bars with ease.

Still, I'm hoping the next one picks back up a bit.
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