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The Company #4
The Graveyard Game
Mendoza is a Preserver for The Dr. Zeus Company, living in the past to collect species for the future. But when she kills six people in California in 1863, The Company makes her disappear.
Joseph, a senior Preserver, loves Mendoza as the daughter he never had. Drunk on chocolate and fueled by rage, he's determined to find her however long it takes. Being an indestructible, immortal cyborg gives him an unlimited well of patience.
What begins as a rescue mission uncovers a conspiracy stretching across fifty centuries of recorded history. Behind it lie genocide, graveyards filled with Company agents, and the roots of the ominous Silence that falls across the world in 2355.
Joseph, a senior Preserver, loves Mendoza as the daughter he never had. Drunk on chocolate and fueled by rage, he's determined to find her however long it takes. Being an indestructible, immortal cyborg gives him an unlimited well of patience.
What begins as a rescue mission uncovers a conspiracy stretching across fifty centuries of recorded history. Behind it lie genocide, graveyards filled with Company agents, and the roots of the ominous Silence that falls across the world in 2355.
298 pages, Paperback
First published January 16, 2001
10 people are currently reading
593 people want to read
About the author
Kage Baker
162 books356 followersBorn June 10, 1952, in Hollywood, California, and grew up there and in Pismo Beach, present home. Spent 12 years in assorted navy blue uniforms obtaining a good parochial school education and numerous emotional scars. Rapier wit developed as defense mechanism to deflect rage of larger and more powerful children who took offense at abrasive, condescending and arrogant personality in a sickly eight-year-old. Family: 2 parents, 6 siblings, 4 nieces, 2 nephews. Husbands: 0. Children: 0.
Prior occupations: graphic artist and mural painter, several lower clerical positions which could in no way be construed as a career, and (over a period of years for the Living History Centre) playwright, bit player, director, teacher of Elizabethan English for the stage, stage manager and educational program assistant coordinator. Presently reengaged in the above-listed capacities for the LHC's triumphant reincarnation, AS YOU LIKE IT PRODUCTIONS.
20 years of total immersion research in Elizabethan as well as other historical periods has paid off handsomely in a working knowledge of period speech and details.
In spare time (ha) reads: any old sea stories by Marryat, the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brien, the Hornblower books, ANYTHING by Robert Louis Stevenson, Raymond Chandler, Thorne Smith, Herman Melville (except Pierre, or the Ambiguities, which stinks) Somerset Maugham, George MacDonald Frasier.
Now happily settled in beautiful Pismo Beach, Clam Capital of the World, in charming seaside flat which is unfortunately not haunted by ghost of dashing sea captain. Avid gardener, birdwatcher, spinster aunt and Jethro Tull fan.
http://www.sfwa.org/2010/01/rip-kage-...
Prior occupations: graphic artist and mural painter, several lower clerical positions which could in no way be construed as a career, and (over a period of years for the Living History Centre) playwright, bit player, director, teacher of Elizabethan English for the stage, stage manager and educational program assistant coordinator. Presently reengaged in the above-listed capacities for the LHC's triumphant reincarnation, AS YOU LIKE IT PRODUCTIONS.
20 years of total immersion research in Elizabethan as well as other historical periods has paid off handsomely in a working knowledge of period speech and details.
In spare time (ha) reads: any old sea stories by Marryat, the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brien, the Hornblower books, ANYTHING by Robert Louis Stevenson, Raymond Chandler, Thorne Smith, Herman Melville (except Pierre, or the Ambiguities, which stinks) Somerset Maugham, George MacDonald Frasier.
Now happily settled in beautiful Pismo Beach, Clam Capital of the World, in charming seaside flat which is unfortunately not haunted by ghost of dashing sea captain. Avid gardener, birdwatcher, spinster aunt and Jethro Tull fan.
http://www.sfwa.org/2010/01/rip-kage-...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
April 12, 2018
hello there, little cold case file. i see you! you are trying to hide, aren't you? you are hidden in plain sight, snuggled between a history of humanity spanning the course of several centuries and a labyrinthine conspiracy thriller that crosses time and space. your siblings are so big and impressive, you could have been overlooked. the history so mordant, even acidic, charting the cyclical nature of sheep-like humanity as the species slowly cycles towards a zero sum game where all things are rendered tediously equal and vanilla - while keeping innate human hypocrisy intact. the conspiracy thriller so intriguing and dangerous, so mind-boggling in its potential scope, so deliciously frustrating as it keeps its major players carefully hidden. the two of them almost take up the whole stage. they both certainly kept me turning the pages in excitement.
but i see you there with them, little cold case file. you are the heart of this novel - the strongest so far of the series. you are a little file all about a romance, and a disappearance, carried by the most romantic of your cyborgs. Literature Specialist Lewis, who writes his stories and searches fruitlessly for answers to a mystery long buried. buried perhaps a millennia ago. Lewis won't let your case fade: he longs to find the long-lost lovers - perhaps banished, perhaps dead, perhaps secretly alive and defiant. bookish, loyal Lewis, in love with the idea of love. your ardent supporter... will his reward be only to have his name added to your pages, whisked away to who knows where, another missing, another mystery, added to the list of the lost?
the history and the thriller have much sound and fury but you, little cold case file, are what made this great novel so plaintive, so memorable. i found you; hopefully Mendoza and Nicholas and sweet Lewis will be found as well, some day.
but i see you there with them, little cold case file. you are the heart of this novel - the strongest so far of the series. you are a little file all about a romance, and a disappearance, carried by the most romantic of your cyborgs. Literature Specialist Lewis, who writes his stories and searches fruitlessly for answers to a mystery long buried. buried perhaps a millennia ago. Lewis won't let your case fade: he longs to find the long-lost lovers - perhaps banished, perhaps dead, perhaps secretly alive and defiant. bookish, loyal Lewis, in love with the idea of love. your ardent supporter... will his reward be only to have his name added to your pages, whisked away to who knows where, another missing, another mystery, added to the list of the lost?
the history and the thriller have much sound and fury but you, little cold case file, are what made this great novel so plaintive, so memorable. i found you; hopefully Mendoza and Nicholas and sweet Lewis will be found as well, some day.
November 21, 2021
3.5 stars
If this is really how the 23rd century is going to be, count me relieved that I won't be around to experience it. Not only is veganism mandatory, but alcohol, coffee, tea, sugar, and chocolate are verboten. Even sex is coming to be frowned upon. So far they still seem to allow sleep, but who knows for how long? Anything remotely pleasurable seems to be suspect. Worse to my way of thinking: novels are a thing of the past!
Mendoza is still missing and her mentor, Joseph, and her friend, Lewis, have been looking for her for centuries. They've found lots of things, but not Mendoza (or her mortal lover, Edward Bell-Fairfax). Lewis is a literature specialist and has been using his research skills to trace both of these missing persons, but he has to be careful not to let the Dr Zeuss Company know what he's up to or what he's looking for. He and Joseph try not to meet too often, but occasionally vacation together in strategic locations. The Company monitors its cyborgs pretty closely, so they are both risking their freedom to investigate.
There is also the question of whether an immortal, self-repairing cyborg can be killed, or at least rendered inoperative. Some of them have been functional for millennia and have developed some strong opinions about the Company. Frankly, the 24th century employees don't seem to have the necessary guile or intelligence to manipulate their immortal employees. They are far too inhibited by their societal requirements to be politically correct at all costs. Can they truly be responsible for the Silence that falls in 2355?
There's a lot of intrigue, but few answers. I find it disappointing when there is no resolution to at least a couple of the main subplots by the end of a book. However, I have the next book waiting on my shelf, so I'll be able to continue on as planned in 2022.
Book Number 429 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
If this is really how the 23rd century is going to be, count me relieved that I won't be around to experience it. Not only is veganism mandatory, but alcohol, coffee, tea, sugar, and chocolate are verboten. Even sex is coming to be frowned upon. So far they still seem to allow sleep, but who knows for how long? Anything remotely pleasurable seems to be suspect. Worse to my way of thinking: novels are a thing of the past!
Mendoza is still missing and her mentor, Joseph, and her friend, Lewis, have been looking for her for centuries. They've found lots of things, but not Mendoza (or her mortal lover, Edward Bell-Fairfax). Lewis is a literature specialist and has been using his research skills to trace both of these missing persons, but he has to be careful not to let the Dr Zeuss Company know what he's up to or what he's looking for. He and Joseph try not to meet too often, but occasionally vacation together in strategic locations. The Company monitors its cyborgs pretty closely, so they are both risking their freedom to investigate.
There is also the question of whether an immortal, self-repairing cyborg can be killed, or at least rendered inoperative. Some of them have been functional for millennia and have developed some strong opinions about the Company. Frankly, the 24th century employees don't seem to have the necessary guile or intelligence to manipulate their immortal employees. They are far too inhibited by their societal requirements to be politically correct at all costs. Can they truly be responsible for the Silence that falls in 2355?
There's a lot of intrigue, but few answers. I find it disappointing when there is no resolution to at least a couple of the main subplots by the end of a book. However, I have the next book waiting on my shelf, so I'll be able to continue on as planned in 2022.
Book Number 429 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
August 24, 2009
Over the course of several centuries, immortal cyborgs Joseph and Lewis try to find out what happened to their friend and fellow immortal, Mendoza, who dropped off the face of the planet in 1863. The discoveries they make along the way reveal a lot of disturbing things about the Company that created them. This book is definitely the linchpin in the series. (I read two of the later books out of order, so I know what happens next.) With The Graveyard Game, the saga develops more depth and complexity. I especially liked the character of Lewis, the literature specialist. I think he may be the best character in the series (so far).
February 12, 2015
February 21, 2004
Love me some Kage Baker. Time travel, movies, cyborgs, and a sense of humor. As the Company series goes on it just gets more and more fun.
***
January 21, 2015
I'm going to miss Ms. Baker a great deal. Her writing was just the purest kind of pleasure I know.
This volume focuses on Joseph (Sky Coyote) and Lewis, the literature preserver, and one of my favorite characters. Mendoza has been disappeared, and they're trying to dig through Company files and everyone's memories for clues. Since they're all immortal,it isn't a rush job. It is, much more, an opportunity to show more sides to Joseph and Lewis.
Library copy
Love me some Kage Baker. Time travel, movies, cyborgs, and a sense of humor. As the Company series goes on it just gets more and more fun.
***
January 21, 2015
I'm going to miss Ms. Baker a great deal. Her writing was just the purest kind of pleasure I know.
This volume focuses on Joseph (Sky Coyote) and Lewis, the literature preserver, and one of my favorite characters. Mendoza has been disappeared, and they're trying to dig through Company files and everyone's memories for clues. Since they're all immortal,it isn't a rush job. It is, much more, an opportunity to show more sides to Joseph and Lewis.
Library copy
February 16, 2015
The Graveyard Game is easily my favourite Company series book to date. The story starts with Literature Specialist Lewis’s reaction to Mendoza’s mysterious time-bending visitation from the last book, Mendoza in Hollywood. Lewis’s immediate reaction is to contact Facilitator Joseph, the immortal who recruited Mendoza and rescued her from her own stupidity time and time again. The book’s narration alternates from Joseph’s first-person commentary to Lewis’s third person perspective. While the other novels are ecover only brief moments in history, Graveyard Game starts in 1996 and continues up through 2250, transforming the series from hidden alternate histories in the style of Tim Powers to more wide-ranging near-future science fiction.
Joseph is my favourite character in the series, so it was refreshing to hear from him again. Joseph is a cynic, yet a thorough Company man, someone who always follows orders but finds ways to make his orders suit his own agenda. The previous book left him on the edge of his equilibrium, and this book finally pushes him over the edge. As one character tells him:
More than any other, this book questions the mission of the Company, and the fate of its faithful servants:
As was foreshadowed in the previous books, in Baker’s future, humanity has become simple to the point of infantility. Her people are oddly and ineptly kind, enacting new laws that forbid all “enslavement” of animals for food, labor, or entertainment. They are intolerant of any who do not adopt the new crusades, but don’t appear to replace the gaps with new behaviors. Personally, I had real trouble accepting Baker’s future. Her future people are flat and superficial, and her characterization of society seems unimaginative and limited to me. I don’t believe in a future where meat, alcohol, and all stimulants such as coffee are outlawed with no new indulgence to replace them. Waves of reform will inevitably sweep through, but I believe reaction will necessarily set in. Our targets of permissiveness and intolerance may shift, but neither behaviour will disappear. I think we view ourselves as less savage than our ancestors, but in actuality, we only isolate ourselves from the violence, and this often only exacerbates the cruelty. Certainly most of us would be unable to kill a turkey ourselves, but with a comfortable padding between ourselves and the slaughter itself, we’re perfectly happy to buy them from turkey farms. I think technology allows us to become ever more specialized and complex, but I don’t think it really infantilizes us. And while the targets of our intolerance, violence, and acceptance may change, I think human nature remains the same.
Joseph is my favourite character in the series, so it was refreshing to hear from him again. Joseph is a cynic, yet a thorough Company man, someone who always follows orders but finds ways to make his orders suit his own agenda. The previous book left him on the edge of his equilibrium, and this book finally pushes him over the edge. As one character tells him:
"We've known each other a long time, and I mean it as a compliment when I say you're the most Company man I've ever seen. You're also a lying little bastard when you mean to be. That's a good thing, given your line of work. Unfortunately, I think you lie to yourself, too."Lewis is a nice addition, and his romanticism provides a perfect foil for Joseph. This book also contains the culmination of plot threads and cameos of characters from each of the previous books. The plot also gets--if it’s possible-- even weirder and more scientifically impossible, but I’m still anxious to find out what happens next.
More than any other, this book questions the mission of the Company, and the fate of its faithful servants:
"We're all of us angry when we come into this immortal life; keeps us motivated to fight for humanity against evil.One of my favourite elements was the incorporation of the myth of the djinns who are feared by their human masters, yet “must continue faithful slaves until judgment day,” at which point they die at the first trumpet blast because they lack souls.
The question is, how long can we fight without coming to see humanity itself as the source of evil?"
As was foreshadowed in the previous books, in Baker’s future, humanity has become simple to the point of infantility. Her people are oddly and ineptly kind, enacting new laws that forbid all “enslavement” of animals for food, labor, or entertainment. They are intolerant of any who do not adopt the new crusades, but don’t appear to replace the gaps with new behaviors. Personally, I had real trouble accepting Baker’s future. Her future people are flat and superficial, and her characterization of society seems unimaginative and limited to me. I don’t believe in a future where meat, alcohol, and all stimulants such as coffee are outlawed with no new indulgence to replace them. Waves of reform will inevitably sweep through, but I believe reaction will necessarily set in. Our targets of permissiveness and intolerance may shift, but neither behaviour will disappear. I think we view ourselves as less savage than our ancestors, but in actuality, we only isolate ourselves from the violence, and this often only exacerbates the cruelty. Certainly most of us would be unable to kill a turkey ourselves, but with a comfortable padding between ourselves and the slaughter itself, we’re perfectly happy to buy them from turkey farms. I think technology allows us to become ever more specialized and complex, but I don’t think it really infantilizes us. And while the targets of our intolerance, violence, and acceptance may change, I think human nature remains the same.
September 12, 2021
3.5 stars
August 3, 2010
This is the first Company novel that's set in our future. Beginning in 1996, Joseph and Lewis spend their spare time, over a couple of centuries, trying to find out how the Company disposed of that tragic figure, Mendoza, after her 19th century breakdown. Joseph is the closest thing Mendoza has to a father - he recruited her into the immortal life, saving her from the Inquisition. Lewis is in love with Mendoza (from afar) so he takes uncharacteristic risks (for a Literature Specialist) in order to gather information.
They're also more than a bit curious about the ominous silence that begins in the year 2355, that magic, mysterious year when all of the immortal operatives are told they can lay down their burdens and accept their reward for millennia (in some cases) of faithful service.
The first half of this book was a lot of fun. Joseph is very funny, and I was pleased to catch up with characters from the previous book: Juan Bautista, still hopelessly focused on his beloved birds; and Porfirio, still looking after his brother's hapless descendants.
The second half of the book was not as much fun. I didn't care for the "homo umbratilis", the weird little men who were after Lewis. I'm not sure if I'm amused or annoyed by depiction of the future. But I like the author's quirky sense of humor and I'm intrigued enough to continue with this series, even though none of the books so far have been quite as good as the first one.
They're also more than a bit curious about the ominous silence that begins in the year 2355, that magic, mysterious year when all of the immortal operatives are told they can lay down their burdens and accept their reward for millennia (in some cases) of faithful service.
The first half of this book was a lot of fun. Joseph is very funny, and I was pleased to catch up with characters from the previous book: Juan Bautista, still hopelessly focused on his beloved birds; and Porfirio, still looking after his brother's hapless descendants.
The second half of the book was not as much fun. I didn't care for the "homo umbratilis", the weird little men who were after Lewis. I'm not sure if I'm amused or annoyed by depiction of the future. But I like the author's quirky sense of humor and I'm intrigued enough to continue with this series, even though none of the books so far have been quite as good as the first one.
March 21, 2022
I like how this series is finally moving toward the Silence. I wish someone would save , he's such a great character. I like Mendoza but she's not my favorite so I was okay with her not being in this book. Can't wait to see what happens next!
January 16, 2018
This series is getting more complex, and this installment mostly follows Lewis and Joseph through the years as they explore their own pasts and try to discover the fate of Mendoza and other Company operatives.
While I miss the lighter tone of the first couple books, I have found books 3 & 4 to be far more intriguing and thought-provoking.
While I miss the lighter tone of the first couple books, I have found books 3 & 4 to be far more intriguing and thought-provoking.
May 9, 2023
I recently read, or heard, that the work of the majority of writers ceases to be published within five years of their death and that fact not only saddens me but it also angers me. Who the hell has the right to determine the cultural value of a book? Who the hell has the right to prevent future generations from appreciating an author?
I've had "The Graveyard Game" on my shelves for some years now (I'm shamed to say). The problem is that I got pulled away from it by other books, other stories... there is so much out there to read, to enjoy. I don't know what made me decide, finally, to continue the saga of the immortals and the Company, but I did and, in the thoroughly enjoyable process decided I must get the next one... and therein hangs the realisation of a terrible war against culture.
When I discovered Anthony Price I also found out that his work, strangely, was no longer in print so I went on a great hunt to get hold of every copy - first or secondhand made no difference. Now I find that Kage Baker died in 2010 and her books are just as difficult to get... WHY?
The Company series is fun and gripping and a slowly evolving mystery. Each story takes us one step closer to the fact that something, SOMETHING, is going to happen and it's big. It is a series that you really do have to read from book one right through... Each volume is interlinked, there are references to previous events... it is an entwined stick with serpents.
What crimes are committed in the name of business!
I've had "The Graveyard Game" on my shelves for some years now (I'm shamed to say). The problem is that I got pulled away from it by other books, other stories... there is so much out there to read, to enjoy. I don't know what made me decide, finally, to continue the saga of the immortals and the Company, but I did and, in the thoroughly enjoyable process decided I must get the next one... and therein hangs the realisation of a terrible war against culture.
When I discovered Anthony Price I also found out that his work, strangely, was no longer in print so I went on a great hunt to get hold of every copy - first or secondhand made no difference. Now I find that Kage Baker died in 2010 and her books are just as difficult to get... WHY?
The Company series is fun and gripping and a slowly evolving mystery. Each story takes us one step closer to the fact that something, SOMETHING, is going to happen and it's big. It is a series that you really do have to read from book one right through... Each volume is interlinked, there are references to previous events... it is an entwined stick with serpents.
What crimes are committed in the name of business!
May 23, 2020
I started reading these books partly because of the premise (when time travel is invented in the 24th century, a mysterious corporation creates cyborg immortals recruited throughout history to preserve and collect objects that will be fabulously valuable in the future), and because of the promise of a cool through line mystery. The first three books were mostly about the adventures of the immortals collecting things, but after one of them disappears at the end of the third book, this fourth book starts to dig into that through line mystery - what really is going on with the mysterious company, and what will happen to the immortals in the future?
Baker does a good job with the balance of world building and plot pacing here. The book stretches across a few centuries, with our two main characters, Lewis and Joseph, doing their best to dig through the company secrets without being caught. Baker's visions of the future are interesting, as is the mechanics of the how immortality and the company operate, and she's excellent at showing, not telling as the action unfolds. Baker's characters are engaging, and the mystery is engrossing.
Pick up the first three, because they're a lot of fun too. If the premise sounds interesting, you'll probably liked these. I'm looking forward to finishing the series and seeing how things spool out.
Baker does a good job with the balance of world building and plot pacing here. The book stretches across a few centuries, with our two main characters, Lewis and Joseph, doing their best to dig through the company secrets without being caught. Baker's visions of the future are interesting, as is the mechanics of the how immortality and the company operate, and she's excellent at showing, not telling as the action unfolds. Baker's characters are engaging, and the mystery is engrossing.
Pick up the first three, because they're a lot of fun too. If the premise sounds interesting, you'll probably liked these. I'm looking forward to finishing the series and seeing how things spool out.
September 30, 2025
This book starts in 1996 and takes us all the way to roughly 2276. Ultimately, it sets the stage for the big event, the ominous 2355 - the "Year of Silence". Joseph the Facilitator and Lewis the Literature Specialist are looking for the whereabouts of Mendoza the Botanist, and the threads they start pulling lead to secrets and consequences even bigger than they can imagine. My only complaint is that this book feels like a set-up for later events. It's kind of the weird middle man in the series. It was a slow-moving mystery, and while I didn't mind it, I'm not sure if it stands as well on its own as the books that came before.
I will admit, I did not read Mendoza in Hollywood (the third book in the series), but I didn't really have to. The first 2 pages of The Graveyard Game conveniently summarize "What Has Gone Before" (i.e. what happened in Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3). Also, because our protagonists Joseph and Lewis are very much in the dark about what happened to Mendoza in Hollywood, it felt like I was uncovering the mystery along with them.
I will read the next book because I simply need to know what happens at this point, and because Joseph finally seems ready to crack this nut. The Company man has gone rogue, and I'm here for it.
I will admit, I did not read Mendoza in Hollywood (the third book in the series), but I didn't really have to. The first 2 pages of The Graveyard Game conveniently summarize "What Has Gone Before" (i.e. what happened in Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3). Also, because our protagonists Joseph and Lewis are very much in the dark about what happened to Mendoza in Hollywood, it felt like I was uncovering the mystery along with them.
I will read the next book because I simply need to know what happens at this point, and because Joseph finally seems ready to crack this nut. The Company man has gone rogue, and I'm here for it.
November 2, 2014
Amazon.com Review
"Sin exists," says Joseph, an immortal cyborg agent employed by Dr. Zeus, Inc., and in this fourth novel of Kage Baker's Company series, it certainly does. The Graveyard Game follows agents Joseph and Lewis as they try to find their missing friend Mendoza, who's been exiled to the Back Way Back as punishment for anti-Company activities.
Dr. Zeus, a time-travel corporation, created cyborgs to selectively preserve artifacts from the past for the edification of the 24th century, when the Company exists. But as the centuries go by for the agents, they hear strange rumors of a "silence" in the year 2355. Ominously, cyborgs who try to investigate disappear forever, hidden away or shut down by Dr. Zeus.
Joseph and Lewis become obsessed with finding Mendoza, and along the way, they uncover evidence of bizarre and dangerous Company deeds. Joseph finds strange underground holding cells, with "retired" agents in vats of preserving fluid. Meanwhile, Lewis researches the activities of Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax, the odd mortal who was with Mendoza when she disappeared. The two get together to discuss their disheartening quest in present-day Ghirardelli Square. Cyborgs get stoned on chocolate, and they order round after round of hot cocoa, even snorting the stuff, until a Company security tech finds them:
On the floor between their respective briefcases was a souvenir bag stuffed with boxes of chocolate cable cars, and the table was littered with foil wrappers from the chocolate they had already consumed.... The security tech scanned them and recoiled slightly at the level of Theobromos in their systems. He surveyed the litter of foil wrappers and empty cups, regarded the cocoa powder in Joseph's beard, and sighed. Two old professionals on a sloppy bender.
The Graveyard Game, the best and darkest Company novel yet, showcases Kage Baker's smart, witty style. She teases readers with enough evidence of Company nastiness to make us root for the sometimes morally shifty cyborgs, while continuing to further the substantial plot. It's an extremely satisfying chapter in an excellent science fiction series, one that sets the stage for the confrontation to come. --Therese Littleton
From Publishers WeeklyThis entertaining romp, the fourth in Baker's the Company series, continues the excellent premise: time traveling, immortal cyborgs who were recruited in the past as mortal children seek to enrich Dr. Zeus's Company by rescuing artifacts, artworks, information, endangered species and more. They've been doing this throughout the centuries, but now they're about to meet up with the year 2355, when their mission will end. Will they be retired with honor and rewarded for their service? Or is there a more macabre fate in store for them? Rumors about their future have abounded for centuries, and now the natty Literature Specialist Lewis and Facilitator Joseph, born in the Neolithic era, are searching for the truth, as well as for their missing friend, the Botanist Mendoza, who has disappeared, perhaps sent hundreds of thousands of years into the past, following her travails in the third book in the series, Mendoza in Hollywood. Readers unfamiliar with that novel (Baker provides a brief summary of the previous books) may wonder at the intensity of their quest, but Mendoza's whereabouts may reveal exactly what the company has in mind for the operatives it no longer wants in the field. Bouncing between centuries and locations (an interlude in San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square in 2276 is especially amusing), Baker's latest stands on its own and will entice newcomers to previous titles in the series.
Biography From Wikipedia - Kage BakerBorn: June 10, 1952, Hollywood, California, U.S.
Died: January 31, 2010 (aged 57), Pismo Beach, California, U.S.
Genres: Science fiction, Fantasy
Kage Baker (June 10, 1952 – January 31, 2010) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer.
She was born in Hollywood, California and lived there and in Pismo Beach most of her life. Before becoming a professional writer she spent many years in theater, including teaching Elizabethan English as a second language. She is best known for her "Company" series of historical time travel science fiction. Her first stories were published in Asimov's Science Fiction in 1997, and her first novel, In the Garden of Iden, by Hodder & Stoughton in the same year. Other notable works include Mendoza in Hollywood (novel, 2000) and "The Empress of Mars" (novella, 2003), which won the Theodore Sturgeon Award and was nominated for a Hugo Award.
Her unusual first name (pronounced like the word "cage") is a combination of the names of her two grandmothers, Kate and Genevieve. In 2008, she donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University. In 2009, her short story "Caverns of Mystery" and her novel House of the Stag were both nominated for World Fantasy Awards, but neither piece won. In January 2010, it was reported that Baker was seriously ill with cancer. She died from uterine cancer at approximately 1:00 a.m. on January 31, 2010 in Pismo Beach, California.
In 2010, Baker's The Women of Nell Gwynne's was nominated for a Hugo Award and a World Fantasy Award in the Best Novella categories. On May 15, 2010, that work was awarded the 2009 Nebula Award in the Best Novella category.
August 30, 2018
Kage Baker explores different literary tropes in each book. In Mendoza in Hollywood, there was a Western theme - cowboys, gunfights, horses. It didn't quite work for me, but in The Graveyard Game, she gives us Lewis, a bibliophile with a romantic heart and a noble, though doomed, quest. Loved it.
September 27, 2013
The 'Company' stories all deal with the idea that, in the 24th century, a company learns how to send people back in time. To creat agents for itself, it takes children of a part time period and turns them into immortal cyborgs, who work for them on missions such as saving 'lost' artworks and extinct species, hiding them safely so that they can be 'rediscovered' in the 24th century.
It's all very noble on the face of it, but as time goes on, the Company's motivations and methods begin to seem more suspect to many of the agents. Do the people of the 24th century really appreciate what they've done? What will happen when the agent finally 'get' to that century? Why does no one ever receive any communications or supplies from later than the year 2355? What Happens?
The series is very slow-moving, in some ways, because although the focal point of the series is the cyborg botanist Mendoza, some of the books look at events from other points of view and other characters. So although the stories themselves might be full of action, the larger picture hasn't developed very quickly.
In 'The Graveyard Game,' Mendoza doesn't actually appear at all. As a matter of fact, she's disappeared. Her two friends, Joseph (who recruited her into the Company) and Lewis, are determined to find out what has happened to her. It starts a bit slowly, but as they gradually uncover rumors and plots and schemes within plots, the tension picks up. It's not just Mendoza - it looks like a lot of agents are disappearing. And whatever happened to the 'old' style of Company agent - the 'Enforcers.' They were supposedly immortal as well - yet they seem to be gone. Where are they? Is the Company disposing of its own people? Or is there a rogue faction within the Company? Or is a hostile outside force at work?
It's all very noble on the face of it, but as time goes on, the Company's motivations and methods begin to seem more suspect to many of the agents. Do the people of the 24th century really appreciate what they've done? What will happen when the agent finally 'get' to that century? Why does no one ever receive any communications or supplies from later than the year 2355? What Happens?
The series is very slow-moving, in some ways, because although the focal point of the series is the cyborg botanist Mendoza, some of the books look at events from other points of view and other characters. So although the stories themselves might be full of action, the larger picture hasn't developed very quickly.
In 'The Graveyard Game,' Mendoza doesn't actually appear at all. As a matter of fact, she's disappeared. Her two friends, Joseph (who recruited her into the Company) and Lewis, are determined to find out what has happened to her. It starts a bit slowly, but as they gradually uncover rumors and plots and schemes within plots, the tension picks up. It's not just Mendoza - it looks like a lot of agents are disappearing. And whatever happened to the 'old' style of Company agent - the 'Enforcers.' They were supposedly immortal as well - yet they seem to be gone. Where are they? Is the Company disposing of its own people? Or is there a rogue faction within the Company? Or is a hostile outside force at work?
July 28, 2016
Comfort re-read 6/3/11.
7/27/16 Reread once again. I tend to skip my way through the Company books (some just too dark for a reread), but this one is well worth rereading and I recommend it to you. There's a ton of set-ups for the very involved continuing Company saga and a lot of pieces provided for the puzzle. I don't think readers do themselves a favor by skipping this one. Yes, it's short stories. But they really add value to the 'whole'.
As a native, I love all the California through the ages snippets.
I had to keep hopping over to Google to check on Kage's many allusions. i.e Lascaux? Odd looks of Robert Louis Stevenson? Dicken's unhappy marriage? etc., etc. I love all these fun inside glimpses of history. (I'm sure I missed a few, bummer! Maybe next time.) But once again, I realize how much I love modern technology in combination with a good and smart book/author.
Cover art: Very nice but I wish the artist had used several models. I spent too long trying to figure out if this was: Joseph? ...a possibility, Lewis? (not blonde though), Victor? (no beard), Edward? Hmmm...not scary enough. Budu? ...same (nor impressive). Any guesses out there? Feel free to comment.
Plus, it's really nice to catch up with favorite characters.
7/27/16 Reread once again. I tend to skip my way through the Company books (some just too dark for a reread), but this one is well worth rereading and I recommend it to you. There's a ton of set-ups for the very involved continuing Company saga and a lot of pieces provided for the puzzle. I don't think readers do themselves a favor by skipping this one. Yes, it's short stories. But they really add value to the 'whole'.
As a native, I love all the California through the ages snippets.
I had to keep hopping over to Google to check on Kage's many allusions. i.e Lascaux? Odd looks of Robert Louis Stevenson? Dicken's unhappy marriage? etc., etc. I love all these fun inside glimpses of history. (I'm sure I missed a few, bummer! Maybe next time.) But once again, I realize how much I love modern technology in combination with a good and smart book/author.
Cover art: Very nice but I wish the artist had used several models. I spent too long trying to figure out if this was: Joseph? ...a possibility, Lewis? (not blonde though), Victor? (no beard), Edward? Hmmm...not scary enough. Budu? ...same (nor impressive). Any guesses out there? Feel free to comment.
Plus, it's really nice to catch up with favorite characters.
Read
February 19, 2012Fourth installment in the Company series, this novel is markedly different from the first three – while those took place in a single location over a comparatively short period of time, the plot of The Graveyard Game spans several continents and centuries. It also moves the series from the past into the future, starting in 1996 and ending in the 24th century. Like the first three volumes, though, this is a highly entertaining read, wildly inventive and very intelligent. Kage Baker manages to the future she envisions both funny and bleak when she describes how the “civilized” world is gradually taken over by health nuts and moralizers, with meat, alcohol, chocolate and most literature being banned and sex becoming a highly suspicious activity. Lots of reveals about what the Zeus Company has been up to and might yet be planning – though I’m inclined to take those with a grain of salt, as they might yet turn out to be red herrings. The Graveyard Game will make absolutely no sense at all to anyone who has not read the first three volumes in the series, but everyone who has been following it will not want to miss this volume.
February 9, 2012
Man, I just like Lewis and Joseph and Victor so much better than Mendoza. This is the stuff that drew me to the Company books in the first place - genuine, if weird, friendships between perpetually fish-out-of-water characters in a variety of historical situations.
What really starts to take off in this book is the overarching mystery - where does the Company really come from, and what's going to happen at the mysterious but foreordained date after which the future stops talking? I would have been fine just reading the wacky Preserver adventures, but the larger story definitely started to catch me here.
What really starts to take off in this book is the overarching mystery - where does the Company really come from, and what's going to happen at the mysterious but foreordained date after which the future stops talking? I would have been fine just reading the wacky Preserver adventures, but the larger story definitely started to catch me here.
December 30, 2016
Agree with reviewers who think it's one of the better episodes--though the satirical elements that lightened the first three seem somewhat sour and dark here. For reasons I can't quite put a finger on, I think I'm done with the series too...it was good for a while, but maybe this one just wrung the last juice out of the premise? It is a great premise, though.
Notable passage: "You should understand, after where we've been today. We don't have families, we don't have homes, we don't even have nationalities. Nothing remains except us, and all we have is each other. We live such miserable lives when we live for ourselves."
Notable passage: "You should understand, after where we've been today. We don't have families, we don't have homes, we don't even have nationalities. Nothing remains except us, and all we have is each other. We live such miserable lives when we live for ourselves."
August 7, 2017
This installment breaks into the recent past, and then into the future. The focus is Joseph's quest to find what happened to both Mendoza and the Neanderthal who had tutored him. The technology and political struggles of the future are not so overblown as to be unbelievable, but I prefer the previous books' historical settings better. This novel does read more like a spy thriller though, with intentional references to Bond and other fictional spies.
November 29, 2010
Wonderful story. Great characters. Dr. Zeus & Co. is indeed the most paradoxical and infuriating corporate entity of all time, not to mention Machiavellian.
June 27, 2020
I will say right up front, the cliffhangers from this series are all very cinematic. They make the series that much more addictive.
Lewis is a great character. This is mystery/time travel/romance/science fiction/dystopia fiction all mushed together, and it mostly works. The dystopian vegan future she envisions is truly one of the worst dystopias I can think of. But that's what makes it so frighteningly realistic. The idea that the future could be filled with people that have militant views I find abhorrent, who have made it illegal to really do anything fun and take choice away from the populace more and more over time is all too realistic. It's not something at this point that seems all that far fetched.
I'm beginning to wonder, based upon her observations just 20 years ago regarding "political correctness" which became "woke culture" if Kage Baker was somehow emitting Crome radiation and had some real visions of a future America and UK.
Anyway, the plot moves over the centuries and we get to find out what happens in the future. Some good, mostly sad. The great big secret reveal of the new Big Bad of book 4 was both funny and unnerving. And creepy. The horror movie aspect of Lewis' findings present ominous tidings for The Company. Doctor Zeus Inc. has some major secrets that are peeling slowly away as the series continues. Kage Baker gives just enough away in each installment. She has very good timing. It's her best quality in terms of writing.
The Company is one of the most consistently entertaining science fiction series that hasn't been turned into a TV series. I'm not shocked it hasn't, though. It's political take is clear and obvious. Kage Baker definitely valued the traits that make Western civilization great without sweeping anything under the carpet, or denying historical wrongs. However, she cautions against blanket demonizing everything in the past. In her future, that is what people do when talking about our time. Consider that she started writing this series in the 90s. Her future characters are mostly weakened by being perpetually coddled. In fact this is one of the main themes of the series, that by trying to make a world that is "safe" for everyone for their own good, a police/nanny state arises that puts people into classes to make them happy and fulfilled, to the detriment of any individuality.
Kage Baker was prescient regarding the psychological changes that can happen when an entire society is traumatized by war, disease, or other major catastrophic events. Her work should be applauded for how entertaining it manages to be while retaining the core values that she held dear. Namely: courage to revolt against totalitarianism, freedom of expression, and archaeological/ historical preservation. Conspiracies are starting to multiply.
Mendoza isn't in this one, but she is a main plot point. Joseph and Lewis spend most of the book looking for her and the entire book is a great setup for book 5.
Lewis is a great character. This is mystery/time travel/romance/science fiction/dystopia fiction all mushed together, and it mostly works. The dystopian vegan future she envisions is truly one of the worst dystopias I can think of. But that's what makes it so frighteningly realistic. The idea that the future could be filled with people that have militant views I find abhorrent, who have made it illegal to really do anything fun and take choice away from the populace more and more over time is all too realistic. It's not something at this point that seems all that far fetched.
I'm beginning to wonder, based upon her observations just 20 years ago regarding "political correctness" which became "woke culture" if Kage Baker was somehow emitting Crome radiation and had some real visions of a future America and UK.
Anyway, the plot moves over the centuries and we get to find out what happens in the future. Some good, mostly sad. The great big secret reveal of the new Big Bad of book 4 was both funny and unnerving. And creepy. The horror movie aspect of Lewis' findings present ominous tidings for The Company. Doctor Zeus Inc. has some major secrets that are peeling slowly away as the series continues. Kage Baker gives just enough away in each installment. She has very good timing. It's her best quality in terms of writing.
The Company is one of the most consistently entertaining science fiction series that hasn't been turned into a TV series. I'm not shocked it hasn't, though. It's political take is clear and obvious. Kage Baker definitely valued the traits that make Western civilization great without sweeping anything under the carpet, or denying historical wrongs. However, she cautions against blanket demonizing everything in the past. In her future, that is what people do when talking about our time. Consider that she started writing this series in the 90s. Her future characters are mostly weakened by being perpetually coddled. In fact this is one of the main themes of the series, that by trying to make a world that is "safe" for everyone for their own good, a police/nanny state arises that puts people into classes to make them happy and fulfilled, to the detriment of any individuality.
Kage Baker was prescient regarding the psychological changes that can happen when an entire society is traumatized by war, disease, or other major catastrophic events. Her work should be applauded for how entertaining it manages to be while retaining the core values that she held dear. Namely: courage to revolt against totalitarianism, freedom of expression, and archaeological/ historical preservation. Conspiracies are starting to multiply.
Mendoza isn't in this one, but she is a main plot point. Joseph and Lewis spend most of the book looking for her and the entire book is a great setup for book 5.
October 2, 2020
Specialist Lewis, shaken by the time-traveling Mendoza meets Facilitator Joesph in the late 20th century and discusses her disappearance. They both agree to a discrete investigation. Lewis investigates Edward, and discovers the Company may go back far longer than official records admit, and may have formed out of various secret ancient societies created by the Company itself, at least run by immortals. Joesph discovers the cypher Enforcer Budu gave him leads to seven crypts where Enforcers are kept asleep along with troublesome Protectors. He meets with Surleyman, the North African section head, and Salif, his young assistance, who tell him at least three groups are within the Company. One group, formerly headed by Budu, that may have wished to destroy mortals, one headed by Surleyman himself set against that group, one group of immortals, possibly lead by Nennius, who wished to control all mortals from the shadows, and then the mortals themselvves. During Lewis's investigation, he is hunted by pairs of pale-skinned idiot-savants who have been hunting him for thousands of years because of a grudge against the Company. They are an old off-shoot of humanity that invents marvelous tech and has a sort of hive mind. They get Lewis after the manipulating immortals make a deal to turn him over on the island of Catalina. Joesph escapes and Salif and company remove his continuous Company transmitter. Nancy, Mendoza's school friend, searching for her lover Kalugin, who has disappeared, leads him to Victor, who killed Budu in 1906. Except Budu isn't entirely dead. One grave-robbery later, a trip to the hidden vaults for repairs, and Budu sits regenerating with Joesph watching over him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2023
Questa saga mi diverte molto, in particolare i capitoli che hanno come protagonista Joseph sono sicuramente i più divertenti. Questo in particolare mette moltissima carne al fuoco riguardo la misteriosa Compagnia e la storia inizia a svolgersi nel futuro, avvicinandosi sempre più al misterioso 2355, anno dal cui non si sa più niente delle sorti del tempo.
Non concordo con la sua visione ma trovo molto interessante come negli USA evidentemente masticavano già temi che oggi sono considerati parecchio scottanti come il politicamente corretto e trapela una certa insofferenza da parte di Kage Baker che si immagina una società futura molto insipida nel suo essere priva di "vizi".
Non concordo con la sua visione ma trovo molto interessante come negli USA evidentemente masticavano già temi che oggi sono considerati parecchio scottanti come il politicamente corretto e trapela una certa insofferenza da parte di Kage Baker che si immagina una società futura molto insipida nel suo essere priva di "vizi".
September 12, 2023
I think I've read most of Kage Baker's Company series, but it was pre-Goodreads, and I don't know which ones. So I was delighted to pick this up and find that it was new to me. I remember Mendoza, from another book or short story, but if I knew the other characters, I've forgotten them. In this book, Mendoza is missing, and several people who know her are trying to find out where she went. In the process, they uncover some ugly truths about the Company. I absolutely loved reading this book, and may have to go back and read or re-read more of the series, as I've always vaguely planned.
September 5, 2025
Mendoza is not in this book, although it was all about her! Still, I missed her pragmatic rebelliousness and love of Margaritas. Joseph and Louis take over here, trying to figure out where the company sent her to...They know it's WAYYYYY back in the past, yet they arent sure why or what they can do about it, so they spend the next several hundred years trying to work it out.
Its becoming very clear that the Company and Dr Zeus are not the philanthropic entities they portray themselves to be, and as they get closer and closer to the known end of civilization, the desperation shows.
Its becoming very clear that the Company and Dr Zeus are not the philanthropic entities they portray themselves to be, and as they get closer and closer to the known end of civilization, the desperation shows.
October 23, 2017
The fourth book of the series really moves the story arc along. The cyborgs and the The Company seem more at odds than part of the same organization. Consciousness among the operatives increases, with a sense of disbelief and resignation. This is among the best sci-fi series I've read.
October 21, 2018
I needed escapist fiction, and this is delivering. Getting deeper into the shady dealings of the Company here. Good times.
Also, I SUPER appreciate that all of these sequels begin with a summary of what's happened before. All series should do this for those of us with goldfish memories.
Also, I SUPER appreciate that all of these sequels begin with a summary of what's happened before. All series should do this for those of us with goldfish memories.
July 15, 2019
People whose opinion I trust keep putting this series in front of me. I think it's one you have to read in close order to truly appreciate. This was definitely one of a series. Otherwise good pacing, good characters.
August 2, 2020
https://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2020/0...
The fourth Company novel finds Joseph and Lewis trying to uncover the mysteries of The Company in the first couple centuries of the 2000s. It’s great stuff! This series is really gripping.
The fourth Company novel finds Joseph and Lewis trying to uncover the mysteries of The Company in the first couple centuries of the 2000s. It’s great stuff! This series is really gripping.
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