Reviews

Gods and Pawns by Kage Baker

ofearna's review

4.0

To the Land Beyond the Sunset
The Catch re-read 8/2/2015
The Angel in the Darkness (was a stand-alone novella) 6/13/2006
Standing in His Light
A Night on the Barbary Coast
Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst
Hellfire at Twilight

lisalark's review

4.0

A collection of Company short stories, mostly focusing on Joseph or Lewis or both, with a little bit of Van Drouten and Mendoza. Probably best read after reading the main Company novels.

katmarhan's review against another edition

4.0

I am not a fan of short stories, but Kage Baker writes excellent short stories and since these are set in the same world and with some of the same characters as her Company series, it was more like reading episodes that didn’t quite make it into any of the novels. Great vignettes of Joseph, Lewis, and Mendoza.

wealhtheow's review against another edition

4.0

Baker's Company series has dragged a bit lately, so it was a pleasure to read this collection of short stories. Each is an excellent tale on its own, filled with action, mystery and a lot of characterization. I love the cyborg's wry asides and their anachronistic mindsets. This was also the first book in a while that made me truly like Mendoza, Lewis and Joseph again--for too many books they've been running around doing desperate things without any humor to them, and I really appreciated seeing Mendoza's focused courage, Lewis's kind and slightly hapless attempts at love, and Joseph's optimistic sarcasm. These stories also introduce a few new characters, most memorably the mortal, middle-aged and perpetually over-worked Maria. I loved her, and I loved her smart, independent and very believable reactions to slowly learning about the Company.

allisonthurman's review

5.0

One particularly unforgettable story about rare jungle plants and where they come from, but all are good.

nigellicus's review

5.0

Some excellent short stories about the immortal cyborgs seeded through time by the time-travelling company as part of an immense scheme to make immense amounts of money in the future when discoveries and antiquities carefully hidden for hundreds or thousands of years and which can now be sold for a mint. Life ain't easy for an immortal cyborg and there are always difficulties and problems to overcome, to say nothing of the machinations of both the Company masters and of certain powerful immortals who think they'd be better off in charge. Baker writes engagingly, it's easy to become addicted.

friendlymilk's review

4.0

One of the short stories explains William Randolph Hearst, which is nice because that revelation came out of nowhere.