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A review by otl1987
In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
3.0
As part of my Basically Books! Winter challenge, this was my first sci-fi. It was a light one I must say, being situate in 1555 England and not somewhere in the far future with robots and new species and planets etc, as I thought a sci-fi book would be.
The plot
It's a love story. An original one, but still, a love story. Ninteen-year-old botanologist, Mendoza, has her first love story with a mortal, on a case in England. It was very fun to read about how she felt and how she adored her lover, in a naive way that I think almost everyone had when falling in love for the first time. How she thinks everything will be settled and solved as long as they don't part. But, as almost always happens with first loves, it ends. It ends in a fairly dramatic way, as Nicholas, her lover, is burnt as an heretic by the English church.
Other than the love story, Baker manages to describe very well the surroundings, the spirit of that age and the historical facts.
I chose this book after reading a short story of the author in [b:Wizards: Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy|126437|Wizards Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy|Jack Dann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171915574s/126437.jpg|121762], a fantasy one, which I loved. then decided to read something else by the same author as well. So, I did a little research and found out about the Company series. I ended up with the Garden of Iden, being the first novel of the series.
But, being so, I wasn't as impressed by the writing as I was when reading the short story. I think that's because this was Kage Baker's first book, and naturally, she wcouldn't be perfect right from the start.
Overall, I expected more of it. As a love story it's pretty nice, but I expected more adventure from it, a little more action. I am going to read more Company books soon, but this one I wouldn't reccomend as a great read.
Also, I wanted to add that I hate the cover! If I saw it on a book store, I would have ignored it completely!
(ok, this review sucks, but it's only because I wasn't very impressed by the book! Sorry, guys!)
The plot
It's a love story. An original one, but still, a love story. Ninteen-year-old botanologist, Mendoza, has her first love story with a mortal, on a case in England. It was very fun to read about how she felt and how she adored her lover, in a naive way that I think almost everyone had when falling in love for the first time. How she thinks everything will be settled and solved as long as they don't part. But, as almost always happens with first loves, it ends. It ends in a fairly dramatic way, as Nicholas, her lover, is burnt as an heretic by the English church.
Other than the love story, Baker manages to describe very well the surroundings, the spirit of that age and the historical facts.
I chose this book after reading a short story of the author in [b:Wizards: Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy|126437|Wizards Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy|Jack Dann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171915574s/126437.jpg|121762], a fantasy one, which I loved. then decided to read something else by the same author as well. So, I did a little research and found out about the Company series. I ended up with the Garden of Iden, being the first novel of the series.
But, being so, I wasn't as impressed by the writing as I was when reading the short story. I think that's because this was Kage Baker's first book, and naturally, she wcouldn't be perfect right from the start.
Overall, I expected more of it. As a love story it's pretty nice, but I expected more adventure from it, a little more action. I am going to read more Company books soon, but this one I wouldn't reccomend as a great read.
Also, I wanted to add that I hate the cover! If I saw it on a book store, I would have ignored it completely!
(ok, this review sucks, but it's only because I wasn't very impressed by the book! Sorry, guys!)