In the Garden of Iden

A Novel of the Company, Book 1

By: Kage Baker

Narrated by: Janan Raouf

The first novel of Kage Baker’s critically acclaimed, much-loved series, the Company, introduces us to a world where the future of commerce is the past.

In the 24th century, the Company preserves works of art and extinct forms of life (for profit of course). It recruits orphans from the past, renders them all but immortal, and trains them to serve the Company, Dr. Zeus, Inc. One of these is Mendoza, the botanist. She is sent to Elizabethan England to collect samples from the garden of Sir Walter Iden. But while there, she meets Nicholas Harpole, with whom she falls in love. And that love sounds great bells of change which will echo down the centuries, and through the succeeding novels of the Company.

Breathtakingly detailed and written with great aplomb, In the Garden of Iden is a contemporary classic of the science-fiction genre.

©1997 Kage Baker (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Fasten your seat belt—you’re in for a wild ride.” (Gardner Dozois, editor of The Year’s Best Science Fiction)

“Easily on a level with Le Guin’s or Resnick’s first novels.” ( New York Review of Science Fiction)

“Clever…[with] a generous dollop of antic wit.” ( San Francisco Chronicle)

Didn't think I would like this but did, then not

I didn't think I was going to like this book and put off listening to it for a while after purchasing it. Turns out I enjoyed it a lot, until it turned into a romance novel.

***Mild Spoiler alert ***

The sci-fi premise of the story is great and I really enjoyed that part of the book so for the first third or so of the book I found it entertaining. The second two thirds of the book are mostly a historical fiction romance novel however, and though it was interesting for while it quickly became tiresome. I was hoping the story would move on from the love interest to something else, but it didn't until the last few minutes.

The lead in for a second book seems to have some promise as long as it doesn't follow the same trajectory of our heroine falling madly in forbidden love.

Beer and Bread for Breakfast

WHAT A LONG LOVELY LOSE YOUR BALANCE TYPE OF KISS.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but this is another starts, great finishes weak book. Baker has a great outline for a time travel, Science Fiction, Cyborg, Immortal, Historical Fiction book. She gets you all excited with the first six chapters. Yet, it is only a tease as it turns into a Romance Novel, similar to Diane Gabalon, only not near as good. I like Historical Fiction and hate dry history books. I am not a great lover of English History (Kings and Queens, don't interest me much), but this seemed like a good way to learn about Bloody Mary and others. After six chapters it is almost strictly a romance. The set up to the story is almost not part of the rest of the book.

Narrator does not have that professional narrator voice and she does not do male voices well, but she did put her all into it and I believe she made the weak story a little better.

Childish, like a young adult dystopian novel

I hoped for something more mature but this basically follows a 19 year old girl through teenage crises. Boo hoo.

Too much historical romance (:

I was intrigued by the sci fi premise of the book about time travelers going back in history to save plants/animals/ art etc that would otherwise become extinct or lost. The time travel backdrop is interesting and I liked the characters, but it basically turned into a historical romance with heavy religious undertones. I’m not interested in reading about the Spanish Inquisition and religious torture and murder. The majority of the book turned into a historical romance without the sci fi that made me choose to listen in the first place. I kept listening hoping it would get better but the end was a real downer. Overall I was disappointed as it was not what I hoped for. I’m not a fan of historical romance and didn’t expect this book to turn into that kind of story. I can see other reviewers had the same impression and I wish I had paid attention to them and skipped this book!

Entertaining, and wonderfully read

The narrator was superb, she really brought the story alive. The premise is interesting, and I would love to see how the rest of the tale goes. Unfortunately audible doesn't have the rest of the books.

Much promise, no delivery

I expected a lot from this book when the immortal time travelers were described—statted out, if you will—but there was no delivery. The characters spent the whole book hiding in a house instead of doing cool immortal time traveler stuff. The performance was good, except for a few too-quiet and too-loud moments, and the dialog is funny; the performer is really good at expressing emotion. Baker is good at switching between modernized badinage and old-timey thys and thous.

Very different SF, both in performance and tone

So, this was interesting.

I was expecting the usual time-travel sort of science fiction - the protagonists visit the great events of the day to save Shakespeare from an assassin, the wisdom of future is used to comment on the past, etc. The Garden of Iden is not that kind of book. It is instead mostly a strange slice-of-life in an English manor during the great events of reformation and counter-reformation. And the characters, far from being wise beings from the future due to the interesting way that the late Ms. Barker uses time travel, are instead deeply flawed and fascinating people on not-very-important missions to do things like collect rare plants . At times the book seems to be a romance, at times an adventure story, at times a coming of age story, but it isn't really any of these. It is interesting, though, and incredibly well researched, and, despite meandering a bit, ultimately compelling.

And the reading! What an interesting approach to reading a first person narration - this piece is almost acted, somewhat petulantly. It was a highlight of the book, and one of the most interesting performances yet.

If you are tired of standard SF/Time Travel/Urban Fantasy tropes, this is a refreshing change, if an odd book. I can't say it was always a propulsive read, but it was very worthwhile and emotionally satisfying one.

The start of a first-class series

If you could sum up In the Garden of Iden in three words, what would they be?

Imaginative, entertaining, fresh

Who was your favorite character and why?

Joseph, the facilitator. At first glance, a company man who does what he needs to do to get the job done. Later you see there's a lot more to this guy: common sense up the wazoo but a softie at the core. He has heart.I'm glad he gets explored in more depth in Baker's later novels.

Have you listened to any of Janan Raouf’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is my first time with Ms. Raouf. Like one of the other commenters mentioned, her voice didn't at first fit my idea of the "world-weary Mendoza", but then it made sense. She's only 19, she's just a kid, and it all fits.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

I am so looking forward to the rest of "The Company Novels" as well as Kage Baker's collections of short stories. She is one of those incredible, yet under-appreciated authors who never fails to deliver a good tale. God bless Kage Baker, she left this earth too soon.

It's Good

It is very good I just wish the rest of the series was on Audible

This Is A Wonderful Treat

I was utterly thrilled when I saw that the late Kage Baker's magnificent Company series had made it to Audible at last and I spent my last credit on this without thinking twice. And now I've listened to the recording I am even more thrilled - this is a wonderful treat. At first I was unsure about the bright tones of the narrator - so utterly unlike how I imagine everyone's favorite world-weary cyborg botanist Mendoza to sound - but after listening for a while I was won over. This book is read with great expressiveness, wit and charm, and the narrator gives the text its due. So many audiobooks seem to be read by automatons who appear to have never read the book prior to recording their narration and I am so glad that Kage Baker's work has been given to a narrator who cares about doing a good job.

And as for the book? If you don't know Kage Baker's Company series already I wish I was you so I could have the fun of reading these books for the first time all over again. In The Garden Of Iden is the beginning of one of the most inventive, intriguing series in SF - I honestly can't think of anything that beats it for breadth of vision. I don't want to give too much away, because figuring out what is going on is a lot of fun, but briefly: the main characters in this series are immortal cyborgs created from human children by a shadowy company that augments them, raises them, educates them, and sends them back in time to live and work though many thousands of years of human history (and prehistory!) collecting valuables for the Company and conducting research to create new valuables. Kage Baker had a true passion for history as well as speculative fiction and it shows. It's a joy to see the development of humanity through the eyes of her much put upon cyborgs. In this first book we meet Mendoza, a young cyborg taken by the Company from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition who now finds herself on her first mission, collecting botanical samples in Tudor England.