The Life of the World to Come

by Kage Baker

Book Overview

From idea to flesh to myth, this is the story of Alec Checkerfield: Seventh Earl of Finsbury, pirate, renegade, hero, anomaly, Mendoza's once and future love. Mendoza is a Preserver, which means that she's sent back from the twenty-fourth century by Dr. Zeus, Incorporated - the Company - to recover things from the past which would otherwise be lost. She's a botanist, a good one. She's an immortal, indestructible cyborg. And she's a woman in love...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765354322
• ISBN13: 9780765354327
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 406 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Why did I wait so long to read this?!?

I don't generally like reading books in a series until the entire series is available. Even though I had read all of the "Company" books up until this one, I held off quite a while before reading this volume and I regret it. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. If you have not read the previous book about the Dr Zeus corporation and their cyborgs who live throughout time, collecting artifacts, plants, information and running other errands for their masters, you should begin the "The Garden Of Iden". Although Botanist Mendoza is the central figure of the 1st book, she comes and goes in subsequest books and other stories are told that flesh out the entire world Kage Baker has created. Mendoza plays a role here, but the primary story is of Alec Checkerfield, a creation of three rather kooky Inkling-wanabees in the far future. It ties him and the other two love interests of Mendoza together. We see a very good glimpse of the future - it is a ridiculously regulated society but one that could be a logical extension of our own. Is Checkerfield the reason for the silent period that follows July 9,2355? or are there other forces at work. All questions are not answered here but a great number are. This is a must read for fans of the Company series.

Torture

Each Company novel I pick up pulls me further and further into Baker's intricately wrought plot. Each time I fear she will drop the ball - if only due to the sheer number of interlocking stories she's written for this world - she simply adds another perfectly logical twist. I adored "In the Garden of Iden" and, LA native that I am, thought I was in heaven with "Mendoza in Hollywood". I think the thing I like best about these books are the oodles of historical references (See the erroneous ideas about the Los Angeles River" in "Hollywood" Hee!). "The Life of the World to Come" features even more of them - amusingly personified in Alec Checkerfield's childlike, ignorant, genius creators. The world of the 2350s is a wonderfully imagined, sublimely ridiculous, PC post-modern Disneyfied hoot where history and popular culture are interchangeable to the point of being nearly indistinguishable. Alec's story drags a bit with the engineered emotional trauma you can see coming a mile away, but I love his unscrupulous AI id/father figure, the Captain - maybe I'm just a sucker for pirates, or scheming supercomputers bent on world domination, or both. The one thing that I don't like about this book is the cliffhanger ending. A warning to those expecting some sort of resolution with this book - you won't get it. What you will get is a brisk plot liberally sprinkled with hints and clues, and an ending that will leave you desperately wondering, "What happens next?"

If this is the sort of thing you like, you'll like it a LOT

Here's my metaphorical expression of what reading this book was like: you went to a restaurant a few years back, and ordered chocolate mousse for dessert. When they brought it, there was at least a quart of it, piled high in a bowl. Dang, you think, can't be that good if there's that much - whoa. _Good_ chocolate mousse. You eat every delicious theobromine bite. For months afterward, you rave about this mousse to all your friends. Finally, you realize you're remembering the memory, and start to wonder if it was as good as you've been saying. Then, one day, you go back. You order the mousse. And it's JUST AS GOOD as you remembered. I've read all the Company books - Garden of Iden, Sky Coyote, Mendoza in Hollywood, Graveyard Game, Black Projects/White Knights - and I enjoyed this one just as much. Minor spoiler - this is not the last novel in the series. When I got to the end and realized that, I was torn between dismay (wanted the Big Ending) and relief (yeah! more books!). If you want more Mendoza, more Alec, and a look at Degenerate Humanity in the 24th Century - get this book!

A wrench named Alec is thrown into the works

Now that I'm caught up with Kage Baker's "Company" novels, waiting for the next one has been excruciating. At the beginning of December, however, The Life of the World to Come was finally published, and it was well worth the wait. Baker adds a lot more detail to the "Company" universe, telling us much more of the future than we even received in The Graveyard Game as we barrel toward the unknown event horizon of 2355, where not even Doctor Zeus Incorporated knows what happens. For any fans of the Company, rest assured that this book is well worth reading. If you're not familiar, then definitely don't start with this book. While it is understandable (for reasons I'll get into later), you'll lose a lot of the richness of the plot. I was expecting this book to be mainly about Mendoza, and since I had not read the cover jacket, I was quite surprised when the book left her and never returned (except very briefly near the end). Instead, we get the story of Alec, who has appeared in a few Asimov's stories but who I never really knew how he fit into everything. The Life of the World to Come explains it all. Were you bothered about how Mendoza always seemed to be meeting reincarnations of her old lover? This book explains it quite rationally, making the Company seem even darker even as the scientists involved with his origin believe that they are doing good for the world. The book does a wonderful job of explaining everything and keeps up a good pace as well. We see extended scenes of Alec while he's growing up and see how his personality is shaped by the strange, overly politically correct world that he's surrounded by, as well as the feeling that he was completely unwanted by his parents. His only true friend is the Captain, a former computer playfriend that he reprogrammed to be the ultimate artificial intelligence and now his companion in everything he does. He even goes so far as to get a cyborg implant so he can always be connected to the Captain. Mixed in with these scenes so we never get too bored by too much Alec are the scenes with the scientists. These are, at times, even better than the Alec scenes. Rutherford is a historian that wants desperately to return to the old times. His ultimate goal is to recreate the Inklings, the writing group that Tolkein was a member of. He and his companions, Frankie Chatterji and Foxen Ellsworth-Howard have fake wine, fake tea, a fire that only their service to Dr. Zeus allows them to have (fires are against the law). They serve a couple of purposes in the book. First, they explain Alec's background so the reader knows it before Alec does, along with explaining what happened with Mendoza in the 16th century and the 19th. Secondly, they give us a little bit of insight into the company workings, or at least one side of it. When they realize that the third incarnation of what they are doing is happening in real time (contemporary to them, rather than in the past), they get an odd thrill. T

Baker's latest Company novel is a must-have

After a long wait, it was thrilling to get my hands on "The Life of the World to Come." It is a superb installment in the line of Company novels, yet functions just fine on its own chronicling the life of Alec Checkerfield in the sterile dystopia of the 24th century. Baker's books and short stories constructing the intricate legacy of Dr. Zeus, Inc. have been hilarious, heart-breaking, and compelling. "The Life of the World to Come" finally gives readers insight into the more mysterious inner workings of the Company and what might be done to ultimately bring about its demise. Sure, this latest novel leaves quite a few unanswered questions while tying up a whole slew of open ends left by "Mendoza in Hollywood" and "The Graveyard Game." That's really the beauty of this series, though - its captivating nature through the well-timed revelation of more and more pieces of puzzle as the overall story progresses. These glimpses of the truth are satisfying tidbits of Company lore that keep us reading. This novel delivers the truth about Alec/Edward/Nicholas; a little more insight into the silence that falls in 2355; knowledge that the Company might not be as infallible as previously thought; and a time-travelling trip to Mars. It's quite a ride. I wholeheartedly recommend this book (as well as the four preceding it, plus the short stories contained in "Black Projects, White Knights" and the chapbook "The Angel in the Darkness"). It's an excellent addition to Baker's previous works. I, for one, can't wait to find out what Joseph and Budu are going to do once they've reemerged on the scene and how Labienus and his band of immortal malcontents have managed to stay under the radar. But these are questions for another book, and you can believe I'll keep reading after being given a prize like "The Life of the World to Come." Alex Richards