The Sons of Heaven

by Kage Baker

Book Overview

A "Romantic Times BOOKreviews" Top Pick for 2007: "One of the best books of the year."One of the "San Francisco Chronicle's" Best SF Books of 2007The Kage Baker novel everyone has been waiting for:... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076531746X
• ISBN13: 9780765317469
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 430 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The Company at the end of time

I highly recommend the Company series, if you enjoy witty, well-written, fun science fiction, ala Connie Willis (though I think Baker is the better writer). This is the eighth and final novel in the series, though there are side-books containing shorter forms. Unlike most series, however, the publisher does not put numbers on them (e.g., "the first book in the Company series"). And you do really need to read them in order (though there are few you could skip without missing a whole lot, IMHO). Also unlike some series, the books do not recap what has gone before, really. So, beware. For your reference, here they are, with a brief subjective comment: 1 - In the Garden of Iden (The Company). Possibly the best of them all. If you don't like this one, don't waste your time on the others! This one explains the premise for the series. Start here. 2 - Sky Coyote (A Novel of the Company, Book 2). You can skip this one and not miss anything critical. It was just okay, in my opinion. If you like the Joseph character, read this one. 3 - Mendoza in Hollywood: A Company Novel (The Company) A neat book, and quite necessary to the whole. 4 - The Graveyard Game (The Company)Features Joseph and Lewis. Not really necessary, and not one of the better ones. 5 - The Life of the World to Come (The Company)Okay, I lied, the first book isn't the best one. This one is. Some people don't seem to like the Captain, but I thought he was a hoot. Who wouldn't like to have their own personal AI buddy looking out for us? Arrr. 6 - The Children of the Company (The Company)Less like a novel, and more a collection of stories/novellas, all about the bad guys. I wouldn't have minded missing this one. 7 - The Machine's Child (The Company)Though some reviews were negative about this one, I liked it. Necessary plot information here, too. 8 - The Sons of Heaven (the book in question) Finally! The answers to all are revealed, and very satisfyingly, too. Sorry to see the series end, but I'm glad to see I haven't wasted my time tracking all these books down and reading them. Which leads to another complaint about the publishers: Why aren't these books available? The first one is very hard to find. The Science Fiction Book Club has been issuing the series in pairs, but as of right now the first two "omnibus" editions aren't available used. The last four are in print right now, issued as "Company Men" and "The Company They Keep." As for the books themselves, I have only a few minor peeves. The author is from California, and has a background in Elizabethan England. Virtually every scene happens in one of these two locales. Gets a bit dull after 8 books. On the other hand, the authenticity of her language is wonderful in Garden of Iden. The other peeve is that the "little people" are never explained properly. Who are they? Where did they come from? What is "the Memory"? The bad guys (the evil immortals) are a bit cardboard, I thought. And the humans (non-immortals like you an

How could a book be this good?

I've been following this series since the beginning ... afraid as we approach the end of the series that it wouldn't live up to the building promise. But I've never read such a strong finish in a series. I'm elated, and can't stop mulling over the lasting images and thoughts about the characters. Kage Baker incorporates the best of speculative fiction, building a fantasy world so real, it seems palpable -- and at the same time, she has built up a huge cast of characters, each in impossible physical circumstances and bound up in equally dismaying psychological circumstances. She plays so deftly with language that each character is immediately recognizable in a single sentence when she switches from one thread to another in this amazingly complex story, as if their characters and dilemmas each have unique syntaxes. These stories have all left me so tense at the end of each volume ... Whew, finally, I can relax and start the whole series over again. (Lewis!!)

Very satisfying...

As a female I absolutely LOVE Mendoza's happy ending! She gets to have it all, and I mean ALL! You Go Girl!!!! Seriously, this is a completely satisfying ending to this series! I am amazed that the author was able to keep all of the "balls in the air" for a full and quirky happy ending for all of the cyborgs we have come to love! I am SO SORRY that this series is over. I hope that Kage Baker will start another series SOON!

The Finale?

Yes, this is the end, but it was a satisfying conclusion to a "timeless" series. Like any grand finale, all the old favorites are back, good or bad. The book is split between Edward/Mendoza and their family, Lewis who is trapped in a little people's burrow trying to regenerate, Aegeus/Labienus plotting the take over, Suleymann plotting his own revolt, Joseph and the enforcer and the least interesting of the bunch would be the mortals counterplotting against the cyborgs. The plot does get convulted but that keeps the action going. So we get to see the new cyborg family grow and mature, Lewis slowly knits his wounds, Aegeus/Labienus plots and wrecks more havoc on mankind, the more just Suleymann tris to avoid turning the final confrontation into a massive bloodbath, Joseph and Budu enlist new recruits and sharpen their flint axes, and a batch of chocolates becomes the linchpin of the mortal's scheme. These is lot to take in, but at the same time every page brings the end ever closer, it is with regret and a sign of contentment that I closed this book. Ms. Baker, may we have some more, please?