This second novel of the Company makes all of In the Garden of Iden feel like a prequel, and for those SF readers who don't like much romance I might recommend starting here. It jumps ahead a couple hundred years and switches to Joseph's first-person narrative (I think the series is actually shaping up to switch back and forth between Mendoza and Joseph with every book, but I could be wrong), and it gets much more into the world-building that was so ruthlessly relegated to the background in the first novel. There's still nothing ground-breaking about Baker's set-up, but the glimpses of the world of the future begin to have a more coherent (if deliberately baffling) look.Joseph is a delightful narrator, much wiser than Mendoza and less self-centered. He also has already done his growing up (way back in prehistory, as he was recruited somewhere around 18000 BC) and thus doesn't subject the reader to all the "oh my god the world is not what I was led to believe!" bit that goes along with any sort of coming-of-age story. Instead, he is the sort of character that is settled in his comfortable rut and keeps his head down when the fur starts to fly. He knows he's playing ostrich, but over the millennia he's gotten glimpses of some nasty things, and he very much doesn't want to be the one turning over all those rocks.That, of course, makes him very human, no matter what Mendoza thinks of him. And that, of course is the major theme Baker is exploring in this series -- our common humanity, no matter what outer trappings we set up to differentiate ourselves from each other. That theme is very much made manifest in Baker's portrayal of the Chumash, which I also found delightful. The jacket description doesn't do them justice. . . they are not "noble savages," nor do they speak in metaphorical and broken English the way they do in far too many Western novels. . . instead, they are aggressively modern-thinking, and they use an economics vocabulary that I doubt was invented yet (at least not in the New World), but then realism isn't exactly the point.But though the Chumash serve as the focus of the plot, Sky Coyote is there for many of the same reason In the Garden of Iden was: to introduce a key character and get him into position for the larger events in store. To that end, in this novel we also meet our first humans from the future where Dr. Zeus invented time travel and immortality treatments, that bright future that all the immortals living through history the long way are waiting to see, and their portrayal answers some of my questions and raises quite a few others. I was wondering, the entire time I was reading In the Garden of Iden, why on earth the Company didn't employ any adolescent psychologists who could tell them what the natural course of events would be given the way they raise their little immortal cyborgs (I mean, anyone with a lick of common sense could tell what was going to happen, but I acknowledge that the Company would likely need to hear it from someone with a degree or two before acting on it); now that I've seen some of the people who run the Company I understand why they didn't employ any adolescent psychologists. But now I'm left to wonder how on earth those people even formed Dr. Zeus Inc. -- a question Joseph is left wondering as well, so I assume Baker is going to answer it somewhere down the line.I will admit, this novel wears its narrative on its sleeve -- I can just hear Baker thinking things like "and I'll insert a flashback here because the plot's getting a bit slow and I need to put this in somewhere" -- but the narrative voice is strong enough that I don't mind. And there is a moment, a single perfect moment, near the end of the novel (p. 285-286 for those who've read it and want to see what I'm talking about; I wouldn't dare try to paraphrase here because I couldn't do it justice) where Joseph is forced to look in the mirror and examine his choices over the last 20,000 years. It involves the Chumash, the Loony Tunes, and Philip Marlowe, and I wouldn't change a word of it. That moment is the same sort of moment I saw in the short story I read by Baker that made me start talking her up as a favorite author; that moment would have made a much weaker book worth the price. And the ending Baker gives Kenemekme is just as good, a wonderful bit of metaphysics and humanism that isn't overplayed like it could have been.I will definitely be continuing this series, though I'm a little worried I'm going to hate switching back to Mendoza's voice. . . but then, I was a little worried about switching to Joseph's voice, so it'll probably be fine. :)
In "Sky Coyote," Kage Baker seems intent on missing the boat with her own series. First of all, in almost all technical aspects, this book is worse than the first book in the series. Where that book had well-done and well-researched writing, with varied and decently filled-out characters, this book rambles about unimportant trivia, buries any historical research under horse-feathers, and has only one character with any semblance of depth. The one thing in this book that is done better than in the first is a sense of purpose. Unfortunately, it's really the wrong purpose. OK. Some details:First, besides the mere existence of the two cultures in the area where this story takes place, Baker has destroyed almost everything that might lead towards a feeling of historical accuracy. She's replaced almost every aspect of the tribe that is the protagonist's mission with allegorical representations of the worst of our own culture. She's replaced the historical story of the first book with allegorical preaching in this book. I mean, really, she's putting talk of management/labor relations, child care, divorce, alimony, business, etc., into the mouths of Stone-Age, pre-literate, pre-anything people. It's just silly.Second, in this book, we've got the return of the two main characters of the first book. Joseph is the protagonist and is reasonably filled out. Mendoza comes along for the ride and, like every other character, is a nullity. There's no character there even though a few more interesting and tantalizing tidbits of her past are revealed.And, finally, the story Baker goes on and on about (the mission that Joseph is on) ought to have been merely a side-quest. What's really interesting (and should be the core of the series) is the relationship between these immortal cyborgs and their future creators (or masters, i.e., the Company). About 10% of the book involves that relationship. And, it's fascinating: what is truly happening between immortals who are better, faster, stronger, smarter, wiser, etc. and the people/culture/company that created them. Especially when it looks like those creators might be on their way to Eloi-hood.So, unfortunately, I'm rating this book at a Pretty Bad 2 stars out of 5. Even worse, I'm not even sure I'll continue with the series. I'd love to find out what's really going on with Mendoza and what's going to happen between these immortals and the Dr. Zeus Company. But, if that's going to be buried under another nine books of cruft like this book, then I don't think I'll want to wade through it.The novels in Kage Baker's "Company" series are:1. In the Garden of Iden (The Company)2. Sky Coyote (The Company)3. Mendoza in Hollywood (The Company)4. The Graveyard Game (The Company)5. The Life of the World to Come (The Company)6. The Children of the Company7. The Machine's Child (The Company)8. The Sons of Heaven (The Company)9. The Empress of Mars (The Company)10. Not Less Than Gods (The Company)11. Nell Gwynne's On Land and At Sea
What do You think about Sky Coyote (2000)?
A quirky little book. The story wrapper is a vast time-traveling Company that meddles in history and the undercurrents of conflict between its immortal employees (from historical times) and its owners (from the future). The story core is the life of a Chumash village in 1699. The glue between the two is Joseph from the Company, whose mission is to play the trickster god Sky Coyote and convince the villagers to move before the Europeans arrive. Joseph likes playing the cunning trickster. Joseph does not like being vulnerable or taking sides in the Chumash issue or in the Company's issues, but the longer he lives the more his neutrality weighs on him.I love how the story is 100% hard core science fiction and at the same time 90% low tech, with Joseph just talking people into what he wants to get done. The Chumash village filled with "primitive" people who are really all smart cookies is vibrant and modern and humorous.
—Mark
Amazon.com Review Kage Baker's first novel, In the Garden of Iden, was a smart, funny, top-drawer read. Fans will be happy to find out that Baker avoids a sophomore slump with Sky Coyote, the second novel of the Company, and another superbly witty and intelligent book. Baker switches focus in this sequel to Joseph, the immortal cyborg who rescued Iden's heroine, Mendoza, from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition. Joseph and Mendoza work for Dr. Zeus, otherwise known as the Company, a 24th-century operation devoted to getting rich off the past. To accomplish this, the Company turns orphans and refugees from the past into super-smart, nigh invincible cyborgs and sends them on missions to save or hide precious paintings, cultural treasures, and genetic information useful to the future world. Sky Coyote begins in pre-Columbian Mexico, where Joseph and Mendoza are reunited at New World One, an extravagant Company retreat. When European explorers are scheduled to arrive in the New World, the Company dismantles operations, and Joseph is sent to California in 1699 to save a Chumash village lock, stock, and barrel, before Europeans arrive with smallpox and slavery. To prep the Native Americans for their voyage to a Company enclave in Australia, Joseph poses as Uncle Sky Coyote, a trickster-god of the Chumash, and tells them he's there to save them from certain doom at the hands of white men. But can Joseph convince the wary, savvy Chumash labor unions, lodges, and entrepreneurs that he has their best interests at heart, all without screwing up history? And will he patch things up with Mendoza, who still hasn't forgiven him for everything that happened in 1500s England? Kage Baker delivers a terrific story and a worthy sequel with Sky From Publishers Weekly Cunningly blending a pre-Columbian past with a 24th century extrapolated from every adult's nightmare about the younger generation, Baker's second installment in her Company series proves a witty match to In the Garden of Iden. Fresh from a cushy R&R after a supervisory stint in the Inquisition, time-hopping cyborg Facilitator Joseph jaunts to 16th-century Alta California. There, cybernetically outfitted with fur and paws, he apotheosizes to the cannily entrepreneurial Chumash Indian tribe so he can collect them and their entire biosystem for Company studies in the remote future. Joseph's Company is Baker's deliciously wicked platform for satirizing past, present and all-too-likely future human frailties. From sure-handed sendups of 24th-century Cinema Standard speech patterns and a dismayingly suggestive portrait of the Chumash Medical AssociationAstaring eyes, knotted hair and an air of too frequent consumption of alkaloidsAto the Company's sacred Greater Mission Statement, Baker nails her 20th-century targets: societal, religious and oh-so-personal hypocrisy. Biography From Wikipedia - Kage Baker Born: June 10, 1952, Hollywood, California, U.S. Died: January 31, 2010 (aged 57), Pismo Beach, California, U.S. Genres: Science fiction, Fantasy Kage Baker (June 10, 1952 – January 31, 2010) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She was born in Hollywood, California and lived there and in Pismo Beach most of her life. Before becoming a professional writer she spent many years in theater, including teaching Elizabethan English as a second language. She is best known for her "Company" series of historical time travel science fiction. Her first stories were published in Asimov's Science Fiction in 1997, and her first novel, In the Garden of Iden, by Hodder & Stoughton in the same year. Other notable works include Mendoza in Hollywood (novel, 2000) and "The Empress of Mars" (novella, 2003), which won the Theodore Sturgeon Award and was nominated for a Hugo Award. Her unusual first name (pronounced like the word "cage") is a combination of the names of her two grandmothers, Kate and Genevieve. In 2008, she donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University. In 2009, her short story "Caverns of Mystery" and her novel House of the Stag were both nominated for World Fantasy Awards, but neither piece won. In January 2010, it was reported that Baker was seriously ill with cancer. She died from uterine cancer at approximately 1:00 a.m. on January 31, 2010 in Pismo Beach, California. In 2010, Baker's The Women of Nell Gwynne's was nominated for a Hugo Award and a World Fantasy Award in the Best Novella categories. On May 15, 2010, that work was awarded the 2009 Nebula Award in the Best Novella category.
—Ward Bond
I finished reading Sky Coyote this morning. This is both the second book of her “Company” series and the second book of hers that I’ve read. I think I enjoyed this one even more than In the Garden of Iden (1997). Sky Coyote takes place in 1700, primarily in a part of southern California as yet unconquered (or even discovered) by the Spanish. It has, however, been discovered by the Company, a 24th Century organization dedicated to getting rich by exploiting treasures from the past. In this installment, Joseph, one of the company’s many immortal operatives, is tasked with saving from oblivion the culture of the Chumash people before it is irrevocably changed by the invading Europeans. Mendoza, the main character from In the Garden of Iden is a supporting character this time around and Joseph, is the lead character. The contrast is interesting as Mendoza was a new field operative in In the Garden of Iden and Joseph is an old (very old) hand. Although the surface story about Joseph appearing as the Coyote god to the Chumash is fun, there are a lot of darker undercurrents here as we are granted a deeper look into the workings of the Company. Joseph has some interesting flashbacks to a much earlier time in his career. We also get to meet some of the company people from the 24th century and what a disappointment/paradox they are to the immortals who must work with them.Sky Coyote is a fun novel that opens up all sorts of interesting possible stories lines for the series. If, as one reviewer opined, In the Garden of Iden is a prequel to the series, Sky Coyote seems like the opening chapter to something exciting. It’ll be fun to read the next books to see where Baker took the series.
—MB Taylor
