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Title: Mendoza in Hollywood: A Novel of the Company by Kage Baker ISBN: 0-15-100448-X Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 07 February, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.59 (29 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: What is it like being immortal?
Comment: I find this book the best of the trilogy. In all the three books the historical background is sound and the writing is smooth and unobtrusive.The first book, 'The garden of Iden', left me perplexed because it looked more a (very well documented, of course) historical novel and the SF side was playing a minor role, almost a pretext for describing the XVI century english society. The second one, 'Sky Coyote', was more focused on the interaction between immortals and mortals, the role of the Dr. Zeus Company and the psycology of the characters. But I felt that Baker's humor somewhat missed the point. I couldn't find believable the savant idiots from the future in charge of the rescue operation, nor the Indians and their behavior. But in this third book Kage Baker found a perfect equilibrium of style, insight into the immortal cyborgs psychology and sense of wonder for the mysterious Company which rules the past from the future.
What is it like being immortal, having lived for millennia and being separated for good from everything one loved? Seeing the unfolding of the history, the birth and the death of countless generations? Which kind of man and women do these cyborgs become? From this point of view the slowly paced, fluid narrative of the eveyday life in the the californian Company outpost is perfect, the reader is thoroughly immersed in the thoughts and the feeelings of the characters. Even the section on Griffith's 'Intolerance', which some reviewers found superfluous, is absolutely delicious, full of humor and human understanding. And the subsequent fit of despair and the wild dance of the babylonian Imarthe is one of the highlights of the book.
The climax of the novel is attained in the final section, where Mendoza comes across what appears to be a reincarnation of her dead lover. The dramatic events in the last pages, the hint of a cycle of deaths and rebirths where they will meet again and again, is a worthy conclusion of the novel.
I would not recommend this book to the the fans of starships zapping death rays against improbable aliens. But if you like SF that broadens your horizons, which involves you emotionally and makes you reflect on life, love and death, then read this book.
Rating: 3
Summary: Haphazardly plotted, but a fun supporting cast
Comment: Mendoza in Hollywood falls somewhere above In the Garden of Iden and somewhere below Sky Coyote in terms of quality, when considering it as part of Baker's Dr. Zeus series. It advances the overall plot along and shows us a lot of details involving the lives of the company's immortal cyborgs, but the novel's plot ranges all over the place, with little sense of tension or urgency until the very end. It seems to be a "bridge" novel between two halves of a story.
The novel follows Mendoza during her few months' stay with a cyborg outpost in Hollywood, 1862-63. These cyborgs don't have a grand mission as in the first two books; rather, they're just sitting around gathering physical and sociological evidence and data about the locale and era. As a result, they're bored a lot and spend most of their time thinking about their place and time in history. Sound dull? It's not as bad as it sounds, largely because the supporting cast is eccentric and amusing, resulting in a series of vignettes they get tangled up in during the year.
The book's problem other than its plot is its narrator. Mendoza is a pretty dull character: Shallowly introspective, often wallowing in self-pity, and only vaguely amusing (unlike Joseph, the humorous and self-aware narrator of Sky Coyote), her dispassionate view of the world around her makes everything seem flat and gray. Fortunately, her supporting cast saves the day through their backgrounds and antics (the fellow who's keeping tabs on his mortal family in Mexico; the young immortal who rescues and collects birds;...), and it turns out that 1860s Hollywood has a few interesting phenomena around it which add to the ongoing Dr. Zeus mystery. (Unfortunately, Baker decides in the middle of the book to take us on a 40-page aside into one of D.W. Griffith's silent films, which is as interminable a piece of reading as you'll find in science fiction.)
The story takes an abrupt turn in the last 100 or so pages, when a ghost from Mendoza's past appears and sends her off on a peculiar adventure, which reveal new mysteries for the reader of the whole series to wonder about. But it doesn't really fit into the overall tone of the book, feeling entirely tacked-on to the story. The book doesn't really end so much as stop.
The bottom line is that this book lays some more groundwork for whatever conclusion to the series Baker is building towards, and provides some lively reading for most of its pages, but it's neither a deep nor a particularly satisfying installment, as it lacks the closure which Sky Coyote had. Hopefully the next book will be better.
Rating: 5
Summary: Isn't that where Psycho was filmed?
Comment: Time is once again moving forward (has it ever moved backward?). In the third Company novel by Kage Baker, Mendoza in Hollywood, our illustrious immortal Mendoza has to deal with some hard issues. When we last left her in Sky Coyote, she had gone off into early 18th century northern California where she could be alone and study her plants, away from the strange and disgusting mortals (that would be us normal human beings) that surrounded her.
I found Sky Coyote to be a flawed but interesting sequel, but I love Baker's writing so I figured that she would rebound in her third book. Boy, did she ever. Mendoza in Hollywood is a masterpiece, having everything from social commentary to fascinating characters to mystery and beyond. We get a brief glimpse of the future, but we see nothing but agonizing hints to what is going on. Baker uses some of the tricks she used in Sky Coyote, but this time they work. It feels like Baker was maturing as a writer, determined to correct her mistakes and do it right this time. The result is a very entertaining read that will keep all Company fans engrossed and may even attract some new fans.
The story is quite simple in its complexity (yes, I do mean that). Character interaction is the name of the game in Mendoza in Hollywood and what wonderful characters Baker has to use. Every one of them is vivid, from the young Juan Batista, who is tasked with collecting rare birds but becomes too attached to them, to the film buff Einar, who brings in the entertainment for the staff at the outpost. This usually consists of rare movies, including the original 8 hour cut of Erich Von Stroheim's Greed and D.W. Griffith's Intolerance. The latter movie is a wonderful character set piece, as the soundtrack is gone and Einar (along with Imarte, who actually lived in ancient Babylon) does the commentary for the entire film. The sequence is a magical bit of comedy and character development, and is everything that the show in Sky Coyote wasn't. It goes on for just as long (though Mendoza in Hollywood is a longer book, so the portion is smaller) but is much better written. I really enjoyed it.
Other cast members are equally well done, with Porfirio (the outpost's security officer and commander) being the most bland. He is given some history that helps define Mendoza's character though, as she finds out that not all immortals have cut their familial ties with the mortal world. Oscar is a real treat, though. He's a salesman who is supposed to study living conditions of people in the area. He goes door to door, trying to sell items and get a look inside the domestic life of his customers. Mendoza accompanies him on some of his jaunts, and the scenes are just delightfully funny.
While there is a running subplot of a British conspiracy with the Confederates for control of California (sparked by the neglectful act of leaving his briefcase by one of Imarte's johns), most of the story is about Mendoza and her interactions with these characters. It might sound boring, but every page of the book is building up her sense of isolation and her desolation over the death of her lover 300 years ago. She despises mortals because of how weak they are and how ideological they can be. Yet every one of her companions loves interacting with them and has their own way of dealing with them. As Mendoza observes, she feels more and more alone. Even Einar and his movie obsession, while providing some enjoyment, eventually adds to her burden as she realizes that even though they haven't even happened yet, the movies' settings are ephemeral and won't last long. Baker illustrates the burdens of immortality. Some people can deal with it (Joseph, Mendoza's mentor who isn't actually in this book, has been alive for thousands of years), but she can't seem to. Baker paints these characters with such loving detail that you can't help but revel in them.
The book loses a little bit when the conspiracy plot takes center stage, even though Baker keeps the focus clearly on Mendoza and what's happening with her lover's doppelganger. The interaction between them kept me reading but I started to get tired of the conspiracy itself. However, I cared about what happened to Mendoza, and as I saw her go through hell yet again, for a man so much like her old lover but yet so different, I really felt for her. Baker has brought Mendoza alive, and her ultimate fate is heartbreaking yet slightly uplifting. She finally gets what she wants, but not quite the way she wanted it. I finished the book very quickly, totally engrossed in what was going on. That's the sign of a master author.
With Mendoza in Hollywood, Kage Baker has another winner. It's certainly readable by itself, but it gains so much if you read the first two books before this one. But whatever you do, check this one out.
David Roy
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Title: Sky Coyote (A Novel of the Company, Book 2) by Kage Baker ISBN: 0380731800 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers by Kage Baker ISBN: 1930846118 Publisher: Golden Gryphon Pr Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: In the Garden of Iden (A Novel of the Company, Book 1) by Kage Baker ISBN: 0380731797 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker ISBN: 0765308185 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 23 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Graveyard Game by Kage Baker ISBN: 0151004498 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 16 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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