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Nov. 29th, 2006 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsOne of the things that makes me very sad is the fact that no one else I know has read Kage Baker's Company series. It's sort of a constant sadness, really, but I am feeling it especially now, because there is a new one out that I am currently reading and OMG I need to flail at someone. Because OW OW OW. (In the good way.)
Therefore, I present the top five reasons that I am confident pretty much everyone on my flist would enjoy these books.
1.) Joseph. Joseph is a small, dark immortal with a fondness for gangster films and the good things in life, who usually affects a slightly devilish goatee. He looks like he could be Greek, or Jewish, or Basque; in fact, he comes from a tribe of people that was wiped out sometime before 15,000 BCE and his father did the Lascaux cave paintings. Joseph is awesome for many reasons. The reason I put him first is because he is actually Crowley. I prove it with a quote!
Wow. So, here I am. No Tempter's going to rise up at my elbow and offer me big bucks not do this, huh . . .
. . . who am I kidding? I've always been the Tempter. It's a little late to change sides now. (from The Machine's Child)
Aaand pretty much his entire arc in the series is the story of his long, slow saunter downwards from being the most loyal Company man that anyone has ever seen, as he starts to doubt the legitimacy of his work and his employer-creators. He also hangs out a lot with
2.) Lewis. As a Literature Preservationist, Lewis - a fair-haired, idealistic immortal of Celtic-Roman background - spends most of his time working in old bookstores and trying to make the world a better place (on the Company's orders, of course.) He tends to say 'oh dear' a lot, and attempt to be sneaky while actually being ridiculously bad at covering his tracks from anyone. He spends many of his centuries of immortality writing his seriously epic-length fanfiction, which is reason enough to adore him, I believe.
3.) The Company. Dr. Zeus Inc. A very nearly all-powerful shady agency who 'rescues' bright, very young children who happen to fit certain physical specifications from difficult situations over the course of history (i.e. the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition or the holds of a slave ship) and proceeds to . . . play with their brains. Both physically, and in terms of programming. Until they become good little tools for the Company to use as they see fit - whether for botany, or literary preservation, or, you know, wiping out certain tribes of people. All to make humanity better, of course.
4.) Moral ambiguity! Everywhere! While everyone in the books knows there must be Bad Guys out there somewhere, who those bad guys are becomes more and more clouded as the series goes on. Almost everyone you meet has a valid reason for the sins he or she commits, though those sins are often terrible. There are also valid reasons for the characters holding the enmities that they do, even when you want to wail "No! Stop! If you could only just be frieeeeeends!" because you love them both so much.
The series plays a lot with the question of when the ends justify the means, and when preventing a crime can become more terrible than the crime itself; however, because Kage Baker is also brilliant at black humor, she usually manages to stop herself from hitting us over the head with certain points. I'm not going to say always - occasionally she goes a little too far in her dystopic demonstrations, but I would not count it as a major flaw. And it tends to be entertaining regardless.
5.) The rest of the characters. They are pretty much uniformly awesome. Mendoza and Nicholas should probably get their own entries, but I skip them for lack of space and also spoilers. I will provide an example of two great supporting characters, however: Kalugin is a giant Russian noble with a huge shaggy beard and a terror of accidentally hurting anything, down to and including flies, who goes down with sinking ships for a living. Nan is an art specialist who was taken from a doomed African tribe (her name comes from Anansi) and has a fondness for Victorian mannerisms. Together, they fight crime! . . . art crime! . . . the crime of losing priceless works of art to shipwrecks! Also, they are absolutely adorable.
In conclusion: seriously, you'll like these books! They are like Good Omens with cyborgs, or BSG with more black humor (and you tend to be on the Cylons' side), or Revolutionary Girl Utena with history.
- okay, maybe I'm making that last one up a little, although I could write a whole other essay on an Anthy-Mendoza comparison. But those of you who have read this far have probably already made a pretty heroic effort to get here, so I will spare you.
Therefore, I present the top five reasons that I am confident pretty much everyone on my flist would enjoy these books.
1.) Joseph. Joseph is a small, dark immortal with a fondness for gangster films and the good things in life, who usually affects a slightly devilish goatee. He looks like he could be Greek, or Jewish, or Basque; in fact, he comes from a tribe of people that was wiped out sometime before 15,000 BCE and his father did the Lascaux cave paintings. Joseph is awesome for many reasons. The reason I put him first is because he is actually Crowley. I prove it with a quote!
Wow. So, here I am. No Tempter's going to rise up at my elbow and offer me big bucks not do this, huh . . .
. . . who am I kidding? I've always been the Tempter. It's a little late to change sides now. (from The Machine's Child)
Aaand pretty much his entire arc in the series is the story of his long, slow saunter downwards from being the most loyal Company man that anyone has ever seen, as he starts to doubt the legitimacy of his work and his employer-creators. He also hangs out a lot with
2.) Lewis. As a Literature Preservationist, Lewis - a fair-haired, idealistic immortal of Celtic-Roman background - spends most of his time working in old bookstores and trying to make the world a better place (on the Company's orders, of course.) He tends to say 'oh dear' a lot, and attempt to be sneaky while actually being ridiculously bad at covering his tracks from anyone. He spends many of his centuries of immortality writing his seriously epic-length fanfiction, which is reason enough to adore him, I believe.
3.) The Company. Dr. Zeus Inc. A very nearly all-powerful shady agency who 'rescues' bright, very young children who happen to fit certain physical specifications from difficult situations over the course of history (i.e. the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition or the holds of a slave ship) and proceeds to . . . play with their brains. Both physically, and in terms of programming. Until they become good little tools for the Company to use as they see fit - whether for botany, or literary preservation, or, you know, wiping out certain tribes of people. All to make humanity better, of course.
4.) Moral ambiguity! Everywhere! While everyone in the books knows there must be Bad Guys out there somewhere, who those bad guys are becomes more and more clouded as the series goes on. Almost everyone you meet has a valid reason for the sins he or she commits, though those sins are often terrible. There are also valid reasons for the characters holding the enmities that they do, even when you want to wail "No! Stop! If you could only just be frieeeeeends!" because you love them both so much.
The series plays a lot with the question of when the ends justify the means, and when preventing a crime can become more terrible than the crime itself; however, because Kage Baker is also brilliant at black humor, she usually manages to stop herself from hitting us over the head with certain points. I'm not going to say always - occasionally she goes a little too far in her dystopic demonstrations, but I would not count it as a major flaw. And it tends to be entertaining regardless.
5.) The rest of the characters. They are pretty much uniformly awesome. Mendoza and Nicholas should probably get their own entries, but I skip them for lack of space and also spoilers. I will provide an example of two great supporting characters, however: Kalugin is a giant Russian noble with a huge shaggy beard and a terror of accidentally hurting anything, down to and including flies, who goes down with sinking ships for a living. Nan is an art specialist who was taken from a doomed African tribe (her name comes from Anansi) and has a fondness for Victorian mannerisms. Together, they fight crime! . . . art crime! . . . the crime of losing priceless works of art to shipwrecks! Also, they are absolutely adorable.
In conclusion: seriously, you'll like these books! They are like Good Omens with cyborgs, or BSG with more black humor (and you tend to be on the Cylons' side), or Revolutionary Girl Utena with history.
- okay, maybe I'm making that last one up a little, although I could write a whole other essay on an Anthy-Mendoza comparison. But those of you who have read this far have probably already made a pretty heroic effort to get here, so I will spare you.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 03:26 am (UTC)To be fair, he doesn't show up for a while, and doesn't become an at-all major player until even further on - but he is so awesome. *hugs Kalugin LOTS*
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 03:00 am (UTC)Merc: *is easily sold*
*also too lazy to switch logins*
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 03:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 03:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 04:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 04:34 am (UTC)The first book is very very good. The second book is entertaining. The third book is very very good with a few digressions; the fourth is magnificent. In my opinion.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-10 08:23 pm (UTC)That is all.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-10 08:39 pm (UTC)*CLINGS*
no subject
Date: 2007-12-10 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 05:34 am (UTC)*writes down on the ever-growing list*
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 09:07 am (UTC)My evil scheme is working, clearly!
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 11:06 am (UTC)*mournful*
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 05:48 pm (UTC)I have valid reasons for the sins that I commit!
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 09:39 pm (UTC)*beady suspicious eyes*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 01:00 am (UTC)I can't think of any other sins that I have committed. *prim*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 04:27 am (UTC)*pulls out looooong scroll*
*has sudden bizarre feeling that she's turned into a shadow girl*
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 04:47 am (UTC)*cannot imagine why you would think that*
no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-30 05:50 pm (UTC)