The Children of the Company PDF
Preview The Children of the Company
Take a ride through time with the devil. In the sixth book of the Company series, we meet Executive Facilitator General Labienus. He's used his immortal centuries to plot a complete takeover of the world since he was a young god-figure in Sumeria. In a meditative mood, he reviews his interesting career. He muses on his subversion of the Company black project ADONAI. He considers also Aegeus, his despised rival for power, who has discovered and captured a useful race of mortals known as Homo sapiens umbratilis. Their unique talents may enable him to seize ultimate power. Labienus plans a double cross that will kill two birds with one stone: he will woo away Aegeus's promising protege, the Facilitator Victor, and at the same time dispose of a ghost from his own past who has become inconvenient. The Hugo-nominated novella "Son Observe The Time," telling that part of the story, is integrated into the narrative. Fans of the series will love this book, and new readers will be enthralled.
From Publishers WeeklyThe latest, slightly disappointing volume in Baker's highly regarded Company series (The Life of the World to Come, etc.) incorporates previously published short stories within a larger narrative framework. Immortal cyborgs have worked behind the scenes throughout human history, ostensibly to rescue great works of art, endangered species and other victims of human and natural disasters. Supposedly, Dr. Zeus, the 24th-century company that used time travel to create the cyborgs back in prehistoric times, is doing this for the good of all humanity, but previous books have dropped hints that things aren't exactly what they seem and that Dr. Zeus has powerful ulterior motives. Now, through these connected tales and Baker's frame, which focuses on a corrupt cyborg leader named Labienus, we gain new insight into the complexities of cyborg politics, while the existence of another human species, Homo sapiens umbratilis, holds out a dark promise for humanity's future. Though the individual episodes read well, they add up to a somewhat disjointed whole. (Nov.)
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Since his first days as a cyborg, when he was a near deity in Sumeria, Executive Facilitator General Labienus has had centuries to work at subverting the Company, and while history may not be changeable, it is a web of lies that he aims to change so the world fits his idea of paradise. We follow his meditations, starting with when he met Budu, one of the old Enforcers. He remembers the beginning of the experiment with Homo umbratilis, and Facilitator Victor, whom Labienus is slowly co-opting and who began believing in the indestructibility of his kind and in the things the company tells them, but slowly becomes disillusioned by the lies of history. The book unfolds through both Labienus' memories and the journals and artifacts of Victor and others caught in his web. As in the other Company novels, the time line spanned is prodigious, despite which Baker never stints on characters and details that capture the reader's fancy. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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