-
In the Garden of Iden
- A Novel of the Company, Book 1
- Narrated by: Janan Raouf
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $20.97
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The House of the Stag
- By: Kage Baker
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before the Riders came to their remote valley, the Yendri led a tranquil, pastoral life. When the Riders conquered and enslaved them, only a few escaped to the forests. Rebellion wasn't the Yendri way; they hid, or passively resisted, taking consolation in the prophecies of their spiritual leader. Only one possessed the necessary rage to fight back: Gard the foundling, half-demon, who began a one-man guerrilla war against the Riders.
-
-
Delightfully humorous
- By Katherine on 09-09-11
By: Kage Baker
-
Doomsday Book
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong.
-
-
Timely, beautiful, terrible and haunting
- By mudcelt on 11-02-09
By: Connie Willis
-
Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
A very pleasant surprise
- By Simon on 06-17-17
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
-
-
Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- By Sheryl on 11-05-15
By: Jodi Taylor
-
Doing Time
- Time Police, Book 1
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Zara Ramm
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A long time ago in the future, the secret of time travel became known to all. Everyone seized the opportunity - and the world nearly ended. There will always be idiots who want to change history. And so, the Time Police were formed. An all-powerful, international organisation tasked with keeping the timeline straight. At all costs. Their success is legendary, and the Time Wars are over. But now the Time Police must fight to save a very different future - their own. This is the story of Jane, Luke and Matthew - arguably the worst recruits in Time Police history....
-
-
Good Teenager Book
- By Brutis on 05-03-20
By: Jodi Taylor
-
Lock In (Narrated by Wil Wheaton)
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.
-
-
Fun! Things you might want to know:
- By Alexis on 08-29-14
By: John Scalzi
-
The House of the Stag
- By: Kage Baker
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before the Riders came to their remote valley, the Yendri led a tranquil, pastoral life. When the Riders conquered and enslaved them, only a few escaped to the forests. Rebellion wasn't the Yendri way; they hid, or passively resisted, taking consolation in the prophecies of their spiritual leader. Only one possessed the necessary rage to fight back: Gard the foundling, half-demon, who began a one-man guerrilla war against the Riders.
-
-
Delightfully humorous
- By Katherine on 09-09-11
By: Kage Baker
-
Doomsday Book
- By: Connie Willis
- Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong.
-
-
Timely, beautiful, terrible and haunting
- By mudcelt on 11-02-09
By: Connie Willis
-
Children of Time
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: Mel Hudson
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed stand-alone novel Children of Time is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet. Who will inherit this new Earth? The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden.
-
-
A very pleasant surprise
- By Simon on 06-17-17
-
The Very First Damned Thing
- An Author-Read Audio Exclusive
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Jodi Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jodi Taylor reads the long-awaited prequel in her Chronicles of St Mary’s series, as Dr Bairstow struggles to set up St Mary’s as we know it in a world still scarred by the ravages of civil war. Ever wondered how it all began? It’s two years since the final victory at the Battersea Barricades. The fighting might be finished, but for Dr Bairstow, just now setting up St Mary's, the struggle is only beginning. How will he assemble his team? From where will his funding come?
-
-
Wait for it on Kindle. Not the best on audio
- By Sheryl on 11-05-15
By: Jodi Taylor
-
Doing Time
- Time Police, Book 1
- By: Jodi Taylor
- Narrated by: Zara Ramm
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A long time ago in the future, the secret of time travel became known to all. Everyone seized the opportunity - and the world nearly ended. There will always be idiots who want to change history. And so, the Time Police were formed. An all-powerful, international organisation tasked with keeping the timeline straight. At all costs. Their success is legendary, and the Time Wars are over. But now the Time Police must fight to save a very different future - their own. This is the story of Jane, Luke and Matthew - arguably the worst recruits in Time Police history....
-
-
Good Teenager Book
- By Brutis on 05-03-20
By: Jodi Taylor
-
Lock In (Narrated by Wil Wheaton)
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.
-
-
Fun! Things you might want to know:
- By Alexis on 08-29-14
By: John Scalzi
-
The Kaiju Preservation Society
- By: John Scalzi
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food-delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls “an animal rights organization”. Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on. What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at at least. In an alternate dimension, dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world.
-
-
How does one make Kaiju unappealing?
- By Jim on 03-20-22
By: John Scalzi
-
All Systems Red
- By: Martha Wells
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 3 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
All Systems Red is the tense first science fiction adventure novella in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries. For fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans.
-
-
I just wish all four stories were one book...
- By Garrett Stone on 11-05-18
By: Martha Wells
-
Spin
- By: Robert Charles Wilson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One night when he was 10, Tyler stood in his backyard and watched the stars go out. They flared into brilliance, then disappeared, replaced by an empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives.
-
-
Great Listen!
- By Brian on 03-28-08
-
Midnight Riot
- Rivers of London, Book 1
- By: Ben Aaronovitch
- Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Probationary constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he'll face is a paper cut. But Peter's prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter's ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale....
-
-
I LOVE this Book!
- By Nancy J on 02-26-13
By: Ben Aaronovitch
-
Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
-
-
It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
-
The Eyre Affair
- A Thursday Next Novel
- By: Jasper Fforde
- Narrated by: Susan Duerden
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection.
-
-
A Worthy Read
- By chicagoalum on 01-21-10
By: Jasper Fforde
-
Falling Free
- Miles Vorsokigan, Book 4
- By: Lois McMaster Bujold
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leo Graf was just your average highly efficient engineer: mind your own business, fix what's wrong, and move on to the next job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where a group of humanoids had been secretly, commercially bioengineered for working in free fall. Could he just stand there and allow the exploitation of hundreds of helpless children merely to enhance the bottom line of a heartless mega-corporation?
-
-
Don't read this one first
- By Carol on 02-20-13
-
The Hallowed Hunt
- By: Lois McMaster Bujold
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The half-mad Prince Boleso has been slain by a noblewoman he had intended to defile. It falls to Lord Ingrey kin Wilfcliff to transport the prince to his burial place and to bring the accused killer, Lady Ijada, to judgment. The road he travels with his burden and his prisoner is fraught with danger. But in the midst of political chaos, magic has the fiercer hold on Ingrey's destiny, and Ijada herself may turn out to be the only one he dares trust.
-
-
Extremely disappointing
- By Loren on 10-12-12
-
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
- Bobiverse, Book 1
- By: Dennis E. Taylor
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There's a reason We Are Legion was named Audible's Best Science Fiction Book of 2016: Its irresistibly irreverent wit! Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: Spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself.
-
-
Ignore the Publisher's Summary! This is Amazing!
- By PW on 04-12-17
By: Dennis E. Taylor
-
Black Ocean: Mercy for Hire
- Complete Collection: Missions 1-16
- By: J.S. Morin
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 92 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The galaxy’s worst bounty hunter just might be its most relentless hero. Esper Richelieu is a wizard with a mission: To make the galaxy a better place one lost soul at a time. Donning the trappings of an interstellar bounty hunter, she delves into the galaxy’s underworld to search out those most in need of help. Whether it’s a teenage runaway or an actor kidnapped by cultists, the victim comes first. Money is an afterthought. That confuses a lot of clients. But sometimes the best way to get someone to accept the help they need is to convince them to pay for it.
-
-
best bang for your sci-fi buck...period
- By M.P.I. on 10-28-20
By: J.S. Morin
-
Foundation (Apple Series Tie-in Edition)
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 12,000 years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future - to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire - both scientists and scholars - and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.
-
-
An unabridged classic but "Psychologist?!!"
- By Roger Lee on 04-07-13
By: Isaac Asimov
-
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep
- A Novel
- By: H. G. Parry
- Narrated by: Calum Gittins
- Length: 18 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For his entire life, Charley Sutherland has concealed a magical ability he can't quite control: He can bring characters from books into the real world. His older brother, Rob - a young lawyer with a normal house, a normal fiancee, and an utterly normal life - hopes that this strange family secret will disappear with disuse, and he will be discharged from his life's duty of protecting Charley and the real world from each other. But then, literary characters start causing trouble in their city, making threats about destroying the world...and for once, it isn't Charley's doing.
-
-
Exciting, Heartwarming, and Fun
- By Amazon Customer on 11-18-20
By: H. G. Parry
Publisher's Summary
The first novel of Kage Baker’s critically acclaimed, much-loved series, the Company, introduces us to a world where the future of commerce is the past.
In the 24th century, the Company preserves works of art and extinct forms of life (for profit of course). It recruits orphans from the past, renders them all but immortal, and trains them to serve the Company, Dr. Zeus, Inc. One of these is Mendoza, the botanist. She is sent to Elizabethan England to collect samples from the garden of Sir Walter Iden. But while there, she meets Nicholas Harpole, with whom she falls in love. And that love sounds great bells of change which will echo down the centuries, and through the succeeding novels of the Company.
Breathtakingly detailed and written with great aplomb, In the Garden of Iden is a contemporary classic of the science-fiction genre.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about In the Garden of Iden
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- A reader
- 10-21-11
Very different SF, both in performance and tone
So, this was interesting.
I was expecting the usual time-travel sort of science fiction - the protagonists visit the great events of the day to save Shakespeare from an assassin, the wisdom of future is used to comment on the past, etc. The Garden of Iden is not that kind of book. It is instead mostly a strange slice-of-life in an English manor during the great events of reformation and counter-reformation. And the characters, far from being wise beings from the future due to the interesting way that the late Ms. Barker uses time travel, are instead deeply flawed and fascinating people on not-very-important missions to do things like collect rare plants . At times the book seems to be a romance, at times an adventure story, at times a coming of age story, but it isn't really any of these. It is interesting, though, and incredibly well researched, and, despite meandering a bit, ultimately compelling.
And the reading! What an interesting approach to reading a first person narration - this piece is almost acted, somewhat petulantly. It was a highlight of the book, and one of the most interesting performances yet.
If you are tired of standard SF/Time Travel/Urban Fantasy tropes, this is a refreshing change, if an odd book. I can't say it was always a propulsive read, but it was very worthwhile and emotionally satisfying one.
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Anna
- 02-04-11
This Is A Wonderful Treat
I was utterly thrilled when I saw that the late Kage Baker's magnificent Company series had made it to Audible at last and I spent my last credit on this without thinking twice. And now I've listened to the recording I am even more thrilled - this is a wonderful treat. At first I was unsure about the bright tones of the narrator - so utterly unlike how I imagine everyone's favorite world-weary cyborg botanist Mendoza to sound - but after listening for a while I was won over. This book is read with great expressiveness, wit and charm, and the narrator gives the text its due. So many audiobooks seem to be read by automatons who appear to have never read the book prior to recording their narration and I am so glad that Kage Baker's work has been given to a narrator who cares about doing a good job.
And as for the book? If you don't know Kage Baker's Company series already I wish I was you so I could have the fun of reading these books for the first time all over again. In The Garden Of Iden is the beginning of one of the most inventive, intriguing series in SF - I honestly can't think of anything that beats it for breadth of vision. I don't want to give too much away, because figuring out what is going on is a lot of fun, but briefly: the main characters in this series are immortal cyborgs created from human children by a shadowy company that augments them, raises them, educates them, and sends them back in time to live and work though many thousands of years of human history (and prehistory!) collecting valuables for the Company and conducting research to create new valuables. Kage Baker had a true passion for history as well as speculative fiction and it shows. It's a joy to see the development of humanity through the eyes of her much put upon cyborgs. In this first book we meet Mendoza, a young cyborg taken by the Company from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition who now finds herself on her first mission, collecting botanical samples in Tudor England.
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jim "The Impatient"
- 10-12-13
Beer and Bread for Breakfast
WHAT A LONG LOVELY LOSE YOUR BALANCE TYPE OF KISS.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but this is another starts, great finishes weak book. Baker has a great outline for a time travel, Science Fiction, Cyborg, Immortal, Historical Fiction book. She gets you all excited with the first six chapters. Yet, it is only a tease as it turns into a Romance Novel, similar to Diane Gabalon, only not near as good. I like Historical Fiction and hate dry history books. I am not a great lover of English History (Kings and Queens, don't interest me much), but this seemed like a good way to learn about Bloody Mary and others. After six chapters it is almost strictly a romance. The set up to the story is almost not part of the rest of the book.
Narrator does not have that professional narrator voice and she does not do male voices well, but she did put her all into it and I believe she made the weak story a little better.
12 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- crazybatcow
- 04-18-13
If only I liked historical fiction...
This book had been on my wishlist for a very long time. But that was because I had thought it was a science fiction book about time travellers. It is not.
The back story (i.e. how the characters got to the 16th century) is science-fictiony, but the story itself is an attempt at a literary romance (with religious underpinnings) set in the 16th century. The only humor is in the anachronisms the author intentionally added to the story (i.e. the main character accidently shows a 16th century maid a magazine from the 23rd century... haha)
I read somewhere that it is similar to Connie Willis' books (To Say Nothing of the Dog, for example), and that is actually a very accurate comparison. I don't like historical fiction, and don't find this kind of humor funny, and don't really care about romance in the 16th century, or the religious underpinnings of that era... hence my great disappointment in this story.
If you like Willis' work, you will probably like this story. If you're looking for a science fiction take on time travel, you won't find it here.
Don't get me wrong - it's well written and somewhat engaging, it's just not a science fiction novel as I had expected. If you like historical fiction this is probably a pretty good one. (And I will re-iterate that I really don't enjoy historical fiction so the fact I even finished this book says something as to how well it was written.)
The narration is well-done. There is no gore or foul language and no descriptions of sex (people have it, it's just not described).
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Simone
- 10-21-12
Such An Intriguing Premise!
I like Time Travel stories and have not been this excited about one since reading ‘Blackout’ & ‘All Clear’ by Connie Willis in 2010, and in fact I can tell you that I enjoyed ‘In the Garden of Iden’ much more than those because (bear with me) it seemed more believable. Connie Willis’ future seemed too mechanical to me – not “techy” enough to be realistic… and YES I realize how ludicrous that all sounds.
This book hooked me right form the start with its captivating premise that Time Travel was invented out of necessity to test if the invention of immortality was successful! So intriguing! I did not realize when I started reading that this was book one in a series of (I think about) 10 books; I’m keyed up that there is more to look forward to. In this book, our heroine goes back to Elizabethan England and falls in love with a “local mortal”. I won’t tell you more because I don’t want to give away any spoilers.
While I don’t care for romances and that element in this story kind of slowed things down for me, I can still easily rate it as a favourite because the idea held my interest throughout the whole book, plus there is the promise of so many more interesting things to come over the course of the entire series – I am crazy curious!
Having said that, I won’t rush off and read Book Two (Sky Coyote) right away, I want to spread it out a little more and take my time with the series. I don’t want to gobble them all up and once and get sick of them.
The narration was fantastic so I am really disappointed that the rest of the series is not available on Audible. Maybe one day… let's hope!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. Rowan
- 04-29-12
Where oh where is #2?
Any additional comments?
I nearly abandoned this series after book one in print but was richly rewarded by the subsequent volumes.
The backstory is barely limned. The characters begin their development. And then it stops.
It gets considerably better. Where are the rest of them in audio format?
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- SoCalBonnie
- 11-10-12
The start of a first-class series
If you could sum up In the Garden of Iden in three words, what would they be?
Imaginative, entertaining, fresh
Who was your favorite character and why?
Joseph, the facilitator. At first glance, a company man who does what he needs to do to get the job done. Later you see there's a lot more to this guy: common sense up the wazoo but a softie at the core. He has heart.I'm glad he gets explored in more depth in Baker's later novels.
Have you listened to any of Janan Raouf’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
This is my first time with Ms. Raouf. Like one of the other commenters mentioned, her voice didn't at first fit my idea of the "world-weary Mendoza", but then it made sense. She's only 19, she's just a kid, and it all fits.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes.
Any additional comments?
I am so looking forward to the rest of "The Company Novels" as well as Kage Baker's collections of short stories. She is one of those incredible, yet under-appreciated authors who never fails to deliver a good tale. God bless Kage Baker, she left this earth too soon.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michale
- 04-16-12
I was enveloped by this story!
I was worried from reading some of the reviews that this would be a long, boring novel about boring things. It turned out to be thoroughly engaging from the very start. Cyborgs living in medieval England! How intriguing! The narration is witty, casual, and pleasant to the ears. The story revolves around the love affair of a mortal martyr and an immortal "operative", but it never feels like a romance novel. The fantasy aspect never feels far fetched either. I believed this story from beginning to end. I think the best books are the ones that make you forget you are reading/listening because they just smoothly carry you away. I was carried away by this one and I'm so glad I've finally discovered the Company series.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Will S
- 09-26-17
Didn't think I would like this but did, then not
I didn't think I was going to like this book and put off listening to it for a while after purchasing it. Turns out I enjoyed it a lot, until it turned into a romance novel.
***Mild Spoiler alert ***
The sci-fi premise of the story is great and I really enjoyed that part of the book so for the first third or so of the book I found it entertaining. The second two thirds of the book are mostly a historical fiction romance novel however, and though it was interesting for while it quickly became tiresome. I was hoping the story would move on from the love interest to something else, but it didn't until the last few minutes.
The lead in for a second book seems to have some promise as long as it doesn't follow the same trajectory of our heroine falling madly in forbidden love.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alicia K. Cox
- 12-05-12
Interested in what comes next...
The concept was good, and I am interested in getting a hold of books after this one, Some of the descriptions of the company seem like they will be better after the audience has had time to get their brains around the concepts of the company.
Good character voice recognition, but It dragged a bit at times...
I was playing this in the car, and a friend of mine was with me randomly in the middle of the book. They were comfortably listening to something that could have been a historic story, then the immortals are by themselves, and anachronistic abounds. The sputtering, and shock of my passenger as they start talking about robotic parts, and listing off animals and plants that would be extinct by X date.
2 people found this helpful
Related to this topic
-
Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
-
-
It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
-
Tremontaine, Season One
- 13 Book Series, Box Set
- By: Ellen Kushner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Malinda Lo, and others
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren, Nick Sullivan, Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 22 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a city that never was, sex, scandal, and swordplay combine in a melodrama of manners that takes listeners to a world inspired by Elizabethan London, 18th century Paris, and 1980s New York City. Sexuality is fluid, politics is everything, and outcasts are the tastemakers. Intrigue is afoot when a Duchess, a scholar, a swordswoman, and a genius, are brought together by long-buried lies and truths that cannot be denied.
-
-
Wonderful story, flawed narration
- By Kristin on 05-25-18
By: Ellen Kushner, and others
-
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
- By: Kelly Link - author/editor, Julia Whelan, Gavin J. Grant - editor, and others
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes, Nico Evers-Swindell, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.
-
-
MMMM, Orca Bacon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-14-13
By: Kelly Link - author/editor, and others
-
The Familiars
- By: Stacey Halls
- Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Fleetwood Shuttleworth is with child again. As the mistress of Gawthorpe Hall, she is anxious to provide her husband with an heir. But none of her previous pregnancies have come to term. Then she discovers a hidden letter from her physician that warns her husband that she will not survive another pregnancy. Distraught over the frightening revelation, Fleetwood wanders the woods of Pendle Hill, where she comes across a young local woman named Alice Gray who is gathering herbs. A midwife, Alice promises Fleetwood she can help her deliver a healthy baby.
-
-
good but not worth the big hype
- By R.F on 03-16-19
By: Stacey Halls
-
The Book of Magic
- By: Gardner Dozois - editor, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker, Sile Bermingham, Maxwell Caulfield, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois's acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf... and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda... and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore... and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped - or misshaped - by the potent magic they seek to wield.
-
-
some stinkers mostly good
- By M.T. on 12-11-18
By: Gardner Dozois - editor, and others
-
The Magicians
- A Novel
- By: Lev Grossman
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he's still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.
-
-
Not an average book
- By Kyle on 04-30-11
By: Lev Grossman
-
Wicked
- The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
- By: Gregory Maguire
- Narrated by: John McDonough
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.
-
-
It's not easy being green
- By PangaeaReads on 07-30-08
By: Gregory Maguire
-
Tremontaine, Season One
- 13 Book Series, Box Set
- By: Ellen Kushner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Malinda Lo, and others
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren, Nick Sullivan, Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 22 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a city that never was, sex, scandal, and swordplay combine in a melodrama of manners that takes listeners to a world inspired by Elizabethan London, 18th century Paris, and 1980s New York City. Sexuality is fluid, politics is everything, and outcasts are the tastemakers. Intrigue is afoot when a Duchess, a scholar, a swordswoman, and a genius, are brought together by long-buried lies and truths that cannot be denied.
-
-
Wonderful story, flawed narration
- By Kristin on 05-25-18
By: Ellen Kushner, and others
-
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
- By: Kelly Link - author/editor, Julia Whelan, Gavin J. Grant - editor, and others
- Narrated by: Sarah Coomes, Nico Evers-Swindell, Shannon McManus, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, and intrepid orphans - decked out in corsets, clockwerk suits, and tall black boots - solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.
-
-
MMMM, Orca Bacon
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-14-13
By: Kelly Link - author/editor, and others
-
The Familiars
- By: Stacey Halls
- Narrated by: Billie Fulford-Brown
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Young Fleetwood Shuttleworth is with child again. As the mistress of Gawthorpe Hall, she is anxious to provide her husband with an heir. But none of her previous pregnancies have come to term. Then she discovers a hidden letter from her physician that warns her husband that she will not survive another pregnancy. Distraught over the frightening revelation, Fleetwood wanders the woods of Pendle Hill, where she comes across a young local woman named Alice Gray who is gathering herbs. A midwife, Alice promises Fleetwood she can help her deliver a healthy baby.
-
-
good but not worth the big hype
- By R.F on 03-16-19
By: Stacey Halls
-
The Book of Magic
- By: Gardner Dozois - editor, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, and others
- Narrated by: Karissa Vacker, Sile Bermingham, Maxwell Caulfield, and others
- Length: 24 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois's acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf... and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda... and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore... and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped - or misshaped - by the potent magic they seek to wield.
-
-
some stinkers mostly good
- By M.T. on 12-11-18
By: Gardner Dozois - editor, and others
-
The Magicians
- A Novel
- By: Lev Grossman
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he's still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.
-
-
Not an average book
- By Kyle on 04-30-11
By: Lev Grossman
-
Tess of the Road
- By: Rachel Hartman
- Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons can be whomever they choose. Tess is none of these things. Tess is...different. She speaks out of turn, has wild ideas, and can't seem to keep out of trouble. Then Tess goes too far. Tess's family decide the only path for her is a nunnery. But on the day she is to join the nuns, Tess chooses a different path for herself. She cuts her hair, pulls on her boots, and sets out on a journey. She's not running away, she's running towards something.
-
-
Beautiful and Boring, Both.
- By Ryan on 04-05-19
By: Rachel Hartman
-
The Colour of Magic
- Discworld, Book 1
- By: Terry Pratchett
- Narrated by: Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place that might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. Particularly as it’s carried though space on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown). It plays by different rules. But then, some things are the same everywhere. The Disc’s very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the world’s first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land.
-
-
TERRIBLE Narration!
- By Kayla I on 07-08-22
By: Terry Pratchett
-
A Vision of Light
- A Margaret of Ashbury Novel, Book 1
- By: Judith Merkle Riley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret of Ashbury wants to write her life story. However, like most women in 14th-century England, she is illiterate. Three clerics contemptuously decline to be Margaret’s scribe, and only the threat of starvation persuades Brother Gregory, a Carthusian friar with a mysterious past, to take on the task. As she narrates her life, we discover a woman of startling resourcefulness.
-
-
Old fashioned heroine
- By Margaret on 06-22-13
-
Rip-Off!
- By: John Scalzi, Jack Campbell, Mike Resnick, and others
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton, Scott Brick, Christian Rummel, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Rip-Off!, 13 of today’s best and most honored writers of speculative fiction face a challenge even they would be hard-pressed to conceive: Pick your favorite opening line from a classic piece of fiction (or even non-fiction) - then use it as the first sentence of an entirely original short story.
-
-
When is a rip-off not a rip-off?
- By Julie W. Capell on 11-24-13
By: John Scalzi, and others
-
The Serpent Garden
- By: Judith Merkle Riley
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin
- Length: 18 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Susanna Dallet is the daughter of a Flemish painter and wife to a philandering husband, living in the court of Henry VIII. When her husband is murdered, Susanna is suddenly left with a household to provide for and nothing to her name. Her days of anonymity are over when Susanna finds that guild rules preventing women from working do not apply at the king’s court, and she manages to secure a position as a miniature-portrait painter. Before long, she has not only made a name for herself, she is close to those who surround Princess Mary. But even in this lofty company, Susanna is not safe....
-
-
DON'T FALL FOR THE PRINT VERSION AMAZON REVIEWS
- By The Louligan on 03-06-14
-
The House of the Stag
- By: Kage Baker
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before the Riders came to their remote valley, the Yendri led a tranquil, pastoral life. When the Riders conquered and enslaved them, only a few escaped to the forests. Rebellion wasn't the Yendri way; they hid, or passively resisted, taking consolation in the prophecies of their spiritual leader. Only one possessed the necessary rage to fight back: Gard the foundling, half-demon, who began a one-man guerrilla war against the Riders.
-
-
Delightfully humorous
- By Katherine on 09-09-11
By: Kage Baker