Mendoza in Hollywood

Kage Baker

A couple of years ago I discovered Kage Baker and her captivating series of "The Company" and "Mendoza", an immortal operative for same. This is the third book in the series and like its predecessors, it's full of punch, humor, romance, time travel, history, and characters who leave an impression.

The Company, operating under the name Dr. Zeus, painstakingly selects individuals from centuries long past, endows them with immortality, gives them professions which befit, and sends them off into the past to collect, examine, and preserve those parts of our history which will eventually become extinct. Mendoza, a female operative, discovered and collected by Dr Zeus during the Spanish Inquisition, is your narrator and main character for all these adventures. She's a botanist, trained to collect specimens of flora enroute to the extinction train, and preserve them for the future. She's bright, stubborn, witty, and just enough of an independent thinking mind to bring episodes of grief to Dr. Zeus.

Baker develops the character of Mendoza with great skill, and she never leaves the characters upon which Mendoza spins her tales lacking. She also knows her history and much research goes into each of these books, giving the reader a good insight into that period in time. If, like me, you're someone who closes the door when the word "history" is murmured, but you love a good rollicking tale of time travel, Baker's books may appeal. She manages to balance these two elements with good precision, and the reader enjoys a great story and can't help but to learn some history along the way. Oh and did I mention romance? Yes, Baker tosses that into the mix, but never miscalculates her measurements, just enough to appeal, but not so much that the genre is threatened with displacement.

If all of the preceding elements appeal to you as a reader, then you really should add Baker to your stacks.