The Graveyard Game / Kage Baker

 

The Graveyard Game by Kage Baker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

If this is really how the 23rd century is going to be, count me relieved that I won't be around to experience it. Not only is veganism mandatory, but alcohol, coffee, tea, sugar, and chocolate are verboten. Even sex is coming to be frowned upon. So far they still seem to allow sleep, but who knows for how long? Anything remotely pleasurable seems to be suspect. Worse to my way of thinking: novels are a thing of the past!

Mendoza is still missing and her mentor, Joseph, and her friend, Lewis, have been looking for her for centuries. They've found lots of things, but not Mendoza (or her mortal lover, Edward Bell-Fairfax). Lewis is a literature specialist and has been using his research skills to trace both of these missing persons, but he has to be careful not to let the Dr Zeuss Company know what he's up to or what he's looking for. He and Joseph try not to meet too often, but occasionally vacation together in strategic locations. The Company monitors its cyborgs pretty closely, so they are both risking their freedom to investigate.

There is also the question of whether an immortal, self-repairing cyborg can be killed, or at least rendered inoperative. Some of them have been functional for millennia and have developed some strong opinions about the Company. Frankly, the 24th century employees don't seem to have the necessary guile or intelligence to manipulate their immortal employees. They are far too inhibited by their societal requirements to be politically correct at all costs. Can they truly be responsible for the Silence that falls in 2355?

There's a lot of intrigue, but few answers. I find it disappointing when there is no resolution to at least a couple of the main subplots by the end of a book. However, I have the next book waiting on my shelf, so I'll be able to continue on as planned in 2022.

Book Number 429 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.



View all my reviews