There's nothing more delicious than a really good villain and Kage Baker serves up a couple of them in this installment: Labienus and Victor, immortals who have agendas of their own. They are quite convinced that they know better than Dr Zeus Company, and certainly better than humans, who they refer to as “the monkeys.” We get the views of both characters, so we know that they despise one another while working together. Really effective bad guys can't be of the mustache-twirling variety, and both Labienus and Victor have ideals that they are working towards, goals that they believe are worthy, even if it's the takeover of the world at the point where the record is cut off.
Baker also has an interesting take on time travel, namely that written history can't be messed with, but anything in the “event shadow," the unrecorded details around the record, can be manipulated by someone determined to claim influence. We see none of the future Dr Zeus employees in this novel and are left wondering if they know nothing of their cyborgs' plots. Truthfully, they have seemed none to bright in past volumes, certainly not up to the challenge of running the complex company. Plus they seem to be scared of their immortal employees. Despite this, they are still ordering the production of more cyborgs, so they can't be aware of too much plotting.
Mendoza gets mentioned a couple of times, although we don't get to see her. We learn more about her love interest, Alec/Edward/Nicholas, as part of Labienus' machinations, showing that Baker has a well plotted, rather convoluted plan running through her series. She is very adept at leaving each book with a satisfying ending, but with enough questions still unresolved to draw her readers along.
Book Number 458 of my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project
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