The Sons of Heaven
| Author | Kage Baker |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Company |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
|
Publication date
|
July 2007 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 431 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 85814207 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3552.A4313 S66 2007 |
| Preceded by | The Machine's Child |
| Followed by | none |
The Sons of Heaven is a science fiction novel written by Kage Baker. It is the last in her series of novels about The Company.
The Company, formally known as Dr. Zeus Inc., exists in the 24th century but employs immortal cyborgs to recover and save valuable artifacts in the past. The cyborgs are created by taking suitable children who would otherwise die and augmenting them with artificial components, physiological enhancements, and nanotechnology to continually repair their bodies so that they never age or die. In exchange for the gift of health and immortality they work to preserve the past for sale in the future.
Some cyborgs are corrupt, plotting against the Company and each other for the prize they expect to gain when they finally reach the 24th century, when they believe they will take over from the mortals who run the Company. Others despise mortals and plot to eliminate them. More benign factions try to counter them. Some individuals just want revenge.
The novel brings together the various threads begun during previous volumes. It takes place mostly in the 24th century, over the final 20 years leading up to the Silence in 2355, the point beyond which the future of the Company is unknown.
The Botanist Mendoza, disabled and psychologically scarred by the attempts of the Company to destroy her, is dealing with the three incarnations of her lover, whom she first knew as Nicholas Harpole in the 16th century. Two of them are imprisoned in her cyborg mind, while the third, the Victorian secret agent Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax, has taken over the body of the latest incarnation, Alec Checkerfield. Edward is showing signs of megalomania. The four of them, along with Alec's artificial intelligence known as Captain Morgan, are hiding in the deep past, hundreds of thousands of years before the present. This is to allow them to recover from their trials and mount their own campaign against the company, for which they laid the foundations in The Machine's Child.
In the 24th century, Facilitator Joseph, having given up his quest for Mendoza after she disappeared, is putting the fix in again. This time it is on behalf of his own foster-father, the Enforcer Budu, who is intent on destroying the Company in his own way. To do this he will revive the army of Enforcers who have slept in Company bunkers for millennia, like heroes out of legend. Strangely, William Randolph Hearst is a necessary part of this plan, even if Hearst would like to be the hero Roland.
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