Sky Coyote (A Novel of the Company, Book 2)

Second book in the Company series; this one switches focus from Mendoza to Joseph, and in doing so gives us a more detailed look at the history of The Company and some of their past actions. At the same time, we are in the “present” of 1700, where Joseph has to preserve a tribe of Chumash natives from being wiped out by other tribes and European conquerors.

Once again, I'm really impressed with Baker's ability to develop character through voice - I feel like I've got a good feeling that I know who Joseph is from listening to him talk, even when he's not talking about himself. When he is, though, he seems more self-aware than Mendoza was, too, which is nice - he describes himself at one point as a cross between Bugs Bunny and Phillip Marlowe, which is an excellent description.

Baker's characterization of the Chumash - that despite being Stone Age natives, they are people and therefore not really all that different from us - was well done, and their civilization seemed nicely fleshed out.

Oddly, though, this seems to have been written like the end of Joseph's story, but having read later books in the series, I know it's not.