The job as gardeners given by god to those two, may well be a question of maintaining them occupied. You know, doing nothing is the root of evil :) , thus giving tasks and rules may well have been the way to test the human capabilities to work for the master. I believe making an animal intelligent enough to undergo difficult tasks as maintaining a garden ;D and control the inner force to search for freedom is a difficult equilibrium, and hence a lot of monitoring is required. Walking around the garden talking to the humans, may have been a way to control the mental development (or the flow of information about the world) of his creations rather than to have really nice conversations.

The serpent: as far as I have read in the bible, the serpent didnt lie once.

1. The serpent said you shall not die, as soon as the woman said god had told her they would die if eating the fruit of the tree. They didn't die from eating the fruit, which makes god a lier, not the serpent.
2. You will be as god, meaning that they could also distinguish between good and evil, which is actually the effect after eating the fruit. That is also true then.
3. You really believe god and his 2 human creations had unhindered communication ? really? It seems a little innocent to think one can talk to his creator and expect an answer, or a true answer, or even a true answer that contains the information expected by the one who asks.

And finally how can anyone blame the 2 humans to have brought death into the world if they were the only 2 humans in the world? or may be was death to the .... horses? cows? goats? rabbits? rain forest?

note: I never liked Zachariah´s work, everything is very convenient, like any religion which has everything answered, and if it isnt, lets make hugeeee assumptions to cover the holes.

@beltashazzar, I am having a good time chating with you about these delicate matters. Thank you!