The Ecolitan Operation

Ecolitan Matter #1

by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Major Jimjoy Earle Wright, secret agent of the Empire, is intelligent and highly trained. But he succeeds all too well in overthrowing a military dictatorship--and the result is a new government inimical to the Empire and disgrace for Jimjoy. After surviving two assassination attempts, Jimjoy realizes that it's his own imperial superiors who want him dead; that, in fact, his worst enemies could become his best friends. He fights his way to safety on the planet Accord, where the Ecolitan Institute wins his loyalty and changes his identity. Now he is James Joyson Whaler, Ecolitan, in the middle of a war of independence against the inconceivably superior forces of the Empire.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera, Military Science Fiction, Military Fiction

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 2010

About the author

L. E. (Leland Exton) Modesitt, Jr. is an author of science fiction and fantasy novels. He is best known for the fantasy series The Saga of Recluce. He graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts, lived in Washington, D.C. for 20 years, then moved to New Hampshire in 1989 where he met his wife. They relocated to Cedar City, Utah in 1993.

He has worked as a Navy pilot, lifeguard, delivery boy, unpaid radio disc jockey, real estate agent, market research analyst, director of research for a political campaign, legislative assistant for a Congressman, Director of Legislation and Congressional Relations for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a consultant on environmental, regulatory, and communications issues, and a college lecturer and writer in residence.
In addition to his novels, Mr. Modesitt has published technical studies and articles, columns, poetry, and a number of science fiction stories. His first short story, "The Great American Economy", was published in 1973 in Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jimjoy is a trained operative & they gave him clear-cut instructions to immobilize a planetary military system. They told him it was important & didn't tell him there were limits. Just get the job done, but he's a borderline sociopath. That's what they thought they wanted & needed in a special operative. They didn't realize just what they'd turned loose on the galaxy, though.

In his own words, ..."If you don't decide how to balance the ends and means before you start, you don't have a prayer, not in anything important. You decide your ultimate goal first. Then you adopt a strategy that goes with your principles. Then you plan tactics. If it won't work, you either abandon the goal or decide that it's more important than one of the principles getting in the way...."

Jimjoy has a very logical & ruthless way of balancing the scales which allows Modesitt to balance power & ethics even in this early book, a typical theme.

He's chary of filling in gaps & thinks the reader should do so. Generally, that's a trait I admire, but I had some trouble at places in this book. There were a few times I had to reread & in at least one situation, I still couldn't wring any sense out of the end of a conversation. Still, it was fast paced & exciting the whole way through. A lot of fun.

Just FYI, but this is the second book published in the series, but does come first chronologically. Definitely read it before The Ecologic Secession. The first book published is The Ecologic Envoy, but it comes third & The Ecolitan Enigma is last. The first 2 books don't share characters with the last 2 & they're separated by quite a bit of time, IIRC. Been a while since I last read them.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Modesitt’s early work is interesting. He remains consistent thematically, considering ethics and power as they relate to society. This book falls somewhat short, though, of his latter works. It has an abruptness that distracts from and confuses the plot. Only through knowledge of where he tends to go, and the messages that he tends to consider, made it easy for me to follow the motivations of the characters. I was impressed, though, with the character of Wright. He is quite interesting, and his theory of action has some appeal, though most would make different judgments on value.

Recommended provisionally; if you want to get into Modesitt’s works, start elsewhere. For those who have enjoyed his work in the past, it’s an interesting look at his earlier takes on his preferred themes.

[Anatoly · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. May have been marginally better as a graphic novel.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will review at www.fantasyliterature.com.

[Pickyreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and exciting. Love the inner dialogue of the Jimjoy. Will certainly read the next.

[Leo Goldin]

after 50% - very slow

[Boremomsn.Com · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 4th Modesitt book I've read. I enjoyed this, the prose is easy to read. On the other hand, what isn't so easy is understanding where the story is going and how the protagonist will plan on getting there. This is the story of Jimjoy Wright whom everyone seems out to kill. He foils assination attempt after assasination attempt and we learn about the variouis settings as he experiences them. The issue is lines like, "He grinned." It is synonymous with 'I got this' and then Jimjoy swings in to action and takes care of the problem. Maybe that qualifies as foreshadowing, but I would say not. It's telling the story by the seat of your pants and the reader reads it by the seat of his/her pants. And what this, the second book in the serious, has to do with the first book is anyone's guess. I didn't see the connection other than the planet Accord, and this time, it was told from the 'Imperialist' point of view. I felt off kilter through the entire book.

[Thom Stratton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not my favorite L.E. Modesitt Jr. novel, but it was entertaining. I'm accustomed to a fair amount of socio-political and economic discourse in his works, but this one seemed both light and heavy at the same time. It seemed a bit much to go to the effort he did to establish a protagonist horrific in his lethality, then continually call attention to it for the remainder of the book. He left a lot of things vague, but that was one message he wanted to make sure we got. Repeatedly.

Ultimately, however, this is setting up a series, so I suspect the theme will be treated with greater nuance and sophistication going forward. I would hope that our protagonist is at the beginning of his character arc and has a great deal of development ahead of him. I'm just still trying to decide if I care enough to take that journey with him.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened. None of the characters are even close to likable and all are perfectly flat. Likely the latter is at least partially responsible for the former. And the only indirectly-related three-ish kinda-episodes don't make for an even remotely smooth and understandable plot. I've liked most all of Modesitt's other titles a lot, but this one is barely OK.

[Liviu · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I have read the final 2 books of the Accord sequence some years back, I never got to the early ones and after the debacle of the ending in the Ethos effect, I decided a more fun adventure novel is in order and this definitely delivered; quite old style sf, but I quite enjoyed it end to end

[Curt Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those novels where I had to work extra hard to suspend disbelief, there are some leaps that are pretty hard to swallow but if you can ignore those this is a pretty good read.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK spy/SF thriller but the protagonist is just a bit too bloody minded and pragmatic for my tastes. His later SF books are better.

[Victor Vilchiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times the chapter transitions felt to skip chunks of time.

[Cris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book about an ethical killer. Just as good on second reading.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

18 I didn't manage to finish this one so I will that phrase stand on its own. (haha)

[Chip Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the entirety of Modesitt's Saga of Recluce, I thought I would check out some of his science fiction. The Ecolitan Matter series had received good marks, so I picked up the first of the series, THE ECOLITAN OPERATION (published 1989). The story follows Major Jimjoy Wright, a brilliant and ruthless Imperial special operative, through a series of worldview-changing events, where his victory-at-any-cost methods get him on the wrong side of his own government. Unfortunately for the government, they choose to take a rather indirect way of handling Jimjoy's termination, and he is able to overcome impossible odds to not only survive, but to take out a sizeable portion of the Empire's forces in doing so. This is an exciting story whose central character, while like-able, is hard not to condemn for his wholesale killing of mostly-innocent people.

Some aspects of THE ECOLITAN OPERATION were familiar from the Recluce saga. The heavy reliance on textual sound effects, something Modesitt has toned down in his more recent work, was very much on display here. "Whzzz", "Thrum", "Crrrump" give reading this book (and many of his other books) the feeling of a Batman comic book. And your eyes can't help noticing a "AAAAAIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" on the next page, giving good warning to what should be a shocking surprise. Another familiar aspect was the near-total absence of what the characters are thinking. Modesitt feels very little need to reveal the minds of his characters, so you mostly just watch Jimjoy creatively solve complex problems without understanding what he is doing or why. This was something I had found annoying about some of the Recluce books, and I found it annoying here too. I would much rather feel like I understood Jimjoy's intentions before the act is done. And the same goes for his motivations and feelings. On the other hand, a very positive aspect of THE ECOLITAN OPERATION was the use of cool and feasible-seeming technology. From weapons to clothing to space flight, the tech here was right on, and inclines me to seek out more Modesitt SF.

The Ecololitan Matter series continues with The Ecologic Secession, The Ecologic Envoy, andThe Ecolitan Enigma. Two omnibus editions, each containing two novels, are also available: Empire and Ecolitan (books 1-2) and Ecolitan Prime (books 3-4).

[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found it difficult to get into the story, everything about the book seemed very shallow and vague. You don't really know what's going on, and the characters don't show any real depth. Not enough actual story happens; mostly we're following Jimjoy as he tries to not be killed. I'm vaguely interested in what happens next, but not enough to continue reading. Will probably end up forgetting I ever read this, because the book was mostly forgettable.

[F. Stephan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the early works from L.E. Modesitt Jr. Naturally, his more recent stories have improved. Yet, there is a strength, a directness in this story that made it fascinating for me. The transformation of the character, the politics at play in this universe, the description of the power struggle are very precise and interesting. I really love this.

[Clyde · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, how do I put this? The story is well written. L.E. Modesitt is a good wordsmith. However, I couldn't quite warm to the morally grey main character. He is smart, very competent, seems to be an alright guy with principles. But, he sometimes does terrible things because, … well … that is his job or he thinks that those things need to be done. 🤔
So then, 3 kinda reluctant stars.

[NebulousGloom (FK) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable if somewhat shallow read. The story is good but the setting lacks depth (you get the impression that the author probably has an idea of it, but the reader doesn't get much information). Certainly worth reading.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book far more than expected. A portion is very predictable to this author but enough was different that I found it kinda refreshing. I flew through it in a couple hours and am looking forward to reading the whole series.

[Jamie Barrows · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, though a little more disjointed than most of Modesitt's stuff. I think that might be because the book is one of his earlier books.
It's a nice scifi spy thriller.

[Steve Pillinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting story, though slow to get into, as with many of Modesitt's first-in-series novels. What knocked half a star off for me, though, was the utterly stoopid name of the hero: "Jimjoy", for cryin' out loud!