The Elysium Commission

by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

The Elysium Comission is a science-fiction novel set in the far future. It follows private investigator Blaine Donne as he investigates several cases. One of his cases includes finding the link between a a shady entertainment mogul, a brilliant social scientist and this mysterious project named Elysium, a project that could potentially destroy their planet.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction Fantasy

Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

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]

What a fun read! A good mystery wrapped in SF is a treasure for me combining two of my favorite genres. This one was a bit too mysterious at times & not helped by quite a few strange names. You really need to remember all the names & I found that tough at times.

But two wonderful quotes came out of this book & are now added to GR:
Deities are invented by fallible and finite beings in the hope and desire to create immortal perfection; unfortunately, such deities only reflect their creators and inspire their followers to similar imperfections.

Hatred is a form of faith, distilled by passion to remove all rationality.

I especially like the last one, but each chapter starts with one, so there are plenty to choose from.

As usual, the characters are mysterious & the world/characters & all have stringent limits on them as Modesitt's economic background shines into a new civilization. People have a lot more toys, but they're still the same, too. He makes the future fantastic almost mundane. Love it!

[Tim Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

_The Elysium Commission_ by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is basically a somewhat film noir-ish style private investigator story set in the far future. The setting is the planet Devanta, many centuries in the future from now, a setting in which humanity has spread among the stars and a number of different human civilizations exist out in the galaxy. The main character is Blaine Donne, a former special operative who was medically retired and now works as a private detective, looking into a number of different things for various generally wealthy clients. Donne is hired to look into a number of different cases (the character made a point to comment how fiction that depicts private investigators with only one client and one case at a time as unrealistic), cases which during the course of the book start (mostly) to tie together, pointing to a powerful adversary and a real danger to the security of not only himself but to his entire planet.

I generally liked the book, the main character was likable, had a wry sense of humor, poked a little fun at other depictions of private investigators, and the story unfolded in an interesting space opera-ish style setting. There was a fair amount of action, particularly at the climatic end, and there were some twists and turns as some of the other characters in the book were not as they first appeared. Donne had a close friendship and working relationship with his sister and later her business partner, and I liked how that was handled.

The setting of Devanta was interesting, as it was an obviously terra formed world, a world that was being actively being manipulated and maintained to be comfortable to the French-Italian culture that was planted there, a society that was run by women (though not anti-male and the government employed many men).

One of the odd things about the book I thought though was that Donne liked to go out at night, not quite in costume but might as well have, and find wrongs and right them, stopping street crime generally. While interesting, it wasn't especially well-explored and the chapters in which these events were described seemed mildly jarring, that they didn't quite fit in with the smooth flow of events as Donne set out to solve various mysteries and evade those who were trying to stop him (ie kill him).

Another thing I thought was unusual was in how the bad guys were presented. It was a pair of villains, presented to the reader in occasional chapters showing action and scenes where Donne was not present. A good idea, but they were told from the point of view of Maraniss, one of the two villains, using the first person perspective. It was a little jarring to me, as at first I thought that the "I" was Blaine Donne and I (the reader) was thoroughly confused, at least for a moment. I don't know that I would have written the villains' chapters from that perspective. I also thought that the villains could have been a bit better fleshed out, particularly Maraniss.

A big complaint I had was the back cover blurb. The threat it described was a huge, huge spoiler, one not really evident to the reader until close to 200 pages into the book! Most of the book Donne is trying to find out just what Elysium is, as that was one of his commissions he received early on from a client, while the back cover pretty much tells you what Elysium is! I don't mind if book reviews and back cover summaries tell you something that happens pretty early on in the book, even if that event is not evident from page one, but this was too much!

I also found some the far future slang/terminology a bit hard to follow at times. While I didn't have any trouble following motivations or the action of the storyline, some of the terminology could have been a bit better explained, particularly the sexual orientation terminology, as someone for instance could be a samer, a hidden samer, straight, or straight-straight. Maybe include a dictionary in future editions? I think it realistic for science fiction novels to include terms and jargon that most people couldn't imagine today, that makes a lot of sense, but it should be made a tad clearer what these terms mean.

Having said all that, I did like the book even if it is not one of Modesitt`s best (his best by far are the Ghost books). I would like to read further adventures of Blaine Donne, particularly if he went off world. The book had a fast pace and the author did a good job writing dialogue as well as action scenes.

[Mark Muckerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part of me wants to cheat and just say "read the other 2 & 3 star review - I concur". However, reading should stimulate individual thought and individual thought should yield personal commentary, so . . .

Just a two star book. I'm a big fan of Modesitt (and not just the Recluse work), but this one falls a bit short on execution and readability. The premise is excellent, and I could see an ongoing series of Blaine Donne adventures - the P.I. of the future who sidelines as a vigilante offers great promise, and Modesitt is an excellent writer.

However this story never seemed to quite clearly develop - multiple story lines (which may or may not have been materially interconnected) were hard to follow, the varying first person narration style (especially when switching between narrators) was confusing, and the wrap up at the end all seemed to be missing a few key ingredients throughout, which failed to provide just that bit of clarity or revelation that allows the reader to have that "aha - I get it now" moment.

Still decent storytelling, but not Modesitt at his finest. I would be interested to see what he would do if he sat down and gave this one a re-write today.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

...I do think that Modesitt leans on what he has done before a bit too much in this novel. Not so much in terms of characters (an often heard criticism of his work) but thematically. Over the course of many novels he's laid out a structure of ethics, views on society and human nature that is so central to his work that it is almost misleading to consider The Elysium Commission a standalone story. The author builds on the foundations he has laid in earlier books. They are so interlinked in a way that you will get more out of this novel if you have read more of his work. If you like Modesitt's writing you can't really go wrong with this one, but if you are looking for a good entry point into his oeuvre I'd look elsewhere.

Full Random Comments review

[Joy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure if this is part of a larger universe or not, but the learning curve was steep and I don’t think I ever caught up. Too many names, too many acronyms, too many complex ideas only given a paragraph. Rather anti-climactic too when all is said and done. A swift wrap up that felt too easy. I guess for me the only redeeming value was that this is the story of a sci-fi PI.

[Robie Trites · Rating 5 out of 5]

An action packed read. I would have liked more world building. However, each character has great depth, even if it from the perspective of Blaine. Still, would make a great movie!

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Before I rant, I want to say I generally enjoy Modesitt's books. The Magic of Recluse and The Parafaith War are part of the reason I enjoy Science Fiction and Fantasy today. However, this book is awful. I'll start with the story. The main character is a detective that basically solves cases by doing Google searches. Then when the author didn't know how to wrap things up, he pulled a Deus ex machina. There is a jarring difference in the story between the "detective" part and the "sci-fi" part. There was also a few random chapters about a shadow knight, and honestly the story would have been better without them. The idea was never developed and it really had no bearing on the story as a whole.

The next problem I have is all the weird names. The author used his own names for days of the week and time, add to that all the weird names for people and I was thoroughly confused. Who was that? When are they doing what? The people in the story are from "Old Earth" so why wouldn't the names have carried over?

The last thing I want to mention is the emphasis on characters sexual preference. Every character is introduced like this: John Smith is a Samer-Straight. Jane is a Samer. Mark is a Samer-Samer. First of all it's convoluted, and secondly who talks like that? Hi, this is Sam, he's bisexual. Joe is straight, and Lisa is mostly straight with bisexual tendencies. It really had no bearing on the story, and just added to the confusion. If you have a character that's gay, tell us, but don't beat us over the head with it on every single page.

So in summery, this book irritated me. I don't recommend it at all.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished this book. I accidentally had it marked as previously read, by some mistake. But I definitely have not read it before.

And it was my least favorite of Modesitt's books. In general, it is too obscure and cloaked in technobabble to make much sense. I think his books are generally philosophical exercises disguised as fiction, with some mundane life description put in. I love the mundane life description and it is decent. But I think, in general, this book had too much fictional technology that was inadequately explained, distracting and detracting from everything.

Furthermore, this book did discuss homosexuality and transsexuality as something... accepted in the world... but at one point there was a little speech seemingly against that attitude, favoring 'fixing' infants with nonconforming genetics before birth. I'm not sure if that is the author's view, and generally he seems to oppose religion, but he seemed to suggest religion in this world was pro-natural children and science was pro-genetic manipulation.

Essentially, this book seemed like a mess of obscurity done wrong and I hope none of his other books turn out like this one.

[Des · Rating 3 out of 5]

A prolific writer, Modesitt has invented a variety of universes, each a bit different, and he writes good economic- and politically-based science fiction. The quality of his writing can be pretty variable, but I still enjoy his books.

But I had to work to even finish this one. The premise is promising: a male private detective in a society run by and whose royalty are women. But that premise is never fully developed. The private detective/protagonist also has a Dark Knight role, but that's never developed, either. He doesn't take assignments; he takes commissions. Hence, the title. And he does, indeed take the Elysium commission, even if he only figures it out afterwards. The rest of the novel is similarly fragments and undeveloped. The protagonist, as another reviewer has noted, is yet another iron-grey-haired guy who wears black a lot.

And when the plot drops into military action at the end, you won't be the only reader who wonders wear that came from.

Modesitt has written far better books. For example, the recent "Eternity Artifact" is superior in every way.

[Luis Odicio · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first book from Modesitt but perhaps not my last.

If i understood right the author placed this story in a universe of his creation in which some of his previous books were located. If that's the case then reading the previous books may have given me a better idea of to understand the society in which the book is written.

I was 3/4 into the book when i was just starting to understand the way things the society and it's tiers worked.

The story is not bad, but i probably would have enjoyed it more if things have been slightly simplified or a small intro would have been added at the beginning to make it easier for the reader to get a handle of all the ways all the characters interact as members of their society.

Cloak and Dagger style is fine, mystery is one thing, confusion is another.

I will consider reading previous works from this author.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A science fiction/detective novel that takes place on another world involving a private investigator, organized crime, and a scientist creating an alternative universe. Interesting plot, but not very inspired writing.

[Eamonn Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

L.E. Modesitt, Jr is perhaps better known for his many fantasy novels, ‘The Saga Of Recluce’ above all, but he turns out a fair bit of Science Fiction, too. ‘The Elysium Commission’ falls into this category and is also a detective novel. Science Fiction detective novels are a venerable category going back to Isaac Asimov’s 1954 novel ‘The Caves Of Steel’, if not further. Combining the complex plot of a good detective story with the complex background of a good Science Fiction novel can make things…well, complex. Be prepared to focus for the first few chapters of this book as it contains much information and many names to remember. The first three chapters were so good I read them twice, though I was tired the first time. I must admit that I was confused at times by later chapters and wasn’t sure what the hell was going on.

In summary, Blaine Donne is our hero and the first person narrator of this adventure. He is a retired military special operative, now for hire as a private investigator. Business has been slack and he’s short on credits but in chapter three, he gets two commissions. One is from Seldara Tozzi, a very rich widow and patron of the arts. Her great-granddaughter is setting out to marry an unsuitable chap, Guillaume Richard Dyorr, a scoundrel who represents himself as ‘straight-straight’ but may actually be keeping another man. It’s his misrepresentation, not his sexual orientation, that bothers the grande dame. She wants Blaine to get the goods on him. The second case is from another lady, Seigniora Elisabetta Reynarda. She wants to find out the exact relationship between Eloi Enterprises, Judeon Maraniss and Elysium. Our hero knows that Eloi Enterprises is a gigantic media and entertainment empire but the other names are a mystery. Elysium, of course, is a word used for many enterprises down the ages, from hotels to consulting firms. He has a lot of work to do.

The novel is set in one of those far distant futures where competing interstellar powers occupy the galaxy, where men can become women and women become men, where technology can do just about anything. Our hero’s home planet is ruled by a Sisterhood and not democratic but that doesn’t bother him too much. He has seen worse democracies. Interestingly, as in many such novels, the character of man (and woman) has not much improved in the far future. Nor has society generally, though advanced technology makes it very comfortable for many. Surely, one reason for the popularity of ‘Star Trek’ is its vision of a better future for humanity, albeit one besieged by Klingons, Cardassians and super-powered whales. The more realistic vision is more likely to be true, if the future follows history, but the Trekkie vision is much nicer.

As in the ‘Imager Portfolio’ series, L.E. Modesitt goes in a lot for French place names: Nouvelle Seine, Left Bank and so on. It goes well, this Gallic air, with his love of good food and wine which is adoringly described as usual. Perhaps we should call him Le Modesitt as his surname is of French origin. There is also a bit of barbed sophistication about the social interchanges among the rich elites he describes. They don’t quite say what they mean but their meaning can be inferred by one who knows the code. As Le Modesitt spent some time in Washington politics, I can only assume that this kind of thing and he does it well, reflects his own experience of a certain social scene. In general, his books are about successful, powerful people competing for high stakes. This novel is no exception.

I’ve enjoyed a half dozen or so of Modesitt’s fantasy novels and a volume of his Science Fiction short stories but this is the first SF novel of his that I’ve read. Despite getting a bit lost in the middle, indicating either a very complicated plot or my grey matter shrinking with age (probably the latter), I was very happy with the book by the time I reached the end. Everything was wound up in a satisfactory manner and I set it aside with a satisfied sigh. Hopefully, other readers will do likewise.

Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/

[Eric Duchinsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good stuff or 'why I finished this book': World building, some very good 'turns of phase', and the "Raymond Chandler-esque" writing style superimposed on sci-fi.

Other stuff or 'why you will be glad to be finished with this book': The main character is flat and a bit of a derp. The amount of philosophizing. The missed opportunities for more interesting characterizations.

I enjoyed it as an exercise in a new (to me) writing structure and world building through main characters everyday life.

[Gail Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

great ride; Sam Spade meets Star Trek. Very good reading.

[Morgan McGuire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great Blade Runner / Altered Carbon / Neuromancer vibe and world, but also held back by Tom Clancy-level big dick manly man stuff that is pretty tired and obnoxious in sci-fi.

[Natty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Modesitt style and world building. Felt a bit space opera of a Robin Hood style archetype with a bit of James Bond style thrown in and some clever literary references. Very good.

[Nick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Private-eye with old-fashioned integrity. Long-winded prose, but story kept me reading, just.

[Kyle Cisco · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid noir crime story wrapped in a thin science fiction veneer. It’s was a good story but not his best work.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather confusing story that is above all things science fiction but also a sort of a military sci-fi mixed with a PI novel. Blaine Donne is ex-SpecOps and takes on commissions for unusual requests: locating people, possibly offering threats, finding evidence to support someone's claim etc. He is asked from a shady character to look into any links between two men and something called Elysium. Because this is a "real" career and not something on TV he also takes simultaneous jobs and in some ways they overlap and interconnect.

Looking at other reviews, perhaps I was a bit confused because Modesitt writes in this universe often? This is my first go of it and as such I felt like I was just plopped down in some far future and everything just started happening. By the end I could figure out most of it, but things by the end could have been developed a bit more, in my opinion.

It was a good read nonetheless, if for no other reason than to see one author's take on humanity post Earth diaspora and far fetched technologies of which there are boundless examples including but not limited to nano-armor suits, mental implants, cloning, virtual presences and on and on.

There was constant action, which was nice, some backdoor romance that all of a sudden manifested once the characters sat down and thought about things a minute, and lots of bad people getting their due. I feel like some answers were left unsolved, but with only 336 pages, this was a tightly compact adventure.

[Lhavanya Dl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of Modesitt's best works but not too bad either. Blaine Donne's character appealed to me and the storyline made for a decent read. I didn't find the intrigue and mystery in this one very erm... mysterious. You kind of know everything already and you're just waiting for most of the events to unfold.

Modesitt brings in this whole thing about samers, straight-straights and whatnot. But it seems to be more in passing mention. I felt there was a lot more stuff to it that was left unexplained or unexplored. It would have been interesting to develop the world and the social and cultural aspects abit more. Then again I'm a fan of that kind of stuff in a sci-fi work so maybe that's just me.

Also most of his investigative work doesn't seem particularly exciting (I suppose that is how it is in real life... but still!) and I just kept thinking to myself, this guy seems to be rather shite at googling things:P

All in all, I wouldn't say you've wasted your life if you read this, but if you have better books to read then please do.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reads to me a bit like a re-run of The Octagonal Raven by the same author. Which isn't a bad thing, I really like that book. We have a main character with very similar competencies and skills, a similar job, the romance subplot hits the same themes, the forces the main character is up against are similarly oppressive and widespread, etc. However, in the Octagonal Raven, the main character devises a plot and takes action, here the action is thrust upon the protagonist, who doesn't quite figure things out in time.

It's still a fun book, and definitely worth a read for fans of the author, and others who like action packed yet somewhat thoughtful books.

[Taldragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blaine Donne is a retired military operative currently working as a problem-solver for hire. when he gets a flurry of small and unrelated cases, some of which link into something neither small nor unrelated...Blaine is drawn into a situation he had no idea existed.

as usual, L E Modessit's prose is straightforward but charming with a world that feels real - internal logic and all :) - and characters i could relate to.

the science in The Elysium Commission is, unlike Brazyl which i read just before it, basic enough to be understandable but not condescending or patronising.

[Doreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have probably enjoyed this book more if I were more technology-oriented. All the scientific and flight terms flew over my head (ha!), and I didn't feel personally engaged through what I'm sure were thrilling scenes. I did enjoy the private-eye scenes, and thought well of the interpersonal scenes, even if some felt like set pieces (particularly the Siendra and Krij scenes.) I think my main complaint is the slight disjointedness of the narrative. To a certain extent, that's the point, but it doesn't make for very smooth reading, and the plot isn't clever enough to make up for it.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and exciting, but suffered from the number of fringe character names we needed to keep track of. Blaine Donne had several cases going at once, and the narrative gave us too few clues to connect the names with the cases.

As I started the read I was reminded immediately of FLASH, without the extended set-up. I solved the name problem by going back to the beginning when I was more than halfway through. With the background I now had, and by writing the names down as I came to them, I was able to read the whole book through quickly and enjoyably.

[Theresa DePaepe · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first book by this author. As a long-time and avid lover of science fiction, I was disappointed. Themes and characters introduced but not fully developed. I was tempted to abandon this book until I was nearly 2/3 of the way through it when it finally picked up. I read based on the recommendation of my (now deceased) BIL and will try another one before abandoning this author altogether. I feel like the author was more interested in making up names for things than in truly concentrating on the story and characters.

[Cris · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent hard-boiled sci-fi mystery. Not Modesitt's greatest work. The beginning was confusing because everything's first person pov, but the pov shifted with each chapter. And since many of the chapters were short (we're talking 1-2 pages at the beginning), there were more than a few chapters that I had *no* idea who I was following.

The ending felt a little rushed and anticlimactic. And the characters weren't really well-developed.

[Steven Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like this author's Recluse series, but for some reason I cannot get into his other science fiction. I read this book, quickly hoping that it would get better - it never did. Rather predictable outcome, and shallow characters, that I could tell were merely set dressing or cannon fodder. Disappointing read from such a great author on the story line but awesome tech details, with vivid descriptions of pocket universes, parallel worlds, and other hi-tech futuristic items.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

You wouldn't know it, but it's a private eye mystery. Kind of. The science was pretty weakly explained or not explained, the action was okay, the mystery part was okay, but the action parts were really small compared to the slower parts. So, not that great.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Private Investgator in Futuristic Multiverse. Mmmm..not bad.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read better books by Modesitt...