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Empress of Eternity
In the far future, an indestructible and massive canal more than 2,000 miles long spans the mid-continent of Earth. Nothing can mar it, move it, or affect it in any fashion. At its western end, where it meets the sea, is an equally indestructible structure comprising three levels of seemingly empty chambers.
Scientists from three different civilizations, separated in time by hundreds of thousands of years, are investigating the canal. In the most distant of these civilizations, religious rebellion is brewing. A plot is hatched to overthrow the world government of the Vanir, using a weapon that can destroy anything-except the canal. If used at full power it might literally unravel the universe and destroy all life forever. The lives and fates of all three civilizations become intertwined as the forces behind the canal react to the threat, and all three teams of scientists find their lives changed beyond belief.
Scientists from three different civilizations, separated in time by hundreds of thousands of years, are investigating the canal. In the most distant of these civilizations, religious rebellion is brewing. A plot is hatched to overthrow the world government of the Vanir, using a weapon that can destroy anything-except the canal. If used at full power it might literally unravel the universe and destroy all life forever. The lives and fates of all three civilizations become intertwined as the forces behind the canal react to the threat, and all three teams of scientists find their lives changed beyond belief.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published October 12, 2010
33 people are currently reading
414 people want to read
About the author
L.E. Modesitt Jr.
191 books2,597 followersL. 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
May 28, 2015
3.5 stars, but probably a 4 on a reread. This didn't start well. There are a few pages on one set of characters, a few more on another, a third, & then back again. The names & dates are all weird, so it was hard to get a handle on who was who & why I should give a damn. I started reading it once before & quit after about 30 pages. This time I pushed on & somewhere before I reached 100 pages (about 25%) I was hooked.
Modesitt did a great job creating 3 different civilizations, all at breaking points. He used these to show how the worst aspects of each reached critical mass due to environmental, religious/philosophical, &/or political pressures. Fear & fanaticism often go hand in hand. Some reviews say there is some preaching, but I disagree. I'd call it showcasing & that was the whole point - the obvious comparisons to today's issues.
My biggest issue with the book was the extremely fast change in the point of view. I would have liked it a lot better & found it more accessible if he had stuck with each longer - long enough to let me get to know the people & the civilization before moving on to the next.
Modesitt did a great job creating 3 different civilizations, all at breaking points. He used these to show how the worst aspects of each reached critical mass due to environmental, religious/philosophical, &/or political pressures. Fear & fanaticism often go hand in hand. Some reviews say there is some preaching, but I disagree. I'd call it showcasing & that was the whole point - the obvious comparisons to today's issues.
My biggest issue with the book was the extremely fast change in the point of view. I would have liked it a lot better & found it more accessible if he had stuck with each longer - long enough to let me get to know the people & the civilization before moving on to the next.
November 1, 2010
It’s hard not to get excited whenever L.E. Modesitt Jr. releases a new standalone sci-fi novel. Despite being better known for his various fantasy series than his science fiction, some of his best work can be found in the latter genre. Novels like The Parafaith War, Archform: Beauty, Adiamante and Haze (just to name a few) are wonderful examples of this amazingly prolific author’s talent when it comes to science fiction. The newest addition to this list, Empress of Eternity, is no exception. Despite being a bit dry and inaccessible, its scope and ambition are stunning.
The novel follows three separate story lines, set in far-future Earth societies that are separated by tens of thousands of years. In each of these, scientists are investigating a 2000 mile long artificial structure known as the Mid Continent Canal. The canal is indestructible: even a meteor hit in the far past seems to have made no impact. Researchers are especially interested in learning more because the canal doesn’t seem to be affected by temperature changes in the same way as other materials — and in each of the future societies described in the book, extreme climate change is causing untold havoc for human civilization, including (in the third one) a brewing rebellion that employs a doomsday device that could unravel the structure of the entire universe...
Empress of Eternity is, initially, a very hard novel to get into. The rapid introduction of three completely distinct far future societies, without much in the way of exposition, makes for a confusing set of opening chapters. This is exacerbated by the fact that each story line features a couple with, as is often the case with Modesitt, a highly cerebral male character and a strong female one, who are all examining the canal at different times in the future. This similarity makes it hard to get settled into the novel. In addition, the second story line is initially very confusing, mainly because its characters often communicate by “pulsing” jargon-heavy messages to each other:
Metstation sole unit structure inhabitable south side MCC west of desert research station. Interrogative estimated habitation/equipment viability duration.
Interestingly, they also often denote emphasis by adding exponents to their adjectives:
Dubious probabilities for serious and officious5 chief. (Note: the 5 should be smaller and superscript - like an exponent - but I can't figure out how to do this on GoodReads so, um, use your imagination.)
Each far future society has a different flavor, e.g. the “Hu-Ruche” society in the second story line is totalitarian and emphasizes an almost hive-like adherence to the rulers’ dictates, whereas the first society is more feudal. Each one is also affected by climate change in a different way, with an ice age on the way in the first one and the earth dangerously heating up in the second one. There’s simply a lot of information to piece together and digest early on — like me, you may end up going back to reread the first handful of chapters to get your bearings before moving on.
The experience of reading about three far-future societies that are this far removed from each other is strange and slightly uncomfortable. Separated by tens, if not hundreds of thousands of years, there’s barely any knowledge of e.g. the Hu-Ruche society left by the time the third society is active, millennia later. (And that’s not even counting other, earlier, societies that are referenced occasionally — and that are apparently responsible for the extreme levels of climate change and the fact that there appears to be no moon in the sky anymore.) All of this gave me the same feeling as e.g. seeing everything before the year 2000 referred to as “pre-history” in Olaf Stapledon’s Last and First Men, or watching the evolution of society in Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia trilogy: there’s a sense of helplessness that comes with such a frank description of the futility of human endeavor. It also means that, for the first half of the book, you’ll be reading three seemingly unconnected stories, all set in the same location but separated by thousands of years. Fortunately L.E. Modesitt Jr. pulls everything together in the second half of the novel, in a truly dizzying spin that easily justifies the struggles early on.
In the end, Empress of Eternity is an impressive but somewhat impersonal novel. Especially in the first half of the book, the focus is more on societies than on the people that inhabit them, and more on ideas than on feelings. Mere human relationships simply pale in significance next to the climate issues and the sheer scale of the future history L.E. Modesitt Jr. displays here. As a result, Empress of Eternity is stunning in ambition and scope, but unfortunately a bit too dry to be as enjoyable as some of the author’s past SF works. If I were alive in the Hu-Ruche society, I’d probably summarize my opinion as [respectful8 admiration] rather than [thrilled3 enjoyment]. (Again, the 8 and 3 are exponents, and yes, I realize my clever little ending to this review is ruined entirely by having to explain this. Go check out the review on www.fantasyliterature.com, where it was originally published, for the correct version.)
The novel follows three separate story lines, set in far-future Earth societies that are separated by tens of thousands of years. In each of these, scientists are investigating a 2000 mile long artificial structure known as the Mid Continent Canal. The canal is indestructible: even a meteor hit in the far past seems to have made no impact. Researchers are especially interested in learning more because the canal doesn’t seem to be affected by temperature changes in the same way as other materials — and in each of the future societies described in the book, extreme climate change is causing untold havoc for human civilization, including (in the third one) a brewing rebellion that employs a doomsday device that could unravel the structure of the entire universe...
Empress of Eternity is, initially, a very hard novel to get into. The rapid introduction of three completely distinct far future societies, without much in the way of exposition, makes for a confusing set of opening chapters. This is exacerbated by the fact that each story line features a couple with, as is often the case with Modesitt, a highly cerebral male character and a strong female one, who are all examining the canal at different times in the future. This similarity makes it hard to get settled into the novel. In addition, the second story line is initially very confusing, mainly because its characters often communicate by “pulsing” jargon-heavy messages to each other:
Metstation sole unit structure inhabitable south side MCC west of desert research station. Interrogative estimated habitation/equipment viability duration.
Interestingly, they also often denote emphasis by adding exponents to their adjectives:
Dubious probabilities for serious and officious5 chief. (Note: the 5 should be smaller and superscript - like an exponent - but I can't figure out how to do this on GoodReads so, um, use your imagination.)
Each far future society has a different flavor, e.g. the “Hu-Ruche” society in the second story line is totalitarian and emphasizes an almost hive-like adherence to the rulers’ dictates, whereas the first society is more feudal. Each one is also affected by climate change in a different way, with an ice age on the way in the first one and the earth dangerously heating up in the second one. There’s simply a lot of information to piece together and digest early on — like me, you may end up going back to reread the first handful of chapters to get your bearings before moving on.
The experience of reading about three far-future societies that are this far removed from each other is strange and slightly uncomfortable. Separated by tens, if not hundreds of thousands of years, there’s barely any knowledge of e.g. the Hu-Ruche society left by the time the third society is active, millennia later. (And that’s not even counting other, earlier, societies that are referenced occasionally — and that are apparently responsible for the extreme levels of climate change and the fact that there appears to be no moon in the sky anymore.) All of this gave me the same feeling as e.g. seeing everything before the year 2000 referred to as “pre-history” in Olaf Stapledon’s Last and First Men, or watching the evolution of society in Brian Aldiss’ Helliconia trilogy: there’s a sense of helplessness that comes with such a frank description of the futility of human endeavor. It also means that, for the first half of the book, you’ll be reading three seemingly unconnected stories, all set in the same location but separated by thousands of years. Fortunately L.E. Modesitt Jr. pulls everything together in the second half of the novel, in a truly dizzying spin that easily justifies the struggles early on.
In the end, Empress of Eternity is an impressive but somewhat impersonal novel. Especially in the first half of the book, the focus is more on societies than on the people that inhabit them, and more on ideas than on feelings. Mere human relationships simply pale in significance next to the climate issues and the sheer scale of the future history L.E. Modesitt Jr. displays here. As a result, Empress of Eternity is stunning in ambition and scope, but unfortunately a bit too dry to be as enjoyable as some of the author’s past SF works. If I were alive in the Hu-Ruche society, I’d probably summarize my opinion as [respectful8 admiration] rather than [thrilled3 enjoyment]. (Again, the 8 and 3 are exponents, and yes, I realize my clever little ending to this review is ruined entirely by having to explain this. Go check out the review on www.fantasyliterature.com, where it was originally published, for the correct version.)
May 15, 2022
I'm aiming for a 3.5 for this one, rounded down.
So here's what I like: all the references to the Aesir and the rainbow bridge, as done as a pure SF and not comic-booky. I also liked the idea of three different time periods eventually converging.
But ideas don't make the entire novel, unfortunately. Exploring the 2000-mile-long unbreakable canal on a far-future Earth SHOULD have been a bit more interesting, all told, and it's only as good as the characters who explore them. In this case, I may not have been very interested in any character. And that sucks. I found myself going to lunch and dinner dates in the book and began to wonder if that was what this book was really all about and shook my head.
Okay then. The book was okay and it had a pretty fun end but it could have been better.
So here's what I like: all the references to the Aesir and the rainbow bridge, as done as a pure SF and not comic-booky. I also liked the idea of three different time periods eventually converging.
But ideas don't make the entire novel, unfortunately. Exploring the 2000-mile-long unbreakable canal on a far-future Earth SHOULD have been a bit more interesting, all told, and it's only as good as the characters who explore them. In this case, I may not have been very interested in any character. And that sucks. I found myself going to lunch and dinner dates in the book and began to wonder if that was what this book was really all about and shook my head.
Okay then. The book was okay and it had a pretty fun end but it could have been better.
May 22, 2012
A disappointing read from a favorite author. The transitioning between the three different time periods made it difficult to become engrossed in the book, or to become invested in the characters who seemed very one dimensional. The odd mix of bad science and environmental moralizing was distracting. Modesitt usually creates worlds that are believable and enjoyable to read about, and to become immersed in. Sadly the "Empress of Eternity" was not, and I only finished the book because I expected the author to deliver in the end.
April 29, 2013
This is one of the most unique novels I have read in a while. The main character as such, is a 2000 mile long canal. This canal is made of an unknown material that is imperious to anything type of energy and it bisects the mid-continent of Earth set at least a half-millions in the future.
The civilization that built is long gone and the story is told in three parts - each one is eons in the future from the time the canal was built and each part is eons apart as well. The common bond is that they are all researchers trying to uncover the mysteries of the canal and they all have some sort of connection with it. The other common denominator is that the Earth is undergoing climatic and political upheaval and the researchers are all in danger.
The book was incredibly slow to get into and the three stories connections were not revealed clearly until well past the halfway point. Had the story drug along at this pace I would have given it 3 stars but then the last third is when it all comes together and the story goes into an interesting examination of time itself.
The writing is suburb and Modesitt uses his talent for science and characters and a large scale well in this book. It was just hard to wait it out. The way he ends the book is why I gave it 4 stars because it was thought challenging and did wrap up things well.
The only complaint I have is that the book shows humans have not evolved very much in a million years or so which I find hard to believe. Technology has grown but not humanity. But as the author that is his decision and the book needs that to work.
If you are looking for a straight forward action novel, this is not it. If you want to stretch your mind - read this.
The civilization that built is long gone and the story is told in three parts - each one is eons in the future from the time the canal was built and each part is eons apart as well. The common bond is that they are all researchers trying to uncover the mysteries of the canal and they all have some sort of connection with it. The other common denominator is that the Earth is undergoing climatic and political upheaval and the researchers are all in danger.
The book was incredibly slow to get into and the three stories connections were not revealed clearly until well past the halfway point. Had the story drug along at this pace I would have given it 3 stars but then the last third is when it all comes together and the story goes into an interesting examination of time itself.
The writing is suburb and Modesitt uses his talent for science and characters and a large scale well in this book. It was just hard to wait it out. The way he ends the book is why I gave it 4 stars because it was thought challenging and did wrap up things well.
The only complaint I have is that the book shows humans have not evolved very much in a million years or so which I find hard to believe. Technology has grown but not humanity. But as the author that is his decision and the book needs that to work.
If you are looking for a straight forward action novel, this is not it. If you want to stretch your mind - read this.
October 23, 2017
This book had so much promise it should have rated more than three stars, but the storytelling never truly engaged me and never seemed to take off.
For starters, there was a lot of complex time and space stuff at the heart of the story, which was essential to the plot, but which came across so garbled I only felt I grasped the broad gist of what was going on. That was OK for the most part, but when the ending depended on specific things that the canal turned out to be able to do, my reaction should have been "of course, I should have seen that coming." Instead it was "yeah, sure, if you say so."
I could have forgiven some feelings of Deus Ex Machina if the world and characters were truly engaging, but here is where it really fell down for me. Most of the action took place in one single, and very bare, location. The rest of the world was talked about, but never in a way that made it seem real. Even those scenes that took us away from the canal lacked any kind of depth. Some visual details were described, but the settings overall lacked any substance, and no real feeling or atmosphere. It was as if the characters were acting out their parts on an almost bare stage.
The characters themselves were mostly well drawn, but most of the time the only facial expression anyone seemed to manage was to smile.
All in all, everything came across to me as too distant to really grab me, pull me in, and make me care.
For starters, there was a lot of complex time and space stuff at the heart of the story, which was essential to the plot, but which came across so garbled I only felt I grasped the broad gist of what was going on. That was OK for the most part, but when the ending depended on specific things that the canal turned out to be able to do, my reaction should have been "of course, I should have seen that coming." Instead it was "yeah, sure, if you say so."
I could have forgiven some feelings of Deus Ex Machina if the world and characters were truly engaging, but here is where it really fell down for me. Most of the action took place in one single, and very bare, location. The rest of the world was talked about, but never in a way that made it seem real. Even those scenes that took us away from the canal lacked any kind of depth. Some visual details were described, but the settings overall lacked any substance, and no real feeling or atmosphere. It was as if the characters were acting out their parts on an almost bare stage.
The characters themselves were mostly well drawn, but most of the time the only facial expression anyone seemed to manage was to smile.
All in all, everything came across to me as too distant to really grab me, pull me in, and make me care.
May 11, 2015
“There is no time,” takes on a whole new meaning.
Set in the far distant future of earth—or an Earth—this tale interleaves the struggle of three couples against the tyranny of their day’s culture. The structure echoes Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves, my least favorite of his novels. On the other hand this is the best Modesitt I’ve read to date. It was contending for an additional star before the denouement got preachy.
Modesitt creates not one but three believable future cultures, each with it's own ticking bomb, and technology so high that it might as well be magic. Dense with techno-babble.
Interesting, that despite focusing on three couples—at least one of which live in a female dominant culture—Modesitt tells the story from the point of view of the male in each pair.
Good science fiction if you can stand the preaching and, since his soapbox closely matches prevailing cultural dogma, it’s not hard to take. If only he’d toned it down a bit … .
Set in the far distant future of earth—or an Earth—this tale interleaves the struggle of three couples against the tyranny of their day’s culture. The structure echoes Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves, my least favorite of his novels. On the other hand this is the best Modesitt I’ve read to date. It was contending for an additional star before the denouement got preachy.
Modesitt creates not one but three believable future cultures, each with it's own ticking bomb, and technology so high that it might as well be magic. Dense with techno-babble.
Interesting, that despite focusing on three couples—at least one of which live in a female dominant culture—Modesitt tells the story from the point of view of the male in each pair.
Good science fiction if you can stand the preaching and, since his soapbox closely matches prevailing cultural dogma, it’s not hard to take. If only he’d toned it down a bit … .
January 26, 2018
So I'm going to start with a complaint about the formatting. There was some sort of strange error in the ebook that was somewhat annoying. A few words had extra spaces added making different, shorter words in illogical combinations, possibly as a result of a poor OCR process with inadequate quality control. For example, non ex is tent, bud get, and in de pen dent. It interrupted the reading. It was consistently used for a few certain words, like those and not especially frequent, but annoying.
I found this to be a quite slow start. It took me a long time to get into the book. This is a frequent characteristic of L.E. Modesitt, but I wanted to comment. Things don't start moving in the first 100 pages, pretty much.
Then things get really interesting. The book takes place in three time periods in the distant future, with our timeline as an implied fourth time period in the distant past. There's some exploration of philosophy of time in addition to Modesitt's reoccurring theme of use of force and power. There's also some interesting integration of mythology, mostly Norse, into the story, with the mention of reflections of time for why that mythology exists today.
There are a couple of extremely destructive weapons in the story and several kinda ultimate sacrifices and a largely happy ending. I really enjoy all of Modesitt's writing and how it makes me think and, in some ways, this book, written in 2010, seems a bit prescient about 2016, with its ideas about abuse of power and use of force. It's always fun.
I found this to be a quite slow start. It took me a long time to get into the book. This is a frequent characteristic of L.E. Modesitt, but I wanted to comment. Things don't start moving in the first 100 pages, pretty much.
Then things get really interesting. The book takes place in three time periods in the distant future, with our timeline as an implied fourth time period in the distant past. There's some exploration of philosophy of time in addition to Modesitt's reoccurring theme of use of force and power. There's also some interesting integration of mythology, mostly Norse, into the story, with the mention of reflections of time for why that mythology exists today.
There are a couple of extremely destructive weapons in the story and several kinda ultimate sacrifices and a largely happy ending. I really enjoy all of Modesitt's writing and how it makes me think and, in some ways, this book, written in 2010, seems a bit prescient about 2016, with its ideas about abuse of power and use of force. It's always fun.
June 14, 2017
Another dollar store find. An enjoyable read. I recognized the author and thought I had read stuff by him before, however nothing logged on Goodreads... Maybe BGR? The book is a POV SF about earth in the vvvvery far future. The POV's are 3 far-future civilizations dealing with climate change and the presence of a large canal that spans North America from west to east that is resistant to any form of investigation. the canal being built by an ancient earth civilization very far in our future. The beginning is a bit disconcerting, because the author uses short punchy chapters with little exposition. You need to hang on thru a couple of chapter cycles before you get a feel and a rhythm for what's going on in each civilization and how they view themselves against the backdrop of history. Modesitt makes an interesting observation that as civilizations become more advanced, they become more interdependent and more subject to failure. Another observation is that the more civilizations advance, their information records become more ephemeral (i.e. the cloud). Not a lot of carvings in stone or cave paintings left behind. There's the high potential of not leaving a lot of records for future civilizations to examine. An interesting story especially in light of the discussions about anthropogenic climate change in our current epoch.
January 21, 2011
Modesitt's primary thesis in this novel is that despite societal differences, resource scarcity drives people to similar situations. This is the story of three science teams investigating the same anomaly in three different post-post-apocalyptic societies. Each society is separated by thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, but their situations mirror each other and he explores how some people turn to violence or tradition during difficult times instead of facing the real tradeoffs that are required to minimize the negatives of severe resource scarcity. This element of the plot was handled well, each of the societies felt distinct, but they still had similar problems and the reactions were similar, but not identical. All three of his societies are caught in Malthusian traps, and though I don’t think that it is a likely outcome over the next two or three centuries, in a thousand years, who knows. Recomended
April 21, 2011
Empress of Eternity by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is one of those books that slowly pulls you in and keeps you hooked right to the end. Three sets of scientists from different times all deal with trying to unlock the secrets of the same indestructible structure that might not only save them but in the end might save all life in the universe. You know an author has done a great job of developing their characters when the separation of thousands of years flows as well as it does in Empress for Eternity. I received this book from Goodreads First Reads and would recommend it to all SF lovers Modesitt’s fans will not be disappointed.
September 17, 2020
In the far future, Earth is covered by advancing glaciers. The confusing story reveals the lives of many different people as they try to cope with the climate. I had a hard time following the storyline.
September 30, 2011
It was my first book of Modesitt's and it was a fantastic read for me with a style I found refreshing. It's going on the 10 year reread for me.
April 25, 2021
Empress of Eternity
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
This seems to have a lot of the same flourishes that I found intriguing in Modesitt's "Ghost" series - bureaucratic infighting, an interest in ecological issues, and an ending that leaves me wondering "what the hell just happened?"
The McGuffin in this case is a massive, indestructible canal - 2, 000 "kays" long and 6 kays wide - that spans the "middle continent" of the Earth. I don't know what a "kay" is. I assumed that it was a kilometer, but it seems to be a common unit of measurement in the three cultures depicted in the book, each of which seems to be separated by tens of thousands of years of time.
At first, I wasn't sure if the "Earth" was our Earth, but the references to a shiny belt in place of the moon made me think otherwise, and, of course, hooked me with the question, "what happened to the Moon?"
Modesitt tells the story from the viewpoint of three pairs of characters separated widely in time. The earliest characters are aristocrats in some kind of constitutional democracy called the "Unity of Caelaarn." In their time, glaciation has reached the canal. Authoritarian forces are plotting to take over the Unity, and Lord Maertyn is studying the canal in the hopes that there might be a clue in this ancient, indestructible, mysterious artefact that will stave off the glaciers.
The second pair are in the Ruche, which is a polity heading toward a hive mind. The characters can communicate mind-to-mind in a kind of shorthand. Ruche is threatened by global warming and desertification. One faction of the Ruche has overthrown a somewhat more liberal faction and are threatening our characters, who are studying the canal for some clue to fight global warming, with brainwipe.
The final pair is in the far future in some kind of world state called the Vanir Hegemony, which is dealing with separatists called the Aesir. The Aesir have a weapon that can destroy the universe and are using it without care about the risk. The culture of the Vanir is very Norse, for no explicable reason.
As we read the story, the plotlines begin to merge. The canal provides a time-traveling deus ex machina.
I enjoyed the story. I liked that Modesitt provided an answer for his destruction of the Moon plot point, but I'm not sure I understand or accept the explanation. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the characters and was pulled along by the thirst to know more. This is a story with a big science fiction concept wrapped in the big science fiction concept of "deep time," which nicely captures the gosh-wow! feel of golden age science fiction.
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
This seems to have a lot of the same flourishes that I found intriguing in Modesitt's "Ghost" series - bureaucratic infighting, an interest in ecological issues, and an ending that leaves me wondering "what the hell just happened?"
The McGuffin in this case is a massive, indestructible canal - 2, 000 "kays" long and 6 kays wide - that spans the "middle continent" of the Earth. I don't know what a "kay" is. I assumed that it was a kilometer, but it seems to be a common unit of measurement in the three cultures depicted in the book, each of which seems to be separated by tens of thousands of years of time.
At first, I wasn't sure if the "Earth" was our Earth, but the references to a shiny belt in place of the moon made me think otherwise, and, of course, hooked me with the question, "what happened to the Moon?"
Modesitt tells the story from the viewpoint of three pairs of characters separated widely in time. The earliest characters are aristocrats in some kind of constitutional democracy called the "Unity of Caelaarn." In their time, glaciation has reached the canal. Authoritarian forces are plotting to take over the Unity, and Lord Maertyn is studying the canal in the hopes that there might be a clue in this ancient, indestructible, mysterious artefact that will stave off the glaciers.
The second pair are in the Ruche, which is a polity heading toward a hive mind. The characters can communicate mind-to-mind in a kind of shorthand. Ruche is threatened by global warming and desertification. One faction of the Ruche has overthrown a somewhat more liberal faction and are threatening our characters, who are studying the canal for some clue to fight global warming, with brainwipe.
The final pair is in the far future in some kind of world state called the Vanir Hegemony, which is dealing with separatists called the Aesir. The Aesir have a weapon that can destroy the universe and are using it without care about the risk. The culture of the Vanir is very Norse, for no explicable reason.
As we read the story, the plotlines begin to merge. The canal provides a time-traveling deus ex machina.
I enjoyed the story. I liked that Modesitt provided an answer for his destruction of the Moon plot point, but I'm not sure I understand or accept the explanation. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the characters and was pulled along by the thirst to know more. This is a story with a big science fiction concept wrapped in the big science fiction concept of "deep time," which nicely captures the gosh-wow! feel of golden age science fiction.
September 11, 2021
This book has a promising premise, but it fell completely flat for me. The plot follows three groups of researchers in three future societies (very far, very very far, and yet even farther in the future from our time). The scientists all reside in and study a mysterious structure--a science station situated at one end of an indestructible canal 2000 "kays" in length--built by the ancients (who themselves must have been very far in our future).
The problems with the book are several. First, the short chapters mean we spend almost no time with each group of characters in each scene, making for a confusing and disjointed beginning. By the time you feel like you know who these people are and what they are doing, a lot of pages have passed and yet not much plot has passed. The division also interferes with the world building (which, with three societies to explore, was not going to be an easy task for the author regardless). As a result, all three of plot, characters, and setting feel underdeveloped.
I never got into this book yet kept reading, hoping something super awesome was just around the corner. And for a moment around 120 pages in, there was a good spike! ...But it's a spike that you expect if you read the back cover. I plodded on since the book is less than 400 pages anyway. But it's a bad sign when you're 100, 50, even 20 pages from the end and just don't really care if you actually finish.
The book takes a stab at being a "hard" sci-fi book (adhering to the laws of physics up to the boundary of known knowledge, then the fiction is the author's stepping beyond that boundary). But this attempt is another thing that falls flat, as the magical bits of science aren't describes much at all. As such, I cannot really recommend this book to fans of hard sci-fi or to those who are just looking for a sciency/futuristic tale. I think the book could have been really good as either twice its length or somehow reworked into a trilogy (perhaps each of those books focusing on one of the three far-future societies). The author was ambitious, but not ambitious enough. Alas.
The problems with the book are several. First, the short chapters mean we spend almost no time with each group of characters in each scene, making for a confusing and disjointed beginning. By the time you feel like you know who these people are and what they are doing, a lot of pages have passed and yet not much plot has passed. The division also interferes with the world building (which, with three societies to explore, was not going to be an easy task for the author regardless). As a result, all three of plot, characters, and setting feel underdeveloped.
I never got into this book yet kept reading, hoping something super awesome was just around the corner. And for a moment around 120 pages in, there was a good spike! ...But it's a spike that you expect if you read the back cover. I plodded on since the book is less than 400 pages anyway. But it's a bad sign when you're 100, 50, even 20 pages from the end and just don't really care if you actually finish.
The book takes a stab at being a "hard" sci-fi book (adhering to the laws of physics up to the boundary of known knowledge, then the fiction is the author's stepping beyond that boundary). But this attempt is another thing that falls flat, as the magical bits of science aren't describes much at all. As such, I cannot really recommend this book to fans of hard sci-fi or to those who are just looking for a sciency/futuristic tale. I think the book could have been really good as either twice its length or somehow reworked into a trilogy (perhaps each of those books focusing on one of the three far-future societies). The author was ambitious, but not ambitious enough. Alas.
September 25, 2023
DNF.
A continent-spanning canal, indestructible, its origins lost, its purpose unknown. Three separate groups of scientists attempt to investigate it, each group beset by factions who would harness the canal's assumed powers and technology for themselves, and each also suffering extremes of climate. At first I assumed that the three groups were separated by thousands of years, but it in fact turns out that they are actually different aspects of a multiverse to which the canal serves as some kind of anchor.
This, on the face of it, has potential - only far too much was left to be desired for it to be realised.
L. E. Modesitt Jr seems to revel in the humdrum, the banal, and so we get pages of waffle about clothing and food-sourcing and bureaucracy and uninteresting politics. The three groups are all very similar (yeah, I know it's a multiverse, but, still). What happens in the three separate settings is repetitive (a series of same-y attacks, a series of same-y business meetings). The 'science' hardly rises above Star Trek. And the whole thing could do with a bloody good proofread and edit (duplicated words and phrases abound).
If this had the excuse of being written forty years-plus ago (when, almost certainly, it would have got the same point over in less than half the word-count), it would have been a much more bearable affair. As it stands, I confess to skimming the last half. Possibly Empress of Eternity could be recommended to those who have read -or seen- virtually no SF before, but even then it would have to come with the warning that it just isn't that well written.
A continent-spanning canal, indestructible, its origins lost, its purpose unknown. Three separate groups of scientists attempt to investigate it, each group beset by factions who would harness the canal's assumed powers and technology for themselves, and each also suffering extremes of climate. At first I assumed that the three groups were separated by thousands of years, but it in fact turns out that they are actually different aspects of a multiverse to which the canal serves as some kind of anchor.
This, on the face of it, has potential - only far too much was left to be desired for it to be realised.
L. E. Modesitt Jr seems to revel in the humdrum, the banal, and so we get pages of waffle about clothing and food-sourcing and bureaucracy and uninteresting politics. The three groups are all very similar (yeah, I know it's a multiverse, but, still). What happens in the three separate settings is repetitive (a series of same-y attacks, a series of same-y business meetings). The 'science' hardly rises above Star Trek. And the whole thing could do with a bloody good proofread and edit (duplicated words and phrases abound).
If this had the excuse of being written forty years-plus ago (when, almost certainly, it would have got the same point over in less than half the word-count), it would have been a much more bearable affair. As it stands, I confess to skimming the last half. Possibly Empress of Eternity could be recommended to those who have read -or seen- virtually no SF before, but even then it would have to come with the warning that it just isn't that well written.
Read
December 8, 2020Empress of Eternity is, perhaps, one of Modesitt's least inspired novels. I began to wonder about fifty pages in whether I was going to be able to finish it or not. The novel was a bit like Ringworld, by Niven, in that it involved scientists investigating a massive artifact created by an ancient civilization, a continent-spanning canal constructed of a material resistant to all forms of energy.
The action moves in short bursts, following the efforts of three teams, separated by thousands of years. Each small team belongs to a different type of society, all of them dealing with the challenge of climate change, from encroaching ice ages to expanding deserts. I think Modesitt had fun imagining different iterations of human political structure, but it left the reader a bit confused, all things considered. The finish was merely a deus ex machina ploy, and truly unsatisfying to me.
The action moves in short bursts, following the efforts of three teams, separated by thousands of years. Each small team belongs to a different type of society, all of them dealing with the challenge of climate change, from encroaching ice ages to expanding deserts. I think Modesitt had fun imagining different iterations of human political structure, but it left the reader a bit confused, all things considered. The finish was merely a deus ex machina ploy, and truly unsatisfying to me.
June 20, 2020
This is one of the most difficult-to-read books that Modesitt has written, since it segues forth and back in spacetime without telling you that's what it's doing. It's really a book about physics. I picked up another of his scifi books years ago and decided I didn't like his sci-fi, but as I've aged and reread the fantasy novels, I thought I'd retry. I've been reading them in the order they were written. Ethics, love, science and religion; philosophy, physics and metaphysics; and the attempt to live one's principles are the themes of all his work. I'd definitely not start with this one! All the books are worth reading, though.
March 22, 2022
The three primary storylines used in this novel was distracting for me, but made sense in the end. That being said, it was hard for me to really get involved with all of the characters. I believe that I would have enjoyed the story more if the main plot dipped into concepts of the other plot lines rather than hold up all three at once. It was an interesting story, worth reading, but falling closer to a three than a four star rating for me.
August 16, 2022
I love the way Modesitt incorporates strong and bright female characters in his novels and this story was no exception. Empress of Eternity also does a great job of weaving in a lesson about the interdependence of people who live in 3 different times with each of their distinct dramas.
The only reason I gave this a 4 (not 5) rating was that I had a little trouble tracking the 3 storylines via audiobook. The chapters were short and some of the character names sounded similar so I had to reread parts of the novel in longer segments to get the flow. If I read this novel again, I will seek out a text version instead.
The only reason I gave this a 4 (not 5) rating was that I had a little trouble tracking the 3 storylines via audiobook. The chapters were short and some of the character names sounded similar so I had to reread parts of the novel in longer segments to get the flow. If I read this novel again, I will seek out a text version instead.
November 9, 2017
Bad.
So, so very bad.
Disappointing.
What may have been a great idea in the author's head never made it to the page. The premise is muddy, plot and character development is non-existent, the writing style of moving from era to era is confusing, and it's not even a well-disguised religion/closed-mindedness allegory.
Just awful.
So, so very bad.
Disappointing.
What may have been a great idea in the author's head never made it to the page. The premise is muddy, plot and character development is non-existent, the writing style of moving from era to era is confusing, and it's not even a well-disguised religion/closed-mindedness allegory.
Just awful.
May 18, 2019
I generally enjoy Modesitt's science fiction works, and this is no exception. It's lower than usual, though. This is mostly due to the triple-sized cast of characters, all with the most inscrutable names imaginable.
October 29, 2023
Undertaking 3 stories in the far future, and each one a thousand years apart, is a remarkable feat. Unfortunately, I couldn't bear to follow the author thru the thicket (do the characters ever come alive?), so dnf'd at about 25%.
September 23, 2025
what a different book
Never have I read a story by our esteemed author like this one. It kept me cocooned and yet open most of the time. Even now I feel I will need to read it again to fully appreciate it.
Never have I read a story by our esteemed author like this one. It kept me cocooned and yet open most of the time. Even now I feel I will need to read it again to fully appreciate it.
August 7, 2017
Could not get into the story.
August 7, 2018
Slow start but interesting concept.
March 22, 2021
Excellent combination of high-energy physics, time theory, political extremism, and Norse mythology with well-developed characters and exciting action sequences.
July 11, 2025
this is slightly different fare than i am used to from LEM but it was ok.
December 16, 2022
Until now I've liked all of Modesitt's Sci-Fi books. This one was a chore.
Around page 75 I told myself that if it didn't get interesting or somewhat clearer by page 100 I was going to abandon it.
It did, but just barely.
About halfway it finally picked up and seemed to be headed somewhere but still wasn't clear enough for me. Even after finishing it, the whole canal didn't feel like it was explained enough, despite all those extra words & paragraphs L.E. likes using.
Around page 75 I told myself that if it didn't get interesting or somewhat clearer by page 100 I was going to abandon it.
It did, but just barely.
About halfway it finally picked up and seemed to be headed somewhere but still wasn't clear enough for me. Even after finishing it, the whole canal didn't feel like it was explained enough, despite all those extra words & paragraphs L.E. likes using.
February 22, 2020
I really enjoyed this, bar some of the formatting which was rather peculiar. Words were split and I cannot think how that got through a spell check or a beta read.
In de pen dent
Bud get
These two were the main culprits. It became grating after a while!
The tale itself was a delight, exploring our concept of time and how people react the same way in similar circumstances. I can l see how it would not be everyone's cup of tea, I myself thoroughly enjoyed it.
In de pen dent
Bud get
These two were the main culprits. It became grating after a while!
The tale itself was a delight, exploring our concept of time and how people react the same way in similar circumstances. I can l see how it would not be everyone's cup of tea, I myself thoroughly enjoyed it.
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