_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.
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.
What do You think about The Elysium Commission (2007)?
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!
—Jim
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:PAll 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.
—Lhavanya Dl
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.
—Doreen
