The Eternity Artifact

By: L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer, Cindy Kay

Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Five thousand years in the future, humankind has spread across thousands of worlds, and more than a dozen different governments exist in an uneasy truce. But human beings have found no signs of other life anywhere approaching human intelligence.

This changes when scientists discover a sunless planet they name Danann, traveling the void just beyond the edge of the galaxy at such a high speed that it cannot be natural. Its continents and oceans have been sculpted and shaped, with but a single megaplex upon it - close to perfectly preserved - with tens of thousands of near-identical metallic-silver-blue towers set along curved canals. Yet Danann has been abandoned for so long that even the atmosphere has frozen solid. Within a few years, Danann will approach an area of singularities that will make exploration and investigation impossible.

Orbital shuttle pilot Jiendra Chang, artist Chendor Barna, and history professor Liam Fitzhugh are recruited by the Comity government and its Deep Space Service, along with scores of other experts as part of an unprecedented and unique expedition to unravel Danann's secrets. And there are forces that will stop at nothing to prevent them, even if it means interstellar war.

©2006 Modesitt Family Revocable Living Trust (P)2021 Tantor

The Eternity Artifact is well written story

Great sci to yarn, extremely well narrated. A new concept with an all new world. The story is carried by well developed characters and their interactions. The narrative is supportive resulting in a fast moving story.

Excellent story, mediocre narration

The Eternity Artifact is one of my favorite books by L. E. Modesitt Jr. The far future expansion of humanity, with its various competing factions, is something of a staple in modern science fiction. However, the author manages to weave a compelling narrative with relatively few characters and a very unique premise. We see the world through the eyes of the characters, along with their motivations, hopes, and fears. It’s a fascinating world of high technology, political intrigue, human nature and, of course, a long lost alien civilization. The characters are solid, the narrative is fluid and interesting, and there is enough mystery to keep you guessing what will happen next.
Unfortunately, this great story is not done any favors by the substandard narration. The choice to use two narrators is the first problem, the second is that both the male and female narrators have all the enthusiasm and dramatic emphasis of a junior high school student being forced to read their book report in front of the class. It sounds phoned in, to be honest. The timing is off. The accent and cadence is off. The delivery is flat… When the female narrator reads a male character she defaults to an absurd caricature of a male voice that sounds like a little girl imitating her father. It’s just awful. If I hadn’t already read the book I probably wouldn’t have thought much of it after this reading. The book deserves better.