The Elysium Commission

By: L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

L. E. Modesitt returns to SF with a whole-new future world on the brink of destruction.

A brilliant scientist on the planet Devanta has created a small universe contiguous to ours - and a utopian city on one of the planets. The question becomes, though, an utopia for whom? And why is a shady entertainment mogul subsidizing the scientist? More critical than that, does this new universe require the destruction of a portion - or all - of our universe in order to grow and stabilize?

Blaine Donne is a retired military special-operative now devoted to problem-solving for hire. He investigates a series of seemingly unrelated mysteries that arise with the arrival of a woman with unlimited resources who has neither a present nor a past.

The more he investigates, the more questions arise, including the role of the two heiresses who are more - and less - than they seem, and the more Donne is pushed inexorably toward an explosive solution and a regional interstellar war.

©2010 Modesitt Family Revocable Living Trust (P)2021 Tantor

its hard to create a future world and a mystery

first off I have enjoyed this authors output for years.

the reader did a first class preformance.

the author, if the story had been set in a present day world it probably would have made more sense. but to set the story in a weird world very obviously pushes a ideology. the strange thing is that the whole ability to change your sex/appearance could have been skipped as it had NO IMPACT on the story at all.
frankly it was jarring and a little offputting and I am surprised the author didn't use any of the changability in any of the plot lines.

read the author's recluce or imager series highly recommended. this book... the only way I finished it was listening to it while doing other things.

The magical science goes so far that there is no substance.

As another reviewer said, with such extreme fantastical science, there is nothing solid enough to have a decent mystery on. I have given up after about 2.5 hours after realizing that if anyone can do anything to their personage and so forth, there can hardly be any mystery to solve.