Empress 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.
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