15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absorbing read, May 11, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Ecologic Secession (Mass Market Paperback)
Jimjoy, a former Imperial Agent, has faked his own death to escape his previous employers, who want him dead. The Ecolitan Institute of Accord have given him sanctuary and a new identity: James Joyson Whaler. But what does this enigmatic teaching/research facility want with a guy who specialises in destroying things? His aid in helping Accord secede from the Empire - an offense that has previously seen whole planets 'killed'. The Ecolitan Institute is not without its own form of muscle - and this time the Empire had better look out. This book was somewhat hard to get hold of, and I bought it after reading The Ecolitan Enigma, where Accord and the Ecolitan Institute act as independent troubleshooters, with a strange code of ethics, and the ecologic technology that ensures nobody messes with them. This book, the third in the Ecolitan Trilogy, shows the conflict that leads to this unusual position of power. Again, Modesitt creates a world that is rich and complex, with its own patterns of behaviour, politics and technology. It's not always easy to follow, given that complexity, but on the whole is still a good read. It has odd twists and touches of humour - the tough commando Jimjoy's hobbies include calligraphy and gourmet cooking, of all things. Plenty of excitement, explosions and intrigue. The part I liked most was watching Jimjoy try to enact a formal courtship with a fellow Professor of the Institute, Thelina, who is not terribly impressed with his past or his heartfelt declarations.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Making of an Ecolitan, June 8, 2004
This review is from: The Ecologic Secession (Mass Market Paperback)
The Ecologic Secession is the second novel in The Ecolitan Matter series according to the internal chronology, following The Ecolitan Operation. In the previous volume, Major Jimjoy Earle Wright III was assigned to New Kansaw to neutralize a group of rebels. On the way, he discovered that his courier ship has been sabotaged and provided a little instruction in creative paranoia to the skeptical ship commander.
On Kansaw, Jimjoy avoided another attempted assassination, found the rebel hideout, discovered that the Imperial marines had got there first, and rescued two rebels from torture. He then stole a flitter and infiltrated Missou Base, set the base self-destruct sequence, stole the emergency shuttle, and escaped off-planet. In orbit, he badly damaged the orbital station, stole a courier ship, and escaped out-system. In the Accord system, he evaded detection by the orbital station and convinced an Ecolitan station on the moon to rescue the rebels and himself from the powerless ship. Although exhausted after over eighty hours of sleep deprivation, Jimjoy had once again beat the odds.
In this novel, Jimjoy is now Ecolitan Professor James Joyson Whaler II, Senior Fellow of the Institute, with an extensive body makeover. The Empire believes that he is dead and hopefully they will continue to do so. Jimjoy has created a new department within the Institute -- Applied Ecologic Management -- which is actually the new Special Operations branch. It is clear to Jimjoy and to the Ecolitan Prime that the Empire will be imposing more stringent controls on Accord and that the planet must rebel to keep its liberty. As a first step, Jimjoy single-handedly destroys the System Control station at Haversol.
After this operation, Jimjoy begins implementation of further steps to secure complete autonomy for Accord. His major problem is the attitude of his fellow Ecolitans. The Ecolitan Prime has been assassinated by Imperial agents and his replacement is a weak procrastinator. However, Jimjoy bypasses the Prime and works with Ecolitan Thelina Andruz and her roommate, Ecolitan Meryl Laubron, to recruit and train a force of special operatives.
The Institute already has a security branch in its Field Training department. There students receive training in armed and unarmed combat, field surveillance, and other security related subjects. Now Jimjoy is adding methods of entry, computer penetration, demolition, and other special ops methods. Moreover, his students are helping to build needle boats in the moon station and other Ecolitans are developing ecological weapons elsewhere off-planet.
Despite his distaste for politics, Jimjoy is chosen to announce the Institute's plans to the Accordan politicians. Among these plans are the ejection of the Imperial governor, the wholesale resignation of the current council, and elections for a new council with systemwide jurisdiction. Nevertheless, Jimjoy makes it clear that the Institute will not allow the new council to sellout the populace.
Jimjoy was born on White Mountain in the Hampshire system, a matriarchal society. He enlisted in the Imperial Marines at an early age to escape the strains of his family. He was a borderline sociopath during his days as an Imperial Special Operative.
One of the conditions for acceptance into the Institute is psychotherapy to work out his anger and distrust of women. He has a complex relationship with Thelina, a former Hand of the Matriarchy (the equivalent of an Imperial Special Operative), who has unresolved anger and distrust of men. When the two come together, sparks fly. Although Thelina comes to love him, she knows that his love for her is based only on superficial impressions and she expends a great deal of energy showing him how to know and trust those he loves.
While Jimjoy is a bundle of repressed angers, in other ways he is much like the other male protagonists created by the author. The interpersonal dynamics of love is a common theme in most works by this author, with the female characters usually much more aware of the situation than the males. In one respect, the male-female relationship is less complex in this novel since both protagonists come from matriarchal cultures, but the very egalitarian social background of the Institute tends to muddle the situation.
Highly recommended for Modesitt fans and for anyone who enjoys tales of political intrigue and special operations with a touch of romance.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Space Colony's Declaration of Independence, September 6, 2011
This review is from: The Ecologic Secession (Mass Market Paperback)
Compared against "The Ecolitan Operation", the main character is no longer borderline sociopathic and has a clearer sense of the consequences of his actions. Somewhere mid-book he realizes the incidentals (i.e. innocent people) matter. I could get behind the actions of this more human version of Jimjoy.
The entire novel is about hard choices: freedom vs. subjugation, the loss of control in the face of war, and principles pushing power (and the reverse). A brief romance as side plot, but the majority of the novel are preparations for Accord's independence followed by actual space missions and battles for that independence. This one had more action that Modesitt usually writes, and may have been a stronger novel for it.
Recommended, but in the form of
Empire and Ecolitan: Two Complete Novels of the Galactic Empire: The Ecolitan Operation and The Ecologic Secession.
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