Excellent, couldn't stop turning the pages. The speculative future history is well thought out and the story keeps you interested all the way through. Another top notch book by McDevitt. If you nit pick any book you will find discrepancies as a amateur writer you can get bogged down in the details so much you lose the story. I disagree with the poor reviews see my rating system on my profile. ( )

I about got what I wanted from this book. It's an adventure story, set many hundred years in the future after a plague had all but destroyed mankind. Humans have grouped together again and formed quasi-feudal societies in the ruins of our civilization, we, the "Roadmakers". A band sets out to try to find the last great store of Roadmaker knowledge, an ancient lost library. The trip along the way is an interesting post-apoc tale. A good read. ( )

This book was disappointing on so many levels that I went back and read all of the Amazon reviews to see how I could possibly have entertained the notion that I would enjoy this book. I was hoodwinked by a large number of members giving this book 5 stars, instead of paying attention to the large number decrying it as the worst book they have ever read and explaining in great detail the following impurities:

* "The characters have no functional use of "Roadmaker" technologies, yet they apparently can make guns and spectacular homes (though reportedly there is no art/architecture/music and the culture is vapid and dull)."

* "I'm no theorist, but I don't see lightning as a reliable or controllable powersource for any future civilization."

* "It seemed like I was reading the author's notes to himself, which was annoying."

* "Highways are still called highways. Cars are called hojjies."

* "So much of 'Eternity Road' is ridiculous and contrived (beginning with the premise!) that it becomes annoying."

* "The book is liberally sprinkled with these kinds of undeveloped facts ..."

I am also in direct opposition in opinion to the current six reviews here. I do not recommend this book to anyone. ( )

http://home.comcast.net/~ktoonen/summ... ( )

"Eternity Road" is a good example of altered expectations. While the book's premise - and, indeed, its back-jacket synopsis - suggest a book with science-fiction tones lain atop a generic adventure story, the contents of the novel are surprisingly fresh, and very inventive.

Set more than a thousand years in the future, humanity recuperates after having been nearly exterminated by a plague of unknown description or origin. Whatever the reason, the human race has been reduced to a few scattered settlements living in a simulacrum of Middle Ages-era nobility. Academia toils on, but understanding their ancestors is difficult; little is known of the former civilization of man that spread across the globe. In fact, our most enduring creations - and that which gives our bygone culture its name to the descendants - are our highways. Thus, the former civilization is known as the Roadmakers, and is studied closely.

Only fragmentary records exist of the Roadmaker era, and books are highly prized. Legend tells of a vast repository of books and other knowledge at a place called "Haven," but no clue still exists as to the location of the cache. An expedition sent to find Haven ends in disaster - all but the organizer of the expedition die before returning. However, with the sole survivor comes an amazing, tantalizing artifact: a complete Roadmaker book. The narrative that follows details the follow-up expedition, their encounters with Roadmaker ruins and technology, and much about the descended civilization.

"Eternity Road" is a clever blend of archeology, mystery, and dystopian future blended together into a book that is difficult to surrender. As with many of McDevitt's works, "Eternity Road" does suffer from a lengthy and slow introductory segment, but once the narrative's expedition gets underway, it is surprisingly difficult to put the book down; you will want to know both what happens to the expedition, naturally, but also to learn of what happened to us - and what remains.

Full of stunning narrative descriptions, thoughtful extrapolations, well-placed humor and deep, philosophical moments, "Eternity Road" is an excellent read. ( )