L. E. Modesitt has been turning out good-but-not-great science fiction and fantasy stories for more than two decades; The Ecolitan Enigma is no exception. Here he returns to the world of the Ecolitan Institute, the setting for three of his earlier novels (The Ecologic Envoy, The Ecolitan Operation and The Ecologic Secession), for a fast-paced political thriller. Nathaniel, a sort of Indiana Jones/James Bond for the Institute, has been sent on a relatively innocuous mission to the colony planet Artos. But Artos is set to become the focal point of a war between two rival empires, with Nathaniel and the institute caught in between.