History Literature / EternityRoad

''Eternity Road'' is a 1997 SciFi novel by Creator/JackMcDevitt.

When one citizen leads an expedition to find the fabled "Haven", where all the lost books of the Roadmakers are stored, written about by the mythical Abraham Polk, he returns alone and empty handed, the rest of the party reportedly dead. Nine years later he commits suicide. Strangely enough he bequeaths an assumed lost Roadmaker book named ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'' to the sister of one of the men lost on the trip. This leads some to think that maybe he had found Haven after all - but why didn't he tell anyone about it?

* {{Reconstruction}}: ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'' was a deconstruction of the King Arthur mythos. During his RousingSpeech, the Winston hologram points out that Camelot was never real, but represented a set of ideals that people sought to live up to.

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Speech given by a hologram of UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill

** Mike provides them with StunGuns that help them survive several hazards. However this is truly lost technology; even at the end of the novel it's mentioned that they can't work out how they operate or to build more.

* ShowSomeLeg: When they're captured by river pirates and facing [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty rape]] and [[MadeASlave enslavement]], Avila does a striptease dance for the pirates to get them all lined up for the StunGuns which have only limited range. [[spoiler:It works except when Avila grabs a pistol off the captain, all the attention is on her so the pirates open fire on the threat they understand, killing her instantly.]]

It's the far future, long AfterTheEnd. The residents of Illyria live (In what was Memphis, Tennessee), among the ruins of the "Roadmakers", named thus because the most lasting remnants of that great civilization were their roads.

** Dates dropped in the book by Mike are [[spoiler: April 10, 2079 (The plague) and March 3, 2211 (131 years later, when Mike loses contact with the other computers). Later, at the planetary society they learn a space telescope has been offline for 741 years.]]

* CrisisOfFaith: Avila loses her faith in the Goddess after the DeathOfAChild. She goes on the expedition because she's DesperatelySeekingAPurposeInLife now she's no longer a priestess.

* ICannotSelfTerminate: "Mike", the computer running the ruins of Chicago's Union Station wants to be shut off.

* LogicBomb: A security robot finds two of the characters poking around a bank and obeys its programming to hold robbers until they can be handed over to the police, stunning those who try to leave. [[OhCrap There's a pile of bones from previous inhabitants who have been held until they died.]] [[spoiler:After an attempt by Avila ImpersonatingAnOfficer fails (the robot demands an authorisation code), Chaka then enters pretending to be a doctor, accuses the robot of murdering the previous detainees, and takes the [[SickCaptiveScam 'wounded and possibly dying' prisoners to safety.]] As the robot is programmed not to kill intruders, this causes it enough confusion for everyone to leave the building without being stunned.]]

* RisingWaterRisingTension: The protagonists have located a library of pre-Apocalpyse lost knowledge. However by forcing the door open they've exposed the ElaborateUndergroundBase to a sudden tidal change. They find themselves trapped in the library, trying to haul the books to higher shelves so they won't be damaged, while also plugging every hole in the ceiling so an air bubble will be created and [[DrowningPit they won't drown]].

* LogicBomb: A security robot finds two of the characters poking around a bank and obeys its programming to hold robbers until they can be handed over to the police, stunning those who try to leave. [[OhCrap There's a pile of bones from previous inhabitants who have been held until they died.]] [[spoiler:After an attempt by Avila ImpersonatingAnOfficer fails (the robot demands an authorisation code), Chaka then enters pretending to be a doctor, accuses the robot of murdering the previous detainees, and takes the 'wounded and possibly dying' prisoners to safety. As the robot is programmed not to kill intruders, this causes it enough confusion for everyone to leave the building without being stunned.]]

* PacingProblems: It ''is'' a good book, but in order:
** ProlongedPrologue: A quarter of the book passes describing Illyrian society and the recent political swings before the expedition actually gets underway. This would be great if all that was actually important to the plot later on.
** CosmicDeadline: Then as the book nears its end the adventures hit harder and faster as if the author just wanted to tell his stories and get the book over with.