Customer Reviews

The Rosetta Codex

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Richard Paul Russo first wowed me with Ship of Fools, which wowed me with both strong characters, a willingness to examine religion and the idea of god in a dark and hostile universe, and an excellent plot that remained strong throughout the entire book. After I read Ship of Fools, I picked up the Carlucci novels, which, while not as good as Ship of Fools, I found excellent as well. I had high hopes for his latest, but unfortunately they weren't all fulfilled.

Russo pens an intriguing tale, but whereas his tendency to leave his worlds fairly flat and sketchy worked excellently in Ship of Fools, where it helped to add to the sense of mystery and abandonment in the work, here it leaves the world feeling undernourished and two-dimensional. Russo inserts intriguing ideas here and there in the novel, but he never fleshes them out. In particular the technology of the world of the Rosetta Codex is left very vague. This is a very tight book, less than 400 pages long, but this is also one book that would have benefited from a longer length.

Likewise the characters fell flat for me. The hero, Cale, is frustratingly non-sympathetic for much of the book. The supporting cast seems to be completely defined by broad and simple character traits: Sidonie is scarred from her ordeals across the Divide, but still loyal; Cicero is old and obsessed with the study of the Jaaprana; Blackburn is an antagonist who nonetheless has a soft spot in his heart (or seems to) for Cale; the Sarakheen are Evil.

My biggest problem was that the plot seemed to run at the same speed and intensity the entire book; there was no real rising action, no climax, and no resolution. The book, in my opinion, starts on one note and really ends on the same note.

Despite my nitpicking, I enjoyed the book. It was far from his best work, but still an enjoyable read.

Personally, I loved the first half of this book. The concepts, characters, world-building, and ideas were a treat to read. I loved Conrad's World.

But, unfortunately, the latter half of the book fell apart. It got too big for it's britches, so-to-speak. Should have stayed in the divided planet of Conrad's World. I liked the landscape and dangerous exiles there. They made the adventure of this book shine.

I would have easily given this book a full 5 stars if Richard paul Russo would've made this go in a different direction. Just became too far out...literally.

The Rosetta Codex is another excellent SF novel fron Richard Paul Russo. I was lucky enough to hear the author read from this new novel last week, and I was immediately interested in the story. As it turns out, I read the Rosetta Codex from cover to cover in one long sitting. He builds a very believable universe which in many ways reminds me of my favorite space opera and 'world builder' science fiction novels from the old school of SF writers. I enjoyed the lead characters and I think the author could easily write another novel set in this universe given the interesting ideas unleashed in this one.

My fisrt introduction to this author was "Ship of Fools" which I must say I was more than a little astonished by. I have read it through twice and the second time was just as good as the first. This book was quite a good read but it simply didn't have the sort of magic that "Ship of Fools" did.

Don't get me wrong, it was well worth reading but I would definitely rate this one more of a B to B+ rather than an A.

The main character has a lot of veracity, and his thinking develops as he learns from his experiences. I felt I would have reacted similarly in the same situations, and could envision the varied environments in which the character finds himself. The end happens a bit quickly, and if the author hadn't needed to resolve the question of "what happens next?" he probably would have been better off devoting a whole book to the final sequences. As it is, he has set himself up for a sequel, and I'd really like to see this world continue. Now I'm interested in reading his other work.

The Exile Prince heads to Conrad's World with a filled hold and special passengers. A few hours before landing, three combat fighters attack the vessel. His father sends five year old Cale Alexandros accompanied by his nanny Sidonie in the Kestrel to the nearby planet with instructions to get to the only civilized spot Morningstar. However, the duo crash on Conrad's World. Nomads find them and rape Sidonie and leave her to die. They turn Cale into a slave.

A decade passes when Blackburn the trader enables Cale to escape with him to Morningstar where he meets Sidonie, who survived her desert ordeal. She takes him home to his wealthy family. However, Cale believes that Morningstar is built on top of an alien culture and has found an ancient tome with weird metallic pages containing strange writings that he found in the desert. His family and Sidonie want him to stay home and cannot understand why Cale is obsessed with locating and entering the alien gate that his reference mentions unaware that friends are enemies planning to use him.

THE ROSETTA CODEX is a very complex science fiction thriller from start to finish. Readers will enjoy journeying with Cale whose captivity along with the book he found shape his existence though that upsets his family. The story line is action-packed and the support cast is established to enhance the plot. However, this fine alien planet thriller belongs to Cale, whose enslavement has made him so different from his family that they cannot comprehend his need to return to the place of horrors and believe he is a fool to want to ship out again. Richard Paul Russo provides a strong character-driven outer space adventure.

Harriet Klausner

Too many character motivational problems to hit them all... What was the point of the alien church and city? Why did his nurse wait for him? What were the glowing blue stones? How did he evolve from waif to thug to lost scion of leading family? Why did Blackburn die? What motivated him to decide to resurrect the aliens? Finally, If he had the ultimate book of the universe in his possession for 3+ (can't tell actual chronology) years, while building and planning, why wouldn't he think to actually READ IT????

Just finished reading this book and I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable sci-fi reads I've had in a long time. Yes, it's low-key, less on gadgets and more on world- and character-building, but I could not put it down. One of those books I looked forward to returning to again and again. The first half was more a coming-of-age tale, surreal in places, reminiscent of the early Dark Tower books by King. In the second half, everything comes together in a sort of pre-ordained destiny for the main character. The characters themselves were well-drawn, never stale, always interesting, and the many worlds and settings fascinating. The ending, I felt, was very satsifying. Russo's style is steady, and consistently good, reminding me very much of the writing of Ben Bova, another favorite of mine. As this is my first Richard Paul Russo novel, I'm looking forward to picking up another very soon.

SHIP OF FOOLS was one of my top Sci-fi reads of all times so I was expecting something grand but was greatly disappointed by this alleged "space opera". Comparing THE ROSETTA CODEX to the space operas of, say, Alistair Reynolds is like comparing a VW Beatle with a Mercedes. Starting with the obvious. The story makes 0 (zero) sense. It's another case of an age of hyper-technology where Bronze Age folks live placidly side by side with miraculous technology. People travel to the stars, create wondrous materials, build fantastical buildings but ride in canoes!! Also making no sense is the Codex itself. It it's purpose was re-genesis of an alien race then why go to the trouble of writing it in various Earth languages? And why does the race need regenerating in the first place? And why can't the the humans figure out this alien language except through a Rosetta Stone/Codex? In the far future do computers exist and if so, wouldn't they be slightly more powerful than a Dell laptop circa 2008?

Not only was the plot awful, it was also boring and tedious and VERY light reading - more operetta than opera. Big writing, large font, short paragraphs AND chapters. The story starts with Cale, age 5, jumps to age 14, then jumps again to age 17 (or 18 - we're not sure). What little action that does exist is quite tame and VERY brief. He has a few close encounters with the opposite sex that end up badly. Fully a fourth of the book is given over to what may be the most boring overland treks in modern literature. Along the way he meets a few people, almost all of which are thoroughly unremarkable. During one stop in a "ghost town" Cale, our intrepid hero, finds an alien "book". (Who would have imagined that ultra-advanced aliens read and published books like you and me and stored their data in such a perishable format instead of, for example, a disk or cube? Oh well, ours is not to reason why...) The Rosetta Codex was surrounded by heavy, stones that emitted a blue glow. They show up one more time in the story before disappearing without a trace or an explanation. A stranger stalks and attempts to aid young Cale several times in his life before finally turning against him. The reason for this interest is never explained like so many things. The ending is par for the course, hokey as hogwash, predictable sci-fi fare - pass through a mysterious space gate to another dimension, enter a futuristic large complex, meet a not-so-weird advanced alien who, in order to communicate, crams what appears to be a football helmet on a retarded man (sorry - it's not my tale). This alien is also able to discern between good and evil humans and sticks up for the good guys (our hero, of course). By the way, the alien moves and talks like Klaatu, the fake robotic creature in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. At least he did not give us a warning about atomic weapons. My grade - D-

While this is far from the best book I have read it is a solid enjoyable read. In the story you follow behind the main character Cale as he goes from infancy to old age, and likewise progresses up the later of technology. This, more so than the specifics of the plot, was what made it interesting to me. In the beginning of the story he and his nanny crash land on a dirt bag of a planet in an attempt to escape from a ship after his aristocratic father. Cale is then captured and raised in a technology deprived penal country split off from the rest of the continent by a gigantic tear in the earth. He escapes his cruel barbarian captors (a few times) and finally heads to the bridge to the more technologically advanced side of the planet. In the process he learns to read and finds an ancient alien shrine with a weird metal book (the codex).

Over this coarse of events you see him ages up to young adult hood, and in the city, keeps on aging allowing the reader see him grow. Much of the middle part of the book has very little to do with the codex, you just get to watch him grow older and form relationships, finally reestablishing a connection with his real family, which is now in heavy decline from it's previous standing.

Ultimately he (now in old age) uses the codex to plot a course to find the aliens. I do have to admit the ending was a little disappointing. It sets it up to have a big and interesting moral question that ultimately doesn't pan out. However, up until the point right at the end I really enjoyed it, and the book as a whole was good enough to survive the mild let down.