The Rosetta Codex [Paperback]

 

 

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Whilst there was nothing particularly atrocious about The Rosetta Codex, neither was there anything outstanding. Whilst the book is well paced and a quick read, in the hurry to move the plot along it lacks the detail that might otherwise give an interest or depth to the future universe thus described. The imagining of the future technology and society is quite pedestrian. Furthermore, I felt that Russo did only barely enough with his central character to keep my interest. The more thought provoking aspects of the plot are explored only tangentially - through the rather hackneyed device of poorly sketched antagonists who wish to gain possession of (I don't think I'm giving anything away here) the titular object. All in all, a disappointment, bordering in parts on the formulaic.

A young boy, Cale, is dragged from the wreckage of a ship by a nomadic and savage community who treat him as a slave.
A mysterious and seemingly amoral traveller, Blackburn, offers to take Cale away with him to the city of Morningstar, but Cale, perhaps sensing Blackburn's nature, refuses.
Cale later escapes and subsequently discovers a ruined temple filled with alien hieroglyphs, and a book which contains text not only in the alien characters, but translated into a number of human languages - The Rosetta Codex.
He buries the book and is later tracked down by his old guardian, Sidonie, whom he thought dead.
Sidonie tells him he is heir to an interplanetary corporation and, after recovering The Rosetta Codex, he returns to his home world where he plans to follow the instructions in the Codex; to travel to a designated star and awaken the Emissary so that the race of Jaaprana may live again. He is, however, dogged by Blackburn and the cyborg Sarakheen, Justinian, who need the Codex to translate the alien technology manuals they have amassed.
It would be unfair to call Russo merely a pessimist, although on first reading his work he gives a very bleak, if realistic, assessment of the human condition. Here, we are in a human civilisation in decline. At one point, when trying to persuade Cale of the Sarakheen's need for the Codex (their goal is to create true cyborgs, devoid of human weaknesses) they take him to a remote warehouse where the elite of this new world are watching gladiator-style fight-to-the-death combats. Blackburn's point is that Man, though technologically blessed and having spread to the stars, cannot throw off the dark and savage animal needs that dwell within him, something that the Sarakheen would be able to do with the Codex.
There is, however, goodness in Humanity, which is evinced by Cale himself and the friends he makes. Several people help Cale and ask for little or nothing in return.
Russo's style generally evokes a curiosity within the reader since although we move through a variety of locations and social settings we do not get a real view of the wider galactic society although it is clear from the text that interstellar human civilisation is in decline. Manufacture of interstellar ships has virtually ceased and although many colonial cities are built on the ruins of the Jaaprana cities there is very little interest in archaeological research.
Cale is given a choice at the climax of the novel and, although the choice is taken out of his hands it is no doubt a question that every reader would ask themselves. What would I have done?
The concept of Fate and Destiny is also a strong theme in this book. Cale meets Alazar on the bad side of the Divide, and is witness to one of his brother's Harlock's vision's which appears to relate to the destiny of all three of them in retrospect.
Back on his home world, Cale, apparently coincidentally, meets the brothers again, as well as Blackburn, whose true calling and origins are never determined.
Also, Cale meets with his father's horoscoper, who appears to have set or predicted Cale's destiny from the time before he was stranded on Conrad's world.
Thus the very concept of free will is brought into question. Fascinating, and a book which proves to provide much food for thought long after one has finished it.

.The protagonist is sufficiently poorly drawn that one ceases rapidly to care what happens to him; the narrative limps on wihout much sense of the writer putting in any particular effort into creating a resonant foreign world or perhaps offering some thoughtful thematics. Hard to think of a more putdownable piece.

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4.0 out of 5 stars excitement on every page.
Very few new writers seem able to excite.

Richard Paul Russo is one of the exceptions. I have now read two of his books, both were excellent, this was by far the best. Read more

Published on 2 Mar 2006 by peter_giblett

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