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A review by libraryowl
The Rosetta Key by William Dietrich
3.0
The Rosetta Key has the flavor of an Indiana Jones type movie. I didn't read book one of the series and perhaps I would have appreciated book 2 better had I read that first. Regardless, it was a good book but not a great book. Ethan Gage is the main character. He calls himself a savant. He is an adventurer in the late 1700s. He finds himself in Egypt and Israel in search of the book of Thoth as well as his lost love (from the previous book) Astiza. Although the book was an okay read, I probably needed to see it as a movie to appreciate the action. Gage finds himself in situations that you think that no one could possibly survive and yet he does. Time and time again be prepared for death threats by unusual means. I've always wondered why the bad guy doesn't just kill their nemesis instead of having him slowly die by bizarre methods from which he manages to get away anyway. In the beginning of the book he is already in front of a firing squad and we read the words being said, "Ready, Aim, FIre". I think that is my only frustration with an otherwise action packed novel. i particularly enjoyed the side characters more than the main character. Many of them were former enemies that became friends. Mohammed and Ned were interesting people. I also enjoyed Jericho and his sister, Miriam. I would loved to have read more about them in the novel.
One thing that I do appreciate about this book is the way the author infused real historical events within the novel. It is a good read when I find myself wanting to learn more about the history of what I've read. Thank goodness I live with a "historian" of sorts who gave me great background knowledge of Napoleon as well as what was going on in the Americas at that time. I particularly enjoyed reading the Afterword in which the author stated which facts were historical and which were just made up for novel purposes. Did you know that Notre Dame Cathedral was located on a site of a Roman temple to Isis? I didn't. I applaud the fact that William Deitrich did his research before writing this historical fiction adventure.
One thing that I do appreciate about this book is the way the author infused real historical events within the novel. It is a good read when I find myself wanting to learn more about the history of what I've read. Thank goodness I live with a "historian" of sorts who gave me great background knowledge of Napoleon as well as what was going on in the Americas at that time. I particularly enjoyed reading the Afterword in which the author stated which facts were historical and which were just made up for novel purposes. Did you know that Notre Dame Cathedral was located on a site of a Roman temple to Isis? I didn't. I applaud the fact that William Deitrich did his research before writing this historical fiction adventure.