The Rosetta Key (Book Review)
An 18th-century Indiana Jones
The Rosetta Key
William Dietrich
Harper. 352 pp. $25.95
Reviewed by Elizabeth Willse for The Star-Ledger, April 6, 2008
Set against the historical backdrop of Napoleon’s attempt to conquer the East, “The Rosetta Key” draws on military history, Egyptian mythology and Ben Franklin’s science to propel roguish narrator Ethan Gage through an intriguing 18th-century adventure.
Dietrich’s fans will remember Gage from his first outing in “Napoleon’s Pyramids” (2007), though readers new to his adventures will have no trouble catching on. Gold medallions Gage won in a card game in the previous book are the key to a larger mystery here — the whereabouts of the Book of Thoth. This ancient scroll could be the key to harness magical powers, even immortality. In the right hands, it could be used for the greater good.
His quest for the scroll pits him against a former romantic rival, makes an enemy of Napoleon and throws him into the center of the conflict between the French and the British in the Holy Land of 1799. Along the way, being shot at, nearly drowned, buried alive, and encountering a former lover while in the company of his current one complicate his plight.
Other characters from Dietrich’s previous book also return. The beautiful Astiza throws Gage into romantic turmoil. Count Silano, rival for Astiza’s affections, makes an appearance, as does the scheming French officer Najac. Napoleon himself reappears.
Benjamin Franklin makes his presence felt indirectly, and most entertainingly, through Gage quoting his aphorisms and employing his scientific principles. The times when Gage cites one of Franklin’s sensible maxims only to discard the advice and rush headlong into action are a nice comic touch.
Only occasionally does one of Franklin’s maxims occur to Gage at the right time: “In rivers and bad governments, the lightest things swim to the top” guides Gage to use a mummy’s wooden coffin to float to safety through a flooded cavern.
Gage’s scientific knowledge makes him seem something of a wizard to both the British and the French camps. His scheme to electrify a dangling metal chain to repel an attacking army is a particularly swashbuckling and satisfying use of 18th-century science.
All these elements should make for a fast-paced adventure, yet the action starts rather slowly. Dietrich’s returning readers or fans of this sort of historical fiction, such as Bernard Cornwell’s “Sharpe” series or Patrick O’Brien’s “Master and Commander” books, may find Gage’s blustery, first-person narration welcoming from the outset.
However, after a somewhat meandering start full of overblown prose and backstory, the plot picks up speed, catapulting Gage into a series of increasingly perilous situations. The detailed descriptions that slow the start of the narrative are used better later on, particularly in the sieges of Jaffa and Acre. And the description of the strange and beautiful rock formations en route to the City of Ghosts is well done.
Slow beginning aside, “The Rosetta Key” creates a satisfying blend of military and ancient history, adventure and romance. New readers may search out Gage’s previous adventures as they join Dietrich’s fans in awaiting his next one.
