Without getting too OTT about it, I like the work of Richard Paul Russo. Over the years he has written action packed SF noir detective fiction and a number of hard SF landscape of the mind type novels. Both styles are good, but the latter type as more depth - working on multiple levels. Good story on top, psychological insight in the layers below. The only thing is, his work can be hard to get hold of. It usually required special orders or secondhand bookstore searches to find his work. However, Dymocks have lots of copies of The Rosetta Codex. I had to figure brain fade or a sudden awakening of interest in Russo's work. Confusion with Richard Russo (no Paul) who writes litfic also seemed a possibility. So what is the deal?

It turns out that the reason that there are lots of copies of The Rosetta Codex is that it is a fish of a different odour. Russo and/or his publishers are obviously trying for the mass market. First with a title that resonates with the Dan Brown fans and then with a book that is very light weight. It is a stereotypical fantasy plotted piece of space opera. You know the type of thing - baby heir to kingdom (trading family) is lost and brought up in the wilderness by a bunch of nasty people. Finds a talisman (technological device) of a lost people (alien race) along the way to getting out of the wilderness. Finds real family and delivers the destiny of the lost people using the talisman. Oh and there are a bunch of faithful and honest people helping along the way to stop the nasty ones trying to prevent the destiny delivery. So predictable. So trite.

*Sigh* No doubt Russo has to eat and pushing this lowest common denominator stuff is his way of getting books sold. But as a fan, I am disappointed. On the plus side, it is an easy read for my recovering illness abused brain.