The Rosetta Key

By: William Dietrich

Narrated by: Jeff Woodman

“An utterly captivating romp from the treacherous tunnels beneath Jerusalem to the lost City of Ghosts (Petra, Jordan) to the tumult of revolutionary Paris….Dietrich spins a merry magical mystery tour, winningly intricate and anchored to actual historical figures and events….Mr. Spielberg! Mr. Lucas! It’s your move.”
—Seattle Times

Dashing and courageous American adventurer Ethan Gage returns in William Dietrich’s The Rosetta Key—the thrilling sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s acclaimed Napoleon’s Pyramids. An eighteenth century Indiana Jones, Gage swashbuckles once again, this time in pursuit of a precious Egyptian relic that would give its owner the power to rule the world. The Rosetta Key an adventure in reading that is not to be missed, especially by fans of George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman novels and aficionados of a grand literary tradition dating back to Jack London, Robert Lewis Stevenson, and H. Rider Haggard, and carried on today by such notables as James Rollins, David Liss, Steve Berry, and Kate Mosse.

Rosetta Key

Story was slow to start but got more interesting as it went on. The action and adventure also grew as the story went on. Lots of information on Napoleon's battles in the middle east. If you liked Dan Brown's book you will like this one.

National Treasure - Napoleonic Style

Pure formalistic action adventure that is fun and totally unbelievable. Saying that it is a good listen to. Jeff Woodman does an excellent job and this book is better than the previous. Yes it is over the top in parts and the history is skewed but what a romp through the sands of the Holy Land. A fun action adventure that would of kept the serial movie viewers of the 1930s very happy. Don't expect too much from this book and you will be pleasantly pleased by a fun story.

So So

Maybe I'm just tired of the lost religious/mystical/magical secret theme, but I couldn't get completely behind this one. I also had a problem placing the narration in the early 19th century.

The bones of the story are awesome. But...

Would you try another book from William Dietrich and/or Jeff Woodman?

I don't think I will. I read the first in the series, and it was intriguing, although I would have liked more story and less history lesson throughout. I thought an audio book would help me through the lull in action with this book, but I just sort of found myself tuning out instead.

What could William Dietrich have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

For sure we need some historical context to put Ethan Gage in the proper time and space, but exposition often gets lost amid the constant reminders that, yes, this is happening in a real place in a real time.

Which character – as performed by Jeff Woodman – was your favorite?

It would have to be the titular character.

Could you see The Rosetta Key being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Absolutely. I couldn't say who the stars would or should be, but I think with some paring down, this entire series would make either an excellent film franchise or a great Netflix project.

Any additional comments?

The Ethan Gage series has the potential to be awesome. But with William Dietrich being a historian, the plot gets hung up on the semantics of the time and place of the events. So, yes, there is action, but it's muddled with a story that reads/sounds less like a novel and more like a history text book.

continuation

Don't listen to this unless you've READ the first book NAPOLEAN'S PYRAMIDS (unavailable in Audible)because this is a continuation of that book. It is a good adventure and does give some details of what happened previously but first things first! The other problem I had is that the reader doesn't sound anything like the character.