The Rosetta Codex

The Rosetta Codex

Richard Paul Russo

#7487 of 8,085 books · #1743 in Fantasy

Shortlisted for the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (2006).

Cale Alexandros was five years old when the path of his life was irrevocably altered. As the scion of a wealthy and powerful family, he enjoyed a privileged existence—until his family's starship was attacked en route to Morningstar, the lone outpost of civilization on a savage planet known as Conrad's World. In an escape ship, Cale crash-landed in the wilds, and was picked from the wreckage by nomads. For years, Cale is forced to endure life as a slave, sold and shuffled from one group of brutish thugs to another—until a trader recognizes a glimmer of promise in Cale's eyes, and frees him. Cale travels far and wide, but he never forgets what happened long ago, in the desert wastes . . . when, in a strange, ancient temple, he found a book with pages made of a strange metal, and writings he could not identify. When he finally reaches Morningstar, he comes to realize that the book is a key to understanding a language never heard by mankind, an alien dialect. It also holds a secret that some people want to learn, a treasure that some want for themselves, and a revelation that some will do anything to control.