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Rosetta #2
The Rosetta Mind: Book Two of the Rosetta Series
Estlin Hume was living off-grid on 12 acres outside of Twin Butte, Alberta when he got snagged into being translator for first contact. Home again, he wakes to find himself surrounded by aliens, affectionate squirrels, government representatives, and military personnel. That’s nothing new. But he hadn’t planned on hosting one thousand three hundred and sixty-one cuttlefish in a massive saltwater tank suspended above his house!
Stuck at the center of the alien contact crisis, Estlin is challenged by ill-advised directives from government officials, trenchant military interference, and random acts of violence from unknown nefarious agents—all of whom are determined to find out for themselves what the aliens really want. No matter the cost! No matter the outcome!
Stuck at the center of the alien contact crisis, Estlin is challenged by ill-advised directives from government officials, trenchant military interference, and random acts of violence from unknown nefarious agents—all of whom are determined to find out for themselves what the aliens really want. No matter the cost! No matter the outcome!
- GenresScience Fiction
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 25, 2022
8 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 28, 2022
Interesting but not as gripping as the first book of the series.
December 24, 2022
confused
I did not particularly enjoy the book. In some ways it is well put together; in others it is not. Not an intriguing story.
I did not particularly enjoy the book. In some ways it is well put together; in others it is not. Not an intriguing story.
September 4, 2022
The description for this book says that even though it's the second in a series, it can be read as a stand alone. And it's true that everyone spends a lot of time talking about things that (I assume) happened in the first book, but it's not enough for me to put together a coherent idea of what happened to which character in what order. It's a shame, because I absolutely adore the concept (aliens choosing a 'normal' guy to talk to instead of a huge government? Communicating in non-standard ways? Sign me up!) I just couldn't follow it well enough.
The descriptions are great and it's so imaginative. This isn't really an action book, be aware of that, but there's so much thought and work and research gone into it, it's amazing.
I'm really sad that it didn't suit me, but maybe other readers will have a better go with it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The descriptions are great and it's so imaginative. This isn't really an action book, be aware of that, but there's so much thought and work and research gone into it, it's amazing.
I'm really sad that it didn't suit me, but maybe other readers will have a better go with it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
January 23, 2023
Wild and wicked political satire! Thoroughly enjoyed the not-so-subtle thrashing of politicians from a multitude of countries. The Canadians get the brunt of jabs but they have lots of company.
Estlin Hume is the translator for the aliens. However, they don't make it easy for him and the politicians, bureaucrats, and military can agree on the messages to deliver.
This is a follow-on to the first book in the series but can be read without too much stress (after the confusion of the first chapter or so). The ending is really a set up for the third book. So, it has a partial ending, but leaves a lot open.
This was fun to read. It is best to be fully alert so you don't miss much of the shenanigans.
Estlin Hume is the translator for the aliens. However, they don't make it easy for him and the politicians, bureaucrats, and military can agree on the messages to deliver.
This is a follow-on to the first book in the series but can be read without too much stress (after the confusion of the first chapter or so). The ending is really a set up for the third book. So, it has a partial ending, but leaves a lot open.
This was fun to read. It is best to be fully alert so you don't miss much of the shenanigans.
September 8, 2022
I received a review copy of this from BookSirens and did not realize that it was a sequel, so I had to read the first before this one. I don't think this would have fared well without the context. As it is, it is a bit different from the first. More technical, less "new idea", more "different idea", and a slide or three into the surreal. Ms. McCague weaves multiple story lines again into a fast paced inner-ear-dizzying folding with most of the original cast and a few new players. No spoiling, but I suspect there is another in the works. This time, though, I'll have to wait like everyone else.
December 6, 2022
If you loved the first in the series, hit buy already!
Once again Claire mixes dense sci-fi with incredibly well-rounded characters, massive stakes and a sprinkling of humor to create one of the most unique reads of my year. The Rosetta Mind felt like revisiting an old friend. Loved Estlin and the continuation of his story.
Once again Claire mixes dense sci-fi with incredibly well-rounded characters, massive stakes and a sprinkling of humor to create one of the most unique reads of my year. The Rosetta Mind felt like revisiting an old friend. Loved Estlin and the continuation of his story.
February 27, 2023
Another fascinating book in the Rosetta series by Claire McCague
A well thought out science fiction novel, hope that I am going to see volume 3 in this series soon!
Some of the concepts are stellar! Now I want to read the ending of the story!
A well thought out science fiction novel, hope that I am going to see volume 3 in this series soon!
Some of the concepts are stellar! Now I want to read the ending of the story!
September 16, 2022
still on my reread lisy
I wasn’t sure if the sequel would ruin the original for me but thankfully it’s just as delightful. Will definitely be rereading.
I wasn’t sure if the sequel would ruin the original for me but thankfully it’s just as delightful. Will definitely be rereading.
January 29, 2023
Before reviewing Book 2, allow me a paragraph or two about Book 1: The Rosette Man. I managed to miss it entirely when it first came out (amid the on-going avalanche of new Canadian SF&F), but was later fortunate to catch McCague giving a reading. I was so impressed, I bought and downloaded the novel within the first five minutes of her reading the opening.
The Rosetta Man is among the cleverest, most riveting first-contact adventures ever. The aliens are intriguingly alien, the hero is neurodiverse, and the cast of dozens are all wonderfully at odds with each other on how to respond to the alien’s arrival. McCague casually destroys first-contact cliches by having the aliens land in a park in Wellington, New Zealand, rather than on the White House lawn; our protagonist is an unassuming Canadian reluctantly caught up in events, rather than the typical American alpha-male winning his way to goals of his choosing; and there are no flying saucers, Gort-like robots, or drooling monsters. MCCague’s real genius, however, is using the theatre of the absurd to create an edge-of-the-seat spy-thriller/end-of-days actioner. I cannot recommend The Rosetta Man strongly enough: more fun than any Marvel blockbuster.
Anyone who read The Rosetta Man probably had The Rosetta Mind on pre-order, because readers need to find out what happens next. If you haven’t already read The Rosetta Man, though, you should probably hold off until you have. Some sequels can stand on their own, but in this instance, without Book 1, Book 2 would simply be . . . incomprehensible.
Not that McCague doesn’t attempt to ease the reader into the situation—nice try with the prologue—but there are way too many characters to sort out, and even if one could, knowing what happened previously isn’t remotely helpful. It’s not the knowing, but the believing that’s at issue. The only way a reader could accept where Book 2 starts is to have followed McCague’s meticulously taking the reader, step by logical step, through the sequence of events that leads, as if inevitably, to the ridiculous situation in which our hero now finds himself. The Governor General of Canada negotiating with a tree full of cuttlefish? A ghost in the living room? That’s the sort of nonsense up with which a discerning reader would not put.
Unless they read Book 1, in which case, yeah, of course, should have seen that coming.
Book 2, The Rosetta Mind, is in no a disappointment—but it’s entirely different in structure and content from Book 1. There’s no running about in Book 2; everything takes place in the hero’s Picture Butte home (albeit, now occupied by aliens in the upstairs cupboard). Instead, the two dozen characters from the first book, along with half a dozen new ones like the Governor General, stand around discussing science, philosophy, and options.
I can’t decide if the science is cutting edge, scientific speculation, or if McCague is just making stuff up. Take for example this exposition on the nature of diamonds used in the alien micro-fusion generators:
“Diamonds have exquisite properties,” he said. “They have a near-magical role in quantum technology. They are used in magnetic sensors—the kind that can read the signal from a single neuron. Complete transparency across visible wavelengths. Extremely high thermal conductivity. Low thermal expansion. Extreme radiation hardness. High melting point which increases under pressure. Density that increases when it melts.”
“And we use them for rings and pretty things,” Troughton said.
“Because they are magical,” Sanford answered.
Okay, is that true? Did we just learn something about diamonds? I mean, McCague is an actual materials engineering, nanotech, sustainable power source scientist—so, yes? But there are dozens of pages of this sort of exposition, at least some of which must be pure alien fantasy.
Weirdly, McCague’s talking heads sequences all work, as do the equally complicated philosophical explorations of how the unique environments of different lifeforms leads to divergent understandings of the meaning, purpose, and ethics of life. Weirder still are the frequent telepathic dream sequences, which you would think would be hopelessly tedious, but really aren’t.
And there’s still the underlying tension over who should get access to the aliens and who must not, and does anyone really trust the Canadians to be fully transparent and not to hold some advantages back?
However absurd any of it gets, McCague makes every character, their motivations and actions, entirely believable. The Governor General isn’t some off-the-shelf stereotype, she’s exactly who we need for the next GG. Our hero isn’t some Hollywood leading man but more the cat lady from down the block. You’ve met all these people, and you completely get why they’re doing what they’re doing. You haven’t met the aliens or the cuttlefish before, but it’s good to be open to new things.
So, maybe don’t read this more philosophical book before Book 1—but there is nothing stopping you from buying it now, so it’s to hand when you finish The Rosetta Man.
[Reprinted from Ottawa Review of Books, Oct 2022.]
The Rosetta Man is among the cleverest, most riveting first-contact adventures ever. The aliens are intriguingly alien, the hero is neurodiverse, and the cast of dozens are all wonderfully at odds with each other on how to respond to the alien’s arrival. McCague casually destroys first-contact cliches by having the aliens land in a park in Wellington, New Zealand, rather than on the White House lawn; our protagonist is an unassuming Canadian reluctantly caught up in events, rather than the typical American alpha-male winning his way to goals of his choosing; and there are no flying saucers, Gort-like robots, or drooling monsters. MCCague’s real genius, however, is using the theatre of the absurd to create an edge-of-the-seat spy-thriller/end-of-days actioner. I cannot recommend The Rosetta Man strongly enough: more fun than any Marvel blockbuster.
Anyone who read The Rosetta Man probably had The Rosetta Mind on pre-order, because readers need to find out what happens next. If you haven’t already read The Rosetta Man, though, you should probably hold off until you have. Some sequels can stand on their own, but in this instance, without Book 1, Book 2 would simply be . . . incomprehensible.
Not that McCague doesn’t attempt to ease the reader into the situation—nice try with the prologue—but there are way too many characters to sort out, and even if one could, knowing what happened previously isn’t remotely helpful. It’s not the knowing, but the believing that’s at issue. The only way a reader could accept where Book 2 starts is to have followed McCague’s meticulously taking the reader, step by logical step, through the sequence of events that leads, as if inevitably, to the ridiculous situation in which our hero now finds himself. The Governor General of Canada negotiating with a tree full of cuttlefish? A ghost in the living room? That’s the sort of nonsense up with which a discerning reader would not put.
Unless they read Book 1, in which case, yeah, of course, should have seen that coming.
Book 2, The Rosetta Mind, is in no a disappointment—but it’s entirely different in structure and content from Book 1. There’s no running about in Book 2; everything takes place in the hero’s Picture Butte home (albeit, now occupied by aliens in the upstairs cupboard). Instead, the two dozen characters from the first book, along with half a dozen new ones like the Governor General, stand around discussing science, philosophy, and options.
I can’t decide if the science is cutting edge, scientific speculation, or if McCague is just making stuff up. Take for example this exposition on the nature of diamonds used in the alien micro-fusion generators:
“Diamonds have exquisite properties,” he said. “They have a near-magical role in quantum technology. They are used in magnetic sensors—the kind that can read the signal from a single neuron. Complete transparency across visible wavelengths. Extremely high thermal conductivity. Low thermal expansion. Extreme radiation hardness. High melting point which increases under pressure. Density that increases when it melts.”
“And we use them for rings and pretty things,” Troughton said.
“Because they are magical,” Sanford answered.
Okay, is that true? Did we just learn something about diamonds? I mean, McCague is an actual materials engineering, nanotech, sustainable power source scientist—so, yes? But there are dozens of pages of this sort of exposition, at least some of which must be pure alien fantasy.
Weirdly, McCague’s talking heads sequences all work, as do the equally complicated philosophical explorations of how the unique environments of different lifeforms leads to divergent understandings of the meaning, purpose, and ethics of life. Weirder still are the frequent telepathic dream sequences, which you would think would be hopelessly tedious, but really aren’t.
And there’s still the underlying tension over who should get access to the aliens and who must not, and does anyone really trust the Canadians to be fully transparent and not to hold some advantages back?
However absurd any of it gets, McCague makes every character, their motivations and actions, entirely believable. The Governor General isn’t some off-the-shelf stereotype, she’s exactly who we need for the next GG. Our hero isn’t some Hollywood leading man but more the cat lady from down the block. You’ve met all these people, and you completely get why they’re doing what they’re doing. You haven’t met the aliens or the cuttlefish before, but it’s good to be open to new things.
So, maybe don’t read this more philosophical book before Book 1—but there is nothing stopping you from buying it now, so it’s to hand when you finish The Rosetta Man.
[Reprinted from Ottawa Review of Books, Oct 2022.]
May 16, 2023
An interesting book, but not as good as the first one was. I will continue reading the series, because it’s a very intriguing storyline, and a unique story, unlike anything else I’ve read.
April 13, 2025
The reviews of the Rosetta Mind I saw suggested that the first few chapters were slow, or heavy, or wading in mud, or similar. I don’t know why–I raced through them. Perhaps people wanted something more than alien species interacting with cuttlefish in a tank suspended above Estlin’s house, for no apparent reason? Perhaps they prefer their scifi with spaceships zapping each other? That way you can work out pretty quickly who the good guys are.
Claire McCague appeals more to the person who likes their science fiction to be complex, multidisciplinary, with a good helping of humour. That would be me, then. I loved the complexity of it, and it is very complex. Some of the specialists brought in to help Estlin work out what the aliens, or, now, the cuttlefish, are communicating to him, speak in mathematical terms of a nature far beyond my understanding. And like some of Juliana Rew‘s writing, I find it best to go with the flow, accept the concepts if they slide in the back of my head while my eyes are reading the words, and enjoy the ride. The protagonists end up having to draw the shapes and colours of the conversations they are having, because there are no words, only ideas and concepts. And, as it turns out, the aliens and the cuttlefish are both very concerned about the ideas that humans have.
Meanwhile, the humans (i.e. the military and governments etc) worry about what power sources the aliens have. How can they can snag them before their enemies do? Which leads to a really, really interesting plot twist. Attentive readers with a little meteorology, seismology and similar background, will probably get there before I did. I probably got there on the second or third application of the clue. I expect a few readers will be surprised. But I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
If you like your aliens to do different things from humans, to think differently, have other ethics, and work with alternative applications of physics, you’ll love this. If not, well, give it a try, you may change your mind.
Claire McCague appeals more to the person who likes their science fiction to be complex, multidisciplinary, with a good helping of humour. That would be me, then. I loved the complexity of it, and it is very complex. Some of the specialists brought in to help Estlin work out what the aliens, or, now, the cuttlefish, are communicating to him, speak in mathematical terms of a nature far beyond my understanding. And like some of Juliana Rew‘s writing, I find it best to go with the flow, accept the concepts if they slide in the back of my head while my eyes are reading the words, and enjoy the ride. The protagonists end up having to draw the shapes and colours of the conversations they are having, because there are no words, only ideas and concepts. And, as it turns out, the aliens and the cuttlefish are both very concerned about the ideas that humans have.
Meanwhile, the humans (i.e. the military and governments etc) worry about what power sources the aliens have. How can they can snag them before their enemies do? Which leads to a really, really interesting plot twist. Attentive readers with a little meteorology, seismology and similar background, will probably get there before I did. I probably got there on the second or third application of the clue. I expect a few readers will be surprised. But I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.
If you like your aliens to do different things from humans, to think differently, have other ethics, and work with alternative applications of physics, you’ll love this. If not, well, give it a try, you may change your mind.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews