Review: Space swashbuckler spoiled by the suspension of basic science
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 8, 2012
With enough twists to make a pretzel envious, Rosetta attempts space opera status, a la Star Wars, and only falls short in its final acts when it completely suspends the laws of both Newtonian and relativisitic physics.  The novel lays out a universe in which two political philosophies compete.  On the one hand, you have the Consortium which has organized the remnants of humanity on Earth after a cataclysmic war into a caste system with technocrats at the top and totally subservient (via implants) lower classes.  Of course, the lower castes suffer from incredible deprivation and lack of dignity.  On Mars, on the other hand, a civilization has arisen based on individual freedom; this political entity is called the Coalition.  Well-placed Coalition politicians and businessmen enjoy the good life, while most workers face incredible deprivation and lack of dignity.  The protagonist refuses to align with either system, remaining a free agent to each organization's consternation.  The details of life on Mars are credible, including environmental and social factors.  The hero's journey on a space ship (his first) are also believable, including descriptions of artificial gravity.  The author's explanation of the workings and economic importance of Rosetta, a mining colony built into an asteroid, requires a mild suspension of disbelief, but no more so than in other works of this genre.  Within this framework, the author spins a tale of action, boodshed, betrayal, revolution, and hero-driven resolution.  However, the final peril, which I don't want to reveal in detail, involves a journey that is simply impossible without a complete revision of basic science, which the author does not supply.  To his credit, the author does say in his afterword, "All mistakes are mine."  The last one was a lulu.