Book Review:
Gene Wolfe,,
Soldier Of The Mist
by Jerry Wright
Latro In The Mist
Author: Gene WolfePublisher: St Martins Trade Paper: 704 pages ISBN:0765302942 Price: $16.95 |
Who is this "Latro"? Well, first of, that isn't his real name, but it is all he knows. He is a warrior back in 457 BCE. And he's received a headwound so that his long term memory is gone. Every day is a new day to him, and what has just happened the day before is gone. But he's been told to keep a record of what happens day to day, and this record is what we are now reading.
Because of his wound, he now can see (and cause others to see) all the mythic elements surrounding him. Gods, Goddesses, lamia, denizens of the Greek Mythos now interact with him, and send him on a journey. For anyone else, it would be a journey of self-discovery. For him, not so much. An odd collection of companions gathers around him. Io, the faithful slave-girl, an Ethiopian, a necromancer of ambiguous sexuality, Amazons, prophets, and poets, as well as people who think they are taking Latro as a slave, all are the playthings of the gods. Latro visits Thebes, Corinth, Athens, and Sparta, takes part in the siege of Sestos, and explores Thrace, before a culmination at Delphi and a departure for Italy.
For us, it is a wonderful odyssey. Yes, this journey could definitely be called peripatetic, but due to the whole concept of the story it is necessary, and wondrous. If you have some familiarity with the writings of Herodotus (or Herodotos, as he is called here) your journey will be richly rewarding. If you aren't all that familiar with the Greeks, you won't get as much, but the story is still richly rewarding.
I haven't yet read Soldier of Arete but I'll either find it in a used bookstore, or break down and buy Latro In The Mists and see more through the mists that surround this lost soldier.
Copyright © 2006 Jerry Wright and Bewildering Stories