[Latro in the Mist] [By: Wolfe, Gene] [March, 2003]

Latro #Omnibus 1-2

by Gene Wolfe

A distinguished compilation of two classic fantasy novels, Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Aret�, in one volumeThis omnibus of two acclaimed novels is the story of Latro, a Roman mercenary who while fighting in Greece received a head injury that deprived him of his short-term memory but gave him in return the ability to see and converse with the supernatural creatures and the gods and goddesses, who invisibly inhabit the ancient landscape. Latro forgets everything when he sleeps. Writing down his experiences every day and reading his journal anew each morning gives him a poignantly tenuous hold on himself, but his story's hold on readers is powerful indeed, and many consider these Wolfe's best books.

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Science Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

Paperback

First published March 19, 2003

About the author

Gene Wolfe was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying a Catholic. He was a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the field.

The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is given by SFWA for ‘lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.’ Wolfe joins the Grand Master ranks alongside such legends as Connie Willis, Michael Moorcock, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Silverberg, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Joe Haldeman. The award will be presented at the 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA, May 16-19, 2013.

While attending Texas A&M University Wolfe published his first speculative fiction in The Commentator, a student literary journal. Wolfe dropped out during his junior year, and was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After returning to the United States he earned a degree from the University of Houston and became an industrial engineer. He edited the journal Plant Engineering for many years before retiring to write full-time, but his most famous professional engineering achievement is a contribution to the machine used to make Pringles potato crisps. He lived in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

A frequent Hugo nominee without a win, Wolfe has nevertheless picked up several Nebula and Locus Awards, among others, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the 2012 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. He is also a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/genewolfe

Reviews

[Michael Battaglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I think Gene Wolfe wakes up each morning and sits in front of whatever writing device of choice he uses and thinks to himself, "How can I make this as difficult for myself as possible?" It's pretty rare that he writes a novel where the action is linear or the narrator is anything resembling reliable and sometimes it seems like his preferred method of writing climaxes is to sketch in the details of it and everything around it, then erase the event itself from the text and leave only the ancillary events for you to puzzle over. It makes for challenging reading when you least expect it and if he wasn't so good at what he did, most people would probably toss his books away in frustration.

Here he takes what could be a straightforward historical novel with tinges of the fantastic and then like a Captain Beefheart song proceeds to alter everything that could be normal about it until you're left holding pieces of puzzles that all belong to different boxes. It goes together but unless you're deep inside it, you don't have the perspective to see how.

This pair of novels follows the exploits of poor Latro, who's pretty sure he was once a soldier but isn't quite sure if "Latro" is even his name. Unfortunately for him he sustained a head injury in a recent battle and has lost all ability to remember recent events . . . basically by noon of the next day he's forgotten everything that happened before that and if not for the fact that the disability forces him to write everything down so he can keep rereading it, he would have to go by whatever everyone else tells him. Fortunately for us, he's a pretty good writer. Unfortunately for us, he's narrating the entire story. Be prepared to do a lot of connecting the dots.

To Wolfe's credit, this could have come across as a stale and academic writing exercise, the kind that professors hand out in creative writing courses. The style of the story bends to suit the method of narration and it never feels like a contrivance or a formula for the sake of itself. To make things interesting and to keep the people who like a little bit of actual fantasy in their fantasy, Latro also has gained the ability to see the various gods and demigods that populate the landscape and seem to manipulate everyone based on sheer whim. Sometimes his friends can see them too, sometimes they can't. Often this means that Latro isn't the most dynamic of main characters, since he rarely knows what's going on he can't do much long-term planning so he's mostly reactionary, when people just aren't taking advantage of his amnesia and straight out lying to him. Most of the thrust of the story is him being pushed and pulled by other forces, whether it's gods or men, while he tries to sporadically circle around to the main question of who he is and where is his home.

But one warning, if any Wolfe novel requires a visit to the library (or Wikipedia), it's this one. Wolfe sets out to write as authentic a novel set in the 479 BC without writing it in ancient Greek on parchment and this means everything is viewed through a lens of people who are there. So if you think you're going to be all on top of things because you did some basic reading about Greek mythology in high school, think again. The biggest clue is Wolfe telling us in the beginning what year this is set in, and I'll save you the trouble of looking it up by telling you that was the year the Battle of Plataea took place, a rather decisive battle between the Greek city-states and the invading Persians. Refreshing yourself with a basic primer on that period of history will get you far in this book, especially since Wolfe strips away all the familiar Greek names of the cities and substitutes what I assume are the actual meanings of the words. Think you know Athens, Sparta and the rest? You thought you did until you witness Latro and company drifting to places called "Rope" and "Thought" and "Dolphin". It took me most of the first book to even figure out that the "Rope-Makers" were Spartans, at which point things began to fall into place. So your DVD Of "300" isn't going to be much help here. Very few of the gods you know and love have proper names here either and while the book teases you with a glossary, it seems to go out of its way to not define anything you actually want to know.

So why even bother? One is the sheer challenge of keeping track of what is going on versus what Latro thinks is going on versus what people tell Latro what's going on. Since he hits the reset switch every day the reader has to work overtime to keep everyone straight and make sure that people aren't being reintroduced as the wrong people (and par for the course in a Gene Wolfe novel, at least one person seems to switch identities partway through), plus all the manipulations that are happening around a fairly oblivious Latro. Between the constant memory loss and the inclusion of the gods (often without warning and as he doesn't remember that this is odd, it's often taken as quite normal) gives the whole affair a rather intriguing dream-like ambiance as Latro drifts in and out of events, surrounded by both place and people that become strangely formless, with goals that often shift depending on which way the sunlight strikes it. It makes us feel like visitors to an alien realm, where the ideas and concepts that we've grown so attached to don't exactly apply here. If nothing else, Wolfe gets the feel exactly right of a mindset of a people and time where the world was changing and yet always the same, and where it was perfectly natural that the realms of gods would interact freely with men. If Latro remains elusive (and sometimes, admittedly, so does the plot), it only serves to bring the world he inhabited into sharper contrast. You can take a photograph, or you describe what it was like to be there so vividly that it's not necessary. Despite all the hoops he makes us jump through, Wolfe always opts for the latter, and the work is all the better for it.

[Sir He-Man · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely gorgeous. I am a really avid fan of historical fiction done well. This is one of the only books in memory that really tries to tackle the ancient Greek world as the ancient Greeks saw it.

The remarkable thing about it is not merely the theme of amnesiac loss of memory, or the fantastical elements, for our hero can see the gods hidden to the rest of humanity thanks to a head injury. No, it is in the gentle tone, the interactions and relationships to various slaves, singer-philosophers, nubile women on their way to priestesshood, upper class nobles, ship owners and captains, Amazon tribeswomen, and various ancient physicians that Latro encounters that give this book one of the most interesting and beautiful things I have ever read. I wanted it to last longer to the point of spacing it out purposefully...but then Gene Wolfe often has that effect on me. This is the most well written of the works of his I've read, both for the painstaking research done on everything from customs, place names, social customs, and history that gives us a tourist's view of Ancient Greece, as opposed to just the gargantuan monsters or epic battle scenes that Hollywood has produced on the subject.

There is plenty of excitement, of course, but it is a natural excitement and a total immersion of the world the way it once was, that gives this book nothing less than genius status. I loved it because as I saw Latro bounced around by fate, much like Ulysses, as a pawn of both mortals and men, and found that his decisions were always ethical ones, in that whatever he decided to do, he did so out of selfless desire to maintain civility as well as he could, even at the cost of his own faith in mankind.

The book is filled with gods and goddesses but not as we are used to them. These are not the cleaned up versions of the gods, standing all on a mountaintop in pure white robes. These are gods that are far more archetype laden. Found in out of the way places, caves, forests, these are often primal gods, the themes similar to what Neil Gaiman calls embodiments, and Peter Graves knew of as a lingering sense of both wisdom and id. So if you are looking for a great visit to the past replete with a magical realist bent along the likes of Tim Powers, you would really enjoy this book, for these reasons and the unique false archaeological history of the texts "found" and translated by the author.

[John Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taking place immediately after the events of the Battle of Thermopylae, it follows the adventures of a foreign mercenary as he travels through Greece, searching for a way home.

Two things make this book really special:

1: Latro suffered a head injury in a battle (possibly even the Battle of Thermopylae itself) and due to this injury, he is unable to form new memories. Much like the guy in "Momento," he lives only in the moment, and his only knowledge of his past is based on the clues he and others leave for him. The book itself is the diary he maintains in an effort to help him remember things. At first, he would read the entire book before adding new passages, but as the book grows longer, it becomes impossible for him to read it all in a single sitting. So he resorts to picking and reading passages at random, which results in him obtaining information that is sometimes completely out of context with his current situation, creating some very dryly humorous situations.

2: Latro possesses the ability (possibly due to his injury) to see and communicate with the gods, spirits, and other supernatural entities of this land and era. In this aspect, Latro in the Mist is very similar to American Gods.

Just like in American Gods, the gods approach the character and have very down-to-earth, natural conversations with him, albeit while Gaiman's tone was deliberately "American," Wolfe immerses us in the tone and language of prehistoric Greece.

This book is wonderful. Characters are real, the cultures and mythologies feel authentic. The scenes of battle felt real. I had one minor issue with the writing, however. This book was supposed to be a first-hand account, and for the most part, the author did a good job of giving it the feel of a diary. But I did feel that he fell too much into a pattern that began to feel too mechanical. Latro's thoughts were always too calm, too removed, even after he apparently experienced events of extreme trauma.

And lastly, the end was ultimately unsatisfying for me. The elements leading up to the final resolution consisted of maybe two or three paragraphs, inserted into the second-to-last chapter almost as an afterthought. And the final chapter, written by a companion of Latro's, and therefore in a completely new voice, was so laden with poetic metaphor and mythic references, that I had some difficulty gathering EXACTLY what happened in the end. And after investing some 800 pages to these people and their adventures, I wanted a little more information.

My book, Witch Ember, was once criticized for not having a big enough bang at the ending. Latro in the Mist definitely lacks a Death Star-esque big bang at the end, but this book is a more reflective, poetic story. There is no ultimate quest goal, no arch villain to conquer. We merely accompany a very humble, quiet hero as he does his best to protect the ones he loves, discover his identity, and return home.

[Daniel Polansky]

Frequent readers (Surely there must be some better use of your...that is to say, one might learn Spanish or perhaps do a puzzle...well, you're here already, might as well stay) will know that I have a complicated relationship with Gene Wolfe. For The Book of the New Sun, his marvelous short fiction, and the truly masterful Peace, I would argue that Wolfe is one of and probably the foremost living writer of speculative fiction, that is to say, fiction. And yet the rest of his work I confess to finding generally impenetrable, even viewed with the most positive possible spin. (I feel comfortable writing bad things about a beloved literary hero of mine because a) he will never, ever read this and b) Wolfe is of that class of writer who deserves to be discussed not simply with enthusiasm but with serious, studious contemplation, contemplation which may led to criticism.) Soldiers of the Mist and Soldiers of Arete are the story of the falsely-named Latro, who suffers a wound during the Persian Wars which renders him lose his memory each evening but which also allows him to see the ways in which the gods interact directly with humanity. He wanders about Greece and Asia Minor, trying to find a way to restore his memory and interacting with the heroes and gods of classical Greece. The clever conceit with Latro's memory allows Wolfe to indulge in a late period tic he developed, that of roughly ending a chapter and using the bulk of the next to explain, in his loose way, to the degree that Wolfe ever explains anything, what exactly happened in the preceding entry. In Book of The Long Sun this tendency drove me absolutely apeshit, but here it works much better, and Wolfe does (as he always does) some clever things with Latro's memory and observations. Wolfe is an intentionally frustrating writer, and when that works, it works to great effect. But often it comes off as over coy, his refusal to describe any character in useful detail, or shoving a critical but not particularly clever clue into a dull front half of a paragraph. Here also, in true Wolfe fashion, we have his predilection for long digressions about what are clearly specific interests of his, sword fighting or siege craft, that drag down the narrative and just generally seem unacceptable in a book which often refuses to provide basic information on far more relevant concerns. Finally and most critically, Wolfe's characters here seem terribly thin, really the faintest of possible sketches. One gets the sense that he is not really interested in them, nor for that matter in the prose itself, but only in the skeleton beneath it, in his own love of riddle.

But of course, it goes without saying that he has a genius for said riddles, a genius which few other writers, certainly no one who is considered a direct competitor, can honestly claim. When one of the more significant puzzles does work, and when you are clever enough to understand it, the sensation can be quite thrilling. Which is, I suppose, to say that this is another book which I did not like particularly but reconfirms (needlessly) my faith in Gene Wolfe's unique powers.

[Adam J. Osterkamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Latro in the Mist combines two books—Soldier in the Mist and Soldier of Arete—both wonderful reads about an injured soldier named Latro who suddenly finds himself without the use of his short term memory, but blessed with the ability to communicate with gods. In my very limited experience with the author, Gene Wolfe, I would say that his books must come with a strict caveat: Only serious readers need apply. His books are not those a reader can simply sit down with and leisurely turn through. They are, for lack of a better term, and undertaking.

In my own experience with this book, I had to dedicate myself to reading it every day or risk losing track of who everyone was, where they all were, and what they were doing. Perhaps a reader who is better versed in ancient Greek/Roman history and mythology wouldn't have such a hard time, but for me, stepping away from this book proved to be a problem. The other challenging element to this book was how often I found myself stopping, grabbing my computer, and spending a half hour to an hour on Wikipedia reading about certain mythological or historical references.

This is not a book to read on vacation. It is not a book to read for liesure. But, if you're willing to put in the effort, it is one of the most rewarding books you will ever come across. This is a book for true lovers of fiction, and I would personally suggest that anyone who fancies themselves a writer should read this book, to see what a true mastery of the craft looks like.

All others need not apply.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh gosh.. This BOOK!

I love the way Wolfe uses Latro's memory loss, the repetition of details, characters, and circumstance building up, over and over, like lacquer, so that when you're done your left with this perfect even surface with unimaginable layers beneath.

Reading this, and Wolfe's other works, always leaves me wondering why we, as readers, aren't continually shouting his name from the mountain tops. He's such and exquisite and careful writer, but with the ability to enrapture you in his books so that the basic pleasures of reading are never lost beneath his considerable efforts as a writer.

[Faith Justice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I occasionally run across a book that challenges me; that makes me work for the story and enjoy the labor; that awes me with the craft of the writing. Usually these are considered “literary novels.” I also tend to find a lot of literary novels tedious, because I’m partial to the plot-driven story. But Latro in the Mist surprised me. It’s a fantasy novel because it has gods and ghosts (which may not be real, see my discussion below.) It’s a historical novel about real events set in Greece in 479 B.C., and populated with historic characters. It's also a finely crafted literary novel that makes the reader think beyond the story and characters about the nature of memory and self, friendship and loyalty, and the journey that is life.

Latro in the Mist is an omnibus of two books Soldier of the Mist (1986) and Soldier of Arete (1989); a chunky 623-page (with another 16 pages of glossary) doorstop of a book, but well worth plowing through. Gene Wolfe provides a compelling literary device to keep the reader engaged. The books are the “translated” scrolls of Latro (which can mean brigand, guerrilla, hired man, bodyguard, or pawn), a Roman mercenary who fights for the Persians in their war against Greece. In the first chapter we find that he has suffered a head wound and doesn’t remember things that happened the day before. A healer gives him a scroll and lead stylus to write what happens from day to day, so he can “remember.”

As with all curses, there is a blessing: Latro can now see and talk to gods, ghosts, dryads and other mythic creatures. A seer in the temple of “The Shining One” tells him that he has offended a goddess and must return to her temple and make amends. Thus Latro leads us on a fantastical journey, as he seeks a cure for his affliction, and a way to return to his dimly remembered home. He is captured by the Greeks and taken as a slave; makes friends with poets, merchants, whores and generals; loves an Amazon; travels the breadth of Greece and her Asian colonies; fights when necessary; and competes in the Olympics where he wins the urn that his scrolls are later found in.

I very much enjoyed this book. I was familiar with Gene Wolfe’s reputation in the science fiction/fantasy world, but had never read any of his work. Latro in the Mist has made me a fan. But it’s not for everyone. If you like your story straightforward, this omnibus will drive you crazy. If you like puzzles and don’t mind a little mental workout, you’ll love this one.

(This is an excerpt of a much longer review posted on my blog.)

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book. It's like Memento, only set in ancient Greece. And I mean REALLY set in ancient Greece - like when you read it you're reminded of the Odysessy and the Iliad in not only the sound of the words, but in the strange thought processes and moralities. To a modern audience, ancient mythologies don't make much sense at anything other than a visceral level. So it is with this book.

The prose and the feeling of the story as a whole are very strange and otherworldly, which is the result a combination of many different elements that made this book so unique. It is perhaps primarily effect of the odd way that Latro drifts through life not remembering anything except what he's written down. This ties in with the text of the book itself, as it is theoretically exactly what Latro has written, translated into English from archaic Latin. This makes for a style of writing that is weirdly simultaneously unpolished and beautiful in its simplicity. It's easy to read and yet difficult at the same time. The strange use of names is in particular fascinating, as Latro translates the Greek place-names he hears into their literal meanings, and thus the reader is left trying to figure out where "Rope" is, and what's the difference between "Hill" and "Tower Hill." It's certainly a bit of a mind game, but I quite enjoyed it. The fierce Spartans being referred to as "Ropemakers" for the whole book was at least moderately amusing.

On the subject of names, I had a quite a fun time trying to figure out which god and goddess is which. I mentioned earlier that ancient mythology doesn't make a lot of sense to the modern reader. This book captures beautifully the mysticism and fluidity of gods who appear in many different forms at different times, who overlap in aspect with one another, who have names as numerous as stars, who are terrifying and beautiful, and who dole out strange justice and make and keep odd promises. The same head injury that has given Latro anterograde amnesia allows him to see the gods and monsters who populate the world around him. Often the border between what is "real" and what is seen only by Latro is not clear. It is certainly an interesting reading experience for the reader, and it helps that Latro himself is a very likable fellow, though much is left to be inferred by the reader. He is surrounded by a whole host of interesting characters, and because of his condition, the reader ends up knowing more about the people around him than Latro himself does.

The only criticism I have is that the ending of the second book was strange and generally unsatisfying. I am to understand there is a third book, however, so maybe that will offer some more answers. The first and second book certainly flowed into one another very well.

[Ian Mathers · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I love Wolfe, I kind of feel like he bit off a tad more than he can chew with Latro's memory problems. Even in the New Sun books I often wondered if I, as a reader, was remembering enough about past details in the story to catch everything, and with Latro that sensation is multiplied, along with the feeling that certain things that are brought up don't amount to much (the memory palace, Pasicrates, etc.). Of course, there's still another book to go, so we'll see, I suppose, and I may come back and re-rate this. It's still a fantastic series of books, but the fact that I can't actually tell what happens in the end and that I don't enjoy the sensation when reading a novel that I'm missing some level of meaning or story means that I'm left a bit unsatisfied.

[John Guild · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually love Gene Wolfe's fiction, but this one didn't work for me. The narrative conceit (an amnesiac soldier keeps a journal in order to remember what happens to him) is cool in theory, but frustrating in practice. The resulting story is so fragmented that I'm not sure it adds up to anything substantial. It's sorta like eating cookie crumbs instead of a cookie. Bottom line: an interesting but unsuccessful experiment in form.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strange novel. Very different from the heavier sci-fi settings of Wolfe's other series' that I have read. This takes place in Greece during the war with Xerxes, and follow an amnesiac mercenary (Latro). He forgets every day and the book is written as a scroll that he records the previous day's events on.

Oh, and Latro also encounters Gods, Nymphs, and ghosts along his journey....and they are real.

This makes for both a very confusing, but also an interesting narrative. There are a few constant characters in Latro's story, many of whom walk a fine line of being friend/foe. The black man (as he's called in the book) and Io are the most sympathetic characters, while never remaining boring. There are no truly "bad" characters, although many people take advantage of Latro. Wolfe reveals who these people are and where they are from very slowly, and never explicitly. It takes a lot of digging (and looking up character names in the glossary) to keep everybody straight.

For such a long book, not much truly "happens", but the themes of honor and what it means to be "good" are constants. The genius of this book (for me) was that it often makes the reader feel like Latro, and the reader is trying to figure out everything just like Latro is. What I grew to realize is that it doesn't really matter what is happening in the book, but the most important thing is to see how each character reacts to different circumstances and being challenged by friends/enemies/kings/gods/etc.

I wouldn't recommend this to people new to Gene Wolfe's fiction. It's not too accessible and a little dense, but it hit the spot for me. I am excited to read the follow up novel.

[Philip Magnier · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the medieval, verbal, plot convolutions of The New Sun series comes this relatively straightforward novel set in an antiquity hundreds of years BC. (Straightforward in its prose that is).

The two series have much in common: a great hero, a plot that is driven by constant journeying, and a narrator who is mostly clueless about what is happening. Add to that a large cast of intriguing people, the tension of continually existing with the unexpected and the fantastical, and the abrupt and riveting action and you have a Gene Wolfe series!

It's not as rich or as broad as the New Sun. But then how could it be?!

I loved it, a brilliant adventure story.

[Maxwell Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED the first one, easy 5/5. The premise alone makes the book worth reading- it’s one of the most interesting and unique setups to a novel I’ve ever encountered. The second book was a bit confusing but still quite good, though it sort of dragged at the end, 3.5/5. Not as much of a page turner as the first. As always with Wolfe, you’re never quite sure what’s going on or to what degree you can trust the narrator on a first pass, so the plot is sort of obliquely revealed. I’d recommend it if you enjoyed his solar series and are craving more. You can really feel the seeds of book of the new sun in this, which was cool to pick up on.

[Drew Rhine · Rating 5 out of 5]

once again Gene Wolfe has taken a genre and form (this time historical fiction and the epistolary novel) and combined them into some beautiful third thing the likes of which I have never encountered before. A fresh coat of paint on classical mythology and ancient Greek politics. Constant puzzles and payoffs. Horror and joy and plenty of head scratching. Loved it very much.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Latros cannot remember anything before today, and so must write every day in his scroll of what he has seen, and what has happened, and who he has met and what he has done; so that he can know what is happening today - Gene Wolfe's 'unreliable narrator' is in full splendor here, a dreamy, puzzling, moody glorious recounting of events following the war with the Persians, as seen through Latros' daily narration. Latro's curse is a gift, a head wound that lets him confer with the gods, even though he must, next day, forget - a grand hero who does not know himself, only knows the loss of his past. Great read.

[David Oehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful puzzle, like all of Wolfe's writing.

[Darran Mclaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another superb book from one of the most interesting, fun and formally innovative writers alive. Latro in the Mist is a picaresque novel following the adventures of a Roman mercenary throughout ancient Greece. The novel begins in the immediate aftermath of the battle of Thermopylae, in which Latro has fought on the Persian side. He has suffered a head injury which means he can only remember the last 12 hours or so, and wakes up each day with no idea who he is. He begins to write an account of what he does each day in a scroll that he reads each morning to remind himself who he is, where he is, what he's doing and who the people around him are. A side effect of his injury is he can now see and converse with the Gods. This ability, along with his memory loss, good looks and fighting prowess make him an object of fascination wherever he goes.

As most of the book is written from Latro's perspective the writing is mostly plain and concise, as you would expect it to be. As he doesn't know who he is or where he is from, he holds no preconceptions about anybody or anything, and lacks the prejudices and emotional baggage all people have. He takes everybody and every situation just how he finds it. This makes him totally open and naive, and makes him a classic picaresque hero like Tom Jones or Don Quixote.

I was a little reluctant to pick this book up at first, because it's a brick of a book and I thought it might be heavy going, but I absolutely sailed through it. I found it to be a page turner.

[D.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have this idea of myself as many-in-one. Not like a Sybill; more like the way a house has a foundation and walls and a kitchen and a roof. We give credit to the roof for the work of the whole house, much like we credit our personality for being 'us', but we are really the whole structure, interdependent. More than interdependent: our parts are in competition with each other, leaning on each other like the walls and floor and roof all press against each other. The 'house-ness' of the thing depends on their stability, their equilibrium, but the parts are always pressing, moving, ready to take advantage if one part should weaken or crack. If the walls fall out, the roof falls in and the structure no longer serves. Similarly, if some part of ourself weakens or presses too hard against the rest, the whole self may fall apart. This is why people do stupid things.

And what does this have to do with Latro? Nothing, perhaps. Or everything. It's a perfect book, bawdy and violent and rooted in the bones of history and myth. It's more than a book: it's a metabook. Now go and read it, then take a break and read it again, because it's a totally different journey the second time through.

You might hate it and, honestly, life is too short for self-punishment. Unless you're into that. I don't judge. But I love it. I'm looking at it now. I might pick it up and read it all again today...some part of me wants to, and it might win over the rest. You see how it works?

[Chas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complex, delirious novel, purporting to be a lost scroll written in an archaic form of Latin in the early 5th century BC by a wounded soldier who writes of the day's events at night, forgets everything in the morning, and speaks to the Gods. Through these amazing novels, one experiences ancient Greece as it must have seemed to the ancients.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A refreshing aspect of these books is that they show the cruel, totalitarian nature of Spartan society and the sufferings inflicted on the helots, things completely glossed over in Frank Miller's/Zack Snyder's hyper-stylized testosterone operas.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. One of Gene Wolfe's masterpieces.

[J.N. Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantasy classic! I recommend!

[Lucas Sipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brother has long been a Gene Wolfe fan, so I cam into this collection of novels with decently high expectations. Usually wary of "historical fiction", I had been led to believe that Wolfe is a more substantial author and word smith. That opinion was mostly vindicated by Latro in the Mist. Both novels had exceptional writing and offered a perspective unique to most fiction.

As a plot device, Latro's inability to recollect the prior days events and having to rely upon a written scroll was exceptional. A slight mistrusting of the material was always present as Latro's opinion on people and events were often subtly changing. It reminded me of Glen Cook's Black Company series (although that could have been after this, I had just read Cooks material first.) It also allowed the text to dwell upon themes of home, purpose, and identify that I thought were masterfully handled in the first novel. Without becoming an internal monologue, Latro's rather lonely existence and experience with classical divinities was a joy to behold.

The second novel, however, failed to live up to the standard. It would be unfair to describe the first novel as a character study but the reflection and depth of each character was, for lack of a better term, explored and Latro actually examined his life. Of course events happened but the plot was at the service of the themes and character. Soldier of Arete, on the other hand, often felt like an action movie moving from set piece to set piece. Moments of thematic brilliance stand out but the events of the novel stand out far more. That's unfortunate because the unreliability and shifting attitude of the recorder is not a good vehicle for action or plot. The final 100 pages or so, a very eventful time, was by far the most confusing section of the entire collection. It honestly felt like the final 20 or so pages was haphazardly thrown together which was such a shame.

On the whole, a really enjoyable introduction to a famous name in the sci-fi and fantasy genre. A disappointing end cannot cover up all of the great moments before but it does leave a sour taste in my mouth. The ending itself seems rather open and unresolved and while I know there is a 3rd novel in the series, it doesn't seem related to the characters and events depicted here so I will most likely pass.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume collects the first two books in Gene Wolfe’s three-book Latro series, Soldier of the Mist and @Soldier of Arete, both telling the story of a Roman soldier who has suffered a head wound and finds himself unable to hold onto new memories for more than a day. Latro’s only means to make some sense out of the world are those around him and his tablet diary. Each chapter is an entry in that tablet.

Wolfe is playing with familiar elements here — memory, narration, and identity all toward the top of that list. He also writes clearly steeped in ancient history. Readers who are unfamiliar with that time period in Ancient Greece and Rome and the work of historians like Herodotus and Xenophon (readers like me) will struggle through parts of this book just because it is all so contextual. I recommend Michael Andre-Driussi’s guide to make that journey a little easier.

Even without that background, there is a lot to enjoy here, including the frequent presence of gods and goddesses who all too often seek to advance their purposes through Latro. Add to that some clever turns in the narration, only possible because of Latro’s affliction and the epistolary nature of the book.

Like much of Wolfe's work, it's a difficult read, but worth it. 4/5.

[Fredrik Österberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is technically two books, and it is unfair to judge them under the same quality.

The first book, Soldier in the mist, is a wonderful tale of ancient greek mystery, mythology, and adventure. Latro, our main character, interacts with gods and monster the same as he does with famous historical characters or simple slaves. He struggles to live justly and to retrieve his memories while building connections with those around him. The adventure is fun, the myths gripping, and the prose excellent. It ends well, with an appropriate cliff hanger that honestly works as an ending on itself.
4-5/5 score

The second book, Soldier of Arete, keeps the same basic premise. We get new characters, new monsters (to a certain extent), and new divine interactions. But here it loses me. We focus a massive amount of time on other characters instead of latro, and while the first bool felt like Latro being guided by the gods, here it feels like the gods are busy guiding everyone else. We spend an inordinate amount of time focusing on Sparta and almost completely forget the origional quest to get hos memory back.

The bigger issue is the ending. Climax of the story happens of screen, and due to the fractured memories of Latro we barely get told what is going on in the last 20-40 pages or so. The only description we get is at the end. And the killing blow? Latro abandons the closest companion he has had this entire story. For no explainsble reason. I hate this ending, and it made me remember why I don't read more Wolfe.
2/5

[Billy Kid · Rating 3 out of 5]

- [essay on the place names in Latro in the Mist] (https://ultan.org.uk/place-names-in-g...)

Finished Soldier in the Mist on 2025-06-18, maybe I'll get to Soldier of Arete eventually.

There are some great moments in Soldier in the Mist but the main POV character's Wolfian peculiarities, memory loss and being able to see gods, aren't that interesting on the page.

Compared to Wolfe's Book of the New Sun and Wizard Knight duologies, Latro in the Mist falls flat because of Latro's inability to remember anything. This changes slightly by the end of the first book and I would hope that the second book would be better than the first as Latro begins to remember everything he's forgotten.

It's interesting that in the first few pages of Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Severian claims to have "perfect memory" and then many years later Wolfe goes in the complete opposite direction and creates a POV character with no long-term memory, who gradually regains some semblance of it throughout their journey.

Theoretically, interesting. In practice, not as interesting as I hoped it would be.

I wish I liked it more than I do. Considering how in love I am with Greek mythology and Gene Wolfe's work broadly, it's surprising how difficult it was for me to read through Soldier in the Mist.

[Jeffrey Herrmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have tried again and again with Wolfe...and at a certain point, you have to conclude, “It’s not me, it’s him.” I am over the deliberate obscurantism, the unwillingness to clearly illuminate what the hell is going on, characters coming and going and changing names and genders without any explanation, the lack of narrative drive or urgency, etc., etc. I know it’s supposed to be a sort of puzzle that you can assemble if you just pay close enough attention—or, ideally, give the book a second or third read. But I just don’t care enough to want to struggle through these 600 pages again. And I felt exactly the same way after forcing myself through The Book of the New Sun and 100 pages of the Wizard/Knight...and I’m just done. I thought the concept of this book—with Latro unable to remember anyone or anything that happened more than 24 hours ago due to a head injury sustained in the Battle of Plataea (which also enables him to see gods and other supernaturals)—was very clever and so I had high hopes. Too bad it turned out to be yet another meandering slog that’s doesn’t warrant the close reading it demands. I really wish I could see what all the people who rave about Wolfe’s work are seeing because I just don’t get it.

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

When they think of Classical Greece I imagine most people just think of intellectuals in togas (even though they're Roman) writing philosophy or poetry or doing mathematics. What I like most about these books is the many ways in which Wolfe brings the ancient world down to Earth and fills it full of ordinary people, soldiers and whores and tradesmen, though there are princes and generals here as well. But he also makes it strange and uncanny. Everywhere you look there are gods and spirits and ghosts and magic spells. And by the simple expedient of giving them unfamiliar names Wolfe makes the familiar gods of old school books new and fresh. So you will not find Zeus, Artemis or Persephone here. Instead, the characters live with the Thunderer, the Huntress and the Maiden.

The biggest conceit of the novel is Latro's amnesia, which does render the narrative fragmentary and opaque. Even compared to other books by Wolfe this is difficult to read. The ending is particularly obscure, but also felt rushed. So I enjoyed the journey more than the destination. But it is a magical, enchanting journey.

[Edward Champion · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I don't think that Wolfe's Soldier series is as great as the New Sun, Long Sun, and Short Sun books, it is still a very good yarn with a killer hook: Latro suffers a wound in ancient Greece and thus cannot recall anything beyond a day or two before. He relies on the scroll he writes, which carries the record of his adventures (he is a slave, a mercenary, a lover, and so many other things). Much like Severian's unreliable memory, this allows for some fascinating developments that cause us to question the motives of all the characters who enter Latro's life, as well as the sequence of events itself. That's Wolfe for you. Mister Riddles. A gripping narrative without all the answers. Wolfe was certainly a genius, but I don't think these two novels quite have the fascinating moral heft that we saw particularly in THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN. That doesn't stop Wolfe from throwing fascinating ideas at us -- such as the "insult" behind his unreliable memory. I also liked a lot of the mysticism. Good stuff, but not for everyone.

[Cory · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I must be missing something because I do not understand the hype of this book. While Latro's amnesia made for an interesting literary device, it wasn't quite enough to keep me engaged. He's going on all these adventures, but because they are so discontinuous and disconnected I had a hard time tying them together into any sort of connected meaning. Was the book trying to explore the human experience, or be a fantastical adventure? It seemed to dip its toes into both, with mythical characters and magic making appearances, and I was never sure what to expect. But then it ends abruptly and... it's over? No sense of resolution and mostly I was left with raised eyebrows, "what just happened?"