Damion Hunter's 'The Legions of the Mist' 1979

 

Canelo Digital Publishing paperback edition - 2020

I was surprised to see on the verso of the title page that an Amanda Cockrell held the copyright of the novel. One of the more positive aspects of the Internet, is that it gives one the ability to research queries at lightning speed (a downside is that you find yourself, an hour or two later, being fish-hooked into ever more lateral material). Well, Amanda Cockerell, the author's real name, is very much alive and kicking, with her own fascinating website detailing the variety of books she has written, both contemporary and historical. One section explains how she was drawn to the Roman 'period'. My first introduction to the Romans and the start of my fascination with them was in college when a friend gave me Rosemary Sutcliff's young adult novels of Roman Britain, and her adult novel Sword at Sunset which is still one of the best books about the (possible) historical Arthur that I have read. My first novel was about the disappearance of the Ninth Legion somewhere in Britain, inspired by Rosemary Sutcliff's account of the same events...since then I have also written The Border Wolves, the fourth and final volume in The Centurions series, and The Wall at the Edge of the World, a sequel of sorts to The Legions of the Mist, the Ninth Legion fate.

Apparently, this sequel concentrates on Postumus Justinius Corvus, the son of Justin Corvus and Gwytha, the main characters in The Legions of the Mists. On discovering his father had died with the wreck of the Ninth Legion Hispana, he takes on his own service as a legionary surgeon and is posted to the Sixth Legion Victor, the unit that replaced the lost Hispana. I must look out for it, as I quite enjoyed The Legions of the Mists.

The novel's strength lies in its rendering of believable characters and a sense of place[s]. Both the Roman legionaries and the Brigantes were well-drawn, whilst the description of the Roman forts and the surrounding bleak countryside stood up well. The gradual eating away at morale in the Ninth Legion's base at Eboracum; the ensuing murmurings of mutiny and subsequent desertions; the uprightness of Justin and his friends compared with the unsavoury behaviour of others; all made for an exciting tale. The fact that the reader knows from the start that they are all (well, nearly all) 'doomed' doesn't impinge on the enjoyment. Another plus was the delineation of the character of the Iceni slave girl Gwytha. whose marriage of convenience to Justin becomes one of mutual regard and then love. My only cavil was the rather contrived ending, where Justin and the  Brigantes' High King, Vortrix each meet their maker from the other's hand. "We are much alike, you and I," Vortrix gasped. "There is something...twisted in our fates...or is it only I who feel this kinship?"  "no...there is something." 

I couldn't find out why Amanda Cockrell changed her name and her sex to Damion Hunter.  More understandably Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Fancueil (1804-1876) wrote under the pen name of George Sand. Not only would her real name have fallen off the edge of a front cover, but in the 19th century it was a sensible thing do do; vide George Eliot aka Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880), and Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (the Brontē sisters).