Canelo paperback edition - 2022
I said in my Blog of 14 May that I would 'look out for' Damion Hunter/Amanda Cockrell's sequel to her The Legions of the Mist, which I had quite enjoyed reading. Well, EBay proved the quickest route to purchase a copy.
The story takes place some quarter of a century after the loss of the Ninth Hispana Legion. Twenty-four year-old Postumus Justinius Corvus is a surgeon at the Roman fort at Palmyra in Syria. After six years service in the Roman army, he is on his way 'home' to Britain, to the Eburacum fortress in the North. On his way there, he will stop off to see his family - his mother Gwytha, of the Iceni tribe and Marcus Constantius Hilarion, his 'father'. Except the latter is not his birth father, who had died with the Ninth Legion and was the subject of the previous novel. Postumus has an older brother, Marcellus Justinius Corvus. The reader meets up with several of the characters from the previous story, such as Licinius, once Senior Legionary Surgeon to the Ninth, and his wife Felicia, daughter to the Ninth's last legate. All were tarred with the guilt of the shameful defeat. Postumus trains for medicine mainly due to his 'uncle' Licinus. Both Corvus brothers can only serve in the auxiliary regiments, thanks to the Ninth's fate.
Now a new Emperor is on the throne in Rome and requires military successes to bolster his position. He also desires to built a new Wall, to the north of Hadrian's wall. The whole Empire has been bubbling since Hadrian died...and a particularly bubbly area is to the north of Eburacum. in modern day Cumberland/Northumbria and Scotland. Thus, we meet again the troublesome Brigantes, the Selgovae and the Picts or Painted People. The author, once again, is successful in creating a realistic portrait of the leaders of those tribes and the higher echelons of the Roman army - now the 6th, 2nd and 20th legions. Postumus, thanks to his outstanding work in Syria, is now a Senior Surgeon to the Sixth Legion Victrix, with Eburacum as his base.
Lollius Urbicus was pushing the Selgovae hard to the north of Britain. He had opened up the Wall, and spanned the ditch that paralleled it with bridges broad enough for a cavalry troop to cross. The supply depot at Corstopitum south of the Wall was being enlarged, and the old fort of Trimontium in Valentia was a legionary base once more.
The reader meets Galt again, close friend of the previous High King of the Brigantes and who is now aged and visibly frail and needs medical help. Postumus is given safe conduct to the Brigantes' camp. The new High King, Bran, is smarting to get revenge on the Romans and even tries to kill Postumus. Rather different is Dawid, who is a pragmatist like Galt. The book follows the twists and turns which are similar to the previous novel. Without giving too much away, the bad guys get their just deserts and Rome, inevitably in the short term, wins. The descriptions of life at Eburacum and along the newly built (it is still being built) wall of Antonine are realistic and one begins to care about what will happen. There is a rather unlikely travelling saleswoman-cum-spy, named Claudia, who proves very useful to the Roman military plans and also to Postumus on a personal level.
All in all, both books were 'gentle' reads - a pleasant way to pass the time and learn a little about life in Roman Britain.
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