Latro in the Mist
by Gene Wolfe
(Orb/Tor, $17.95, 640 pages, trade paperback; published in January
2003.)
Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete
-- the novels that comprise the omnibus Latro in the Mist --
are the first two installments in an as-yet-incomplete fantasy epic
set circa 500  BC.
Latro in the Mist, inspired by Greek myth and history, is an
evocative labyrinthine puzzle, drenched in melancholy beauty and peppered
with thrilling adventure.
The hero is a man who believes his name to be Latro. He is probably
a Roman mercenary. But he himself cannot trust that information. Not
only does he not remember anything about his past, but every morning
the previous day's events also fade from memory within the first few
minutes of consciousness.
As a result, Latro must rely on the friendship and honesty of those
around him. The flip side of this curse is that Latro is now able to
perceive and interact with gods and other supernatural creatures. Or
perhaps he's schizophrenic.
The Soldier novels are presented in the form of translations from the
scrolls on which Latro records his days. The scrolls, which Latro must
reread every day to understand where he is, are filled with contradictions,
as, from one day to the next, Latro cannot tell truth from lies and
the people Latro meets have their own agendas regarding the mysterious
mercenary. Latro's scrolls reveal him to be a deeply compassionate man
prone to great deeds. There is also circumstantial evidence that he
may be a werewolf, a favourite motif of Wolfe's.
Latro in the Mist -- lushly romantic, tender, and intricately
complex -- is a sumptuously written epic and imbued with a profound
aura of mystery. It is filled with linguistic and mythological enigmas
and clues, revealing more of its hidden story with every new reading.
Originally published
in The Montreal Gazette, Saturday, 29 March 2003.
Claude Lalumière's Fantastic Fiction
is a series of
capsule reviews first published in the Saturday Books
section of The Montreal Gazette.
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