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mmuutthh's review
5.0
This set of short stories reads like a pulp serial from the 1930s. If it were a comic strip I could see it drawn by either Hal Foster (Prince Valiant) or Chester Gould (Dock Tracy)… why not both: would that be Alex Toth? At any rate I hesitate to call the stories “fun” because they’re not quite that (I mean they are entertaining, but the subject matter isn’t slight like that word might connote.), but it’s a pleasure to read story to story. And the supernatural elements, when they appear, are quite engaging and I imagine it’s probably a richer text if you are more familiar with Ancient Roman and Gaul-ish (I love how close that word reads to “ghoulish”) mythology and lore. The book seems very well researched.
While continuous and building in a way from each other, the story’s development and character richness is a little lacking. (Part of where the serial feeling comes in.) The main character we follow through the book’s sole trait and development comes from the size and chafing of his helmet. It’s endearing but doesn’t quite enthrall me. I mean it’s more than halfway through the book when a character of any note dies, but that was kind of spoiled by the “dramatis personae” at the beginning of the book. (Yes I read those!)
Overall this very small and quick read is pleasantly surprising and the quality of the limited-run title is very impressive from both a local author and a local small press.
Definitely recommend!
While continuous and building in a way from each other, the story’s development and character richness is a little lacking. (Part of where the serial feeling comes in.) The main character we follow through the book’s sole trait and development comes from the size and chafing of his helmet. It’s endearing but doesn’t quite enthrall me. I mean it’s more than halfway through the book when a character of any note dies, but that was kind of spoiled by the “dramatis personae” at the beginning of the book. (Yes I read those!)
Overall this very small and quick read is pleasantly surprising and the quality of the limited-run title is very impressive from both a local author and a local small press.
Definitely recommend!
aglaia0001's review
3.0
Legio Damnati by Brandon Ketchum is a collection of short stories that follows a specially created group of soldiers in Roman-ruled Gaul as they battle Druidic magic (though based on the real Legio X). I loved the concept, but the execution needed a bit more. Ketchum’s writing is fine, and I really enjoyed how he used snippets out of Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars as the inspiration for different encounters. However, what Ketchum fails to do is create any understandable rules to the magic. This is supposed to be a real history, but there’s no discernible concept of when different kinds of magic work. Also, the stories lean heavily into action at the cost of character and relationships. Only the last few stories give any complexity to the ostensibly main character as he realizes Romans might not be the golden heroes he thinks they are and that the cost of war might not be worth its benefits.
While I found this readable, I found myself also wishing the stories were just “more.” There needs to be more connective tissue between the stories to provide context to this universe and characters. This collection is a fine start, but overall it just isn’t quite enough to be complete by itself. There are also a few anachronisms that creep into conversations that seem a little glaring, but I could have overlooked those more had I been a bit more immersed in the universe.
While I found this readable, I found myself also wishing the stories were just “more.” There needs to be more connective tissue between the stories to provide context to this universe and characters. This collection is a fine start, but overall it just isn’t quite enough to be complete by itself. There are also a few anachronisms that creep into conversations that seem a little glaring, but I could have overlooked those more had I been a bit more immersed in the universe.
shell_s's review
4.0
In Legio Damnati, not only does Brandon Ketchum combine a realistic Gallic War era Roman soldier's firsthand account of the battlefield and politics with several speculative fiction genres--alternate history (natch) but also horror, and sword-and-sandals pulp adventure, and mythic fiction--but he does them all justice.
Ketchum's next book probably won't be a sequel to Legio Damnati, but whatever it is can march straight to my shelves and stand at attention with my other must-own authors.
I picked this up expecting Roman legions fighting zombies, but that was only the tip of the spear in these bite-sized tales! The eight sequential stories, besides being full of thrilling combats against myriad supernatural threats, also magnificently captured the uniquely powerful Roman national identity and belief in symbols and portents and mercurial gods. It exemplifies the Roman experience particularly well through the musings of its honorable narrator, Verum Venatoris, and his devotion to his country and the brotherhood of soldiers under the eagle and bull signum banners.
I am low-key hoping this volume might get a sequel, however, because of Verum's dilemma of an ending--which while NOT a cliffhanger still caught me off guard.
Full disclosure, I'm not an avid reader of history or historical fiction generally, but to my mind the author zoomed in on enough period detail of battle dress and weapons and politics to make it feel more authentic and immersive without ever bogging down the drama or action. Plus I was fascinated by Ketchum's perfectly chosen brief historical excerpts from Julius Caesar's own account, De Bello Gallico (The Gallic War) that preceded or bookended the tales for extra context.
If you're intrigued by the exploits of Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius and other (in)famous orators, and by odd trivia like the naval commander who was punished for blasphemy with sacred chickens, you'll particularly appreciate the primary source excerpts and how Ketchum's mythical monster mash-up hews close to history.
(All puns in this review are intended, especially the last one, and I salute the author's own clever wordplay with a few of his eight stories' titles, starting with "Rank Decimation.")
As I do with most any story, I deeply appreciated the humorous moments sprinkled in to offset some of the starkness and grimness of elements like warfare and political scheming and horror.
My only reason behind rating four stars instead of five (which, in my reviews, purely indicate my enjoyment, and are not an objective reflection on the author's skill or ambition of scope) is as follows. However vague and brief the scene, and almost certainly included for historical accuracy, soldiers rape unnamed Gaulish women in the seventh tale. Such scenes pull me out of stories to contemplate brutal realities, reflexively, like how touching a hot stove makes me retract my hand.
In this scene as in certain others before it and after it, there's no available solution to leave Verum's conscience clear. If he defies orders or chain of command and brings censure on himself, he will also bring doom on his dependent family back home. Plus defying his superiors would cost him the opportunity to lead and look out for his men, and cost him Caesar's interest in being his patron to boot. I can understand all that, I just don't tend to enjoy reading about that sort of stark realism and no-win situation.
Moving on, the Air and Nothing Press paperback edition of Legio Damnati is so gorgeous with its French flap full illustrations and cover art that I just have to mention that as a plus of owning it.
My first exposure to Brandon Ketchum's writing was this alternate history adventure short story, "The Hazard of Lake Erie." I think it gives somewhat of an idea of the adventurous atmosphere you can expect from Legio Damnati (and also the author's choice to make some of the language less formal and archaic sounding), if you want to check it out free here: https://aurorawolf.com/2018/05/the-hazard-of-lake-erie/
That said, Legio Damnati as its title implies is definitely darker and more violent than the above tale, as befits stories that take place on blood-soaked battlefields with ruthlessly ambitious commanders who are in some ways as monstrous as the man-eating juggernauts the special legion must defeat.
WHEN A SHORT STORY COLLECTION MIXES COMPELLING HISTORY AND SUPERNATURAL THRILLS, IT EARNS A RALLYING CRY---BOOST THE SIGNAL!
Ketchum's next book probably won't be a sequel to Legio Damnati, but whatever it is can march straight to my shelves and stand at attention with my other must-own authors.
I picked this up expecting Roman legions fighting zombies, but that was only the tip of the spear in these bite-sized tales! The eight sequential stories, besides being full of thrilling combats against myriad supernatural threats, also magnificently captured the uniquely powerful Roman national identity and belief in symbols and portents and mercurial gods. It exemplifies the Roman experience particularly well through the musings of its honorable narrator, Verum Venatoris, and his devotion to his country and the brotherhood of soldiers under the eagle and bull signum banners.
I am low-key hoping this volume might get a sequel, however, because of Verum's dilemma of an ending--which while NOT a cliffhanger still caught me off guard.
Full disclosure, I'm not an avid reader of history or historical fiction generally, but to my mind the author zoomed in on enough period detail of battle dress and weapons and politics to make it feel more authentic and immersive without ever bogging down the drama or action. Plus I was fascinated by Ketchum's perfectly chosen brief historical excerpts from Julius Caesar's own account, De Bello Gallico (The Gallic War) that preceded or bookended the tales for extra context.
If you're intrigued by the exploits of Julius Caesar and Marcus Antonius and other (in)famous orators, and by odd trivia like the naval commander who was punished for blasphemy with sacred chickens, you'll particularly appreciate the primary source excerpts and how Ketchum's mythical monster mash-up hews close to history.
(All puns in this review are intended, especially the last one, and I salute the author's own clever wordplay with a few of his eight stories' titles, starting with "Rank Decimation.")
As I do with most any story, I deeply appreciated the humorous moments sprinkled in to offset some of the starkness and grimness of elements like warfare and political scheming and horror.
My only reason behind rating four stars instead of five (which, in my reviews, purely indicate my enjoyment, and are not an objective reflection on the author's skill or ambition of scope) is as follows. However vague and brief the scene, and almost certainly included for historical accuracy, soldiers rape unnamed Gaulish women in the seventh tale. Such scenes pull me out of stories to contemplate brutal realities, reflexively, like how touching a hot stove makes me retract my hand.
In this scene as in certain others before it and after it, there's no available solution to leave Verum's conscience clear. If he defies orders or chain of command and brings censure on himself, he will also bring doom on his dependent family back home. Plus defying his superiors would cost him the opportunity to lead and look out for his men, and cost him Caesar's interest in being his patron to boot. I can understand all that, I just don't tend to enjoy reading about that sort of stark realism and no-win situation.
Moving on, the Air and Nothing Press paperback edition of Legio Damnati is so gorgeous with its French flap full illustrations and cover art that I just have to mention that as a plus of owning it.
My first exposure to Brandon Ketchum's writing was this alternate history adventure short story, "The Hazard of Lake Erie." I think it gives somewhat of an idea of the adventurous atmosphere you can expect from Legio Damnati (and also the author's choice to make some of the language less formal and archaic sounding), if you want to check it out free here: https://aurorawolf.com/2018/05/the-hazard-of-lake-erie/
That said, Legio Damnati as its title implies is definitely darker and more violent than the above tale, as befits stories that take place on blood-soaked battlefields with ruthlessly ambitious commanders who are in some ways as monstrous as the man-eating juggernauts the special legion must defeat.
WHEN A SHORT STORY COLLECTION MIXES COMPELLING HISTORY AND SUPERNATURAL THRILLS, IT EARNS A RALLYING CRY---BOOST THE SIGNAL!
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