Unstoppable and lethal, they move across the battlefields like ghosts. They are the soldiers of the Legio Occulta.
Nola, Roman Italy, 19 August 14 A.D.
History does not acknowledge them, but the Roman Empire knows the debt they owe to this secret legion. Trained not to fight but to read and interpret the messages of the gods, they pave the way for Roman swords, intervening when earthly weapons must give way to the power of the transcendent. With the Legio Occulta, no battle is impossible.
Clad in snow-white armour and tunics as black as night, they are seers, fortune-tellers, necromancers and haruspies selected when they were children from arenas, slave markets and burning villages. Led by a general who speaks only in sign language, their motto is Vigiles in tenebris: watchers of the night.
MY REVIEW: 3.5 Stars ⭐️
I really enjoyed many of the characters in this book:
Iorus
Lucretius
Madron/Felix
Jago
Dryantilla
Just a few favs - BUT - as this is a grim dark book, don’t love people too much because they will die!
I didn’t like the gladiator animal parts as y’all know. And there is content warning for mentions of rape, child abuse (sexual and physical) infant killings. Well killings of all kinds. Basically, if you have read or watched Game of Thrones, there you go.
(Uncorrected proof quote)
The centurion looked at the reflection of himself in the boy’s green eyes and for a moment saw images of burning huts, bodies immersed in pools of blood and severed heads lying in the mud. And then he seemed to hear a lament that had soon turned into a long sob and that look, broken but proud, that prayed without ever begging.
I enjoyed most of the book. I was a little lost here and there but y’all know that’s how I am at times. I would definitely read a second book as I want to see what happens with my characters and stuff going on in this world.
I would recommend to my grimdark, fantasy friends.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Head Of Zeus for a digital copy of this book.
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
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