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A review by adunten
Legion of the Damned by William C. Dietz
3.0
2016 vreading challenge: A book and its prequel (with [b:Andromeda's Fall|13588158|Andromeda's Fall (The Prequel Legion Series, #1)|William C. Dietz|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1354599066s/13588158.jpg|19175556])
The history of the Legion, fictional descendant of the real-life French Foreign Legion, is quite real. The Battle of Camaron, which took place in Mexico in 1863, is an actual defining moment in the history of the French Foreign Legion - it helped cement the Legion's reputation as a bunch of crazy bastards who will go down fighting rather than surrender, even if there's no good reason for it. In Dietz's imagined future, that fearsome reputation has only grown. The Legion is also famous for its loyalty and dedication to mission, with one infamous exception – the mutiny of Algiers in 1961, which the FFL tried to overthrow the de Gaulle government.
I don't usually do plot recaps in book reviews, but in this case I think it's helpful because the story is told through so many disparate viewpoints and storylines, and it takes so long to start making sense of them in a larger context. In a nutshell, Legion of the Damned primarily tells the story of the second mutiny in the Legion's history. The human empire is being invaded by a ruthless, rapacious race of aliens bent on utter domination of every sentient race they encounter. As a result of palace politics, the Emperor orders a war strategy that the Legion violently disagrees with. A palace coup begins to take shape, and when ordered to implement the Emperor's war plan, the Legion openly revolts and joins the revolutionaries. This main storyline is told through a fairly large cast of characters and viewpoints that shift rapidly and don't start coming together until pretty late. Planet Algeron, home of the Legion's headquarters, will become the hinge of fate as the Legion battles for both its own future and that of humanity.
Then there are subplots that provide a more slice-of-life view of life in the Empire and the Legion: one involving a legionnaire who falls in love with a member of an indigenous sentient race on Algeron and goes native; one involving a business magnate whose son is killed by the invaders on a distant space station, and ends up; and one involving a convicted murderer who is executed, and then resurrected as a member of the Legion's cyborg cavalry. I was expecting sparks to really fly when he encountered , but that mini-plot didn't deliver at all. I would have liked to see that sub-plot developed a lot more, especially given how much effort was devoted to introducing us to Angel Perez.
The characters and writing are pretty forgettable, but it's not really about any of the individual characters. The Legion is more than the sum of its parts, and maybe that's part of the point of the story. It absolutely bristles with themes of loyalty and treachery and how the line between friend and foe can shift, told primarily through the relationships between the humans and the invading Hudatha, and between the humans and the native Na people of Algeron. The Na and the Hudatha also allow Dietz to subtly highlight how the role of the humans shifts - to the Na, we are the rapacious invaders, but to the Hudatha, we are little more than troublesome vermin to be exterminated.
In nearly every thread of the story, the characters are confronted with terrible choices – follow orders and watch billions be enslaved or massacred, or revolt and put your own life on the line? Cooperate with the enemy to save lives now and risk going down in history as a villain, or stand on principle, knowing it will be an empty gesture and will condemn an entire planet? Forever abandon the person you love, or go AWOL and know you'll be branded a deserter for life? Fight unstintingly to free your home world from all outsiders, or accept that the enemy you know on your home planet may really be your best ally against worse enemies? Fight the invaders for every planet and system, knowing resources may be spread too thin, or pull back and protect the empire's core, knowing you're abandoning billions of Imperial citizens?
Does it pass the Bechdel test? Yes, although just barely. Populating his stories with believable women who aren't window dressing seems to be one of Dietz's strengths. But for the most part, they're still outnumbered enough that there's rarely any plausible reason for two women to talk to each other in a scene. The reason the Bechdel test is a good litmus test is that it requires you to do more than just put one woman in every scene.
“Ever hear of a battle called Camaron? No? Well, it's a big deal in the Legion. Sort of Mosada, the Alamo, and the Battle of Four Moons all rolled into one. What it boils down to is that this guy named Danjou stumbled into some Mexicans, was outnumbered thousands to one, and refused to surrender. He was killed, as were most of his men, and that's the way legionnaires are supposed to go.”
“Surely there was more. A purpose, a reason, an objective.”
“Nope. Nothing more than pride, glory, and honor. Danjou and his men died for nothing. And that, my friend is both the horror and the beauty of it.”
The history of the Legion, fictional descendant of the real-life French Foreign Legion, is quite real. The Battle of Camaron, which took place in Mexico in 1863, is an actual defining moment in the history of the French Foreign Legion - it helped cement the Legion's reputation as a bunch of crazy bastards who will go down fighting rather than surrender, even if there's no good reason for it. In Dietz's imagined future, that fearsome reputation has only grown. The Legion is also famous for its loyalty and dedication to mission, with one infamous exception – the mutiny of Algiers in 1961, which the FFL tried to overthrow the de Gaulle government.
I don't usually do plot recaps in book reviews, but in this case I think it's helpful because the story is told through so many disparate viewpoints and storylines, and it takes so long to start making sense of them in a larger context. In a nutshell, Legion of the Damned primarily tells the story of the second mutiny in the Legion's history. The human empire is being invaded by a ruthless, rapacious race of aliens bent on utter domination of every sentient race they encounter. As a result of palace politics, the Emperor orders a war strategy that the Legion violently disagrees with. A palace coup begins to take shape, and when ordered to implement the Emperor's war plan, the Legion openly revolts and joins the revolutionaries. This main storyline is told through a fairly large cast of characters and viewpoints that shift rapidly and don't start coming together until pretty late. Planet Algeron, home of the Legion's headquarters, will become the hinge of fate as the Legion battles for both its own future and that of humanity.
Then there are subplots that provide a more slice-of-life view of life in the Empire and the Legion: one involving a legionnaire who falls in love with a member of an indigenous sentient race on Algeron and goes native; one involving a business magnate whose son is killed by the invaders on a distant space station, and ends up
Spoiler
leading the coupSpoiler
the woman he murdered, also resurrected as a cyborg and now a fellow trooperThe characters and writing are pretty forgettable, but it's not really about any of the individual characters. The Legion is more than the sum of its parts, and maybe that's part of the point of the story. It absolutely bristles with themes of loyalty and treachery and how the line between friend and foe can shift, told primarily through the relationships between the humans and the invading Hudatha, and between the humans and the native Na people of Algeron. The Na and the Hudatha also allow Dietz to subtly highlight how the role of the humans shifts - to the Na, we are the rapacious invaders, but to the Hudatha, we are little more than troublesome vermin to be exterminated.
In nearly every thread of the story, the characters are confronted with terrible choices – follow orders and watch billions be enslaved or massacred, or revolt and put your own life on the line? Cooperate with the enemy to save lives now and risk going down in history as a villain, or stand on principle, knowing it will be an empty gesture and will condemn an entire planet? Forever abandon the person you love, or go AWOL and know you'll be branded a deserter for life? Fight unstintingly to free your home world from all outsiders, or accept that the enemy you know on your home planet may really be your best ally against worse enemies? Fight the invaders for every planet and system, knowing resources may be spread too thin, or pull back and protect the empire's core, knowing you're abandoning billions of Imperial citizens?
Does it pass the Bechdel test? Yes, although just barely. Populating his stories with believable women who aren't window dressing seems to be one of Dietz's strengths. But for the most part, they're still outnumbered enough that there's rarely any plausible reason for two women to talk to each other in a scene. The reason the Bechdel test is a good litmus test is that it requires you to do more than just put one woman in every scene.