A review by aglaia0001
Legio Damnati by Brandon Ketchum

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.