Gene Wolfe is probably one of the best fantasy/sci-fi authors of the XXth century. After all his “Urth” series was named the 3rd best fantasy novel written before 1990 by the “Locust” magazine. However, there’s a  Wolfe’s series that had a bigger impact on some people.

The “Soldier” trilogy, consisting of “Soldier of the mist”, “Soldier of Arete” and the “Soldier of Sidon” follows the story of a mercenary called Latro (“a scoundrel”), suffering from amnesia, caused by a head wound he received during the battle of Platea. And what a protagonist he is! A swordmaster, an excellent fighter, yes, but his biggest qualities don’t come from these combat abilities. To reader’s amazement and delight, it’s Latro’s amnesia what gives so many storytelling opportunities to G.Wolfe.

Probably everyone heard one way or the other the statement that memory  (or the lack of thereof) defines a person. We’re living in a world affected by the Alzheimers merciless disease (who took Terry Pratchett, one of my beloved authors, from us) . We are often exposed to the heartbreaking stories of families that are struggling with the care after persons who no longer recognize them and slowly fade away into oblivion. These are full of details how personality is also affected and the person that was is no longer there.

However, there’s also a study that bases heavily on the Alzheimer experiences that says that it’s morals, not memory, what defines who we are.  Although the study and its results are new,  what this study proves is one of the major points defining who Latro is. Yet again, a sci-fi/ fantasy author’s foresight shines in his novels.  And the method the protagonist is rendered is also brilliant – as Alzheimer affected person is dependent of his/hers family such is Latro’s case. Without his “friends”, persons who join him on his journey (for multitude of reasons) he would be helpless. It’s them who tell Latro every day he should read his scroll, the papyrus diary that is his real memory, and that he writes and carries with him every day. It’s them that really give the background to Latro’s choices.  Finally, it’s them who define the characteristic of Latro’s voyage, his “odyssey” if you will.

Because an odyssey it is! “Soldier” series events are based during the Persian incursion to Greece of 480 B.C. so historical setting is there from the beginning, in everything – names, events, descriptions. One thing that really needs to be mentioned here is that Wolfe is playing with ancient Greek language, showing the same love for the linguistic aspects of storytelling as Frank Herbert in “Dune” or J.R.R. Tolkien in his works, even if Wolfe’s work is not as exstensive as the latter two writers. Latro’s understanding of his world and it’s names is that of an outsider, for example he constantly names Sparta “a Rope”, because of a common mistake made by non-Greeks – “sparton”  means “a rope knot”. He gets other names right though, so he names Akrokorinthos “the Tower Hill”, Attica a “long land” and Athens “a Thought”, which gives an absolutely amazing, familiar feeling to the Greek world, often obscured by undeciphered, exotic names in other sources. It’s hard to express how important it is for it’s storytelling. Thanks to this method, ancient Greeks are no longer strangers, or at least, they are not as strange to the reader as in other sources. One can finally start understanding their culture, their politics, their fear of gods and superstitions.

Gods and religion takes a very important part in the books. Latro is seeing things, which makes superstitious people around him very cautious. God-touched he seems to be, the clay shaped in the hands of mythical superpowers. A true ancient hero, lead by the Olympians to his fate he seems. Or is it just the head wound and hallucinations caused by it? Readers struggle with the answer along with the characters from the books.

The Odyssey and Argonaut mythos similiarities are many. References to Leonidas and his “Rope” people, Olympian trials, necromancy, Sparta vs Athens tensions, mythical creatures. It’s all there. And it pushes Latro to the ends of the world (Thracia in the second book and Egypt in the third) in search for his identity.

Does man have any control over his fate? What defines us as humans? Our memories? A soul? Morals? “Soldier” trilogy storytelling brilliantly forces the reader to ask these questions and therefore go, even unwillingly, in Latro’s search for an identity.  As such, it remains one of the best pieces of  fatasy literature there is.

An absolute jewel.