Soldier of Sidon

Latro, Book 3

De: Gene Wolfe

Narrado por: Gregory Connors

The third book in the Latro series from science fiction and fantasy master Gene Wolfe, Soldier of Sidon.

Latro forgets everything when he sleeps. Writing down his experiences every day and reading his journal anew each morning gives him a poignantly tenuous hold on himself, but his story's hold on audiences is powerful indeed. The two previous novels, combined in Latro in the Mist (Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete) are generally considered classics of contemporary fantasy.

Latro now finds himself in Egypt, a land of singing girls, of spiteful and conniving deities. Without his memory, his is unsure of everything, except for his desire to be free of the curse that causes him to forget. The visions Gene Wolfe conjures, of the wonders of Egypt, and of the adventures of Latro as he and his companions journey up the great Nile south into unknown or legendary territory, are unique and compelling. Soldier of Sidon is a thrilling and magical fantasy novel, and yet another masterpiece from Gene Wolfe.

©2006 Gene Wolfe (P)2021 Audible, Inc.

wonderful storytelling

Latro's courage. most men would break. I enjoyed his divive perception and the wonderful things he alone could see.

Series comes to an end

Unlike the first two books of the series, this takes place in Egypt and the story explores Egyptian culture and God's.

Latro travels the Nile in Egypt

Gene Wolfe’s Soldier of Sidon is the third book in the Latro trilogy. The main character received a head wound in battle as well as a curse by the gods and cannot remember past events. He writes a diary on scrolls that he reviews each morning. In this installment. Latro travels to Egypt and proceeds to follow the Nile upriver. Along the way he encounters a cavalcade of Egyptian and African gods while searching for a cure for his affliction.

Wolfe maintains the same style which is less a novel and more a series of stories as Latro travels about running into various characters and gods. The narration and pacing are in line with the earlier installments.

A Boring Attempt to Turn a Duology into a Trilogy

I really liked Gene Wolfe’s Soldier of the Mist (1986) and Soldier of Arete (1989), in which the amnesiac Latin mercenary Latro wanders among Greek city-states circa 480 BC, and so on as he tries to find a solution to his memory loss and learn his identity and home, being helped or hindered by a series of interesting gods, monsters, and human companions and writing down whatever he witnesses or experiences on any given day because he’ll forget everything upon waking the next morning. The duology ended without resolution, with Latro still amnesiac and still far from home, but left a strong, good impression on me due to Wolfe’s vivid depiction of the ancient Mediterranean world, development of compelling supporting characters, and handicapped narrator’s elliptical relating of his brutal, comedic, or sublime experiences.

As Soldier of Sidon (2006) opens circa 480 BC, Latro (now mostly called Lewqys) finds himself on a ship on the Nile without knowing how he got there. He has forgotten his first- and second-novel friends and companions. He soon joins a mission sent by the Persian Satrap of Kemet (Egypt) to investigate the lands to the south. Aboard the ship captained by Muslak (a merchant friend he made between the second and third novels) are a scribe, a sorcerer-physician, two dancing girls from the Temple of Hathor (one of whom, Myt-ser’eu or Kitten, is his comely young “river-wife” for the duration of the trip), and assorted Egyptian and Persian soldiers. And Sabra, a mysterious woman who’s unintentionally summoned by Latro while spending most of her time in a box as a wax doll. And, at one point, Latro is given a serpent-man servant/slave called Uraeus. And a formidable baboon and a large black panther occasionally reveal themselves to Latro.

If you are a fan of ancient Egypt, you should find much of interest in this novel, including the gods and supernatural beings and a neat scene where Latro’s soul (divided into five selves) is interrogated by the gods and his heart weighed by Osiris. There are some action scenes, like a river horse (hippopotamus) hunt. I liked the relationship between Myt-ser’eu and Latro. I liked the wax woman Sabra.

But despite my love of ancient Egyptian history and culture, etc., this book increasingly bored me and made me question why Wolfe wrote it seventeen years after completing his Latro duology. Did he do a lot of Egyptian research and then want to indulge in his Egyptology hobby? He didn’t have a good story to tell. Thus, although he introduces many exotic deities and rituals and magics and animals and locales, this was finally a boring book that was a chore to finish.

The problems are these:

First, in the first two novels Wolfe wrote similar experiences for Latro in the Mediterranean around Greece with different gods (which for Wolfe may really all be the same gods or god), so there is too much a feeling of familiarity here, despite it happening in Egypt and Nubia (Kush).

Second, Latro is still too passive, too great a fighter, too invulnerable (although cursed by a goddess before the first novel begins, he is protected by many divinities thereafter), and too great a lover, sought after by multiple women, from common and mortal to royal and supernatural. He’s too good to be true, too much of a nerdy fan boy projection, and I found myself not caring what happens to him or worrying about him much.

Third, the quests and stakes in this third book are obscure and/or unimpressive, e.g., investigate the south for the Satrap, rescue some rich guy’s son from some gold mining area, recover Latro’s sword, etc. It is refreshing not to find here a Quest to Save the World from Evil, but Latro’s almost aimless participation in small scale adventures he soon forgets is unaffecting.

Fourth, Latro’s disability leads to too much repetition and elliptical narration. He’ll say something like, “My wife’s name is Myt-ser’eu,” or “Myt-ser’eu wanted me to buy a horse for my slave, whose name is Uraeus,” and we’ve already been told umpteen times that she’s his wife and Uraeus his slave. He repeatedly describes people he’s traveling with but forgotten (though we remember them). Furthermore, he often resumes his tale after suspenseful things have happened that he has forgotten because he was unable to write them down. And even when he does write important things, upon waking he’ll forget having written them and only “remember” them if he rereads them in his scroll. Because he can’t always read his book, he ends up having to be reminded of events and people and situations by his companions. Such narrative devices seemed cool and even moving in the first two books, but here they seem contrived and increasingly irritating.

Fifth, although Wolfe does do plenty of fine writing, like “her laugh was forgotten gold, shaken in a cup,” he also does plenty of bad writing, like “I need protection, Latro, and I need it pretty bad.” And he writes too many low-tension conversations over none too important matters, some covering already covered ground that Latro has forgotten and needs to be reminded of.

Sixth, SPOILER PARAGRAPH ALERT:
What a lousy ending! It doesn’t resolve his memory condition/curse; it doesn’t reunite him with his sword; he’s still in Egypt (I think); Myt-ser’eu is with him, which is nice, but that’s about it. What’s it all about? What’s it all for? A tour of ancient Egypt, with some divine appearances tossed in to keep us on our toes?

Finally, the above problems are exacerbated by the monotonous audiobook reading by Gregory Connors. He also redundantly coughs etc. when the narration says something like, “he coughed.” I liked his reading of the first two books, but here he increases the boredom and irritation of the reading experience.

So. Completists and fans of Gene Wolfe (and ancient Egypt) might like this novel a lot, but I wish I had stopped after Soldier of Arete.