Legion from the Shadows (1976) by Karl Edward Wagner

-

One of Robert E. Howard’s finest short stories is Worms of the Earth, first published in 1932, a pitch-black, horror-tinged piece of sword and sorcery pulp that features a very different protagonist from his famed Cimmerian, Conan. The tale revolves around the diminutive but powerful Pict King, Bran Mak Morn, and details his willingness to dabble with dark supernatural forces in summoning a race of degenerate subhuman underground creatures to achieve revenge against a Roman governor for the crucifixion of one of his comrades. 

The task that stalwart dark fantasy author Karl Edward Wagner takes on in Legion from the Shadows is to give readers a direct novel-length sequel to Howard’s story, once again focusing on Bran Mak Morn and his ongoing war against Rome in ancient Britain. Wagner’s scope is impressive as he casts his net large enough to incorporate the mystery of the legendary missing IX Legion of Rome into his narrative. 

The book opens with a prologue in which Bran’s forefather is directly responsible for imprisoning the soldiers underground to die. Instead these soldiers interbreed with the Worms of the Earth, becoming the title’s shadow legion. There is much to like in this 250-page Zebra paperback, starting with a great Jeff Jones cover. Bran faces down the descendants of the IX Legion, he engages in underground battles that brim with Wagner’s mastery of mixing action and horror, and we get a great glimpse into aspects of Pictish culture. 

Unfortunately, it’s also steeped in extended bouts of exposition and prolonged history that ultimately feel like padding. There’s not enough action to keep the rhythm going and the whole tale begins to lose any sense of forward momentum. I believe there is probably a great novella hidden within Legion from the Shadows as the prose is strong and the imagery is descriptive and bold.

After recently loving a book in the Kane series by Wagner, I was really excited to read his take on Bran Mak Morn and to see him playing legitimately in the world of Robert E. Howard; I have read nothing but positive reviews for his Conan pastiche, The Road of Kings. In the end I was left disappointed that I can’t heartily recommend a book I have owned since I was 14-years old by an author I greatly respect. I find Wagner's series of Kane books to be much more memorable.

Review by Steve Carroll


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Atomic Werewolves and Man-Eating Plants (2023) Edited by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle

-
Image
Through the tireless efforts of pulp-renaissance men Robert Deis   and Wyatt Doyle, the world is once again a brighter place for those with a predilection   toward the Men’s Adventure Magazines   (MAMs) of a bygone era. The duo’s ability   to mine the depths of the MAM archives to pull together these themed editions   is unparalleled and the riches of their efforts is a gift to those like myself,   who generally missed out on these magazines in their original incarnation. The hook this time around is an entire edition built around   stories that are much more clearly fictional with supernatural overtones. This   makes it similar in some respects to the authors’ earlier   Cryptozoology Anthology . Whereas much of the popular MAM stories at   least dipped a toe into the real world, albeit it in greatly exaggerated tales   of manly men and their adventures, often while at   war, this collection revels   in tales of sci-fi and horror featuring (as announced loudly in a list on the front  
Read more

The Horror! The Horror! Diving into the Folk Horror Sub-Genre

-
Image
The following column was originally printed in Justin Marriott's Paperback Fanatic 47, which was published in July of 2023. You can buy a copy of it  here. There is something inherently unsettling about being in deeply rural locations where we, considering ourselves as enlightened and educated intellectuals, find ourselves confronted with beliefs and superstitions that seem backward and downright uninformed to our modern sensibilities. It can sometimes be as simple as walking into a gas station in the middle of nowhere and suddenly feeling like we’ve stepped into another era of history and speaking to a representative of the local citizenry feels like navigating a wide gulf of both colloquial language and seemingly alien culture. It leaves us feeling decidedly ‘off’ and somehow inadequate. This discomfort lies at the heart of folk horror. Though the term ‘folk horror’ didn’t enter into the modern vernacular until the early 70s (and originally using film as its introductory portal i
Read more

Men’s Adventure Quarterly Vol. 1 No. 2 (2021): ALL ESPIONAGE

-
Image
If you’ve followed this blog for any real length of time, then you know by now   that I am an espionage junkie. And nothing gets me going more than the   espionage books, movies and television shows of the Golden Age of spies, the   Cold War 50s, 60s, and 70s. Of course, this explosion in popularity at   that   time was tied directly into the superstardom of a single source—James Bond, Ian   Fleming’s indomitable British spy for Her Majesty, and his exploits   in novels   and the wildly successful film series that started in 1962 (and remains a   cash-cow today). Robert Deis and Bill Cunningham created  Men’s   Adventure Quarterly  (MAQ) as a way to preserve and celebrate the Men’s   Adventure Magazines   (MAM) of a bygone era. That MAM era was a post-war phenomenon   that ran from the late 40s through the early 70s. In their earlier heyday, there   was a   huge emphasis on so-called “true stories” of manly men at war (or   post-war), rescuing buxom ladies while crippling the Nazi war
Read more