The antagonist in this narrative, if it can be said to have one, is the mighty, implacable empire of Rome. All it lacks is a dragon, but brass-balled, fire-breathing antihero Pyrrhus of Epirus nearly qualifies.
As a writer of horror now exploring fantasy, it makes sense that my tastes in fantasy run toward a genre called ‘grimdark.’ I can almost hear you saying “Hold up.Myke Cole’s LEGION VERSUS PHALANX is non-fiction, right?” Right! But one of the things that makes this book so delicious, so compelling, so damned *readable* is that it rolls out like the grimmest of grimdark, with all the fantastical weaponry, high stakes power struggle, and human strength and frailty we expect in Martin, Abercrombie and Anna Smith Spark.
