Legions of Hell

Heroes in Hell #6

by C.J. Cherryh

Julius Caesar gathers his legions in an alternate universe in order to defeat the devil and conquer hell

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction

274 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1987

About the author

Currently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book... is part of a multi-author series. And I think I may have to hunt the rest down at some point, because it was just fun enough to keep me pouring over it much too late into the night.

The premise is that everyone who has died and ended up in Hell will find a place there, and those who had more influence over history have a stronger position in Hell. Old enemies may become allies, or old allies friends as political currents flow backwards and forwards. The millennia in Hell change a person.

Currently, there are two factions in precarious balance, neither willing to risk all-out war for fear of gaining the attention of the Administration. These are the West (led by the Romans, particularly Julius Caesar's household), and the East (currently controlled by the Egyptians, with the Assyrians maneuvering for ascendancy). But watch out if you're taking a stroll through Decentral Park, because the Cong have snipers there....

It's silly. And nothing is laid out for you, so you have to figure out for yourself what the Pentagram is, and the Undertaker, and every other thing which rushes by you as the plot moves on with a determined pace. I found the challenge fun.

Since this book focuses on the Romans, half the dialogue is in Latin. I found that fun as well, because my Latin has gotten incredibly rusty and it was nice to try to drag some of it back into my memory. But don't panic if you don't know any Latin; it's often explained in the next moment, or it's fairly obvious based on what's going on.

The plot of this book focuses on a young, 17-year-old Brutus showing up in Caesar's household. This Brutus doesn't have any memories of his adult life, or of dying. He doesn't remember that he is a fratricide (this book follows the theory that Brutus was a bastard child of Julius). Now the Romans have to decide where he came from, where he has been for the past three thousand years, and whether they dare trust this naive child....

One large caution, however -- I don't think I've ever read a book with so many typos. It had my teeth on edge, and if the story hadn't been so entertaining, I would have stopped reading it in the first few pages.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise is that this novel takes place in Hell, where all the great figures of history are still alive, and fighting each other for power or against a Central Authority who is all-powerful and malevolent. Things feel pretty 1980s America but the word is you can use as much technology as you believe in. So Caesar, who can't quite accept man walking on the moon, wears 1960s combat fatigues, whereas Hatshepsut, who has no trouble believing anything, wears semi-transparent cat suits with glowing lights and wields a tiny pistol that disintegrates flesh.

It's a great world, offering up lots of chances for all your favorite historical figures to hang out by the pool together or charge across tennis courts in jeeps with the Hunish Polo Team.

This was my favorite novel in High School. So much my favorite that when I saw a copy at the local used book shop I squealed with delight and immediately bought it.

This book is why I read all I could about Hatshepsut. Why I tried (and failed) to secure the chat name "Hatshepsut" on IRC. This book made me read The Divine Comedy and The Prince.

This book made me cry with aching loss at its end. Twice.

Which is pretty amazing, as I re-read it, because this book is partially a hot mess. There are 80,000 characters and five books of missing backstory. (I didn't realize until Goodreads itself informed me that this book was actually part of a series! And it's number freaking SIX.)

Half the book is swirling action sequences. POV changes all over the place. Allusions to allusions to allusions. Oh, and it helps to read the appendix on Roman Names and Latin Phrases. Prodi!

I think young me derived more pleasure than confusion from not quite understanding everything. It gave the book this cache of being an Tome of Arcane Knowledge while simultaneously being a straight-up action romp and "Tragedy of Julius Caesar" fanfic. (It definitely helped, I think, that I had read that first.)

As an adult, I cared more about understanding everything, and so I was tripped up frequently and had to re-read and pause and check Wikipedia because I wanted to know if that was a real historical figure or not...

Also I was mildly irritated that Klea is so... girly. This woman ran a kingdom, yo. She should be tougher. Though she does pull through in the end. I wanted more Hatshepsut. I wanted more female characters, full stop. I wanted more non-western characters. I was outright pissed that the Viet Cong are a faceless enemy, never on screen, never individualized. I wanted to see Vietnamese main characters, all right? Maybe they are in other books, but I kind of doubt it. There is a lot of Whitewashing Western Centric Patriarchal Lens going on. It felt progressive in 1990. Rather the opposite today. Um... signs we're making progress?

SO all that caveated, I still enjoyed this book like it was porn and would probably knock over an old lady to get at a copy of the direct sequel because I want MORE of Julius and Brutus as loving father and son, gods damn it! The strength of the book is in bringing these epic characters to life and letting them be epic. Of course Niccolo Machievelli is the smartest smarty who ever smarted and Hatshepsut is the stone coldest betty. Julius is strong and Augustus is loyal and Antonius - ah sweet Antoni!

But, if I can flirt with spoilers here, the book's main pull and draw, what kept me breathlessly wanting to race through each scene, was the promise of a particular scene that NEVER HAPPENS. GAAAAAAAAAAAH

Someone find me book 7.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love this series, historical and fictional characters meet in Hell.

Reread 2018 - This book is a compilation from other books with bridge stories. The book is about Julius Caesar and collects all the stories so far about him and his family and companions and then fills in all the details between stories.

[marcia rutledge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok the premise sounds really hokey but somehow she makes it work. The author's background in ancient history obviously helps in this series. Lots of fun and you have to love the Hatsepshut/Cleo duo.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, not-too-serious book based on the idea that all those historical figures who ended up in hell must be doing something down there.

[Nancy Raines]

Hell Book 6