Soldier of the Mist is a 1986 historical fantasy novel by American writer Gene Wolfe, published by Gollancz in the UK and then Tor Books in the US.
Latro writes down the events he experiences, along with references to the various people, demigods and gods he encounter along the way, onto a scroll every day (or so we assume; however, there sometimes appear to be gaps in the narrative).
Latro's ability to “see and talk with the gods and their companions” and to “penetrate at will the veil of the supernatural” is the compensation for his amnesia.
He has in fact been cursed with this amnesia by the Great Mother (being both Demeter and Gaia), for an unknown insult, which is revealed later.
Throughout the narrative, it becomes clear that the Great Mother and the Triple Goddess (Artemis / Hekate / Selene) are fighting, and both hope to use Latro as a pawn.
Latro, along with Io, the black man, Pindaros and Hilaeria are taken captive by the Rope Makers (Spartans).
One of the Rope Makers’ slaves asks Latro to help them seek aid from the Great Mother (Demeter) in a planned uprising.
Latro wakes in Tower Hill (Corinth) to find himself slave to a merchant from Thought (Athens), Hypereides, who owned three ships and had fought in the Battle of Peace (Salamis).
Although a prisoner, Latro travels untied in Hypereides’ largest ship, the Europa, as is the black man, although their friends, Pindaros, Hilaeria and Io are tied as they are from Cowland (Boeotia, ruled by Thebes).
Looking back, Latro sees Oior's face change to that of a “scholar of the worst kind” (p. 84), one who is corrupt.
They put in at Peace to pick up some passengers or refugees to take them back to Thought (Athens), among whom are Kalleos, a madame, and her courtesans.
However they find a grave which has been dug up and the coffin smashed open, which scares away the girl Kalleos sent with them.
Along with Pindaros, Io and Hilaeria, Latro visits the Hall of the Great Mother in Advent (a small city near Athens).
After the sacrifice, the priest notices that the statue of the goddess has moved, he tells Latro to spend the night in the temple.
The cooks talk about some Rope Makers (Spartans) they've heard of, who are making the rounds of the houses of Thought asking what people had for breakfast the previous day, clearly looking for a man with daily memory loss.
Rope Makers (Spartans) led by a man named Eutaktos, knock at the door and ask Latro who sold him.
Latro leaves the campfire to talk to a woman he saw who introduces herself as Enodia, the Dark Mother (Hecate), also variously known as the Triple Goddess, Auge, the Huntress and Queen of the Neurians.
Latro meets Eurykles (although he does not remember him and refers to him as the Milesian), and find out that he has been dedicated to the Triple Goddess since he was a child.
A big man with a club (Hercules) appears while he's wrestling and gives him a couple tips, although he ultimately tells Latro to let Basias win.
Latro touches her to make her visible and she asks one of her worshippers to sacrifice his privates to her in return for her aid to Pausanias.
Once in Rope, Latro, Io and Drakaina visit a temple dedicated to the Huntress (under the name of Orthia), where they meet Gorgo, a priestess who is mother to the king and cousin/aunt to the regent.
Drakaina claims that Pausanias gave her presents and that her transformation from man to woman was the Huntress fulfilling her desire.
The spirit of King Cleomenes appears and speaks a prophecy via Drakaina's mouth advising peace with Thought, by sending them aid in their siege of Sestos.
To make a little money, Drakaina reveals to the city strategist, Corustas, that their ship, Nausicaa, is headed to Sestos.
Latro falls overboard during a friendly wrestling match against Pasicrates, and meets Thoe, daughter of Nereus.
Latro walks with Pasicrates, and he sees a vision, which may be more like a memory, of the Battle of Thermopylae, in which he is leading some men who speak his own tongue.
After leaving him, as they assess the siege towers and battering rams, Drakaina says she was once a Princess of Aea (Colchis) when the Golden Fleece was there.
Drakaina speaks the black man's language and gives his back story, and Pasicrates hopes to send him into the city to start a revolt.
Latro loses track of time, looking for Drakaina, he sees her body being mauled by an injured wolf with the face of a man who reminds him they were brothers (it was Oior), and begs him to end his life.
[3] Kirkus Reviews described it as "marvelously fluent" and "evocative",[4] while Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer commented that readers would "either enjoy (the book) immensely or dislike (it) almost as strongly", and called it one "of life's wonders.