An OK read. Interesting to learn a bit about the history of this period. Not sure if it was really my cup of tea though.

Set in the century before Christ, the hero is Petro, a young soldier in the army in the East. He is taken prisoner by the local tribes and dreams about escaping and going home to Baiaie.
There are many characters and good insight into life in the legions and armies. The brutality and fear which Petro feels are made very real. Lots of twists and unexpected happenings. A good read.

Rome’s wars against the eastern king Mithradates is a fascinating historical period. The king, his body fortified against treachery by taking small amounts of poison daily, waged an unrelenting war against the Roman Republic for three decades. Three great Roman generals, Marius, Sulla and Lucullus tried and failed to end the war, until finally the general Pompey finished off the aged and worn out king. On the Roman side Lucullus achieved success against Mithradates, but was deprived of success by the young rabble rousing aristocrat, Publius Clodius, and a legion of veteran Roman soldiers who were prompted to mutiny against their commanding officer. These soldiers, once commanded by the Marian general Fimbria, are presumably the ‘Lost Legion’ of the title.
There is the meat here for a terrific story, but Swyft’s novel is sprawling and unstructured and veers wildly between the impressive and the ludicrous. It cannot make up its mind what it wants to be: an historical military epic, perhaps an allegory of the war on the ‘Axis of Evil’, or a Roman legionary buddy novel, or a fantasy involving Amazon warriors and demonic creatures. Less is often more and this book could have done with a thorough edit – its published form does the author few favours. However, there is just enough here to have kept this reader reading to the end. The first in a projected trilogy, I think I will stop now.