A Precious Work

I read the book decades ago, so I've forgotten portions, but some scenes still remain with me. I know there is an Italian scene that is one of the most beautiful, poetically, ever rendered by Sienkiewicz. I'm pretty sure that there is no battle, as Sienkiewicz still didn't get up to one before outside events and his death intruded. Curiously, perhaps because he knew he had to take a pause, he ends what he had written with a scene that duplicates somewhat how he ended ON THE FIELD OF GLORY, another unfinished work that was nevertheless published as a complete book.

Despite being an unfinished work, THE LEGIONS is brimming with much that showcases Sienkiewicz's impressive talents as a writer of epic historical fiction. There is also a freshness to the work, a vibrancy of exploring a new period of history, that gives the reader vigorous images of what might have been and that is satisfactory on its own. THE LEGIONS is, I would say, the most precious of Sienkiewicz's work, one that allows us to meet our beloved author once again and share in his enthusiasms and his dreams before he left us.