Daily Archives: January 28, 2026

Top Tens – Heroes & Villains: Top 10 Heroes of Mythology (Special Mention) (12) Aeneas & Romulus

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The most famous image of Roman mythology or legendary history – Lupa Capitolina suckling the twins Romulus and Remus, here depicted in a bronze sculpture in the Capitoline Museum debated as to its age and origin as either 5th century BC Etruscan sculpture or medieval (with the twins added later)

 

 

(12) AENEAS & ROMULUS

 

All roads lead to Rome – Rome leads back to Romulus and Aeneas.

My previous special mention for Hector leads naturally to special mention for Aeneas, similarly a Trojan hero – less prominent in Greek mythology or the Iliad but one that rose to prominence as the ancestral hero of Rome in Roman mythology and the subject of the Aeneid, epic poem by Virgil intended as a sequel to the Iliad and Odyssey as well as foundational legend for Rome (and the imperial cult of Augustus).

I particularly like that Aeneas is the son of the goddess Aphrodite, which effectively makes her Roman equivalent Venus the founding mother and patron goddess of Rome.

Aeneas may well have been the founding father of Rome but he didn’t found the city itself – hence he shares special mention with Romulus. Famously, Romulus was one of two twin brothers – and as famously, he and his twin Remus were suckled by a she-wolf, known as Lupa Capitolina or the Capitoline wolf, in their infancy. Also as famously (or infamously), Romulus had a falling out of fratricidal degree with his brother as he went on to found the city (and kingdom) of Rome – just as well because the city of Reme just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

Top Tens – Fantasy & SF: Top 10 Children’s Fantasy Books (Special Mention) (8) Richard Harland – Ferren Trilogy

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Covers of the 2023-2025 Ferren trilogy published by IFWG Publishing International (and as featured on the author’s website)

 

 

(8) RICHARD HARLAND –

FERREN TRILOGY (2023-2025 – rewritten version of his Heaven and Earth trilogy 2000-2003)

 

Another of my better than Potter entries, this Australian post-apocalyptic fantasy trilogy combines two of my favorite fantasy tropes – a post-apocalyptic setting, particularly in its rarer fantasy version as opposed to the more common science fiction version, as well as the rage against the heavens or war on heaven trope. The latter is the source of the apocalypse.

The premise is straightforward. It turned out that space wasn’t the final frontier, but heaven was – as human technology turned to the exploration of the afterlife. So, like all frontiers, exploration led to invasion, as humanity’s celestial astronauts – psychonauts – trampled the sacred fields of Heaven.

Of course you know, that meant war – and it didn’t go too well for us. Eurasia is still burning – the Burning Continents – from the portions of Heavenly ether that fell on it from the Great Collapse, while much of north America is frozen under an angelic ice sheet.

And we’re still fighting the war against Heaven – except that by we, I only loosely mean humanity. Most of actual humanity that has survived the war, at least in Australia, have been reduced to so-called Residuals living in tribes. The war is waged by the possibly posthuman and certainly inhuman Humen, led by the technocratic Doctors, although they seem to use that title in the same sense supervillains do – or Doctor Josef Mengele, who seems to be invoked by the name of two Doctors who led the war against Heaven from South America.

The Residuals are nominally allies with the Humen against Heaven and its angels but are used more as cannon fodder – in perhaps the most literal way possible. All this changes when the titular young male Residual happens across a stray angel left behind after being wounded in battle…

As I said, it’s Australian post-apocalyptic fantasy – both in its setting, and perhaps not surprisingly given that setting, fantasy written by an Australian author (albeit originally from Britain). Forget Harry Potter – with Garth Nix in my top ten and Richard Harland in my special mentions, it seems all the best young adult fantasy is from Australia.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)