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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
You may have heard the story of the wandering Jew. Well, this is that story brought to life, in a very real and gritty way. If you don't know what I am talking about, it is the story of the Roman who killed Christ on the cross and was cursed to wander the earth till the second coming.
In Sadler's rendition, Casca is that Roman and Christ's curse goes on to include, "As you are, so shall you remain". What this means is that Casca will remain a soldier through his immortal search for the Christian god. This is a great plot device because we, the reader, get to vicariously participate in every major battle for the last two thousand years with a man who can not be killed. At least not permanently.
It's true that I have a fascination with immortality. (Strangely, I don't look forward to my own death). But even so, I think most people, (well... guys), will enjoy these novels. There are 22 in total but don't expect the last one to round out the series. They just stop; apparently because Sadler died in an accident with a gun, in Central America.
In Sadler's rendition, Casca is that Roman and Christ's curse goes on to include, "As you are, so shall you remain". What this means is that Casca will remain a soldier through his immortal search for the Christian god. This is a great plot device because we, the reader, get to vicariously participate in every major battle for the last two thousand years with a man who can not be killed. At least not permanently.
It's true that I have a fascination with immortality. (Strangely, I don't look forward to my own death). But even so, I think most people, (well... guys), will enjoy these novels. There are 22 in total but don't expect the last one to round out the series. They just stop; apparently because Sadler died in an accident with a gun, in Central America.
I could not get enough of this series when I was younger. For a fifth grade boy, what is cooler than a series about an immortal mercenary killing & sexing his way through the centuries? Yeah, that's right, not much. Alright, for clarification, a fifth grade chunky nerd boy.
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The first chapters of this book almost put me off but I pushed through and was rewarded with a fun adventure that explores immortality, divinity and violence.
I always tell my friends that if I were a god I wouldn't punish people by inflicting quick terrible deaths. I would instead give them unnaturally long lives full of suffering. Little did I know there was a book about that exact same thing from the POV of the punished. Now I think it's an awful thing to do because Casca goes through it. There's a scene towards the end of the book that just broke my heart, the desperation and grief moved me to tears.
I just love how the author is a fanboi of Rome and the military and it just comes through on every page of the book. You can feel the passion and dedication. I wasn't surprised when a quick google search showed he was a soldier.
Despite all these good things, the book suffers from too much racism and misogyny. BIPOC characters are presented as racist stereotypes especially Jubala who fits into the inhumane, African savage archetype with no room to spare. Human sacrifice, sharpened teeth, body markings, sexual depravity, a hulking physique. All the stereotypes all at once. Shiu also falls into the old, wise, Asian man trope. He's more fleshed out than Jubala but the stereotypes are still prominent.
The language used to describe racialized characters and women is quite dehumanising. A mixed race character ends up being solely referred to as (half) breed, and Shiu becomes yellow-faced man, while Jubala is described through his black skin in a very gross tone. Women barely feature as speaking characters instead mostly appearing as some variation of whore.
These unfortunate aspects can take you out of the book and diminish what is otherwise a really fun, and at times thought provoking book.
I always tell my friends that if I were a god I wouldn't punish people by inflicting quick terrible deaths. I would instead give them unnaturally long lives full of suffering. Little did I know there was a book about that exact same thing from the POV of the punished. Now I think it's an awful thing to do because Casca goes through it. There's a scene towards the end of the book that just broke my heart, the desperation and grief moved me to tears.
I just love how the author is a fanboi of Rome and the military and it just comes through on every page of the book. You can feel the passion and dedication. I wasn't surprised when a quick google search showed he was a soldier.
Despite all these good things, the book suffers from too much racism and misogyny. BIPOC characters are presented as racist stereotypes especially Jubala who fits into the inhumane, African savage archetype with no room to spare. Human sacrifice, sharpened teeth, body markings, sexual depravity, a hulking physique. All the stereotypes all at once. Shiu also falls into the old, wise, Asian man trope. He's more fleshed out than Jubala but the stereotypes are still prominent.
The language used to describe racialized characters and women is quite dehumanising. A mixed race character ends up being solely referred to as (half) breed, and Shiu becomes yellow-faced man, while Jubala is described through his black skin in a very gross tone. Women barely feature as speaking characters instead mostly appearing as some variation of whore.
These unfortunate aspects can take you out of the book and diminish what is otherwise a really fun, and at times thought provoking book.
Casca is straight up pulpy shlock. It's non-apologetic about it, and keeps a decent pace, which are probably the only things I'll find to compliment this book on.
Certainly not the prose, which is functional at best. The book has many occasions where 70's slang wreck the suspension of disbelief in this Roman-era story. I know we don't know how people actually sounded in the first few centuries of Rome, but the least an author can do is try to minimize how much the characters sound like people from the year the book was written.
And I definitely can't compliment the research or historical accuracy. Barry Sadler appears to care about ancient fighting and Asian philosophy, and that's about it. Everything else comes off as a bit slipshod, using little more than a half-remembered history class anecdote or a perfunctory flip through an Encyclopedia.
All these issues would leave me with a humorously cheesy 2 - 3 star read, were in not for the reality that Sadler appears to be a huge bigot.
Looking through reviews, I found it interesting how many pulp enthusiasts bring up the sexism and racism, only to sort of shrug it off with excuses, like saying it was just a sign of the times.
No. That's crap. He was a huge racist at the time of this books writing, and he's an even bigger racist now. And it's all in the most cliched terms popular with macho writers of the era. There's heavy orientalism all over the place, because the only Asian in the story of course teaches him martial arts. The sections featuring the "yellow man" seem fitting with all the guys in the 70's and 80's who loved to exoticize everything from the far east, or the "orient" as they probably prefer. I imagine a lot of crappy tea sets and wall scrolls purchased in China town, a dog-eared copy of the book Shogun, and some cheap replicas of terracotta soldiers. It seems weird for a guy who actually served in Vietnam, but I'm guessing he mostly enjoyed the prostitutes.
Also, the only black character in the whole story is the sort of stereotype I expected from an African character written in the 1870's, not the 1970's. The black character, Shubala, literally reminisces about raping and sacrificing a blonde white girl and sacrificing her to his dark gods. And what's sad is they still get more personality than any woman in the story.
The women in Casca have two functions, being whores and getting raped, often both. Only one woman in the whole story who he enters into a relationship with is met when he debates whether or not he should let bandits rape her, and decides to intervene mostly because she has nice legs. He generally doesn't even say her name, mostly referring to her as woman, probably because Sadler kept forgetting her name.
So I don't really feel compelled to read more of these, and I don't think it's okay to just ignore all the problematic elements. There's tons of great adventure stories, many of them predating Sadler's work, that are not horribly bigoted, so there's no excuse for muddling through Sadler's awful opinions. This book is like trying to watch a movie while a racist old man gives his opinions on every actor that's not a white male. It's not like Sadler even came from a specific point of view with a thesis that you could argue with, just off-handed, lazy stereotypes littering the entire novel.
There are better ways to get your pulp fix. Unless you're just a fan of vintage racism.
For those who are curious what quotes really got to me, I found myself highlighting provocative passages as I read for my book club. I have sorted them below by category:
On people of other races:
“He had, however, apparently seen something in the legionary that told him to leave well enough alone, so Casca had not had the pleasure of whipping his ass. But the yellow man was something else – and fair game.”
“Looking him over, Casca grumbled to himself in his normal manner, If that big black bastard bumps me just one more time in the chow line, I'm going to rip off that oversized piece of skin he is so proud of and shove it down his throat.”
“Like a beast of the desert or jungle, Jubala watched and waited. Patience was a necessary virtue for survival in his tribal lands. He waited and prepared. He made sacrifice to his gods, those terrible beings of the night and the jungle. Two days before, when he had been permitted to go out on the town, he had cornered a young blonde prostitute of no more than fourteen years… He felt a shiver of pleasure run over him as he relived the moment when after he had taken his pleasure of her and she lay at his feet whimpering and bleeding she had looked up through tear-streaked eyes and asked for the denarius he had promised. Jubala felt a sexual thrill run over him as he remembered picking her up from the floor of her dingy room by the Tiber and covering her mouth with his hand while he took his knife and slowly slid it into her stomach, savoring her pain and death spasms as he drew the blade up slowly, ever so slowly, her back arching so that her intestines spilled out on the floor. He sacrificed to his gods, and in the ritual of his people he had ripped out her still-beating heart and eaten it while she still trembled... Good, he thought, good.”
“Shit, Casca thought, that black's trying to work on my mind. Well, I got news for you, boy. That bullshit don't play with me.”
“Meanwhile, Jubala watched all that went on, and his heart was as black as his face. One day he promised himself, One day, white dog...”
“Jubala stood, hands and feet manacled, his head erect. He was filled with pride... like a wild beast from the country where he was sired... the essence of primitive force.”
"This ain't no fun, man. I wish to hell I hadn't let my old man hype me on that return to Israel jazz. I wouldn't be out here now trying to blow up a bunch of ragheads."
On the topic of women:
“After what Salome had done to him he was not about to let something like Sporus's hurt feelings interfere with his getting some of that good Armenian pussy. That luscious thing had one of the prettiest… ”
“The night officer said I could take off – and now I find you two taking it off. Well, right now, young soldier, you are going to pay for messing with my woman – and then I am going to slice her ears off so she won't ever listen to anyone else's bullshit."
“The senior MP pinched her on the butt and whispered in her ear, "Later?" Rheza nodded and rubbed her ripe tits along his arm. After all, a girl needed a protector.”
“Hydra's nine heads, that woman's tongue could make these Greek goats give cheese instead of milk. If only she wasn't so much bigger than me I would give her a sound thrashing and gentle her. He chuckled to himself. I wonder if I could talk her into being in on the robbery? He laughed out loud at the thought. Casca would have his hands full with her.”
“You are the first friend I have had in fifty-five years. That is not a small thing. Go home, friend, and do yourself a kindness and beat your wife."
“Minitre was at the dock, waving farewell, pleased with himself. After all, he had participated in a great adventure. Even better, he had taken Casca's advice and beat the hell out of his wife with a stout rod. Surprisingly, instead of counterattacking, she had become instantly meek and anxious to please.”
“Rome exhausted herself like some great whore on blood and slaughter.”
“Not that he was averse to such things as a little healthy ass slapping in the heat of passion when he was well-mounted in the saddle.”
“They were pathetic. They had no idea at all of what it took to get him aroused. If Salome were still alive she could have made a fortune teaching these high- class whores how to use their equipment”
"Your little man Crysos died well enough for you. He told me nothing. But I still had the satisfaction of using him like a woman. In your name I told him I was doing it. He screamed like a woman, too."
“The crowd went insane. Several women climaxed in their excitement and tried to throw themselves to the arena below.”
On the topic of his muscles:
“He was glad to have those extra pounds of muscled-up beef.”
“Casca was a solid knot of sinewy muscle and tendons.”
“After all, I am a pretty healthy hunk of beef, and you would be in real trouble if they sold me by the pound." Laughing, he touched Minitre's shoulder gently.”
“Apparently he liked the man's looks ... tough... his carcass well-scarred from many fights... heavy- muscled... confident.”
“He headed east toward the Forum, his well-muscled hide drawing more than one interested look from the Roman ladies,”
“He spilled his seed into the bellies of faceless women as if trying to find something that could not be…”
“…the wife of a senator. She had given him fifty gold denarii for one evening. She had garlic breath, but nice legs.”
“The sounds of her breaking up were like a woman – or horse – in pain, as…”
On the matter of weird phrasing for historical fiction:
“Their commander had lately got a bug up his ass, and the general consensus was that the old bastard was bucking for a promotion; he had the troops out constantly, doing facing maneuvers and close order drill. Casca didn't mind.”
“That old fart had about as much compassion and sense of humor as a pit viper with hemorrhoids.”
“The Tenth Legion had a reputation for kicking ass and killing, a reputation that was well-deserved.”
“He got all the rejects... the troublemakers and murderers. Damn top management... don't know what they're doing.”
“Casca had not had what you might call your standard buddy-buddy relationship with the patrician class.”
"Now, what the crap is that about? Is that all you can do? Can't you say anything?"
Certainly not the prose, which is functional at best. The book has many occasions where 70's slang wreck the suspension of disbelief in this Roman-era story. I know we don't know how people actually sounded in the first few centuries of Rome, but the least an author can do is try to minimize how much the characters sound like people from the year the book was written.
And I definitely can't compliment the research or historical accuracy. Barry Sadler appears to care about ancient fighting and Asian philosophy, and that's about it. Everything else comes off as a bit slipshod, using little more than a half-remembered history class anecdote or a perfunctory flip through an Encyclopedia.
All these issues would leave me with a humorously cheesy 2 - 3 star read, were in not for the reality that Sadler appears to be a huge bigot.
Looking through reviews, I found it interesting how many pulp enthusiasts bring up the sexism and racism, only to sort of shrug it off with excuses, like saying it was just a sign of the times.
No. That's crap. He was a huge racist at the time of this books writing, and he's an even bigger racist now. And it's all in the most cliched terms popular with macho writers of the era. There's heavy orientalism all over the place, because the only Asian in the story of course teaches him martial arts. The sections featuring the "yellow man" seem fitting with all the guys in the 70's and 80's who loved to exoticize everything from the far east, or the "orient" as they probably prefer. I imagine a lot of crappy tea sets and wall scrolls purchased in China town, a dog-eared copy of the book Shogun, and some cheap replicas of terracotta soldiers. It seems weird for a guy who actually served in Vietnam, but I'm guessing he mostly enjoyed the prostitutes.
Also, the only black character in the whole story is the sort of stereotype I expected from an African character written in the 1870's, not the 1970's. The black character, Shubala, literally reminisces about raping and sacrificing a blonde white girl and sacrificing her to his dark gods. And what's sad is they still get more personality than any woman in the story.
The women in Casca have two functions, being whores and getting raped, often both. Only one woman in the whole story who he enters into a relationship with is met when he debates whether or not he should let bandits rape her, and decides to intervene mostly because she has nice legs. He generally doesn't even say her name, mostly referring to her as woman, probably because Sadler kept forgetting her name.
So I don't really feel compelled to read more of these, and I don't think it's okay to just ignore all the problematic elements. There's tons of great adventure stories, many of them predating Sadler's work, that are not horribly bigoted, so there's no excuse for muddling through Sadler's awful opinions. This book is like trying to watch a movie while a racist old man gives his opinions on every actor that's not a white male. It's not like Sadler even came from a specific point of view with a thesis that you could argue with, just off-handed, lazy stereotypes littering the entire novel.
There are better ways to get your pulp fix. Unless you're just a fan of vintage racism.
For those who are curious what quotes really got to me, I found myself highlighting provocative passages as I read for my book club. I have sorted them below by category:
On people of other races:
“He had, however, apparently seen something in the legionary that told him to leave well enough alone, so Casca had not had the pleasure of whipping his ass. But the yellow man was something else – and fair game.”
“Looking him over, Casca grumbled to himself in his normal manner, If that big black bastard bumps me just one more time in the chow line, I'm going to rip off that oversized piece of skin he is so proud of and shove it down his throat.”
“Like a beast of the desert or jungle, Jubala watched and waited. Patience was a necessary virtue for survival in his tribal lands. He waited and prepared. He made sacrifice to his gods, those terrible beings of the night and the jungle. Two days before, when he had been permitted to go out on the town, he had cornered a young blonde prostitute of no more than fourteen years… He felt a shiver of pleasure run over him as he relived the moment when after he had taken his pleasure of her and she lay at his feet whimpering and bleeding she had looked up through tear-streaked eyes and asked for the denarius he had promised. Jubala felt a sexual thrill run over him as he remembered picking her up from the floor of her dingy room by the Tiber and covering her mouth with his hand while he took his knife and slowly slid it into her stomach, savoring her pain and death spasms as he drew the blade up slowly, ever so slowly, her back arching so that her intestines spilled out on the floor. He sacrificed to his gods, and in the ritual of his people he had ripped out her still-beating heart and eaten it while she still trembled... Good, he thought, good.”
“Shit, Casca thought, that black's trying to work on my mind. Well, I got news for you, boy. That bullshit don't play with me.”
“Meanwhile, Jubala watched all that went on, and his heart was as black as his face. One day he promised himself, One day, white dog...”
“Jubala stood, hands and feet manacled, his head erect. He was filled with pride... like a wild beast from the country where he was sired... the essence of primitive force.”
"This ain't no fun, man. I wish to hell I hadn't let my old man hype me on that return to Israel jazz. I wouldn't be out here now trying to blow up a bunch of ragheads."
On the topic of women:
“After what Salome had done to him he was not about to let something like Sporus's hurt feelings interfere with his getting some of that good Armenian pussy. That luscious thing had one of the prettiest… ”
“The night officer said I could take off – and now I find you two taking it off. Well, right now, young soldier, you are going to pay for messing with my woman – and then I am going to slice her ears off so she won't ever listen to anyone else's bullshit."
“The senior MP pinched her on the butt and whispered in her ear, "Later?" Rheza nodded and rubbed her ripe tits along his arm. After all, a girl needed a protector.”
“Hydra's nine heads, that woman's tongue could make these Greek goats give cheese instead of milk. If only she wasn't so much bigger than me I would give her a sound thrashing and gentle her. He chuckled to himself. I wonder if I could talk her into being in on the robbery? He laughed out loud at the thought. Casca would have his hands full with her.”
“You are the first friend I have had in fifty-five years. That is not a small thing. Go home, friend, and do yourself a kindness and beat your wife."
“Minitre was at the dock, waving farewell, pleased with himself. After all, he had participated in a great adventure. Even better, he had taken Casca's advice and beat the hell out of his wife with a stout rod. Surprisingly, instead of counterattacking, she had become instantly meek and anxious to please.”
“Rome exhausted herself like some great whore on blood and slaughter.”
“Not that he was averse to such things as a little healthy ass slapping in the heat of passion when he was well-mounted in the saddle.”
“They were pathetic. They had no idea at all of what it took to get him aroused. If Salome were still alive she could have made a fortune teaching these high- class whores how to use their equipment”
"Your little man Crysos died well enough for you. He told me nothing. But I still had the satisfaction of using him like a woman. In your name I told him I was doing it. He screamed like a woman, too."
“The crowd went insane. Several women climaxed in their excitement and tried to throw themselves to the arena below.”
On the topic of his muscles:
“He was glad to have those extra pounds of muscled-up beef.”
“Casca was a solid knot of sinewy muscle and tendons.”
“After all, I am a pretty healthy hunk of beef, and you would be in real trouble if they sold me by the pound." Laughing, he touched Minitre's shoulder gently.”
“Apparently he liked the man's looks ... tough... his carcass well-scarred from many fights... heavy- muscled... confident.”
“He headed east toward the Forum, his well-muscled hide drawing more than one interested look from the Roman ladies,”
“He spilled his seed into the bellies of faceless women as if trying to find something that could not be…”
“…the wife of a senator. She had given him fifty gold denarii for one evening. She had garlic breath, but nice legs.”
“The sounds of her breaking up were like a woman – or horse – in pain, as…”
On the matter of weird phrasing for historical fiction:
“Their commander had lately got a bug up his ass, and the general consensus was that the old bastard was bucking for a promotion; he had the troops out constantly, doing facing maneuvers and close order drill. Casca didn't mind.”
“That old fart had about as much compassion and sense of humor as a pit viper with hemorrhoids.”
“The Tenth Legion had a reputation for kicking ass and killing, a reputation that was well-deserved.”
“He got all the rejects... the troublemakers and murderers. Damn top management... don't know what they're doing.”
“Casca had not had what you might call your standard buddy-buddy relationship with the patrician class.”
"Now, what the crap is that about? Is that all you can do? Can't you say anything?"
I half remember reading some of this when I was a kid—and yeah, it’s still pulpy. And, yeah, it’s suuuuuuper racist and sexist. It makes for an uncomfortable read. There’s some interesting combat and all, but I bet there’s better out there.
This book is not without its faults. Pretty blatant racism/sexism. A pretty terrible plot device here or there. But its premise (immortal cursed-by-jesus warrior travels the world being immortal and being a warrior) just clicks with my inner pubescent history nerd so hard. I had this same connection with H. Rider Haggard, though HRH can occasionally write pretty beautiful prose. Sometimes you just have to enjoy books for how much fun you have reading them. If the premise appeals to you, the writing is serviceable enough that you will not regret reading this book.