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A review by loveless_nerd
Casca The Eternal Mercenary by Barry Sadler
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? It's complicated
4.0
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.