Customer Reviews

Barry Sadler's Casca: The Liberator

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

While overseas many years ago I borrowed a friend's copy of a CASCA book. Enthralled with the idea behind the character, I spent the rest of that summer hunting down and reading all 22 books. After Sadler's death I figured that someday, somebody would continue the series. Well, here we are and I greet Casca's return with a mixed reaction.

Barry Sadler may not have been the greatest writer, but the one thing he could do most of the time was tell a story that you wanted to see to the end. None of the original CASCA books are great literature and some of them were downright turkeys, but for the most part he kept you coming back for the next one.

This new entry in the series has a promising start, and I agree with those reviewers who note that Mr. Dengelegi has attempted to add a new level of characterization to Casca. This I applaud, for after 22 books something new added to the mix can only help if it's done right.

However, the middle portion of the book bogs down horribly. Page after page of Casca eating, bathing, flirting with the servant girls, eating some more, bathing some more, flirting some more with the girls, and then we do it all over again. This part of the book covers more pages than the initial scenes and Casca's brush with The Curse combined. I found myself skipping ahead and looking for the pace to pick up...never a good sign when one is reading any book. The story picks up speed toward the end, but by then it was probably a lost cause for me.

Being as this is the first attempt to resurrect the series, I will watch for the next Casca book. One mixed effort won't ruin the potential entertaiment value the character represents for me. Hopefully that's true for other Casca fans.

Barry Sadler never was one of the great writers, or even one of the great storytellers. Neither was Conan Doyle, but both created characters that in their own way, transcend their author's limitations.

As a collector of Holmes pastiches, I'm well aware of the problems faced by authors taking on a well loved character - the failures are more frequent than the successes. Yet our hearts continue to beat a little faster at the thought of a new encounter with an old friend, however poorly told.

Like many others who have reviewed this book, I've read all the Casca books. Some of them are lame, and should not have been published (as is true of some of the Holmes and Nero Wolfe stories). I'm definitely not holding Sadler up as a paragon, but when he was on form, he was very, very readable, and created an enduring and often engaging character, with some wonderful historical quirks thrown in for good measure (being buddies with Lao Tzu - instead of Sun Tzu - is an excellent irony). But when he was off (at least a third of the time), he, like he often said of Casca, was simply dragging his ass.

Dengelegi understands the Casca premise, and chose an interesting setting, but he simply could not make his Casca come alive. His Casca is humorless, introspective, and grossly repetitive. His book is a hopeless read, badly in want of a blue pencil. It's hard to imaginge Sadler enjoying this book.

Were that not enough, the book has many, many production errors that look like spell-checker problems. Whatever became of proofreading?

Jove books - please get Dengelegi an agressive editor, and spare us this uphill battle next time. Yes, we want Casca books; no, we don't want them like this - bloated and pompous. Casca fans deserve better for helping you milk a cash cow. This doesn't need a Tolstoy, or a Shaara - just a workmanlike writer (as was Sadler) with a feel for a unique character.

I really wanted to like this book as I have read all Sadler's Casca books and enjoyed most of them. I never actually finished reading the book, it was so bad.

The writer needs a lot more editorial control regarding pace and structure. The whole middle section of the book (where I gave up) has no action - Casca sits around, eats his meals, and that's it. In the first few chapters the author spends a lot of time describing the other people on the boat and I thought these guys would be with Casca throughout the story, but they get killed off by the pirates - what a waste of time.

I am surprised that Dengelegi was invited back to do a second book.

I was extremely excited to find a new Casca novel after so many years. Like most Casca fans, I was saddened and disappointed to hear about the death of Barry Sadler. Mr. Sadler's Casca novels were always welcome reading. He had a wonderful ability to mix history, fiction, and plain old fashioned soldiering that produced many unforgettable stories. I was disappointed, however, with this new story. The author gets bogged down with inane diversions such as the endless baths, and feasting on lizards. And who ever heard of Casca getting fat!! In addition, there is none of the usual Casca language, or dialogue. The author has relegated Casca to a mere spectator for most of the story. I applaud the effort of trying to resurrect the undying soldier, but sincerely hope that the author will study more of Barry Sadler's style and use this to keep the original flavor of the series intact. I hope another story is in the offing, and will see if the old Casca flair is back.

Unlike most casca books, casca seems to be a supporting character in this book. The brotherhood normally could only mean the brotherhood of the lamb....now a different one shows up....whenever the doc has anything to do with experiencing casca's past, usually they meet....and at the end the good doctor finishes by giving the impresion he will write it all down and forward a copy to his old co...dr (col) landries)...was his tie in here out of context or just a way to show the readers that you had read one or two of his books (sadler) and know some of his characters names, but not their motives or how they fit in the grand scheme of the book....please reread the series to get a better feel for casca, how he deals with those of his past, his ways of communicating those stories, and how casca lived....no just a byline headed to an end...but actually what casca does and experiences...

I read a book of from the casca series(#2)for the first time in 1987, and I was hooked. I have read the entire series a number of times over the years. Most were interesting and exciting, while some seemed to have been hastily written without much thought. They all, however, took me with them through the centuries as if I was really there. I would like to commend Mr. Dengelegi for attempting to continue the Casca series, but after reading his first endeavor, I was very disappointed. I can only hope his future novels will improve with experience.

The Character was so different from Casca he doesn't even qualify to be the same person. Casca dies then lives again once, the situation permits, enduring the agony of living again. This guy lives and breathes under water, and fights with a spear through his heart and lungs. Get the character right. Casca was more like a spectator through most of the book. The action was chopped up with excessive descriptions. He did very little speaking. All he did was think. If you take out most of this there wouldn't be much book left. The book was basically boring. Casca should be in the thick of the action, not loafing around getting fat with a woman and her two overly young daughters for chapter after chapter. This was the first time I was relieved when I finished a book from the casca series.

Mr. Dengelegi, please try again, just don't try and change the character too much. Casca is Casca not a philosopher.

When I saw that the Casca series was again going to begin, I was very excited. I have always been a big fan of the series and have missed it. And I got the new book, eagerly read it, and was more disappointed then I have ever been. The main theory wasn't too bad, the history seems right (although I have a degree in history and still am not sure when and where this was supposed to take place)and it was interesting to see more interest taken in what makes Casca tick. But that was the only good things. The only character that I could remember, a few minutes after puting the book down, was Casca; the other characters had almost no development and nothing that made you notice them. The death of the protaganist was just so thrown in I had to go back two pages to make sure it happened. The other enemies I couldn't tell you who they were. And I qustion Casca being trapped underwater for years at a time. I was extremely disappointed, and can not understand how anyone has been able to give a rating above three stars. Normally when I do not like a book I sell it to a used bookstore, this one is going to the Goodwill. No one else should ever have to pay anything close to what I did for it.

This is a long overdue restart of a really promising action-adventure series that ended with the authors untimely death. It is certainly not the series at it's height; lacking the clarity and imagination of Casca's sojourn among the Aztecs for example. It is, however, a reasonable start and I for one will buy (at least) the next few to give the author(s?) some time to work his way into the character. I get the feeling that the current author got the sense of the series from a "Bible" prepared by the publishers, rather than from reading the series itself. There is misplaced constant emphasis, for example on scarring, that gets a bit "old" quickly. There is also little reference to his past military skills and the battle scenes are done quickly as though the author really wanted to write a love story rather than an action adventure. I don't get the feeling that the author feels comfortable with details of swordplay, tactics (or fighting in general) that Sadler, the original author, had down cold. For example, here Casca is in a position to introduce new tactics to a primitive people and just stands there waiting to get back to his orgy at the hut. The real details are relative to the romance which is not the thrust of the series. One suspects that the author was expecting a cover with someone who couldn't believe it's not butter.

In essence, I always wondered if they would restart this series, and I will certainly support it (for a couple more books at least ) in hopes of it getting some writing that captures the sense of actual combat and the excitement and wonder of the earlier entries. Worth trying, but for a long term thing it needs mucho work.

I've read (and re-read many times) the entire Cascaseries. Mr. Dengali made a valiant effort to continue the series, butfailed to grasp the character. The book was verbose to the extreme, filled with grammatical errors and errors of usage. The editor is at fault for this failing. "Taught" instead of "taut?" Please.

Perhaps had the editor been familiar with the storyline of the series, Casca would have drowned after the pirate episode. Which not only would have let us bypass several pages, but would have been true to the character.

A hard read, a story drawn beyond a viable length, and an indistinct setting, combined to make this book less than I had hoped for.

But Paul, don't give up! Re-read the originals, cut down on the flowery prose and take another crack at it! I'd love to see another one.

I seem to rememeber a mention of Machiavelli...

The Eternal Mercenary has returned. Casca doomed by Jesus to an endless life as Soldier travels through time and places which we mortals will never see nor experience. In this new episode Casca returns from the deep of the atlantic ocean and again is content to do what he knows best, fight against man's evil doing. Barry Sadler who created this book series died in 1989. His experience as a Vietnam Soldier (Special Forces, Green Beret) and his mercenary work in South America gave Barry Sadler the edge and knowledge. His masterful story telling woven of History, Adventure and Military Traditions makes this book series worth to collect. There are 22 novels by Barry Sadler. Now Casca has returned saving an african tribe of total extinction. Paul Dengelegi did good, he interlinks History with Adventure and Military Tradition with the Pain and Sorrow of War. If you have read the 22 novels you will enjoy this one. If not than it is time to get them and find out who CASCA is.