Customer Reviews

Casca 13/assassin

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was quite disappointed with this story - it had the feel of being rushed through and had far too many convenient meetings and solutions at the end. Some of Sadler's books are good in parts, others good all through. This was assassinated after about one third of the way in! Maybe it was written in one afternoon and there were cakes in the oven... not one of his best but a few good points? Well, the induction into the Assassins was well written and the Arabic characterization was good.

I gave this one three stars rather than the two I probably should, due simply to the fact that it is a Casca book and is supposedly by Sadler. This is number thirteen in the series and is certainly not up to the good read the first several books were. I rather think I agree with the other reviewer here in that I suspect that this was, at least in part, written by someone other than the author, i.e. Sadler. The story seems rather thrown together and almost follows some sort of formula. Certainly the spirt of Casca was not there. On the other hand, reading it did me no real harm, it was kinda fun, and only took a couple of short sessions. Recommend it simply as it is a part of the series, but don't expect too much out of this one. On the other hand again, it is still far, far better than the recent two attempts by the publisher to bring back Casca.

Further to my review below it seems to me that many of Sadler's later books were written by ghost writers as the style widely differed. In this book it first began to be noticeable, and really is a bit too neatly packaged, particularly at the end where everything is neatly and conveniently tidied up. Its a little too unbelievable which spoils the storyline.

Otherwise the story is ok, without being anywhere near the classic of early Sadlers in this series.

for more Casca see www.casca.net

This novel started out fantastic - like many others - but then fell way short of expectation of fans. I like that Casca got hooked on hashish. That made him come across as totally human, especially for modern-day people reading about someone in the distant past getting hooked on drugs that are used now in out world.

But hardcore fans could detect a writing change in the series. Was this co-written with another? It certainly seemed so. Although not his worst, far from his best.