Customer Reviews

Casca: The Eternal Mercenary #1

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Bar none the best war/soldier fiction written. I have all original books from #1 to "Halls of Montezuma". Too bad we lost Barry. I could not put a single one of his books 'Casca' down 'til finished reading them. SO cool. The last ones are written by other authors but they are pretty good. The ones written by Barry stand out above the best. Truely a collectors item.

This action adventure novel is one of the better and more imaginative ones out there.
This story is where the old Christian legend of St.Longinus runs into that of the Wandering Jew and like Reese's peanut butter cup ends up being one entity or character.

What few people know is that there is a legend concerning a Roman centurion who stabbed Christ in the side with a spear.
The name of this particular individual was Longinus.
After doing so this soldier miraculously recovered his eyesight as he was going blind.
Afterwards he was so impressed by this miracle that he became a christian convert and thereafter became known as St.Longinus.
And the spear that he used to stab him with had become a holy relic
known as the holy lance or "Spear of Longinus".
Also according to christian legend he was later on martyred for his faith.

The 2nd legend on which Barry Sadler's novel is based is that of The Wandering Jew.
According to this old legend (an anti-semitic one also), A shoemaker named Ahasuerus meets Christ, as he is being led away by Roman soldiers to his crucifixion.
He taunts or insults Christ who in retaliation curses him to wander the earth forever until the 2nd coming.
Some accounts state that Jesus had rested himself on the walls of
this man's house when he Ahasuerus came out and told him to get off and get lost.
Then in anger Christ had turned around and cursed this man to live forever until judgement day.
So much for turning the other cheek and forgiving your enemies.

So now combine these two legends and you have Casca The Eternal mercenary.
Here you have a Roman centurion whose name is Casca Rufio Longinus.
Remember the name of the Roman saint/martyr mentioned above?
Like the original legend of Longinus Casca does stab Christ in the side with a spear,however with one major departure from the original story.
Christ then looks down on Casca and curses him to live forever until the 2nd coming.
It is at this point that the story resembles the legend of the wandering jew.
And the incredible saga of Casca Longinus begins down through history, in the following series of novels that come after this
one.

It is a long endless tormenting, harsh tale of one man condemned to a life of violence and bloodshed.
Who finds himself surviving and living against his wishes, and never knowing anything but the brutality of endless warfare.