Customer Reviews

Casca: The Sentinel

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There are many reviews here of the books in the Casca series, and little need to review the underlying premise in detail - if you are here, you've read at least one, and know that Casca is the Wandering Noncom - doomed to be a mercenary till Christ returns.

The series is engaging, and this is one of the best. If you have not yet read any, begin with the first if you possibly can. then read a few others. Only with a few Cascas under your belt will you appreciate this book as the essence of the series.

It is sparse, well written, and gives more insight into Casca than most of the other books. If you have read Casca, but not this one, seek it out.

....

This is a story of a man's love for his adopted family and of revenge woven into the usual warrior-style book Barry Sadler penned. For that reason its one of the superior Casca novels and shouldn't be missed in favour of one of the turkeys he later wrote. There is also a fairly accurate historical account of the fall of the Vandal kingdom in north Africa, too.

Barry Sadler's Casca series tended to be very inconsistent. The earliest novels were generally (but not always) the better of the bunch, and "The Sentinel" was definitely his peak. Several Casca novels were indifferently plotted, and very badly edited. Sadler was not a meticulous writer on his own, and needed a good editor to clean up his often clumsy prose and bad grammar.

"Casca: The Sentinel" combined one of Sadler's best Casca plots with good editing. The prose is snappy, the action is nearly non-stop, and the story is genuinely tragic. The anguish of Casca's curse of eternal life is bluntly illustrated. There is no happy ending for Casca in this story - just heartache tempered only by a bloody revenge against the murderer of his family and friends. I often wish that Sadler could have gotten around to writing another Casca novel immediately after the events of "Sentinel" - it would have been interesting to read how Casca recovered from his grief and depression - but unfortunately Sadler's death prevented that.

This is the best of the Casca series, and definitely recommened.

I was digging through my collection of this series the other day and at random pulled out this one to give it yet another read. I was glad I did because I had forgotten that this was probably one of the best of the entire series...and that is saying a lot.

As has been pointed out, if you are reading this review you are almost assuredly familiar with the premise of these stories so I will be brief in that area. Casca was the soldier who made the final death thrust into the side of Christ with his lance. A drop of Christ's blood was swallowed by Casca and this common Roman soldier was cursed from that time forward to be what he was, a mercenary soldier and he must remain so until Christ's return. Casca cannot be killed...sufffer, yes...but he simply cannot die. The book being reviewed here is number nine in the series.

The Sentinel more or less begins where the last book, Casca: The Damned, left off although Sadler is a bit vague as to the time line here. We seldom see Sadler making this sort of error, if error you want to call it, but it really does not matter as it does not distract from the story one bit. We find the Eternal Mercenary in the Alps where he comes upon a village being destroyed by a savage group of bandits. After saving the village and being somewhat discouraged by the overall state of mankind, Casca wonders into the mountains where he in entombed in a cave of ice. And so he set for around 30 or 40 years.

Many know of the frozen warrior and when the same village is again raided, a young girl who has grown to love the frozen man, and after she has been brutally raped, goes to Casca and unthaws him. Of course when he regains his full strength he accompanies the young girl down the mountain and....well, you know...does his Casca "thing." Needless to say there were no surviving bad guys.

Casa takes the young lady and they begin the long trek and end up in Constantinople. This all takes place about the end of the 5th Century. Casca does the only thing he is trained to do and joins one of the many armies of the time. He leaves the young lady in the city along with her son who Casca has become very fond of.

Now enters the Brotherhood. They capture Casca's lady and her son and....

Well, no spoilers here. At this point the Brotherhood makes Casca very, very angry and he goes in search of those that made him angry. Again, I can assure you that there were no survivors.

The story is typically well researched by Sadler. The text is crisp and Sadler's natural story telling abilities are in full display with this one. As has been pointed out by several other reviewers here, we get a closer look at what makes Casca actual tick in this work than in some of the previous books. Of all the books in this series, this is probably the most thoughtful one.

I also have to agree that, unlike some of the later books, you really need to have read the first five books in this series to be able to fully understand and appreciate this one. Good luck in finding them. I have every one of them and they are falling apart...literally, and due to scarcity and cost I have not been able to replace them as I have with other series...a pity.

This would be a wonderful series to be on Kindle...wish someone would think of that.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

The Sentinel is one of my all-time favorite Casca novels. Overall, it has everything that Casca fans thrill for. High octane action and adventure, filled with historical detail, along with the Brotherhood at its bloody worst.

Casca dies another death, frozen for many years, only to be thawed out by a beautiful dame. He even gets a son!! That was awesome and different all unto itself. But then Barry Sadler throws in more. He gives us sadness and revenge of the best variety. He was very skilled at that.

This is a must own and read. Casca at the very top of his game.

My particular interest in medieval history is Byzantium and this novel, set in 6th century Constantinople, certainly had me eagerly turning the pages. I wasn't disappointed either, as this story, essentially one of tragedy and revenge, ranks amongst my personal top ten Casca stories.

The start was a little shaky however, with the number of years that passed from the end of the preceding story (Casca 7 The Damned) and when this was supposed to be set being awry, and one small error by the writer in naming the wrong Roman general (Stilicho instead of Aetius). Those aside, once the story settled down it was a page turner, always a good sign.

The first part was set in the Alps with Casca saving a village from bandits and then wandering off and getting entombed in a cave of ice overlooking the village's valley (therefore becoming the Sentinel). When the village is attacked again about 35-45 years later, a young girl secretly in love with the Sentinel revives him and Casca once again saves them all. The girl, Ireina, has been raped by the bandits and eventually gives birth to a son, Demos. Casca assumes fatherhood and together the three travel to Constantinople.

Here the story develops into a typical Casca story with him enlisting in the army and going off to fight for the Empire in North Africa. But here a sub-plot develops with the Brotherhood of the Lamb, entrenched in the city, finding Ireina and Demos and taking them captive. Casca fights his usual battle and wins but then is compelled to return to the city when he gets informed of the kidnapping.

By this time Constantinople is plague-ridden and against this backdrop of pestilence Casca enters the fray. The last part of this novel concerns the death of Ireina and Demos and Casca's enraged course of vengeance against the Elder of the sect, Gregory. The chase across Asia is one of the all-time chase sequences and the final scene tragic and at the same time satisfying. But we are left at the end with Casca weary, lonely, bitter and saddened. Its not really a happy ending in that respect, and this is where so far the continuous life story of Casca from the time of the crucifixion comes to an end and we have to jump a number of centuries to the next tale.

I'd like to see more Casca novels set in this period.