Casca #37 Roman Mercenary

Casca #37 : Roman Mercenary

Plot Overview –

Set in one of the skipped over periods of Casca’s earlier life, in the year 410, Casca is once again living the life of a mercenary, selling his sword in southern Gaul during the dying days of the Roman Empire in the west. Recruited to gather and then lead a small band of hardened sell swords on a dangerous mission into barbarian held territory and there to rescue the daughter of a Roman nobleman, Casca soon finds himself battling barbarians, Roman militia, and even his own men.

My Review –

I think I may be paddling against the tide a little in my view of this book, judging by all the five star reviews on Amazon, as I wasn’t entirely happy with it.

I’ve long held the view there are potentially dozens, hundreds even, of untold Casca adventures even in the time periods already ‘covered’ by the early sequential books, as there are numerous big time gaps during which we are simply told Casca wandered or sold his sword. So I am not in principal opposed to stand-alone enclosed stories such as this one, indeed I think they are a good idea.

Where I felt this particular book falls down somewhat is that I found it to be overlong leading to several increasingly repetitive fight scenes – especially in the first two thirds of the book, where we slog alongside Casca and his Magnificent Seven through Gaul. Not to say the fights are badly written, rather that the early fights lack much of a sense of threat to the central characters, so begin to feel a bit samey.

I think the story would have worked better had the team reached Argentoratum much quicker, as when they do get there things became much more interesting in my opinion. The addition of the beautiful and mysterious Flora to the mix and the sense of tension created by Casca’s band being closely pursued by the Burgundians made the last third of the book fly past – whereas I’d found the long hike to Argentoratum slow going.

I did really like Tony’s excellent descriptions of the crumbling decay of Roman Gaul after years of barbarian invasions, and the strong sense of location throughout. The geographical and historical details, such as the lines of decaying mills along the riverbank for example, are so good in fact I was wondering if Tony took a holiday along the course Casca follows in the book.

I also liked the plot and the secret truth of the matter when it’s eventually revealed. The secret truth being clever and appropriate feeling for the setting.

On the other hand, I’m not sure Casca’s dark mood, shown in Damned for this time period, is consistantly shown throughout the book. There are occasional mentions of Casca brooding on the passing of Rome, but I don’t think the book as a whole conveyed quite the deep sense of despair I feel Casca has been shown to be sliding into at this time of his life. Now, you could argue that might make for a grimmer, darker tone than that Tony was going for here, which is a fair point, but to me I’d rather have seen Casca much more bleak and weary seeming throughout.

The dynamics of the band of mercs are patchy, sometimes feeling a little too modern in tone, while at others managing to build up a good sense of camerarderie and loss when some of them die.

As a personal taste aside, I feel not to use Casca’s curse in any way at all over the course of a novel, as was the case with this one, is ultimately a waste. I’m not saying this story required any great torture or death scenes, but I do think every Casca book should use the dark magic of his being able to heal mortal wounds in some way – even if it’s only a small way. For example, I really liked how one of the German mercs has heard stories of the Walker of Helsfjord, and at first it seems he might realise Casca is the Walker – I thought it was a shame that never in fact happened.

* * *

Had the first half been as exciting and fast moving as the later chapters I’d probably have given this one four out of five stars, but I did feel the early journeying was a bit too slow moving and needed tightening up, so I shall plump for an ‘okay’ three out of five. I certainly hope to see more stand-alone adventures set over short time periods.

Amazon review I reproduce below that was posted yesterday:

Tony Roberts has certainly matched Barry Saddler’s creativity and captivity in this novel. The story is very refreshing for Casca fans since it brings the reader full circle to the original novels.

Here’s a review of Roman Mercenary to be found on the History of War website:
https://www.historyofwar.org/bookpage/roberts_casca_roman_mercenary.html

Did enjoy writing this one, and so heavily influenced by my childhood thriller reading of MacLean novels.