Napoleon's Soldier

Casca #30

by Tony Roberts

Napoleon prepares to invade Russia and so Casca answers the call to war and to fight for the eagles of Imperial France. But Casca knows that the Russian armies won’t be the only opponent to face on the long difficult march to Moscow.

The extreme cold of the winter will be a more deadly enemy than any soldier to the invaders. And not only these two known enemies plague Casca’s mind; he had to deal with an unknown murderer lurking close by with a mission of his own, linked to the woman Casca has vowed to protect.

And then there’s the mystery of who raped, murdered and stole a valuable icon from a helpless Polish village, someone within the ranks close to Casca. The Eternal Mercenary must find the icon and the killer to fulfil a vow to a dying girl.

216 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 4, 2014

About the author

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Reviews

[Daniel Carey]

In my opinion, this was definitely one of the stronger and more powerful entries for the series. After numerous campaigns in the American Revolution, the Eternal Mercenary returns to Europe and hears the call of battle yet again. Following many years of fighting in the empire of France under Napoleon (and changing his identity a few times so not to be questioned for his ageless appearance) Casca comes finally to the invasion of Russia.

While still pockmarked with inconsistencies, grammatical mistakes or misspellings, this volume hit me in a way the previous 4 books didn't quite. Robert's descriptions of the disintegration of the imperial army by pitiless people and the bitter white death of the Russian winter were well written. His prose, though simple, could also capture the horrific sensations of men dying wretched and abandoned in death by their own comrades. I'm currently living in Thailand in humid sweltering heat, but I could still feel the shiver of cold as I imagined blackened fingers or toes breaking off from frostbite, or skin coming off in patches due to the cold freezing guns touched to flesh. Brrhhh!

If you're wanting intellectual stimulation pick up Thomas Mann, William Faulkner, Virginia Woolfe, James Joyce, David Foster Wallace, Don DeLillo, Mark Z. Danielewski, Marcel Proust, etc.; don't stop here. However, if you're in the mood for plain dumb, violent low-brow escapism for your reading and crazy descriptions of modern warfare (both ancient or modern), I would recommend the Casca series to you.

A great entry. Kudos Casca! I'll be back to check on you after a break.