The Cursed

Casca #18

by Barry Sadler

To avoid death by hanging in colonial China, turn-of-the-century British soldier Casca must penetrate the heart of the country and bring back word of an impending revolution. Reissue.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adventure

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1987

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

American author, musician and former green beret.

To the general public he is most known for the hit single "Ballad of the green berets"

After his musical career he decided to write a series of novels centered around the character "Casca Rufio Longinius" Who is cursed for piercing Jesus on the crucifix with a spear and is forced to forever remain a soldier until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

In the mid 1980s Sadler moved to Guatemala City where he was shot in the head one night in a taxi. He spent 7 months in a coma and died more than a year later.

Reviews

[John Cheeseman · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I hadnt promised myself I was going to finish all of the Casca books this is where I would have given up as it was a rape and torture too far. There were no redeeming features to this book, no historical facts or interesting history and it was really horrificly violent towards women for no apparent reason.

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is definitely juvenile nonsense and gross prejudices within these stories.

This story moves aimlessly and without a direction and the immortal soldier lets the world happen to him as it unfolds. That's the essence of reality and that's part of the compelling nature to these novellas.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another in the Casca series. After reading 17, this book doesn't break any new ground and is about the Boxer Rebellion which is largely forgotten today. I only know a little about it, what little I recall from High School.

That said, the book was quite dull and monotonous. It was quite a slog to actually pick this up again to finish this book. If this was this first book of the series I've read, I may have liked it more. Or if I was more interested or personally connected to Chinese history, I probably would have enjoyed it more.

After 17 books with little change in the character and little emotional impact, it adds little to the series. There are no other characters to care about except for Casca, so you don't feel any emotion when these characters die. Unlike some of the past books that gave us great secondary characters like books 4, 8, 11 & 12 to name a few.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the bloodiest volumes in this series that I've read so far. Most have a lot of action in them but this one had a substantial amount of gore. Casca is generally an antihero but he is particularly so in this book as he allows the rape and slaughter of women and children toward the end of the book. The first section of the book is an overly long setup for the story, which doesn't have a lot of plot to it. Still, I generally enjoyed it.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 18th book in the Casca series puts the eternal warrior into the ranks of the 42nd British Regiment until he kills an officer who kills a whore Casca favored. He is caught and offered a suicide mission or the gallows. He ends up fighting on the side of the Boxers during their turn of the last century's rebellion.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So you just a soldier doing your job. You shove a spear tip into the side of this supposed messiah, except he is the real thing. He curses you to wander the earth till his return. Not bad right, immortality and all. Oh but he also curses you to be a soldier forever at war, never to know peace. This is the story of Casca the Roman legionnaire that stabbed Christ. Forever wandering the earth fighting one war after another. Great adventure series. Very recommended

[Angie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 18, The Cursed,

Excellent series of books, historic details very accurate and good background. Good read for adventure seekers and want to be warriors.