In the third installment of CASCA's adventures across battlefields and time we find him journeying across the silk roads into the East. Here over two hundred years after the fact he will make good on a promise to an old friend. Enemies will be made and revelations impacting future generations will be discovered. We learn of the Brotherhood of the Lamb, a Christian cult who knows more about CASCA than he may know about himself. ( )

This is the third in the Casca series, though it's the first Casca book I have read. I was familiar with the Casca premise, but I think that even if the reader were not, it would be easy to figure out what's going on without having read the first two books in the series.

Casca is the Roman centurion who stabbed Jesus as He was being crucified and was therefore cursed to live forever, or at least until the Second Coming. As a soldier by training and inclination, Casca then spends the next couple thousand years traveling around and participating in variety of battles throughout history. Not a bad premise.

Casca tours Rome and couple other cities just prior to the fall of the Roman empire. He's disgusted with the decadence and the inevitable imperial collapse, so he heads east. Casca eventually runs afoul of a strange, evil(?) Christian sect that kidnaps him. After the inevitable escape, Casca heads for China, where he befriends the emperor and is made a noble. Casca ably assists with pushing back some large bandit forces, is betrayed by a woman (of course!), then continues traveling on.

It wasn't bad as my first exposure to Casca, but it wasn't earth-shaking either. I enjoyed it as a very light read, but had been hoping for more.

Review copyright 2008 J. Andrew Byers ( )

This was my first CASCA book I ever read and it had me hooked right away. Its a good story of a man journeying east to China to serve in the court of the Emperor Tzin. There's plenty of action, betrayal and humour scattered amongst the fighting to give it a well balanced feel. I particularly liked the passages referring to his stay in the inn at Dubrae. This follows on from God of Death so read that one before this in order to get the context of this story right. ( )