evavroslin's review
5.0
"Coyote: The Outlander" is definitely one of the more original urban fantasy novels I've read, and although I didn't used to be into the Wild West as a setting, I have been enjoying the horror subgenre called Weird Westerns for the past few years, so I was excited at the prospect to dive into that kind of a world again.
In this universe, the supernatural monsters are called Outlanders and they can come in many different varieties. Some of them are like nuisances but there are many of them so a hunter would have to go to great lengths to make sure they're all dead, but some of them are shape shifters and some come in much stronger forms.
Our protagonist, Coyote (real name Charlotte Webb--you can see why she prefers to use Coyote as her form of address) is someone who hunts and kills these Outlanders. Her mother was killed when she was young and she never quite found out why, but her father was killed by a guy named Westwood, who instead of hunting and killing Outlanders, collects them and uses them to his own gain. Westwood is Coyote's sworn enemy--she has spent her whole life trying to kill him to avenge her father's death, but he's also good when it comes to a bit of sorcery so he makes sure that the kinds of weapons Coyote uses won't work against him.
Coyote gets most of her assignments to kill Outlanders from the Pinkertons. Although most of the other bounty hunters are men (and just as sexist as you'd expect them to be considering the era in which the novel is set), they do respect Coyote. One of the most interesting characters comes in the form of Caesar, who is Coyote's partner and also a black man. One assumes he is a free man of colour, but it's not difficult to imagine that he may have been a slave at one time in his past. He was one of the characters I was desperate to find out more about. I would have liked to have seen him in action even more than he is, but I think he and Coyote had a wonderful dynamic and I liked the way they played off each other.
Towards the end of the novel there are a lot of secrets revealed and there is an exciting passage that alternates between putting Westwood and Coyote in the seat of power and it was exciting to see the shifts in this dynamic, because for me, there's nothing more uninteresting than having a villain who has the upper hand for the entire book and then the main character miraculously saves the day. Nor do I like "Superman" situations in which the protagonist has the upper hand for much of the book and then the villain is easily overcome at the end. There should be more of a balance. I also like villains who are less about being black and white and in this novel it's cool to see that things are murky because for so much of her life, Coyote convinced herself of things about her sworn enemy, Westwood, but when she has to question them, it causes an interesting conflict inside of her.
For those urban fantasy fans who prefer novels to have a hefty dose of romance, they may want to skip this one but for urban fantasy fans like me who, while we don't mind a bit of romance, we prefer the books to be more action-oriented and fast-paced, it will satisfy that kind of urban fantasy reader more.
As an added bonus, the book comes with some links to short stories set in the Outlander universe that the reader can access when they're done with the novel (kind of like bonus items or Easter Eggs on a DVD) so that was also a nice treat from the author.
Highly recommended for urban fantasy fans.
In this universe, the supernatural monsters are called Outlanders and they can come in many different varieties. Some of them are like nuisances but there are many of them so a hunter would have to go to great lengths to make sure they're all dead, but some of them are shape shifters and some come in much stronger forms.
Our protagonist, Coyote (real name Charlotte Webb--you can see why she prefers to use Coyote as her form of address) is someone who hunts and kills these Outlanders. Her mother was killed when she was young and she never quite found out why, but her father was killed by a guy named Westwood, who instead of hunting and killing Outlanders, collects them and uses them to his own gain. Westwood is Coyote's sworn enemy--she has spent her whole life trying to kill him to avenge her father's death, but he's also good when it comes to a bit of sorcery so he makes sure that the kinds of weapons Coyote uses won't work against him.
Coyote gets most of her assignments to kill Outlanders from the Pinkertons. Although most of the other bounty hunters are men (and just as sexist as you'd expect them to be considering the era in which the novel is set), they do respect Coyote. One of the most interesting characters comes in the form of Caesar, who is Coyote's partner and also a black man. One assumes he is a free man of colour, but it's not difficult to imagine that he may have been a slave at one time in his past. He was one of the characters I was desperate to find out more about. I would have liked to have seen him in action even more than he is, but I think he and Coyote had a wonderful dynamic and I liked the way they played off each other.
Towards the end of the novel there are a lot of secrets revealed and there is an exciting passage that alternates between putting Westwood and Coyote in the seat of power and it was exciting to see the shifts in this dynamic, because for me, there's nothing more uninteresting than having a villain who has the upper hand for the entire book and then the main character miraculously saves the day. Nor do I like "Superman" situations in which the protagonist has the upper hand for much of the book and then the villain is easily overcome at the end. There should be more of a balance. I also like villains who are less about being black and white and in this novel it's cool to see that things are murky because for so much of her life, Coyote convinced herself of things about her sworn enemy, Westwood, but when she has to question them, it causes an interesting conflict inside of her.
For those urban fantasy fans who prefer novels to have a hefty dose of romance, they may want to skip this one but for urban fantasy fans like me who, while we don't mind a bit of romance, we prefer the books to be more action-oriented and fast-paced, it will satisfy that kind of urban fantasy reader more.
As an added bonus, the book comes with some links to short stories set in the Outlander universe that the reader can access when they're done with the novel (kind of like bonus items or Easter Eggs on a DVD) so that was also a nice treat from the author.
Highly recommended for urban fantasy fans.
fatherlucifer's review
4.0
a little too short but entertaining non the less. I do hope for more Coyote stories from this author. Loved the world she created and the characters involved. I only wish the side stories found on the web were written in the book itself. The book was so short they could have easily been added within it's pages.
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