literatetexan's review against another edition
3.0
A rip-roaring tale of the Old West. The ending seemed abrupt, but the real fun was getting to the end anyway.
hotsake's review
4.0
A solid L'Amour novel. Only rated it 4 stars because I found the character Doby to be slightly annoying throughout most of the book.
fromlindenmere's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
angielisle's review
3.0
L'Amour attempted a new narrative style with this book - multiple points of view (POVs) pop up sporadically in his other stories but this book uses multiple POV more consistently than his previous attempts. Doby Kernohan is a sixteen year old boy with some rough po' white boy vernacular. This can be tough for folks who don't appreciate dialects - it's one of my favorite parts of the book. Doby's POV is off-set by educated Owen Chantry, who speaks with (mostly) proper grammar. L'Amour succeeds at keeping the two main characters separated by voice.
L'Amour spent a lot of time building tension between his two main characters, only for it to fizzle out at the end. The plot isn't much better - it builds well, but the mystery is one that readers can't solve because we aren't given what we need to solve it so we're dependent on Owen to tell us the answers. It feels like L'Amour just connected the pieces as quickly as he could to reach the ending; I wish he had taken the time to properly finish this tale because I did enjoy reading this book, it just doesn't deliver the ending it deserves.
L'Amour spent a lot of time building tension between his two main characters, only for it to fizzle out at the end. The plot isn't much better - it builds well, but the mystery is one that readers can't solve because we aren't given what we need to solve it so we're dependent on Owen to tell us the answers. It feels like L'Amour just connected the pieces as quickly as he could to reach the ending; I wish he had taken the time to properly finish this tale because I did enjoy reading this book, it just doesn't deliver the ending it deserves.
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