taylorhohulin's review
4.0
Pure action/horror fun. This takes everything from Six-Gun Tarot and turns it up to eleven. If you don't like it, you'll call it over the top. If, like me, it's exactly what you're looking for, you'll call it delightfully bonkers.
ireitlitam's review
2.0
To me this read as a horror book far more than a weird western. I enjoyed the western elements at least.
nuevecuervos's review
4.0
Ah, Golgotha, home to the batshit insane old west. All of our favorites come back, and I have to say, i love Clay so much (i have to go dig up the quote about everybody with a generator suddenly thinking he's a scientist) (but also we are *so* fucked), Maude you absolute badass and your badass spawn FTW, Kate you utter badass, too, and Rowan, get it; bless little Jim, John you gloriously immortal bastard, Mutt, just go on with your bad self and keep telling everyone who deserves it to fuck off, and Bick, sir, good job at last. Auggie and Gillian forever. Fuck Tumblety riiiiight in his fucking peehole, and also fuck the white patriarchy while we're at it.
Seriously though, the cast of characters here is vivid, diverse, and believable (in context, because anywhere else it'd be a different story :D).
Trigger warnings for wanton murder, child cannibalism, and lots and lots of stabbing, shooting, bleeding, and references to war, scalping, rape, necro, torture, crises of faith, bad angels, and bible (and various other religous text) fanfic. But Ugh. Just. Fucking nasty bad guys doing nasty bad guy shit but it somehow comes off as necessary based on who has set themselves up as their god; There's also period-appropriate attitudes towards people of color from the ignorant asshole types, but not from our protagonists with whom it is definitely, clearly not ok.
Oh, and every good guy gets walloped at least once and sometimes repeatedly, many nearly die. On the bright side, this makes for action-packed writing?
I have Queen of Swords lined up and I am so excited to read it. SOooo excited.
Seriously though, the cast of characters here is vivid, diverse, and believable (in context, because anywhere else it'd be a different story :D).
Trigger warnings for wanton murder, child cannibalism, and lots and lots of stabbing, shooting, bleeding, and references to war, scalping, rape, necro, torture, crises of faith, bad angels, and bible (and various other religous text) fanfic. But Ugh. Just. Fucking nasty bad guys doing nasty bad guy shit but it somehow comes off as necessary based on who has set themselves up as their god; There's also period-appropriate attitudes towards people of color from the ignorant asshole types, but not from our protagonists with whom it is definitely, clearly not ok.
Oh, and every good guy gets walloped at least once and sometimes repeatedly, many nearly die. On the bright side, this makes for action-packed writing?
I have Queen of Swords lined up and I am so excited to read it. SOooo excited.
lib_britannia's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
shuffmcpuff's review
2.0
I have a lot of complicated feelings about this book and its sharp drop-off in quality in comparison to The Six-Gun Tarot (IMO, at least--it's possible that this book just hit on every last one of my bookish pet peeves, and that's why so much of it left me cold), but all I really want to do is dwell forever on that dream sequence where Harry, like, time-travels forward into Jeffrey fucking Dahmer's apartment, and John Wayne Gacy's ghost is in the corner masturbating even though Gacy would still have been on death row at that point, and Harry like??? thinks Dahmer is hot, sort of???? but he manages to distract him long enough to allow his victim to escape, which I guess is the in-universe reason why Konerak Sinthasomphone would have gotten away if Milwaukee cops were less shitty and homophobic, and like. WHAT. WHY. WHY IS THIS HERE. I'M ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS AND I HATE IT BUT I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT, HELP
dharmlost's review
4.0
While the book was slow in some parts, that did very little to detract away from my enjoyment overall. I found this book to be a good journey and the characters and how they develop just drew me in. I love the setting of the weird West, this little town of Golgotha. This scratches most of my itches for what I love to read and I definitely want some more.
karireads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
yaboywillyshakes's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
skredlitheogre's review
3.0
So, Shotgun Arcana, sequel to Six-Gun Tarot, brings back some really good characters in the citizens of Golgotha, Nevada. Sheriff Jon Highfather, Deputies Mutt and Jim are the main characters and I, for one, really like them They have good interplay and are fairly well-rounded characters with enough mystery in their backstory or personality to keep them interesting.
Trouble is heading to Golgotha and it's up to our faithful heroes and their cohorts to save the town and prevent the Bad Guys from getting a hold of an evil relic that held the power of the First Murder. Apparently getting that will allow the Main Bad Guy able to unmake God. I guess.
While Shotgun Arcana is a decently written book, following in the same style as Six-Gun Tarot, I had two major problems with this book.
1) The Bad Guy's gang of minions were each introduced in their own segments in every other chapter (or so). We learn that they are evil, dastardly, amoral, and downright nasty human beings who do terrible things to other people. But other than one of these minions, Snake Man, none of them seem to be worthy of being Bad Guys in this book. Yeah, they're bad people, but most of them are dispatched without too much of a problem. Given how evil they were built up, I expected more from them.
2) The Good Guys (Jon, Mutt, and Jim) all make changes in the romance department (potentially), as well as having some character growth because of it. But by the end of the book, while those relationships are still in place, the people that are on the other ends of those relationships have left town; one because of job, one because of kidnapping, and one because of family. The issue I have is why bring all of these people into direct, possible romantic contact with the main characters, only to take them away again? I don't really see how anything is gained by it.
The last few chapters of the book were kind of a mess. There was a lot going on, but it felt like very little was actually happening.
And the ending, with Auggie and Clay's work with the black worms from the first book, just left me really frustrated with a character I really liked.
Something that just keeps bugging me are the titles, as well. In Six-Gun Tarot, tarot itself was only really mentioned once and wasn't a factor. In Shotgun Arcana, while there were shotguns, I would expect with that title that a shotgun would factor heavily in the finale of the book. It did not. That's not really a knock against the books, just more an annoyance.
In the end, I liked about 85% of Shotgun Arcana. It was basically the last 15% that kinda left me feeling, "Huh?" If you liked Six-Gun Tarot, give it a read, as the characters and the style are the same, which are the good points of the book.
Trouble is heading to Golgotha and it's up to our faithful heroes and their cohorts to save the town and prevent the Bad Guys from getting a hold of an evil relic that held the power of the First Murder. Apparently getting that will allow the Main Bad Guy able to unmake God. I guess.
While Shotgun Arcana is a decently written book, following in the same style as Six-Gun Tarot, I had two major problems with this book.
1) The Bad Guy's gang of minions were each introduced in their own segments in every other chapter (or so). We learn that they are evil, dastardly, amoral, and downright nasty human beings who do terrible things to other people. But other than one of these minions, Snake Man, none of them seem to be worthy of being Bad Guys in this book. Yeah, they're bad people, but most of them are dispatched without too much of a problem. Given how evil they were built up, I expected more from them.
2) The Good Guys (Jon, Mutt, and Jim) all make changes in the romance department (potentially), as well as having some character growth because of it. But by the end of the book, while those relationships are still in place, the people that are on the other ends of those relationships have left town; one because of job, one because of kidnapping, and one because of family. The issue I have is why bring all of these people into direct, possible romantic contact with the main characters, only to take them away again? I don't really see how anything is gained by it.
The last few chapters of the book were kind of a mess. There was a lot going on, but it felt like very little was actually happening.
And the ending, with Auggie and Clay's work with the black worms from the first book, just left me really frustrated with a character I really liked.
Something that just keeps bugging me are the titles, as well. In Six-Gun Tarot, tarot itself was only really mentioned once and wasn't a factor. In Shotgun Arcana, while there were shotguns, I would expect with that title that a shotgun would factor heavily in the finale of the book. It did not. That's not really a knock against the books, just more an annoyance.
In the end, I liked about 85% of Shotgun Arcana. It was basically the last 15% that kinda left me feeling, "Huh?" If you liked Six-Gun Tarot, give it a read, as the characters and the style are the same, which are the good points of the book.