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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
An absorbing and entertaining story about a weak and meek young man who travels to the western frontier to recover his health and instead ends up earning his character the hard way. (He gets his health back too - the hard way!) The best thing about this book, though, is not the story, but the characters. Some really well-drawn, unforgettable folks populate this country, not the least of which is a contrary horse named Chin. Spring Warren really surprised me with this one, and I will seek out more from her in the future.
I found the main character whiny and the tale itself to be very choppy. It seemed as though she wrote three stories and threw them together. There were compellng parts, but not worth the time I spent reading it altogether.
I may never have said this before, but there's too much plot in this book. So much so, that I found myself checking back a page or two to remember "oh -- did this character die?" or "wait -- I thought we were still in Connecticut." The speed with which we moved from one thing to the next meant that there was never time (or, that the author never took the time) to make the characters particularly knowable, and that things that should have involved some tension (the scene in the mercantile, for one) were over before we as readers had much investment that anything bad would actually happen.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Sometime in the 1870’s Edward Turrentine Bayard The Third, an invalid most of his 17 years, is bundled up (and bled and dosed with some medical arsenic) by his personal physician and then sent off to Nebraska to a private sanitarium where it is hoped the fresh air and Western spirit will help him recover his health. Problem is, when Ed gets to Nebraska he finds out the sanitarium is a hoax.
Letters sent home are unanswered and Ed finds himself abandoned on the plains and starts working as a buffalo skinner and that’s about where the book begins :)
I dug this book. It’s a Western but not of the Louis L’Amour variety. It had several laugh out loud passages and some sad ones too. Lots of memorable characters.
Letters sent home are unanswered and Ed finds himself abandoned on the plains and starts working as a buffalo skinner and that’s about where the book begins :)
I dug this book. It’s a Western but not of the Louis L’Amour variety. It had several laugh out loud passages and some sad ones too. Lots of memorable characters.