Have I read this before: No, and I hate myself for it.

Review: Let me preface this by saying that I don’t consider “Western” to be one of my preferred genres.* And I was hesitant as soon as I bought this book because I was like oh god, a 900-page Western?

But then I started it. And got into it. The first hundred pages or so are slow, but the characters are so vivid and fleshed out that WHO THE HELL CARES THAT ALL THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT IS BEANS AND CATTLE. GIVE ME ALL THE BEANS AND CATTLE IF IT MEANS I CAN KEEP HEARING ABOUT HOW BADASS CAPTAIN CALL IS.

I don’t understand how anyone could avoid getting sucked into this story. Just Gus’ and Call’s friendship alone was enough to keep me invested, but all the other stuff? All the manly, dirty, gritty cowboy stuff? AND THE STORY ITSELF? This book grabbed me by my non-existent balls. Hell, this book made me grow balls and then proceeded to grab me by them.

I liked it, is what I’m trying to say here.

Favorite Part: The whole GODDAMN THING. But mostly Captain Call. I know most people favor Gus, but Call is definitely my favorite. I love the scene where he absolutely loses his shit on the army scout and Gus has to call him off. It’s the only time he ever really loses his cool.

Rating: 9/10

*I say this despite the fact that the Western genre is batting 1.000 with The Ox-Bow Incident and Lonesome Dove as its two representatives