Westerns, Ralph Cotton II

  

Guns on the Border is the first Ralph Cotton book I read featuring Sam Burrack - the Arizona ranger.  Burrack is a lawman thru and thru, which makes him a little drier and less interesting to be honest.

In this book, he has a list of some of the worst vile criminals that escaped the law and he's hunting them down one by one.  The trail takes him down into the badlands of Mexico.   There he uncovers a band of American mercenaries working with corrupt federales.  They are hitting US Army supply trains and have a big job coming up.

Burrack gets tangled up in going against a whole lot of bad guys.  The premise is good, but like I said, not a big fan of the black and white lawman characters, myself.  2 out of 5.

Border Dogs has Arizona ranger, Sam Burrack working with a close partner, Maria.  When she gets kidnapped, he ends up having to work with an infamous bank robber he was after in order to rescue her from the desperadoes that took her.

There's a greater variety in characters here, and a little more entertaining than the former.  All of Cotton's books jump from good guy to bad guy perspective, but this story has multiple things going on at the same time, so you jump around more than usual.  It does make the story go faster and also allows you to piece bits together yourself.  All in all, I'd say it's 3 out 5.

Killing Plain - Burrack is back yet again.  This time he's got a sidekick, Hadley Jones.  The two of them go running after the Black Moon gang.  Jones is overzealous to get into action, Burrack is boring as ever and well... not much new here.

If you haven't read any of Cotton's Westerns, it's as good as any to start.  But if you have, and you're looking for something different or deeper - well, keep on looking.  2 out of 5.

 What do you know?  Sam Burrack runs into some Black Valley Riders and chases them out to their stronghold in the desert.

Not sure I can say there's anything different or unique about this one.  More action, less story (or character development).  Burrack takes on an entire gang in the desert.  That's pretty much the story.

Definitely 2 out of 5.

I was actually surprised by this one.  Dead Man's Canyon keeps you guessing for the entire story, as to which twin is the one still alive - the good or the bad.  All you know for certain is one brother shot the other, and nobody else in the story knows which was which either, not the girlfriend, not the lawman, and not the followers.

I felt this little trick added a layer of psychology that made it much less flat than a lot of other trigger-happy tales, and kept you paying attention to the thoughts of the surviving twin.

As much as Sam Burrack usually bores me, this one definitely gets at least a 3.5 out of 5.

Nightfall at Little Aces was pretty much a lawman, an ex-con and a gang all having their own conflicting agendas that build up to clash on the final night.

That's about as interesting as I can make this one sound.  It was, to me, mediocre at best.

2 out of 5.

Westerns, Ralph Cotton I

This is the first Western book I ever read.  I loved it.  Ralph Cotton books are like Clint Eastwood movies.  They are fast paced, full of action, have the dusty authentic feel of the Old West and do a great job of creating those gunslinger showdown scenes.

Fast Guns Out of Texas has my favorite characters Ralph Cotton writes.  Cray Dawson is a practical, Wyatt Earp-type man.  He's no nonsense but humble and has a good heart.  He's not a lawman, nor is he the fastest gun, but I think it adds to his character as he's not defined by these things.

His best friend, Larry Shaw, was known as the fastest gun until he was mysteriously shot.  When Dawson goes looking, he finds out Shaw faked his own death to avoid spending his days looking over his shoulder.  Dawson plans on settling down, not unlike Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, but in both cases, trouble has a way of finding men like Cray Dawson.

I'd highly recommend this to anyone who likes gunslinger stories and enjoys a quick and light read.  I'd give it 3 out 5 as a stand alone.  But as far as good old fashioned cowboy stories, 4 out 5.

This book follows Larry Shaw, after his wife has been killed and he's trying to figure out what to do with his life.  He ends up helping a pregnant tavern whore figure out who the father is.  This leads him into Willow Creek where there's a turf war going on between the local farmers and a ranching company trying to buy out the land.  Both sides try recruiting Shaw, but he really just wants to move on.

He also meets up with William H Bonney, who would later become known as Billy the Kid.

Unlike Dawson, Shaw has a way of falling into bed with most of the women he comes across.  He's not necessarily a bad man, he's just weak when it comes to whiskey and women.  But he's a stone-cold killer when it comes to shooting.

Bad Day at Willow Creek is an interesting mix of different groups of people all after their own agendas and Shaw trying to figure where he fits in while Bonney is all about getting into action and making a name for himself.  3 out of 5.

A manipulative and power-hungry preacher moves into town and starts making himself a private harem.  He uses hired thugs to bully his way around and has his eye on the wife of the disappeared Sloane.  She's fended him off as long as she could but her time's about up.  That's when C.C. Ellis rides into town.  Having known her husband, he agrees to pose as Sloane (since nobody in town has seen him before).

The preacher decides to press his luck against Ellis and things get more interesting when the real Sloane shows up.

Guns of Wolf Valley is pretty good for not showcasing my favorite characters.  Far as I've read, this is the only book with Ellis in it.  Full of twists and turns, another solid 3 out of 5.

Cray Dawson, after running the gambit with Fast Larry Shaw, finds himself attempting to settle down in a new town.  Unfortunately, his new reputation as a gunslinger has followed him, along with a crew of gunmen looking to prove themselves.

In Somo Santos, with a corrupt sheriff and an unruly gang, Dawson has to fend for himself and protect his new woman.  Between Hell and Texas is another good Dawson story.  Still my favorite Ralph Cotton character thus far, he never fails to disappoint with his gritty one-liners.

For this line, I'd give it 4 out of 5.

This is an earlier accounting of Fast Larry Shaw - when gunmen trying to lure him out - end up murdering his wife.  Shaw goes on a gun blasting rampage, hunting down his wife's killers and showing Texas that while he might not be a bad guy - he IS a stone cold killer, and impossibly good at it.

Gunman's Song is your typical action revenge story, but done in the most badass of ways.  No over-the-top, ridiculous events or cheesy dialogue.  Just a raw tale of good old fashioned revenge, served with cold steel and hot lead.  And Shaw struggling inwardly, having no illusions about his issues with alcohol and women, keep it from being two dimensional.  4 out of 5.

Gods of Ireland Trilogy: Kenneth C Flint

 

The Sidhe (shee) Legends, or Gods of Ireland Trilogy were written by Kenneth C Flint in the early 80s.  The saga centers around the Celtic Myth Cycle taken from the Book of Invasions, which catalogs the various armies landing in ancient Ireland, the wars they fought, and what became of them afterward.

The first book, Riders of the Sidhe, starts with Lugh, who went from mythic hero to Celtic deity in the old stories.  The Sidhe, also called the Tuathe de Danann, had defeated the Firbolgs, a kind of barbarian tribe, and taken Ireland.  They themselves were an elegant and mystical race of artists, craftsman and musicians, which would later inspire J.R.R.Tolkien's vision of the elves of Middle Earth.  The Sidhe were themselves defeated by the Fomor, an ugly and mutated race of militant monsters (similarly credited for being Tolkien's inspiration for orcs).

Lugh is a half-breed, half Sidhe, half Fomorian.  He was orphaned as a babe and raised by a Firbolg woman.  This story starts when he's grown into a young man and the Fomor destroy his settlement looking for him.  He finds his way to the Sidhe, who have since been enslaved by the Fomor.  He sees their torment and is inspired to help.  Some major characters, such as the Dagda and the Morrigan are introduced as well.

The second book, Champions of the Sidhe, involves Lugh's transformation into a leader of the Sidhe. The first king, Nuada, had lost a hand in the final battle and therefore could never be king again.  The stand-in king, Bres, was a vile traitor and in league with the Fomor (being half-Fomorian himself).

Much of the struggle involves King Bres and his Fomor, along with the giant one-eyed Balor, who rules the Fomor from afar (an island with a strange tower).  Lugh rallies the forces of the Sidhe, seeks aid of the Firbolgs and plans to overthrow the Fomor.

Manannan mac Lir and his sister are involved in helping Lugh, and protecting the secrets of the hidden isle of Tara, where the four sacred treasures of Queen Danu reside... until their time comes to be used to restore balance.

In the final book, Master of the Sidhe, the showdown begins.  By now there is a greater cast, including a shape-shifting Phooka, and a traitorous druid (Magthen) who seeks to seize Queen Danu's kingdom for himself.

Manannan is captured by Balor and Lugh must plan a rescue mission, assaulting the tower with a small team while the rest of the de Dananns wage war against the Fomor.

All in all, I'd rate the trilogy 6 out of 10 if you like fantasy/mythology.  It's well written, the characters are memorable, the diversity in types of characters is wide, and the delving into Celtic lore is fascinating.  On the other side, I'd hoped to see more fantastical creatures, as the story is told in a more human history type of way.  There is a bit of camaraderie and romance, but it isn't fleshed out much, other than the stereotypical fantasy kind of way.

Personally, I started off strong, enjoying seeing a detailed description of Irish mythology, but I felt it got tedious in the middle and there wasn't much in the way of twists or cliffhangers.  For people not into mythology, the series is pretty much what you'd expect from a lot of fantasy books.  A good read with a few memorable scenes and some good lore, but nothing that would make me run around telling people about it.