Western

I've read almost every book L'Amour wrote, and as far as I am concerned this is not one of the author's better works. Though parts were good it dragged at times, and I debated if I should give it 2 1/2 or 3 stars. ( )

another excellent story by a favorite; easy a; fun and fast read ( )

A good cowboy story. An orphan is left to die by his mother and is taken in by a gambler. Worthwhile reading. ( )

I had fond memories of this novel & should have kept them. Beau Bridges read the book. His gravelly voice was OK for some parts, but the women's voices were horrible & a couple of women had very important parts in the novel. Still, he was OK for the adult male parts & was acceptable for the boy's.

Unfortunately, the plot was full of convenience. OK, the end needed to be a convenient great meeting, but there were far too many others scattered throughout the story which skipped through time like a thrown stone. It could have used fleshing out in more than a few places. Instead, we're just told that "it was so" & usually that was the achievement of some skill that took a lot of practice, but there never seemed to be the time for it. Perfect heroes give me a pain, too.

For all the spare writing & speed of the story line, L'Amour managed to repeat himself endlessly on the attributes & motivations of the characters as if the repetition would make them more believable. Didn't work.

Overall, the story is a good one, but the execution just failed in this format & time. ( )