Kilkenny (1954)

by Louis L'Amour

Series: Kilkenny (3)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
534	6	45,241	(3.99)	11
Kilkenny wasn't looking for trouble when he entered the Clifton House stage station, but trouble found him when a reckless youngster named Tetlow challenged him, drew his gun, and paid for it with his life. Looking to escape a reputation that he never wanted, Kilkenny settles in the lonely mountain country of Utah, planning to ranch a high, lush valley. But the past is on his trail. Jared Tetlow is a powerful rancher determined to run his vast herd on the limited grasslands there-whether he has to buy out the local ranchers, run them out, or kill them. He'll cut down anyone who stands in his way, especially a man he already despises- the gunman named Kilkenny-the man who killed his son. Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures is a project created to release some of the author's more unconventional manuscripts from the family archives. In Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures- Volumes 1, Beau L'Amour takes the reader on a guided tour through many of the finished and unfinished short stories, novels, and treatments that his father was never able to publish during his lifetime. L'Amour's never-before-seen first novel, No Traveller Returns, will also be released as a Lost Treasures publication, followed by Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures- Volume 2. Additionally, many beloved classics will be rereleased with an exclusive Lost Treasures postscript featuring previously unpublished material, including outlines, plot notes, and alternate drafts. These postscripts tell the story behind the stories that millions of readers have come to know and cherish.… (more)

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Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)

This is the third and final book in an entertaining series about a character I have come to know and appreciate. Lance is looking for a place to finally settle down, to be left alone, but another cattle baron with delusions of grandeur forces Kilkenny take up his guns for the defense of settlers. It sounds corny, but it's not, and the author makes the familiar plot less monotonous, more absorbing. (

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fuzzi | Dec 8, 2020 |

This isn't four-star writing by any means. I spent a lot of inward sighs on the adverb mania, the head-hopping, the uncertain antecedents ... I could go on, but I don't even want to, because Kilkenny's back, and apparently that's all this Western-loving girl needs to give a book four stars.

Happily (the adverbs are contagious), this trilogy has actually (oh my) grown the characters from the first book to this one--or more accurately, grown their circumstances around them so that each book isn't a repeat of the last. Well, other than the Range War Drags Kilkenny Into Trouble trope, and the Why Can't Everyone Let The Tired Gunfighter Live His Life Peacefully trope. Ah, contented reader sigh. These stories are my brain candy, and they hold my heart by default. L'Amour would have to work hard to dissatisfy me. I love the love he had for the great old American West, and I love the love between Kilkenny and Nita. I love the steel-nerved gunfighter claiming himself a home at last and giving it a (halfway sentimental) name.

Now I'm off to watch some Gunsmoke (and you think I'm kidding). (

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AmandaGStevens | Mar 2, 2019 |

A competent gunman who desires to live in peace has a difficult goal, since he is naturally inclined to stand up for the weak, and has the skill and leadership ability to do so. Kilkenny is educated and kind, respectful toward women and those in authority. Does Kilkenny have any faults? Maybe too eager to kill when provoked, but I think a weakness of the Kilkenny series that this man is fairly one dimensional. On the other hand, the story line is good: the bad guys are strong, but the good guys are stronger. Not a bad one for teenagers.

mebrock | Jun 11, 2012 |

Good fast read. Not L'Amour's best. (

)

ini_ya | Jul 25, 2010 |

The quality of the prose is quite bad. For the first chapter or two, it's so terrible that you can hardly tell what's going on, and if it didn't rely so heavily on predictable western tropes, it would be incomprehensible. The writing smooths out pretty soon, though, and although it's always bad, it's at least readable. The plot, on the other hand, is good, with a fair amount of excitement and a handful of very cool scenes. Unfortunately the ending is not one of those scenes; it's just a standard shootout like you'd expect from a B movie - pretty disappointing. This is only the second Louis L'Amour book (and the second western) I've read. The other, Last Stand at Papago Wells, is a much better book, so much so that I have a hard time believing they were both written by the same person. (

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comfypants | Mar 1, 2010 |

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Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1954

People/Characters

Important places

Horsehead, Utah, USA

Clifton House Stage Station, Canadian River, New Mexico, USA

KR Ranch, Horsehead, Utah, USA

Valley of the Whispering Winds, Blue Mountains, Utah, USA

Important events

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

To Clifton House on the Canadian came a lone rider on a long-legged buckskin.

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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Kilkenny wasn't looking for trouble when he entered the Clifton House stage station, but trouble found him when a reckless youngster named Tetlow challenged him, drew his gun, and paid for it with his life. Looking to escape a reputation that he never wanted, Kilkenny settles in the lonely mountain country of Utah, planning to ranch a high, lush valley. But the past is on his trail. Jared Tetlow is a powerful rancher determined to run his vast herd on the limited grasslands there-whether he has to buy out the local ranchers, run them out, or kill them. He'll cut down anyone who stands in his way, especially a man he already despises- the gunman named Kilkenny-the man who killed his son. Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures is a project created to release some of the author's more unconventional manuscripts from the family archives. In Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures- Volumes 1, Beau L'Amour takes the reader on a guided tour through many of the finished and unfinished short stories, novels, and treatments that his father was never able to publish during his lifetime. L'Amour's never-before-seen first novel, No Traveller Returns, will also be released as a Lost Treasures publication, followed by Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures- Volume 2. Additionally, many beloved classics will be rereleased with an exclusive Lost Treasures postscript featuring previously unpublished material, including outlines, plot notes, and alternate drafts. These postscripts tell the story behind the stories that millions of readers have come to know and cherish.

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