Rating: 
Summary: Too Much
Review: If all of the miserable experiences of DEAD MAN'S WALK are to be believed, then young Gus and Call missed their calling. If indeed these two nineteen-year-old greenhorn Rangers survived the never-ending onslaught of bloodthirsty Indians and the harsh environment of the Old West--while seasoned and battle-tested men all around them drop like flies--then they should have abruptly left law enforcement and become priests. Total suspension of credibility is the theme of this book, culminating in the improbable, laugh-out-loud climactic scene, when an English lady suffering from leprosy strips naked and wraps a boa constrictor around her shoulders and rides a white horse through a band of savage Comanches. (See what I mean?) McMurtry is a master storyteller, and LONESOME DOVE is as good as it gets, but this prequel misses the mark by a country mile.
Rating: 
Summary: Western or science fiction?
Review: I found the first three-fourths of this book fairly captivating, however, at that point it took a really strange turn. Upon arriving in San Lazaro, the story really lost something and these last few chapters of the novel just didn't fit in with the flow of the story. It's almost as if the author got bored and simply let someone else finish the book for him. A minor problem I had with this book was the way in which insignificant characters were killed off. Gus and Call start off on the main adventure with over 200 people, and the author almost immediately starts widdling down the party to a managable level. Near the end, the ways in which people die becomes less and less believable. And when you consider the odds of both Gus and Call surviving when hundreds around them die, it's pretty unrealistic. The majority of the book is quite good. I would have given this 4 or 4.5 stars if a more palatable ending could have been conceived.
Rating: 
Summary: Young Gus and Call on Western Adventure
Review: In McMurty's prequel to Lonesome Dove, we see the young Gus McCrea and Woodrow Call at the beginning of their Rangering days. It is interesting because both characters are clearly the men they will become in Lonesome Dove, yet without the assurance and confidence that carried them so easily through that book's trials. The author does a good job of portraying them as believable youths rather than as copies of their later selves in younger bodies. This is a roaming tale. There are three trips which encompass the book. The first is a brief and futile foray against the fearsome Comanche Buffalo Hump. The second, a long and futile expedition to capture Spanish Gold in New Mexico that is thwarted by the elements and a Mexican army. The third, a march in captivity through a desolate country that will prove to be a more ruthless enemy than the Indian or the sons of the conquistadors. I will warn the reader, the ending is a little bizarre and seems out of place with the rest of the book (and the preceding two) -- it really lost the Western feel for me. This journey is much less purposeful and more fantastic than that portrayed in LD or Streets of Laredo. This tale feels at times a bit forced, with something exciting fitted neatly into every chapter. On the whole however, it is a good yarn that captures a flavorful frontier West before the Civil War. McMurty remains a gifted storey teller who is able to drive the reader through his pages with gifted dialogue and excellent descriptions. I'm already digging into McMurty's last book of the Lonesome Dove series, Comanche Moon.
Rating:
Summary: Dead Man's Walk
Review: This is the story of the early history of Gus and Call, two of the main characters in McMurtry's tour de force Lonesome Dove. Dead Man's Walk is a worthwhile read, but not of the same quality as Lonesome Dove. Writing is stark and spare, occasionally quite evocative. Characterization is quite good; Gus and Call are appealing and believable, and for the most part the secondary characters have the vivid qualities one comes to expect from this author. The plot, that of an improbable filibustering expedition to New Mexico (then part of Mexico proper), has some issues. It seems as if this group of characters has been sent out into the desert merely to die in a myriad unpleasant ways; I'm all for grim stories, but this gets pointless. At about the point where most of the expedition has frozen to death or been killed by Indians, and they're STILL not to the hardest part of the journey yet... I got a little bored with the entropic, meaningless feel of the whole thing. There's also a wildly improbable end: the whole sequence with Lady Carey seems utterly unbelievable to me, although the scene where she buffaloes the Indians is great. McMurtry's presentation of the Indians as torturing, raping, slave-hunting savages took me aback. I don't know enough to say whether his portrayal of these specific types of raiding bands, from these specific Native American societies, is accurate. It's certainly a different picture than one gets from books like Dee Brown's. I'd recommend this with reservations; generally entertaining, but not without faults.
Rating: 
Summary: Grim Prarie Tale
Review: This book in the Lonsesome Dove series in the first, in chronological order. Gus and Call, called 'young pups' by their elders, have joined the Texas Rangers, hoping for some adventure (and for Gus, a little brothel action and card playing). Soon after their expedition begins, they discover they are in way over their heads. The Commanches are, literally, on the warpath, and hate white people (with good reason, considering the way the white men treated them). They are also very smart, very fast, very skilled in riding and fighting, and VERY bloodthirsty. The main Chief, who even the most hardened soldiers are scared of, is Buffalo Hump, and he is introduced in an unforgettable lightning storm on the prarie, in one of the most vivid, terrifying scenes in the entire series (and if you've read the series, you know things can get VERY ugly). The men in charge of the expedition are either crazy, stupid, drunk, have a very short fuse, or all of the above. The trek starts out rather confident, looking forward to the challenges to come, but soon realize they are no match for the Indians. The Commanches set up a variety of clever, deadly, devastating traps, and soon their ranks are halved, then quartered, then...then it gets REALLY ugly. This book was a page-turner, and had all the entertaining characters a reader comes to expect from the series. All of the books treat death as an everyday thing, but I think this is one of the most cold-blooded; do not read if you're sqeamish. There's not just one or two nasty scenes, either, they count many and come fast. This is an entertaining book, one that I couldn't put down, but not especially pleasant. A good read, don't get me wrong, but one that is emotionally gruelling. I guess if you wanted to read the books in chronological order, this would be the one to start. I had planned to do that originally, after I read LD, but have found reading them in the order they were written is actually more satisfying; backstory is filled in, and you get a better perspective. If you loved LD, read this and the other books in the series. If you're just starting out, read LD first; it may be the strongest, but it will give you an idea of just what a treat you're in for. No ccomplaints here-I put the bok down after reading the last page, and promptly walked right over to my new copy of Commanche Moon (I wisely bought them at the same time) and started in. This author was born to write.
Rating:
Summary: A whale of a ride with a not so great ending
Review: Having read the first two books in the Lonesome Dove series (both of which come chronologically after this one), I knew the main characters would survive. This is, however, no more of a hindrance to enjoying this book than it is in any saturday serial movie. The joy is in seeing how the author can get the heroes out of the mess they're in. For the vast majority of the novel, McMurtry delivers saturday afternoon thrills, while still showing just how these young characters evolve into the ones we're all familiar with from Lonesome Dove. Unfortunately, after the Mexican prison scene, the novel comes to a precipitous and ludicruous ending. It is as if McMurty simply got tired or bored with the project and decided just to end the book the fastest way he could Not even a yarn should be tied up this quickly.
Rating: 
Summary: Why not call it the story of two Jobs?
Review: I thought that this book (which I unfortunately read to the end) was incredibly contrived, and basically just plain stupid. Two young Texas Rangers manage, with no recognizable skills, to survive Indians, floods, fires, wild animals, and the Mexican army. But, of course, they had to survive, since the books that chronicle their later years were already written. So you know what's going to happen, even though much wilier and skilled men, actually, about two or three hundred others, manage to fall victim to various calamities. Just plain stoopid! Everything that happens to our two "heroes" is bad - everything. It's one sad, miserable, gruesome event after another. It never lets up, yet, in the last few pages, they're saved in a totally unbelievable, Deus ex Machina ending. I'm so mad at myself for reading to the end that I could spit.
Rating:
Summary: Walking with Gus and Woodrow
Review: This book strikes me as closer in tone to Lonesome Dove than McMurtrey's earlier sequel, Streets of Laredo. There is alot of violence and gore, but alot of humor too. We see Call and McCrae meet and join the Rangers together and follow their first, hapless adventures through Southern Texas and Mexico. It is nice to see Gus McCrae alive again after Woodrow Call had to ride alone through Streets of Laredo. Of course, this book is not nearly the work of Art that Lonesome Dove was, but if you are following the series, you wont want to miss this installment.
Rating:
Summary: -
Review: This is my first McMurtry, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. After readding the slight disappointments of the other reviewers though, I'm eager to begin Dove...
Rating:
Summary: yes sir....the legend continues
Review: another great addition to the Lonesome Dove saga...tells the story before Lonesome Dove. Gus and Call's adventures never lack for action and amusement. A must read for the Lonesome Dove fan. A quick read compared to the first two
| 
