Rating: 
Summary: If You Love McMurtry, You'll Want to Read This But ...
Review: Dead Man's Walk is a prequel to the Larry McMurtry's masterwork, Lonesome Dove. Written years after the first book was released, it introduces the unforgettable characters Gus McCrae, the talkative and energetic Texas Ranger and his strong and silent best friend, Woodrow Call as young men, decades before the events depicted in Lonesome Dove. This novel - like many of the McMurtry's books - is about a journey, as the young Rangers join an ill-fated expedition of adventurers who set out to conquer Santa Fe and the Mexican province of New Mexico. For the "green" young Rangers it is a journey of maturation and self-discovery. As they experience all manner of calamities and face abject terror, they discover their qualities and desires and the bonds of friendship that make men risk their lives and die for each other. And, thanks to the mythic character Buffalo Hump, a Comanche chief, there is plenty of death, horrible gruesome deaths. McMurtry does not sugarcoat his American Indians or stint on the bloodletting. The Comanches are seen as omnipotent and invincible and perhaps too imposing an enemy as the white settlers and their soldiers did ultimately vanquish them. Call, McCrae and the rag-tag group of miscreants and adventurers are faced with all manner of obstacles and the arid, seemingly endless Texas plains is a treacherous character in itself, a barren place where men venture at their peril and die badly. One of the great strengths of McMurtry's books is to inculcate a sense of place in the viewer, a feeling of what the desolate places in our country would have felt like to a man on horseback or on foot a century ago. Storms, flash floods, raging rivers and tornados stalk the characters like its implacable, inscrutable native inhabitants. Then, when they reach New Mexico the expedition is defeated by the Mexicans troops who visit their own kind of cruelty on the Texans, one that was inherited from the Spanish. Although the book is populated with fascinating characters, the death that is visited upon them is so bizarre and relentless that it eventually loses its power to shock and becomes routine. The body count is just too exaggerated. However, since millions of readers have discovered Lonesome Dove, many of them will want to learn the back-story of McCrae, Call and the events that shaped their memorable characters.
Rating: 
Summary: McMurtry does not dissapoint!
Review: This is the first written story of Gus and Call and it is one of the best McMurtry has written. There were parts of this book that had me rolling in laughter (especially when Gus gets drunk early in the book). The action is great and doesn't let up and it let's us get to know Call and Gus when they were young and dumb and full of....well, you know the saying. In fact, for about a quarter of all of Gus's dialouge he is talking about whores.
It really is refreshing to read the story of Gus and Call when they were young and don't know ANYTHING about tracking, shooting, women, and many other things. In Lonesome Dove these two are older men who have seen it all and done it all. In Dead Man's Walk, we get to read about the beggining of it all.
I am not a big western fan. In fact, Lonesome Dove was the first western I ever read. Imagine my suprise when I cried at twice reading that book and still to this day consider it in my top ten. While this book is no Lonesome Dove, it does not dissapoint and I am confident you will agree.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I had hoped for
Review: Like many others, I read Dead Man's Walk after I read Lonesome Dove. I picked up Dead Man's Walk to read about Gus & Call as young men. The story itself was interesting, but the character development was definitely lacking. I was disappointed that they were so one dimensional, Gus is always scheming for a poke and Call never lets his hair down. If this were my introduction to the series, I would not have read the next book - Comanche Moon.
Rating: 
Summary: Dead Man's Walk: or Fall
Review: "Now except for the two young rangers, his whole troop was drunk, the result of an incautious foray into Mexican territory the day before". This quote explains the troops readiness for being real rangers. Dead Man's Walk, by Larry McMurtry was written to give a realistic view of what explorers of the western frontiers could have encountered. The main characters of the book Gus and Call are great characters for their parts. The location where the story takes place creates great imagery in the readers mind. McMurtry used informal language to show the characters way of living. All these things tie together to make this a great book.
This book focuses on a troop of rangers, especially the protagonist Gus and Call, through out their journey to explore the western frontier. Along the way they encounter many hazards, such as cyclones, natural obstacles, and Indians. The antagonist in the story is a Comanche Indian named Buffalo Hump. These conflicts keep the story interesting and fun to read.
The setting in this novel varies from the desert plains to small rural towns. All of the places the troop comes to are realistic and make the story seem real. At one point in the novel the troops comes to the side of a big hill and has to fend off while trying to keep their horses from running off. Realistic scenes like this show up all throughout the book to enhance the storyline.
McMurtry puts a wide variety of characters in the book to describe the differences in a troops personality. Gus is a young man who is driven mainly by sex. This keeps him thinking all throughout the novel. Call is a more mature young man who tries to think of consequences before his actions. The greatest feared character is without a doubt Buffalo Hump. He keeps the troop aware throughout the book. The troop continuously talks of how to kill themselves if captured by him. The main aspects of these characters give them a certain place in the story.
The main goal of the troops in the story is to make it to California. The reason they joined the Rangers is because it was a cheaper and more sure way to get there. The unsurity of going with the Rangers was the battles and other hardships along the way. If the troops can make it to California, they hope to strike it rich off of all the gold there.
The type of language used in this book made it easy to understand the way of life the different Rangers had. Some of them were from up North and the way he talked represented that. Some of the other characters in the book had an accent that sounded like they came from the back of the backwoods. Some of them could turn three words into one and still make sense. Throughout, the mostly informal language in his book allows the reader to understand the mindset and background of the characters.
To sum it up, this book had many good elements in it. It definitely shows an example of the ways people lived and thought back then. For somebody who likes westerns, or action books, this would be a great book for them. After fighting many battles the ultimate battle comes up with Buffalo Hump. To find out how this awesome story ends, read Dead Man's Walk, by Larry McMurtry.
Rating: 
Summary: Not even close...
Review: McMurtry didn't even try very hard to show us the young Rangers. The characters are flat, and some of the dialogue is witless. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Good Story
Review: This was a good story. After reading Lonesome Dove, it was interesting to read about some of the background that led up to it. I really enjoyed this story. The only thing that might have made it any better would be if I didn't know that Gus and Call had to survive the Walk because they were in Lonesome Dove. While this is still not in the same class as Lonesome Dove, it was definitely worth reading.
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