Rating: 
Summary: Should have stopped at three
Review: First, I have to say Lonesome Dove is a masterpiece of the American West. Second, Comanche Moon and Dead Man's Walk are very enjoyable. I think McMurtry should have stopped there. What made Lonesove Dove were the wonderful characters and the wonderful adventures each of them were having. Every character, wether you loved or hated them, had a story that drew you in and held you. Unfortunatly most of them are killed off in Lonesome Dove leaving little to start a new novel with. The ones that have made it are so dramatically different it is hard to relate to them as the same people. This novel also never really draws you into the story at hand like the previous. There are high points and overall I am glad that I read it just to see where McMurtry went with this saga. However, as a whole it was a great disappointment from the earlier works.
Rating: 
Summary: Streets of Laredo
Review: How can you compete with Lonesome Dove? Not as good as its predecessor, but still an entertaining read. McMurtry dwells into the mind of the "bad guys" a little more with this one. My only complaint of the book was the "bad guys" and their psychotic tendencies. Sometimes felt the character profiles of the men Call is sent to kill are made for a better story rather than for a realistic read. Of course, it is fiction. ;) If you're a fan of the Lonesome Dove series, you will enjoy Streets of Laredo. It's not a disappointment. It's amazing how McMurtry manages to kill off everyone you like (You'll have to read the book to see who doesn't make it from the last page of Lonesome Dove to the first page of Streets of Laredo.) and still write an enjoyable novel. By the way, don't bother with the onscreen version. Read this book and you'll see why James Garner as Captain Call is a HORRIBLE casting job.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book In Its Own Right
Review: I enjoyed this sequel to Lonesome Dove, even if it seems much of this book may have been inspired by McMurtry's anger at CBS TV's miniseries sequel, Return to Lonesome Dove. When CBS purchased the rights to Lonesome Dove, McMurtry retained the right to use his own characters again in his own sequel. Apparently, McMurtry didnt like what CBS did, since his take is completely different. For that matter, this is a very different book from Lonesome Dove, too. The characters, while familiar, have grown and aged and changed a great deal. Pea-Eye, especially, seems to have become a completely different person. Lorena, too, has transformed over the years to become more like the Clara of Lonesome Dove, than the young ex-prostitute of the earlier novel. There are problems of continuity that dont bear much thinking about. Faulkner used to say he couldn't always keep his characters straight from book to book either, but he preferred to believe that as he got older he LEARNED more about them. I think thats a good way to describe McMurtry's development between books. The best way to describe this novel, then, might be familiar, yet DIFFERENT!
Rating: 
Summary: A real disappointment
Review: I fell in love with Gus, Lorena, Call, and the other characters in Lonesome Dove, and was anxious to read what happened to them, particularly Call and Newt. Streets Of Laredo, the sequel to the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, did not satisfy. In all great books, characters have deep motivation for the things they do, even if the reader doesn't agree. The writer's responsibility is to make the reader understand why they do these things. In Streets Of Laredo, McMurtry doesn't provide that. The poetry of the language and the complexity of the relationships between characters in Lonesome Dove are not followed through here. It's as if a completely different writer wrote it. in this so-called sequel The author had characters doing things out of character, like Lorena marrying Pea-eye. What was the attraction? Why would a smart beautiful woman want a homely man who can barely put a sentence together? If McMurtry had given me more of these people than mere description, I would have found it plausible. But I never understood the attraction. The dialogue between these people is about as interesting as waiting for wallpaper to dry. "Show don't tell" is one of the rules of good writing. Lonesome Dove showed me the west, in its glory and rage. Streets of Laredo story does little showing, in fact parts of it read like notes a writer makes to himself as he writes, scenes that he or she plans to flesh out later. McMurtry also missed an opportunity to honor he relation ship between Call and Newt. He could have built the entire sequel around the dynamic between father and son. Instead the author kills off Newt so we never get to explore what could have been. Also, Call comes off as a whiny, cowardly simp when faced with death. The call I knew in Lonesome Dove was a stoic and brave. As great as Lonesome Dove was, this book was just awful.
Rating: 
Summary: 547 pages and two audible gasps later, I'm satisfied
Review: I first read the original, Lonesome Dove, and followed those up with the immensely disappointing Dead Man's Walk and the better but still not entirely worthy Comanche Moon, so by the time I began to prepare to approach Streets of Laredo, I was cautious (well obviously, I dragged out the approach pretty good there). I wondered if McMurtry was up to the task of revisiting the characters that have become so dear to me, or if he'd falter like he had in the prequels. And now, barely post-reading, I can say that I think he did a fine job, though I did have a few problems. Throughout the story I grew more and more suspicious that McMurtry took his story in wild directions, either killing or maiming central characters without a second thought, simply to spite Return to Lonesome Dove, the miniseries that was written and produced without his involvement. Certainly, he may have done the unheard of with his characters just to be unpredictable, but I felt a little cheated of closure with characters who I began to consider friends, and the thought that it may have been for no other reason that to set the story apart from the black sheep miniseries, well, it kinda hurt. But whenever I'd begin to feel angry with McMurtry and his murderous ways (he was killing off my friends, man!), I'd get caught up in the story again and endeared with new or expanded characters and begrudgingly forgive him. So while Streets of Laredo may not do with the Lonesome Dove characters what you hope it will, just trust Larry McMurtry. He knows his characters, he knows what he's doing, and wouldn't we be just as angry with him, or more, if he gave us a pacifying, milquetoast resolution that we'd have seen coming anyway?
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but could have been better
Review: I love Larry McMurtry. That's not to say I agree with everything he does with his characters, but I do enjoy his work for the most part. Streets of Laredo is a good book, but I was a little disappointed with it. I have heard arguments about why Lorena and Pea Eye shouldn't be married, but to me that works. I knew the ending of this book wouldn't be happily ever after, because Woodrow Call is old, and it's apparent he has to be put to rest, so to speak, for the series to end. But the explanations of what happened to the rest of the Hat Creek gang just didn't set well with me. Newt killed by his own horse? Dish, the top cow hand, running a store?! I was disappointed in what happened to the characters McMurtry didn't seem to want to deal with anymore, and I will admit to being shocked by Newt's fate. Anyone who has read the other books in the series will understand why. But all in all, this is a good book. I found it easy to read, and these days that can be rare. I highly recommend this book to those who have read the other three books in the series. If you have not yet read them, pick them up first; read them in order, or else you'll find yourself re-reading them.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read- lets not compare to Lonesome Dove though
Review: I must say I enjoyed reading Streets of Laredo. I recently read Lonesome Dove (one of my favorites) and was hoping for a repeat performance. I suppose with a book as outstanding as LD, a repeat is a tall drink to get down. But here I am, doing what every other reviewer on this list is doing: comparing the book to LD. If you do that then everyone will consider it a disappointment....LD was a masterpiece. I wish people wouldnt strike it for not being the same book as LD was. If I had never read LD before I would rate this a 4 star. I bet that most of the ratings given by others would be a bit higher if they had never read LD. The book blends fictional characters and real life westerners. Violence is widespread but in that era, that was the case. I especially love the way McMurtry weaves the stories of of the different characters together. My big criticism is there is no good understanding of the root of Joey Garza's evil. Also the possiblity of Lorena marrying Pea Eye seems so remote, further description of her feelings towards him are needed to make it more believable. Overall, the book was an enjoyable read. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a western. For those of you who have not read McMurtry yet, start with Lonesome Dove. That is the best.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing and Weak. A waste of time.
Review: I never imagined that I would read the best book I've ever read in my life and the worst book I've ever read in my life by the same author. Lonesome Dove was a capitaving, brilliant story, perhaps one of the best novels ever written. Streets of Laredo is terrible. It is one disappointment after another. McMurtry makes his first mistake when he kills any redeeming characters that survived through Lonesome Dove, leaving Captain Call and Lorena to guide the story. These two characters who are identifed by their quiet and shy personalities are not fit to guide a novel. They barely even speak! I'm sorry I wasted my time reading about two mutes and the dim-witted Pea Eye chase after a gang of weak characters. Bottom line, just stick with Lonesome Dove. I have tried to forget that I ever picked up this sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Larry McMurtry is a God!!!
Review: I was afraid to read this book because I just knew that it could not be as good as Lonesome Dove. I was pleasantly surprised! A great sequel to a great story!
Rating:
Summary: Stands Well On Its Own
Review: I was fortunate enough to read STREETS OF LAREDO before I read LD. I didn't have that built-in "bias" of hoping beyond hope that McMurtry would offer a sequel as mesmerizing as his Pulitizer-prize winning masterpiece--a bias that seems to have disappointed so many of the reviewers on this site who can't help but compare the two books. Fact is, this is a gripping, brutal Western. STREETS OF LAREDO gives the reader a vast array of complex, interesting characters: Woodrow F. Call, the aging former lawman turned bounty hunter, who realizes he is well past his prime...Pea Eye Parker, torn between his devotion to his family and his undying loyalty to Call...Lorena Parker, once a prostitute, now a wife, mother, and schoolteacher, who sets out in the face of overwhelming danger to find her husband...Mr. Brookshire, a railroad accountant from New York and traveling companion of Call, who is appalled at the brutality of the West...Maria, whose hatred of Call and concern for her killer son cannot overcome a true heart of gold. Throw in two chilling, ruthless killers--Joey Garza and Mox Mox, the "manburner"--and you've got a story that keeps the reader busily turning pages. This is a hardhitting, well-written account of the Old West in the last gasp of the 19th century. The book stands alone on its own merits.
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