Rating: 
Summary: Intensely wonderful. Only a true Texan can appreciate fully!
Review: I love the book. I love the movie. I love it. Larry sucked me right in to the beautiful twisted brain of Woodrow Call. He's a real man. One of whom , it is obvious to me, is now extinct. In a time full of whinny little bastards, it is certainly very refreshing to at least dream of what it must be like to be in the company of such a confident driven man. Jonny Lee Miller did an exceptional job. I found myself wondering if he wasn't actually a closet Texan and not truly from ENGLAND?! What a talent. Larry you are a genious. The Lonesome Dove series is some of the best most accurately written stories I've ever read. I read some of the reviews above. How sad. What an ignorant fool who doesn't understand why this book is perfect! Larry, keep them coming!!! I will never tire of your wonderful tales. Brilliant!
Rating: 
Summary: Supurb unsentimental adventure
Review: I read this before reading Lonesome Dove so I could not compare it at the time. Nevertheless this novel kept me reading breathlessly to the end. Full of raw spirit, realistic descriptions, and free of moral pretensions. Like many of McMurty's work the open endings need to be there. Like life itself, a by the end of the book you know the story just continues - there can be no simple, convenient conclusions. A perfect prequel to Lonesome Dove.
Rating: 
Summary: Dead Mans Walk
Review: I read this book a second time recently, partly because I was not sure if I had read it in the past. The first two thirds is wonderful with the introduction of the characters and the harrowing situations that they find themselves in. I'm puzzled how this book is suppose to reveal how the characters of Gus and Woodrow are created, since they make it through alive mostly on just plain luck. They both certainly get enough experience to fear nothing in the future, but where do they become the fierce fighters that we meet in Lonesome dove? Another book between the two is sorely lacking. The last third of the book is impossible to read a second time. By this point I had long realized that I had read the book before, and remembered how it became a series of weird, gory events. Lonesome dove's is such a better book because it is coherent, and build upon a theme and enriches it. Even though Gus loses his life at the end in an unpredictable encounter, it still fits within the context of his life up to that point. The other themes of this series have nothing to do with the luck of a bean lottery. In Lonesome dove you feel that Gus and Cal are who they are because of their lives experiences that they themselves had influence over. It is out of context to have them survive due to a lucky draw of a colored bean. I got up to that point the second time around and returned the tapes. The first time through despite the above, I was spellbound and shocked by the gore. But you can't read that a second time around and get anything of substance out of the experience.
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: Great book!
Review: I thought this book was great. McMurtry is an obviously talented storyteller due to his ability to transport the reader into the world of Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae. Great characters, sharp witty dialog in the Clara Forsythe scenes (ya gotta love her!) and pretty much stunning, shocking scenes of very descriptive, graphic violence in the torturing scenes. I think I will get through these four books with no problem. I'm reading the second installment in this series(which would be "Comanche Moon"- not in the order they were written, but according to the ages of Gus and Woodrow) and I am finding it very hard to put down, too. It's a pity these books are rather bulky. Once I finish them I will wish I hadn't done so...that's the only bad part I can see so far. Other than that, congratulations Mr McMurtry. I speak on behalf of my father and I when I say that!
Rating:
Summary: Poor Prequel
Review: I went into this book hoping that it would be as good as Lonesome Dove. To my horror, I found it too simple, boring, and all-in-all mediocre. The book did not delve into the character's emotions and had many useless characters: example: Gomez. A must read for fans, but not as good, don't expet much.
Rating:
Summary: Nowhere close to Lonesome Dove...
Review: I would have liked to have known what I would think of this book had I not read Lonesome Dove. After reading LD, I thought Streets of Laredo was a great book, and a very fitting sequel-- I went through it just as quickly as I went through Lonesome Dove. I went through Dead Man's Walk very quickly and enjoyed it, but the reason I enjoyed it was that I've already read about Gus and Call, and have grown fond of them and their adventures. Had I not read LD and SOL, I don't think I would like DMW too much. Read this book, but only after reading Lonesome Dove.
Rating:
Summary: THANKFUL FOR THE PREQUEL
Review: I'LL TAKE ALL I CAN GET OF OUR LONESOME DOVE MEN, CALL AND GUS. NOTHING CAN TOP LONESOME DOVE, I'M SURE WE'D ALL AGREE, BUT DEAD MAN'S WALK IS PRETTY DARN GOOD, TOO. I ENJOYED EVERY WORD AND DIDN'T WANT IT TO END, BUT THE END (WITH THE LEPEROUS WOMAN AND THE SNAKE AND SINGING AND ALL) HAD ME THINKING "GOOD GRIEF..LARRY SURELY COULD'VE COME UP WITH SOMETHING BETTER THAN THIS", BUT THEN AGAIN WEIRD STUFF HAS BEEN KNOWN TO HAPPEN! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, MR. MCMURTRY, CAN WE HAVE A TALE OF GUS AND CALL BETWEEN THE DEAD MAN'S WALK AND LONESOME DOVE YEARS????!!!
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: Great Western Novel
Review: If you liked Lonesome Dove, you will like this book. Follow the adventures of Woodrow McCall and Augustus McCrae during their early years. The setting is Texas in the 1840's and the adventure encompasses an expedition to locate a route from Austin, Texas to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Full of colorful characters and villans such as the ruthless Comanche Buffalo Hump, the book will keep you enthralled.
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