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Summary: A "must read" for people that liked Lonesome Dove.
Review: This is required reading for those that enjoyed Lonesome Dove. Chronologically, it is the first book in the four book Lonesome Dove series featuring the lives of Texas Rangers Call and McCrae. The other three books in the Lonesome Dove series are Comanche Moon, Streets of Laredo, and Lonesome Dove.
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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.
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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: 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.
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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Summary: McMurtry's Heart Wasn't in This One
Review: While this is a story that has its moments, somehow it isn't up to the standard one expects of Larry McMurtry. I get the impression that this was one he thought he ought to write, rather than being one he wanted to write. The story has too many loose ends, and too many characters that are just there so that they can die before the end of the story - hence the title. Skip this one and go straight to Lonesome Dove.
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Summary: Why does he use real-life characters ?
Review: Why doesn't the author use fictional characters only? In 1841, our heroes meet Charles Goodnight who was born in 1836 - making him 5 years old when the story takes place. The black man with him would be Bose Ikard who was not born until 1847 ! Lady Carey apparently had her portrait painted by Gainsborough - who died in 1788. She must be at least 60 years old - with a 10 year old son ? 'Bigfoot' Wallace actually survived the 'Black Beans' lottery and lived until 1899 ! If Mr McMurtry insists on using real people as characters he should at least do some research.
Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: Yes, neither this book nor "Streets of Laredo" were equal to "Lonesome Dove", but this book was a realistic portrayal of life in a hard and harsh era. The finale in the leper colony is a gem
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Summary: A grisly Western
Review: Yow! This book was gritty and grusome. It still makes me shudder to think of some of the stuff written in it's pages! It's story is a continution (a prequel rather) of the Lonesome Dove series, and it's heroes are Woodrow Call and Gus McCray. This is an "early years" type story, and tells about how the two friends first joined the Rangers. The book details the failed missions of the novice Ranger troop. The one thing that bothered me about their adventures, however, was the fact that no matter where they were; out in the desert with no water or food; in a town of lepers; or even in the middle of a swift running river, it was never the elements of the harshness of the situation that caused them trouble: It was always a lurking band of Indians. They didn't have to worry about dying in the hot, hot desert. They had to worry about getting killed by a Indian who was tracking them in the desert. It just wasn't realistic. Lonesome Dove had a better story
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