Rating: 
Summary: Exciting and engrossing mix of western and sf genres
Review: The alien culture is vivid, the Tombstone, AZ setting is well-researched, the characters are intriguing, and the story is exciting! When is the sequel coming out?
Rating: 
Summary: Not just for die-hard Boxleitner fans!
Review: The man really did it! This first novel gives us a taste of Harry Turtledove, with a dash of Stephen King, and a healthy dose of Mr. Boxleitner's wit, charm and experienced actor's sense of story. It is definitely a first novel AND a setup for a sequel so the exposition is sometimes too lengthy, in moments even diluting the suspense, BUT when it revs up, it really revs up and is well worth the read--looking forward to more from such a creative storyteller!
Rating:
Summary: A good effort
Review: This book, as far as I know the first from Boxleitner, was a fine Sci-Fi/Western story. The plot, while not entirely original, was well-crafted, and the characters fleshed out really well.
Looking forward to the ongoing adventures of Macklin
Rating:
Summary: A good effort
Review: This book, as far as I know the first from Boxleitner, was a fine Sci-Fi/Western story. The plot, while not entirely original, was well-crafted, and the characters fleshed out really well.
Looking forward to the ongoing adventures of Macklin
Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: This is not a hard sci-fi bok. It tells an easy story to follow that blends in a little history.
Rating:
Summary: A fine blend of historical fact and sci fi
Review: Tombstone 1881; not the slightly gritty, visually septic Hollywood version, but a real, multi-layered tapestry of frontier life, where the gap separating the lawless from the law keepers is thin and murky. This is the well-researched backdrop for a science fiction story that would give Sigourney Weaver nightmares. From the outset, we are thrust into a cat and mouse game. The predators are creatures who do not feed simply on human flesh, but feast, indeed savor, human terror. The prey is a man without a memory. But there's far more at stake that just his life...if only he could recall why. At times, the reader is caught up in the events leading to the most famous showdown in American western history, the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Then changing gear, the unfolding drama is seen from the alien perspectives of hunter and hunted, both of whom are confused by human motivations and self-righteous, conflicting moralities. Cocky and self-assured, caught up in their own unfolding drama, the human players have no comprehension that the very future of Earth is at stake as they head towards their own violent climax. A climax that without alien involvement, may have seen history written very differently.... The book is punctuated with a rich patina of sensations. Not simply visual, but visceral. The brutality of the aliens is described with imagery that reaches into our primitive hindbrain and shakes it uncomfortably. Yet we also see that some humans too, feed on terror and in many ways are as unprincipled as the most horrific of aliens our imaginations can conjure. Read this one carefully to savor the tastes and textures of a well written, first book. I look forward to a sequel.
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