Faith is the greatest adventure.
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A grand treasure-hunting, west-exploring adventure in L’Amour’s masterful storytelling style. My rating: ★★★★☆
Content warnings: profanity, violence, secular author | Click here to read full post
I’m always game for a good adventure story, and this certainly fit that description. L’Amour’s storytelling style and historical detail always bring to life the men who settled America. Since Kings Mountain and Patrick Ferguson figure into my own current project (see more about that here), the title particularly caught my eye. It’s now commonly believed that Ferguson improved the breech-loading concept but did not invent it; either version fits with the events in this story. I applaud L’Amour’s ability to clearly portray his characters’ loyalties while acknowledging that Ferguson was admired by men on both sides (though certainly not the men he faced at Kings Mountain).
But all that is the rambling of a history lover. On to the story.
Ronan Chantry made a great hero. Now, I’m not a fan of people killing other people in duels, nor am I a fan of people cussing for emphasis, but I loved the tension of Ronan being a “civilized” man in a wilderness world. His quotations and historical observations and ethical deliberations made such a perfect counterpart to the side of him that would talk tough to the Spanish military and take on all the bad guys singlehandedly and win. His comrades were also a good group of characters, although there wasn’t necessarily much distinction between some of them. It never got confusing for me, though. Coming to understand their sense of honor explains why L’Amour can make his hero die at the end of a book and still consider that a happy ending (no worries, that doesn’t happen in this book).
Parts of the treasure-hunting story seemed a bit thin to me, but I was there for the action, and there was plenty of that. Lucinda was not my favorite of L’Amour’s women, probably because her character was not developed much at all. A romance this is not, despite the occasional hints and the suggestion of future romance at the end. It’s mainly a story of adventure and honor, yes, and chivalry, which is a lost and despised art. And through it all is L’Amour’s masterful storytelling and prose, his shrewd observations on human nature and history, his careful handling of frontier cultures, his heart-pounding blow-by-blow fight scenes. I read L’Amour to inspire my own writing. Sensitive readers, beware of profanity and violence, including a mildly disturbing stab-wound death scene. Otherwise, enjoy this grand adventure with the type of men who made America what it was in the beginning.
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Happy reading!
Jayna Baas is the author of Preacher on the Run. She is a member of ACFW and The Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network. Sign up for her newsletter and receive a free short story here.