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Description
Fiction. Western. Thriller. Historical Fiction. Rye Tyler was twelve when his father was killed in an Indian raid. Taken in by a mysterious stranger with a taste for books and an instinct for survival, Rye is schooled in the hard lessons of life in the West. But after killing a man, he is forced to leave his new home. He rides lonely mountain passes and works on dusty cattle drives until he finds a job breaking horses. Then he meets Liza Hetrick, and in her eyes he sees his future. After establishing himself as marshal of Alta, he returns, only to discover that Liza has been kidnapped. Tracking her to Robbers�?? Roost, Rye is forced to face the man who taught him all he knows about books, guns, and friendship. Two old friends�??one woman: Who will walk… (more)
User reviews
This is only my second or third western and it was my first Louis L’Amour novel and I was excited to get into it. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about To Tame A Land. Part of me really liked it, but I just couldn’t rate it high. I feel like this could have been an amazing book if it had just been longer. It’s 154 pages and when the story starts Rye is twelve years old, but by the end he’s a lot older (I can’t remember his exact age). I don’t know if this is a common thing for westerns, Louis L’Amour, or just this book, but I didn’t like that he aged a year basically every ten pages.
I am slightly disappointed and I’m not sure if it’s because I had higher expectations for this book than I thought I would, or because it could have been a great book if it was a couple hundred pages longer and more flushed out.
At the end of the day, I liked the characters, I liked the plot and the writing was great, but I just can’t give it more than two stars. It just seemed too rushed. Hopefully this isn’t a common thing with L’Amours books because I have a stack of them and they are all pretty short.
While it took me a bit to get into the story, once I did, I couldn't put it
All in all, I greatly enjoyed To Tame a Land and look forward to reading more L'Amour novels in the future!
CONTENT NOTE: Recommended for ages 16 for violence.
Why I picked this book up: As a kid, my neighbor Steve, had a leather bound set and I read a couple that I loved. I picked this up to see if L’Amour was consistent.
Thoughts: “To Tame A Land is a fast paced story about a boy named
The writing style is full of old west slang and the descriptions of the environments are brief and near perfect. It pulls you into the story. The pivotal scenes of this book are well written and the scenes that link them are brief to keep up the pace. Although this book is 154 pages, it's got a bit of everything: friendship, wisdom, action, one liners, and love. It's a great read for anyone who wants a taste of action in the old west.” from Poisoned Blade on Amazon reviewer see below:
Poisoned Blade
Why I finished this read: To tie up the story which ended well.
Stars rating: 5 out I’d 5. He is a great writer, western writer that describes things well, has morals, good characters and fun to read. He was as expected for me.
This was actually a pretty good story, worth the reread. I'm rehoming it