Robert Helmbrecht

Patrick Scalisi

Dwayne Vance

The Horse Thieves, and Other Tales of the New West

Briar's Reviews

My father had always told me stories about the West and loved watching Western movies with me, so this book was a nice reminder of my childhood when I got it in the mail.

This novel followed a few different stories (or tales) in the Western region. I found the novel was easy to read and quick to read, but at some points it was not easy to hang on to. The stories had their moments where I was addicted and couldn't put it down, but there was also a few points in the book where I wondered why I was continuing to read it.

The first story, The Horse Thieves, seemed to begin in a random spot, and I felt like a better introduction could have been made. Since these are shorter stories and not complete novels, I understood why the story had to start out how it did, but I still felt a little cheated for an introduction. The chapters were nice and short, and continued to move at a good pace. I felt like some of the wording felt like anyone could have written the story, and I wish there would have been a little more description (but that is more of a preference I have for in depth descriptions and shouldn't be held against the short stories). I didn't exactly like the ending to the first story, and I felt it was a little too short. A little more action would have made the story a lot more interesting, but that's just my opinion and shouldn't be held against the novel either.

I thoroughly enjoyed the second story, The Quick and the Dead, and I don't have much to say other than I wish there was more! It was a very pleasant read! 

For the rest of the stories, they sat in between the first two. At some points I felt the story moved faster and I enjoyed it more (like The Quick and the Dead) and at other paragraphs I felt a little cheated (like The Horse Thieves). I did enjoy the plots of these quick reads and I highly suggest the author continue making stories like these, except I would love to see them increased in length.

I give this selection of stories four out of five stars, due to the first story not helping me cling to the entire novel. I hesitated in the first story about continuing to read it, which shouldn't happen within the first few chapters. The novel was a nice Western gem! A good read!

I received this novel for free through Good Reads First Reads.