Helpful Score: 3
Louis L'Amour at his best! I am a huge fan of his western epics and I could not put this one down until it was done. If you like westerns, you will like this book.
Helpful Score: 2
My favorite L'Amour book. Saw this copy in hardcover and had to pick it up.
Helpful Score: 2
This is one of Louis L'Amour's best books yet.
Helpful Score: 2
I discovered this book through another, "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver Van DeMille. "The Lonesome Gods" is a story of an education, a story of survival, a story of vengeance, and a story of the desert. Johannes Verne's grandfather wants him dead, and he very nearly kills six-year-old Johannes, after murdering the boy's father. But Johannes survives and learns to thrive in the desert. In the process, he meets a number of interesting people (many of whom becomes mentors), learns about his family's past, unravels a mystery or two and always takes what he can from a situation, stashing away knowledge for future reference.
I've read this book twice, two of my kids have read it more than once, my husband has read it. It's a well-written story that is much deeper than a simple, rustlers-steal-cattle-cowboy-makes-them-pay tale. L'Amour obviously knows his subject matter; he creates wonderful, multi-faceted characters; and, with the first sentence or two, immediately draws you into the life of Johannes: "I sat very still, as befitted a small boy among strangers, staring wide-eyed into a world I did not know. I was six years old and my father was dying."
My one negative comment is this: L'Amour gets a little heavy-handed with the didactism. That, however, is a very small price to pay for such a compelling story.
I've read this book twice, two of my kids have read it more than once, my husband has read it. It's a well-written story that is much deeper than a simple, rustlers-steal-cattle-cowboy-makes-them-pay tale. L'Amour obviously knows his subject matter; he creates wonderful, multi-faceted characters; and, with the first sentence or two, immediately draws you into the life of Johannes: "I sat very still, as befitted a small boy among strangers, staring wide-eyed into a world I did not know. I was six years old and my father was dying."
My one negative comment is this: L'Amour gets a little heavy-handed with the didactism. That, however, is a very small price to pay for such a compelling story.
Helpful Score: 1
Like all of Louis L'Amour books, this was a great one. But this one to me was a little philosophical about what choices a young man makes in life. It turned into one of my favorite L'Amour books.
