Reviews

The Horse Thieves and Other Tales of the New West by Patrick Scalisi

briarsreviews's review

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4.0

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.
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