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thereaderred's review
4.0
Well that was a rootin' tootin' point n' shootin' blast of a book, I just had to get it for the cover alone!
It couldn't come at a better time either since recently I have been watching a metric ton of spaghetti westerns, so this primed me for the many easter eggs hidden inside.
The stories all follow the exploits of a bounty hunter named Sabbath, clearly modelled on western icon Lee Van Cleef, in all his moustachioed glory (and based on his characters in For A Few Dollars More and Sabata), who goes after the outlaws and corrupt city officials that cross his path.
The first story starts off with an introduction to the character, and this is where a lot of the references come into play. Sometimes it does get a bit more encyclopedic with the "shared universe" concept than I'm used to, but it's a perfect set up to the world in which he inhabits, and does help put the plotlines into perspective. Also there was a really cool team up with not one but two Eurowestern icons - I don't want to say who but trust me it's delightful.
The next two tales are also really well written, but I think the second tale, City of Enemies, might be my favourite. It's more a solo story and it gives Sabbath room to breathe, in addition I thought it felt the closest to capturing the authentic tone and pacing of the spaghetti western movies. The final story is also a team up and features a character I was not familiar with: Shanghai Joe - which, according to the afterword, is a public domain character. This one is pretty fun as it becomes a hybrid of western and martial arts movie where they fight injustice by freeing some Mexican slaves from a mine. The finale is left open ended but it still works on its own.
The book also features and expansive page of notes which details all the characters, locations, historical and literary references, so I just had to keep flicking back to see how each story was connected.
I'm not gonna lie I've not read many anthologies in a while but this one really hits the spot, it was just a whole lot of fun, a true rip-snorting tale of adventure in the Old West. I seriously hope another volume comes out soon because it would be terrible to let this idea go to waste.
It couldn't come at a better time either since recently I have been watching a metric ton of spaghetti westerns, so this primed me for the many easter eggs hidden inside.
The stories all follow the exploits of a bounty hunter named Sabbath, clearly modelled on western icon Lee Van Cleef, in all his moustachioed glory (and based on his characters in For A Few Dollars More and Sabata), who goes after the outlaws and corrupt city officials that cross his path.
The first story starts off with an introduction to the character, and this is where a lot of the references come into play. Sometimes it does get a bit more encyclopedic with the "shared universe" concept than I'm used to, but it's a perfect set up to the world in which he inhabits, and does help put the plotlines into perspective. Also there was a really cool team up with not one but two Eurowestern icons - I don't want to say who but trust me it's delightful.
The next two tales are also really well written, but I think the second tale, City of Enemies, might be my favourite. It's more a solo story and it gives Sabbath room to breathe, in addition I thought it felt the closest to capturing the authentic tone and pacing of the spaghetti western movies. The final story is also a team up and features a character I was not familiar with: Shanghai Joe - which, according to the afterword, is a public domain character. This one is pretty fun as it becomes a hybrid of western and martial arts movie where they fight injustice by freeing some Mexican slaves from a mine. The finale is left open ended but it still works on its own.
The book also features and expansive page of notes which details all the characters, locations, historical and literary references, so I just had to keep flicking back to see how each story was connected.
I'm not gonna lie I've not read many anthologies in a while but this one really hits the spot, it was just a whole lot of fun, a true rip-snorting tale of adventure in the Old West. I seriously hope another volume comes out soon because it would be terrible to let this idea go to waste.
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