(I really hoped the second book would give me the chance to attach further to them, but the second book is a companion with different characters.) → what I disliked ← “Gold makes monsters of men.”ĭespite this being a really fun story, I don’t feel like I ever fully connected with the characters! It was hard for me to feel much emotion for any of them, even when terrible, dramatic things happened. I find that fight scenes are hit and miss for me in books, but Erin Bowman does a pretty fine job of playing them out for you. The action scenes are remarkably well-paced and easy to follow.

Even once the truth is revealed, I never felt like Jesse or Will looked at Kate any differently for her sex – a surprisingly feminist view for a couple of late 1800s teen boys to hold. On top of that, when they choose to ride with Kate, not knowing she’s a young woman, it’s made evident that their offer is based on a feeling of moral requirement – not just taking care of her because she’s a girl. Jesse and Will, the two brothers Kate travels with, are also a really enjoyable duo they bicker like siblings, but there’s no doubting their love for one another, even when one of them inevitably falls into a rant about the other one’s idiocy or quirks. Even when she starts to develop feelings for Jesse, one of the brothers she reluctantly travels with, she refuses to let those emotions hinder her even for a moment. She’s stubborn, heartbroken, and downright pissed off, and nothing’s getting in the way of that. Kate is a fantastically likable narrator.

Sometimes I think the whole world’s ‘gainst us.” → what I liked ← “The frontier ain’t for the faint of heart, and it certainly ain’t kind to women. I was wrong, though Vengeance Roadliterally feels like you’ve been transported into a western, from the setting all the way to the manner of speaking the narrator takes on (both in spoken word and her inner monologues).Įssentially, Vengeance Road is a story of vengeance when Kate comes home and finds her beloved father hanged and her home burned to the ground, she chooses to dress up like a young man and ride off after the gang of rough riders responsible for this crime. Truthfully, I’m not a tremendous fan of western films, but they tend to follow such specific atmospheric guidelines that I couldn’t have imagined a book executing those same feelings. Going into my first western story ever, I had no clue what to expect. “Sure, sometimes you gotta let things go, but other times you can’t till you set things right.”

Vengeance road book