Death Rides A Chestnut Mare (1999) - Plot & Excerpts
I had great hopes for this one. I mean, what's cooler than a teenaged girl taking on the identity of her murdered father to seek vengeance? Not much, that's what. Unfortunately, this was a choppy, one-note book.You'd almost think that Danielle (the vengeance-seeking main character) had the powers of teleportation with the way that she would begin a journey only to have it completed in the next sentence. It didn't make for great continuity, and was often distracting. Also, the plot was a giant, repeating cliche. Yes, yes, we know that Danielle is both honorable and the fastest gun in the West. So whenever some "varmint" (and yes, the word appears several times) crosses her path, she waits for him to draw first. Then she displays supernatural quickdraw powers, leaving him dead in the road for the buzzards. Over and over and over.Oh, and if I had to read the insult "yellow-bellied coyote who walks on two legs like a man" one more time, I would display supernatural quickdraw powers and leave this book in the book drop so fast it would make your head spin. So...if you're fascinated by the old West (it did seem well researched), don't mind choppy writing, and revel in cowboy cliches, then hop to it, amigo. This is your book.
This was an easy, light read, which was refreshing. The main character is a young woman who passes herself off as a man, set on avenging her father's killers. While we get deeply into the character, I liked her and admired her adeptness and intelligence--which not only got her revenge but saved her life many times, some of which became redundant as gun shots from ambush. The author name-dropped the names of the famous, having our protag brush up against them, and he fed us interesting tidbits, such as the drumming on the fiddle. Read the book to see what I'm talking about. As the book neared its end, I began to worry. So much of the story needed resolving; how would the author manage it? By the last page, I was stewing. You might say the book ended with "to be continued." The next book has some title like "beneath the hanging noose," or something to that effect. I hope it doesn't leaving the reader feeling dumped.
What do You think about Death Rides A Chestnut Mare (1999)?
Listing this book under Historical Fiction is misleading. The hero/heroine is beyond belief. If you are looking for a western, choose Elmer Kelton or Louis L'amour. Not only that, but after 306 pages it doesn't come to a conclusion. It ends with, "to be continued."
—Rodger
This book should have been awesome. The cover: awesome. The tiltle: awesome. The story line: come on, a girl revenging her fathers muders by dressing as a man, carrying her fathers trademark Colts and hunting down and killing the men who mudered her father: awesome. I don't know what happen but I was completely bored the entire time and not even sure why I finished the book in the first place. Then to make it worst, I get to the end of the book and it becomes a series. I read the whole book and didn't even get to see how it ended.
—Heather
