2 1/2Awhile back I had mentioned in a group that I liked things like alt-history with magic - and this book offers a nice combination of secret history with weird west. I've always quite liked the idea of the wild west, though I haven't read much about it, and this book was recommended to me.What I'll say is that while it was ok, I could've lived without having read it and still been happy.Let's see - so, it's about Tombstone in 1881, and everyone knows some variation of the story. Admittedly, most of my knowledge comes from the movie Tombstone and Wikipedia articles. This book puts a different spin on things, which is interesting, but the writing never lives up to the potential.For one thing, while all the known names are mentioned and involved in some way or another, the main protagonists are fictional additions, and sort of tropes at that. Now, I love the mysterious stranger and the plucky heroine, I do, but I had a hard time really getting into these two.A third point-of-view comes from my favorite 'character' of the story - Doc Holliday, and his parts add an interesting tidbit.I think the biggest thing is that, while reading the story, I felt that characters like Wyatt Earp where so almost cursory that there wasn't really any reason why it had to be him. I never felt like the time, the people, the place - the history - was really vital to the story, it was more just backdrop.I also didn't really feel ever caught up in the romance of the wild west. Granted, much of the romance is, well, romantic - unrealistic notions of the way that it was. But if the history isn't going to be vital, then I at least want the romance of it - but both were lacking.As for the story itself, it started a bit slow, but picked up pretty quickly. But then there were some weird interludes which slowed everything down again, and then it picked up again, but then it sort of went off the rails. The writing was sort of all over the place. People would do and say things that didn't make much sense in the context of the moment. More than once I would turn a page, read something, and go back to see if I'd missed something or pages were stuck together. I don't know. I just kept feeling like I ought to like it more than I did, but it just felt thin.I read that, at one point, there was a planned sequel, but that was back n 2007 and there's been no development that I've heard of since then. It would make sense if this were the first book of a set - that would certainly help explain why it sort of dangled there at the end. Perhaps this story could blossom into something more but, as a stand alone, it's nothing past "ok".
Territory by Emma Bull falls into the category of a fiction story portraying a real historical event with a twist. In this case the event is the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and all the happenings that lead up to it and the twist is a couple of fictional characters and the fact that Wyatt Earp was a sorcerer. This makes it sounds kind of silly but it isn’t –the fantastical elements of the story are subtly dealt with and I would even wager that folks not normally inclined to fantasy literature wouldn’t be put off.The events take place in Tombstone Arizona in the 1880’s and the story is told from the perspective of three characters: Jesse Fox a wanderer, horse tamer; Mildred Benjamin a widower and typesetter at one of the newspapers in town and on the sly a writer of trashy western short stories; and finally Doc Holliday, dentist turned gambler and Wyatt Earp’s best friend. Most of this book deals with events in the year or so leading up to the gunfight in October 1886 and of course Emma Bull suggests some other motives and conspiracies behind the fight (which is good because from what I’ve read of the real event, the motives behind it just seemed to be that the participants were violent, drunken asshats who didn’t like each other – not very interesting). Be warned that this book doesn’t actually get to the gunfight – there is a second volume on the way sometime in the future.This book was great fun and while it didn’t change my life it was a highly enjoyable read. Most of the reviews I’d read of the book before reading it didn’t mention how funny it is and Emma Bull’s talent in my opinion lies in her approach to descriptions with a unique and witty eye that created images that really stuck with me. She has a bartender describe a locally made peach liqueur as “like a pretty whore with brass knuckles”. I found myself re-reading and then writing out several passages from the book that I really loved.The characters were great - I have a pretty big crush on Jesse Fox and she manages to make Mildred a heroine while being a normal person and not an annoying supergirl. I really enjoyed it and now anxiously await the second volume.
What do You think about Territory (2007)?
I am a big fan of Emma Bull's books which have various settings. One thing they all share is the magical prose. Bull is a pretty good stylist and she writes well. This book is an unconventional take on the events prior to the Gunfight at the OK Corral. The story opens with a stage coach robbery in which 2 men are killed. The robbers are 4 men -- one of whom is secretly Morgan Earp -- Wyatt Earp's brother. Wyatt Earp, who is a lynchpin of the story, turns out to be a black sorcerer, who is using any means that he can to hunt down the men who can identify his brother as one of the robbers in order to protect his brother but also to maintain his power in the town. Another main character is Jesse Fox, a man with magical skills who comes to Tombstone to meet a Chinese Mystic who is a friend and wants Fox to use his magic. A third major character is Mildred Benjamin, a widow and newspaper writer who Fox is attracted to. Bull uses all of these characters and many historical figures to spin a light airy story about murder and the protection of ones family. Doc Holiday is there and John Ringo, Ike Clanton. Bull brings in many characters as she fills her stage with great imagination prior to the ultimate confrontation between Fox and Earp. Its a period piece. Its a detective story. Its a fantasy. Its a western. Its the story of a man, Fox, who learns how to use his magic for good and a woman Benjamin who ventures out of her widow past.Its very good
—Jeffrey
I really wanted to love this book. I loved War for the Oaks so very much, and this particular moment in history is something I know a litle bit about. At first that made it harder, as I found the whitewashing on the relationship between Doc and Kate a little hard to swallow (she was a prostitute and a madam in a brothel, and he was arrested for hitting her in the street). But just about the time I forgave Emma Bull for all of that because of the ingenious way she was using history, the book just ended. No climactic action, no nothing. And perhaps that's my knowledge of history's fault again, I thought I knew what the climactic action of the piece would have to be, what else could it be? But we stop the day before it happens, and it drives me crazy. So it felt poorly paced, and I'm disappointed, but I can't give it less than three stars.
—Sybylla
I keep trying to quantify what I liked about this book and failing. The re-characterization of the familiar names were believable and interesting in the main. The original characters weren't terribly original but they were enjoyable. The dialogue may have been the selling point; I thought it seemed wonderfully authentic (I have no particular knowledge in this area.) The depiction of the setting was appropriately sparse. The structure of the magic was explained just enough to give it structure but not so much as to ruin the mystery. There were times that the story felt somewhat under-exposed, but my questions were all answered at the end. Ultimately, I feel like there were too many plot elements that didn't quite fit together or weren't quite finished. I enjoyed this book right up until the end but walked away feeling at loose ends.
—Imperfectlyrua Castle-Hackett
