The Daybreakers (Sacketts #6) ★★★☆ ½

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 Title: The Daybreakers

 Series: Sacketts #6

 Author: Louis L'Amour

 Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

 Genre: Western

 Pages: 224

 Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Tyrel and Orrin Sackett leave the hills of Kentucky/whatever after killing a nogood scum. Joining a cattle herder, both young men begin the process of growing up and becoming respectable men. After learning how to herd cows, they set out to create their own herd. During this time they come across a mexican Don and his granddaughter and a huckster and his daughter from New England. Ty and Orrin eventually become lawman and mayor. When Orrin, who is now married to the blonde new englander runs for state senate, her father hires killers to take out Orrin to put his own man in power. It is up to Ty to keep his brother's hands clean protect him and rescue the Don's granddaughter.

Just a day's work for a Sackett.

My Thoughts:

I mainly remember this from the movie, The Sacketts, starring Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot. You know what, there really is nobody who more fits the image of the rough and tough Sackett brothers than those two. Those guys are who I think of when it comes to your generic Western characters.

Anyway, this book covers a good amount of time. Enough for both boys to go from cowpunchers to established politician and lawman. Don't blink or you'll miss a couple of months. Part of the disconnect is that the cattle drives take months and months but only take a couple of paragraphs.

There is a lot of fighting, like you'd expect in a western. A couple of one on one shootouts, lots of Ty facing down various men, some killers, some just hardheads who needed a bit of fear put into their lives to give them perspective. The swell of civilization westward seems to happen quickly as well, but much like what we see happening on the internet today with torrent and sharing sites, it was inevitable. The speed at which humanity can communicate determines how fast things will change to accommodate the greatest number.

It was also very interesting to see L'Amour characterize someone from New England. And uptight scammer. It made me laugh because the kind of person from New England who couldn't stay in New England would be exactly that. Spot on.

★★★☆ ½

1. Sackett's Land (Book 1)
2. To the Far Blue Mountains (Book 2)
3. The Warrior's Path (Book 3)
4. Jubal Sackett (Book 4)
5. Ride the River (Book 5)

Ride the River (Sacketts #5) ★★★☆ ½

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title:         Ride the River
 Series:      Sacketts #5 
Author:    Louis L'Amour 
Rating:     3.5 of 5 Stars 
Genre:     Western 
 Pages:      192
 Format:   Digital Edition 

Synopsis:

Echo Sackett, the youngest descendant of Kin Sackett, must travel to Philadelphia to sign some papers upon which she will get $3000. All is not as it seems through and greed and corruption must run their course.

Echo gets her inheritance, but it is a long way back to the hills of Tennesee and the corrupt lawyer has hired thugs and murderers to get that money back. Being a Sackett, Echo isn't too worried. She knows the land, she has a gun and she has a mission. With a little help from a Chantry [another family associated with the Sacketts], Echo shows that the Sackett blood hasn't thinned one bit. And now that the Sacketts have spread all over [it is 200 years since the last book], Family Loyalty rears its head and when one Sackett is in trouble, the rest come running.

My Thoughts:

I have been waiting for this book for 5 books. This is a Western, Sackett book. Echo is the fiercely determined, independent main character of the story. I really enjoyed reading her story.

Being a woman, L'Amour doesn't have her get into brutal fistfights with some other characters, but that is what the Chantry was for. As well as a possible romantic angle. It all worked pretty well.

The sense of urgency, of running, of having to make it to “home” to be safe, came through loud and clear. Echo might have had a gun and known how to use it, but she couldn't just shoot everyone and lollygag her way home. And since she's the tracker and the shooter, she's the one who must stay safe.
This was what I wanted in a Sackett book. Urgency, guns, chivalry, evil characters, people defending themselves [!!!] and everyone taking responsibility for their actions, good or bad.

I've added the cover of the edition I read, but here are a couple more that have existed through the years. From the redneck hillbilly look to the more modern characterless look, you can really see how the story has changed its face to appeal to the readers. Makes me wonder about us readers through if that first cover really sold the book?









★★★☆ ½ 

1. Review of Book 4

Jubal Sackett (Sacketts #4)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: Jubal Sackett
Series: Sacketts #4
Author: Louis L'amour
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 368
Format: Kindle Digital edition

Synopsis:

Jubal Sackett, youngest son of Barnabas Sackett, is a loner and a wanderer. Tasked by his father to find land further west for his brothers, Jubal gladly obeys. Along the way he is somehow swept into finding an indian princess, starting a small community and saving said settlement from rogue indians AND spanish slavers.


Ends with him and the indian princess finding the perfect valley and settling down for the long haul.

My Thoughts:

This felt like a very long book and after comparing it to previous Sackett novels, it is. Almost 30% longer in fact.  Most of that 30% could have been cut if Jubal's introspective monologues had been cut to the first chapter or 2 instead of being repeated every third chapter. Seriously, how many times do I need to read about him wondering why he wants to wander, how his brothers are doing and how his mother and sister are doing in England?

Other than that, this was a great "Man Against Nature" and "Man Against Man" story. Fighting a wilderness that wants to kill him, fighting indians, fighting spanish, there was a lot of action here.  This was the type of story that I think of when I think Sacketts.

The decision to limit these to one every 2 months was a good one. Any more and I'd be clawing these up. I'm actually wondering if there is a way that I could push it to one book every 3 months, but every scheme I've come up with is just too complicated. Right now I regulate it by having X number of series/books on my kindle and just reading through them by series. To push it out to 3 months I'd have to add a bunch more series and that would push all the other books out to 3 months and I don't want to do that. Keeping track manually isn't going to happen as I'll forget.
 

Review of Book 1
Review of Book 2
Review of Book 3

The Warrior's Path (Sacketts #3)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes. blogspot.wordpress.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: The Warrior's Path
Series: Sacketts #3
Author: Louis L'amour
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 240
Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis:

Kin Sacket and his brother rescue a girl and young woman who were taken by indians. However, it turns out they were taken by white slave traders and that the head of said traders is a prominent man in the local community.
It is up to Kin, and Diana, to track down another kidnapped woman and get her sworn statement to bring the slaver to justice legally. But he isn't going down without a fight and it may be God's justice that he faces and not man's.

My Thoughts:

I gave this the "western" tag, as the Sackett boys are considering moving West by the end of the book, but it is more of a bridge between the historical fiction chronicled in Barnabas's story [their father] and the truly Cowboy Westerns later on.

This was fun. Kin ends up going to the Jamaican Islands and having adventures with pirates and then fighting off rogue slavers back at the Sackett settlement.  A good adventure story.

There is the trademark L'amour monologuing which I think I have accustomed myself to, but I still feel like rolling my eyes at it. I can only take so much of it. Zoom through it and everything is ok though.

To the Far Blue Mountains (Sacketts #2)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes. blogspot.wordpress.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: To the Far Blue Mountains
Series: Sacketts
Author: Louis L'amour
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 287
Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis:

Barnabas Sackett is now wanted by the Crown, as it is believed he discovered some of the Lost Crown Jewels when he found the old gold pieces. Cast into prison, rescued and fleeing to the New World, Barnabas must finally leave England behind for good. Now with his wife and his crew, Barnabas must learn to live in a land where everything is new and strange. Determination and grit allow him to succeed and to raise a fine crop of kiddo's, men and women who are suited for exploring and conquering this America.

My Thoughts:

Pretty much the same thoughts as the previous book.

Barnabas waxes loquacious at any and all times and comes across much more as an armchair philosopher than a man who is trying to survive. There is a lot of action, what with prison rescues, fighting pirates, fighting Indians, etc but it is all mellowed out by the tone it is being told in. Even Barnabas's dying thoughts are presented that way.
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Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Shadows of Self
Series: Mistborn
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Rating:         of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 384
Format: Kindle




Synopsis:
Waxillium, otherwise known as Wax and his trusty pardner Wayne, are now city slickers and special deputized lawmen.
Only things aren't going so well in the Big City. "God" seems to have made life just a tad bit too easy for humanity and one of the "angels" has taken exception to that.
So Wax must stop an insane angel AND figure out if god is worth following after all.

My Thoughts:
This was a good book. It was exciting, it was tragic, it was funny, it was sad, it was light and it was very philosophical.
It was everything I expected from Brandon Sanderson.

It has been almost 4 years since I read Alloy of Law and to be honest, it was a tad confusing getting back into things. I remembered Wax and Wayne, but everyone else? It was like brand new characters. Thankfully, the next book in this second Mistborn trilogy is coming out next week and I plan on reading it first thing in February. That way there will be no lag time. But I was able to get past all that and get into the story.

I've also been reading The Many Faces of Evil and it fit right alongside of this very well. One of the main characters from the previous trilogy is now god and Wax has to decide if he is really worth following and obeying.  This book went a lot deeper than I was expecting and I really liked it. I've struggled with the issue of evil and god ever since I was a teen and while this story doesn't even try to answer it, just the fact that a contemporary of mine is asking the same questions is heartening.

I also like seeing more mistborn ability in a modern setting. It shows Sanderson's imagination and ability as an author. Good times.