Sophia Rose Reviews- The Shadow Riders by Louis L'Amour

Today Sophia Rose is back reviewing one of her favorite western authors, Louis L'Amour and his Civil War era novel, The Shadow Riders.
Enjoy! 

The Shadow Riders by Louis L’Amour, Narrated by Jason Culp

Western Fiction

Publisher: Random House Audio

Published:  4.26.22

Time:  5 hours 7 minutes

Rating: 4.5 stars

Narrator Rating: 5 stars

Source: Penguin Random House Audio

Sellers: Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads

 

GoodReads Blurb:

Dal and Mac Traven left Texas young and idealistic. They came back from opposite sides of a living hell, a war that had torn the nation in two. They wanted only to reclaim their old lives - but one man held their futures hostage.

Colonel Henry T. Ashford had gathered an army of criminals and renegade soldiers, leading them on a path of destruction and kidnapping through Texas to the Gulf. Among Ashford’s captives were the Travens’ sister and Dal’s tough-minded fiancée, Kate.

Now Mac and Dal must take up arms once again and ride together against Ashford’s army - ready to fight another war, if that’s what it takes to win the freedom of the women they love.

 

Sophia Rose's Review:

The American Civil War split families over the clash in ideologies, but at the end one pair of brothers who fought for opposite sides reunite to track down a band of Rebel renegades and rescue their younger brother and sisters, Dal’s lady, and the other captured people.  The odds are against them, but there’s no quit in the Traven brothers.

The Shadow Riders is one of L’Amour’s standalone westerns.  It bursts with action and excitement with plenty of shooting and grit.  Moving along swiftly, there is no lag in the pace since it is a chase from one end of Texas to the other to keep the people from getting sold for Ashford’s crazy scheme to fund his desire to keep the Civil War going.  L’Amour’s gift of painting a picture of a specific western setting and situation, in this case post-Civil War Texas, the Traven family who faced hard frontier life before the war and now face more danger, and Ashford and his band of marauders brought the story to vivid life.  In fact, it was a perfect choice to put on audio because of how well this medium showcased the story. 

I enjoyed getting the story from Mac Traven’s perspective though he shares the narration with others after a while.  Mac and Dal have different personalities and it was fun being on the trail with them and eventually their Uncle ‘Happy Jack’ Traven and younger brother Jesse.  Mac is a former Texas Ranger and has a lot of frontier and fighting experience, but he’s good with people and a natural leader.  Dal on the other hand is a good hard worker and tough fighter, but he is quiet and not that great at the social skills.  It was a lighter tone in the story how Mac was advising Dal about how he’d messed up his love life and what he needed to do if had a prayer’s chance with Kate a second time.  Kate was a fierce and strong frontier gal whom I admired, but I have to spoiler a tad and say the surprise of her relationship to pirates was a hoot.

One of the many elements I love besides the excellent backdrop and action in a Louis L’Amour story is he always give the good guys a worthy antagonist.    Ashford and his ilk were brutal and were prepared to do some human trafficking and had burned and pillaged on their trail south – this was poignantly shown in the scared little girl’s story of her mother’s capture- so I really wanted them to come to a messy end.  This sure was an example of how some of the worst sort can actually thrive during a time of war and like the protection an official war gives their killing and other otherwise criminal tendencies.

The narrator is one of my favorite narrator of L’Amour stories, Jason Culp.  He does a wonderful job matching the tone of the story, voicing the characters, and pulling the listener into the story.

All in all, my craving for a solid western with good action, engaging characters, and well-drawn backdrop was fulfilled once again.  If one loves the western genre, this is one I definitely recommend and, especially, in audio.

 

Author Bio:

Our foremost storyteller of the American West, Louis L’Amour has thrilled a nation by chronicling the adventures of the brave men and woman who settled the frontier. There are more than three hundred million copies of his books in print around the world.

Website:  http://www.louislamour.com/

Sophia’s Bio:

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

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GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose