Books to read if you're planning a vacation in "Comanche", sorted by average review score:
Comanche Eagle
Published in Paperback by Zebra Books (Mass Market) (August, 1998)
Average review score: 
A very nice story with colorful charactersI didn't think Comanche Eagle written by Sara Orwig would be that great. But I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the story line very much. I liked the mix of characters, strong, intelligent tall woman, to sexy, handsome, strong half breed of a man, his pal, and a young boy all helped to make this story intriguing, interesting and satisfying. Even the ending was quite surprising, which I won't go into. Read the book and enjoy it. I'll definitely reach for her next book, Comanche Passion.
You become part of the story within the first 2 chapters.This book is an awesome book. I read it within 36 hours. I have read several of her books and this Lady can write! You become part of the characters! She is very authentic in her stories and they are not all Sex, Sex, Sex! There is a very real story that makes you want to turn each page to see what happens to each of the characters. They emit real, poignant feelings from each page. I can't wait until her next book and I wish she would write a book on Brett, Travis' brother!
Comanche Rose
Published in Paperback by Topaz (January, 1996)
Average review score:
My first ever romance novel, I just may be hooked now.I am 30 years old and before this book never read a romance novel. I picked it up by accident. I am glad I did. I read it in one evening. Although some of it I will have to say is a little hard to swallow, the characters are well presented. I didn't want Hap and Annie's story to end. Anita Mills did a wonderful job of story telling. The next story I read will be Comanche Moon.
great bookThis is a great book. I liked it very much. I would like to read some more of her books
Wait for Me, Watch for Me, Eula Bee
Published in Hardcover by William Morrow (October, 1978)
Average review score:
Loved This as a ChildI read this book several times when I was in elementary school. I have children of my own now and I wanted to give them a book I loved as a child. I always loved this book maybe because I have red hair just like Eula Bee. It's a good book to show children how powerful the love between siblings can be.
The book gives a side of the war one never gets to see.I enjoyed the book and it wiill be well used in the classroom. I will be teaching the book and am looking forward to seeing my student's reaction to Lewtie and his "responsibility" to Eula Bee at such a young age. As well as the shocking truth of children in captivity in our own country. I am very interested in finding supplemental texts to this book.
Favorite Childhood bookI read this book YEARS ago and it still stands out in my memory. It was my favorite book in elementary school and I also bought this for my daughter. It's amazing how what you read as a child can affect your adult life.
Comanche Vow
Published in Paperback by Silhouette (September, 1901)
Average review score:
FAIRIT WAS SLOW.... LET'S JUST SAY I'M GLAD I DID NOT PAY FULL PRICE FOR THIS ONE. NOT A STRONG MALE CHARACTER. THIS PREMISE NEEDED A LONGER FORMAT WITH MORE EVERYTHING.
Skillful Writing and Interesting StorylineThere are two reviews written on this that outline the story well and one review nails the book completely. Surfice to say, I would never have bought this book on the premise of a widow marrying her husband's brother. Especially since they were twins. My Puritan roots are exposed, I guess. However, good writing wins out every time. Ms. Whitefeather made the issues real and the resolutions believable. I immediately ordered two more of her books.
another Whitefeather winner!Nick Bluestone is proud of his Comanche blood. However his twin brother does not embrace their Native American heritage as well. Then his brother is killed but he had asked a vow of Nick to take care of his wife & child....the Comanche way.
Elaina & her adolescent daughter travel to Oklahoma to visit with her husband's brother. Her emotions are tender as Nick resembles his brother in looks but she clearly sees that he is very different as he lives & breathes his heritage unlike her husband had. So Elaina is surprised to learn about the request her husband had asked of his brother. That Nick be her husband & father to her daughter.
This is another wonderful Native American story from Ms Whitefeather. Tender & touching! I adored the hero......he embraces his family as wholeheartedly as he does his heritage. And the ending was fantastic!!
Where the Broken Heart Still Beats: The Story of Cynthia Ann Parker
Published in Paperback by Gulliver Books Paperbacks (15 October, 1992)
Average review score:
Cross Cultural AdoptionI bought two books about Cynthia Ann Parker, one the historical record and this historical fiction for my daughter, 14. As an adolescent dealing with cross cultural adoption issues, she identified with Cynthy Ann's dilemma and was able to talk about it with her mother. I was familiar with the story but was interested in the details. I read "The Searchers" as a boy but I have always been more interested in the point of view of the original land lords. Another book that deals with native american cross cultural adoption issues is "Pigs in Heaven" by that woman who is so famous for "The Poisonwood Bible" now.
One of the saddest books I ever readThis book is the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, who at age nine, is kidnapped by Comanche Indians from her home in Texas. The book begins twenty-five years later when Cynthia Ann is recaptured by Texan rangers and returned to her Texan family. Finally, after twenty-five years of living with these people, she is once again kidnapped by park rangers and returned to the Parker family. She no longer remembers English or her original Texan customs. She cannot forget her beloved husband Peta Nocona, who was a courageous Comanche warrior, or her two sons Quanah and Pecos. To her advantage she is with her baby daughter, Topsannah when she is taken back to the Parkers, so she continues to teach her the Comanche ways. Topsannah's name is soon changed to Prairie Flower, its English version, and later to Tecks Ann so that she will better fit into the society. They both try to cooperate and learn these odd "white" ways. Tecks Ann has a much easier time getting accustomed to these customs, but Cynthia Ann must continue to learn how to cook, read, write, and sew by her twelve-year-old niece Lucy. As time goes on Lucy makes Cynthia Ann a promise that she is not sure she can keep in a time of hardships for everyone. She must leave the Parker's house and live with her brother to get away from her pregnant sister-in-law.
This book is one of the saddest book I ever read, but it is easy to enjoy anyway.
thoughtprovoking yet sadThis book wieghed heavy on my heart. In short, a 9 year old white girl, was taken away by Indians, who also killed her family. As years go on, she adapts and "turns injun" . She falls in love with a warrior and bears 3 kids { 2 boys and a girl, the adorable prarie flower}. After 25 years rangers catch her and take her back to whats left of her original family. She doest like it. She cant adapt back to the white ways of life. She doesnt trust whites and they dont trust her, except young Lucy who tries to help her adapt.
I guess I kept hoping she would come to love her original family again , but it never happened. Her life was completly miserable. This book was sad and kept getting sadder until the bitter end. The book was good but those looking for a happy ending may not like it.
I guess I kept hoping she would come to love her original family again , but it never happened. Her life was completly miserable. This book was sad and kept getting sadder until the bitter end. The book was good but those looking for a happy ending may not like it.
Lords of the Plain
Published in Hardcover by Atheneum (March, 1985)
Average review score:
Slow Moving Western TaleAs a great fan of Western history, this story proved to be a bit disappointing. Max Crawford is certainly knowledgeable about the location for his tale and the sad story of the last days of the Comanche Indians. In this respect, he's done his homework well. My main complaint is that things just don't seem to flow. Episodes occur, often times not seeming to relate to one another and the author often cuts short things I wish he had expanded upon. The highlight of this book is Crawford's description of the awesome landscape and the difficulties the men had in coping with it. While not a gripping story, it's worthwhile reading if you're a fan of the Old West.
Interesting Account of the Texas Plains of the 1870'sAlthough lengthy, descriptive paragraphs describe setting and plot, I found this book interesting and informative concerning the fading out of the once powerful Comanche Indian nation in Texas during the l870's. I enjoyed the poetic prose thoughout his narrative.
Evelyn Horan - author
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Book One
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Book Two
Evelyn Horan - author
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Book One
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Book Two
This is a very good book, BUT. . .Crawford spins a good yarn, and the book is replete with lots of interesting and accurate Texas history. However, the guy ain't no Steinbeck! I wish he would have had someone edit his long and often convoluted sentences. As a tired old retired guy with thick glasses I think Crewford tends to keep typing much too long before he decides to call it a paragraph. When a paragraph goes on and on for a page-and-a-half my eyes get weary. However, it is worth the effort to read this book.
Dances With Wolves
Published in Mass Market Paperback by Fawcett Books (November, 1990)
Average review score:
The Movie's Actually BetterI'll say one thing for this book (besides that it's easy to read): it may be simplistic and perpetuate stereotypes of the "noble savage" and "hostile savage", but it does give us something new. The book is about a white male in the Union army, although it doesn't really mention the Civil War very much; in fact, the protagonist, Lt. Dunbar, doesn't even know what's going on with the war he fought in.
Dunbar is posted at a lonely fort on the frontier, where he works and communes with nature and animals. The ecological aspect is a new slant in the western, but much of the book is still predictable and does not try very hard to go in depth or portray reality.
Dunbar joins the Comanche Indian tribe, falls in love with the one white woman (surprise surprise) and gets renamed Dances with Wolves. What you expect to happen does. He saves the Indians (how could he not-he's white!), is accused of being a traitor by his own people, blah blah. A good book for the general public, but I prefer actual 'literature'.
Dunbar is posted at a lonely fort on the frontier, where he works and communes with nature and animals. The ecological aspect is a new slant in the western, but much of the book is still predictable and does not try very hard to go in depth or portray reality.
Dunbar joins the Comanche Indian tribe, falls in love with the one white woman (surprise surprise) and gets renamed Dances with Wolves. What you expect to happen does. He saves the Indians (how could he not-he's white!), is accused of being a traitor by his own people, blah blah. A good book for the general public, but I prefer actual 'literature'.
Enjoyable - modern version of Little Big ManCivil War hero Lt. John J. Dunbar is posted on the frontier at the deserted Fort Sedgewick. After realizing that no one is coming to join him, he befriends a neighboring Comanche camp. In time, he learns the Comanche way of life and with the help of Comanches Wind in His Hair, Kicking Bird, Ten Bears, Stone Calf, and Stands with a Fist, he learns the language and culture.
After successfully fighting off a Pawnee attack, Lt. Dunbar (Dances with Wolves) marries Stands with a Fist and becomes a part of the Comanche tribe. In the end, he is forced to choose between his past as a white soldier or what he has now become - a Comanche Indian.
The death, destruction, and disregard for nature by the whites moves him to stay with the Comanche.
The books is enjoyable and quick reading.
Excellent Read About a Soldier and An Indian TribeLieutenant John Dunbar arrives at an abandoned army post after the Civil War, anxious to be a good U.S. soldier. He becomes friends with an Indian tribe and soon becomes one of them after he falls in love with an Indian woman and is given a new name by the tribe, Dances With Wolves. Unfortunately, the army will soon be arriving to send the tribe off to reservation land. There is conflict and action in this exciting book. A must read!
Evelyn Horan - teacher/counselor/author
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Books One - Three
Evelyn Horan - teacher/counselor/author
Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, Books One - Three
Badger Boy
Published in Hardcover by Forge (January, 2001)
Average review score:
Western fiction fans apparently have low standards*Badger Boy* was a chance find on a local store bookshelf which was almost unpopulated by anything resembling science fiction, and while I don't regret the purchase or the time spent reading the novel, I'm a bit disappointed. Kelton is not a bad storyteller, and he's got a good touch at characterization. The truthfulness of his settings I can't satisfactorily address as I'm unfamiliar with the history of Texas and the Indian Territories at the depicted time, but they seem robust enough. The problem is that the work appears to be no more than a matchstick sketch, without much depth or detail, and these characters -- and the situations in which they find themselves -- really deserve much better. If *Badger Boy* is any indication of the present state-of-the-art in Western fiction, then the writers and fans of this genre are stuck at roughly the same phase of development as was characterized in science fiction by works like A.E. van Vogt's *Slan* (which was published in 1946). Speaking as an outsider -- a science fiction fan who has little experience with the Western genre -- can I ask just why the hell a writer as obviously talented as Elmer Kelton is producing stuff that promises so much and delivers so little? Is it that you Western fiction fans are too easily satisfied, and don't support your writers as intelligently and expectantly as you should?
Ferociously Good Sequel!Little wonder that Elmer Kelton has been voted the greatest western writer of all time by the Western Writers of America. His current novel, "Badger Boy," extends Kelton's reputation of well-researched excellence. As entertaining as it's predecessor, "The Buckskin Line," "Badger Boy" transports the reader to post-Civil War Texas with writing so vivid you can smell the earthiness of frontier cabin and taste the pungency of frontier justice. You find yourself caring about these characters and if you're like me, you'll be eagerly anticipating their further adventures. Sink your teeth into this one!
HARD TO PUT IT DOWN!!!!!!!Bager Boy is about Rusty Shannon and his activities as the Civil War ends. He was a Ranger and as such is on his way back home after the war. The book will hold your attention. Rusty has to face many disapointments. His girl has gotten married, he has no money and not much hope of getting any. There are people who would like him gone. It is a good story of people at that time and the hard time they faced. Rusty ends up finding a white boy, dressed as an Indian and who had been living with the tribe for several years. This is Bager Boy. As expected the Boy is rejected by what is left of his family and Rusty is to take him back to his own prople. The ending has a surprise. The book is more of a family adventure than a "shoot out western". It does have a good story. I question the name as the Bager Boy does not relly show up in the book until page 158 when the book is half over, but then I did not name it.
Comanche Moon
Published in Paperback by Harper Mass Market Paperbacks (October, 1994)
Average review score:
Better than "Streets of Laredo" and "Dead Man's Walk"I am a big McMurtry fan and was very excited to see this published. But, I was a little more than disappointed. I guess "Lonesome Dove" is a tough act to follow. With this novel, McMurtry tries to set the action for "Lonesome Dove". But, there are still many questions that are not answered. Such as, why is Call always so stoic and literal. Why is he this way? There is no section on how Call felt after he learned of Maggie's death. Since a great deal is spent on their relationship, or lack thereof, it would have added a few more pages but, heh, at 750 + what's a few more? The "rangering" sections are still top form. I particularly loved the sections on the Indians and their relationship to the gods and the earth. Buffalo Hump's characterization is probably the best in the novel. McMurtry does set up Blue Duck as one mean SOB. I had trouble putting it down but was not compelled to feel I had to read it in one sitting. But, a big thanks must go out to McMurtry for bringing these wonderful characters back into our world again.
Typos and mental lapses in the Old WestIt sure seemed to me as if McMurtry and Simon & Schuster were merely completing some sort of contractual obligation to each other and emotional obligation to fans of the Lonesome Dove series with the publication of Comanche Moon.
Yeah, I enjoyed the book for 400-500 pages, before it degenerated into a progressively typo-ridden, rambling series of brief, occasionally poignant but mainly disconnected and even trite series of vignettes attempting to sum up the lives of the various characters.
Others have described the incredibly sloppy proofreading job on this book, involving typographical errors and repeated portions of dialogue. What a mess! What lack of respect for the reading public! And the editors failed to correct the author's numerous mental lapses, among them:
* Ranger Lee Hitch is shaggy-haired and Stove Jones is bald, but several pages later, when they line up for haircuts in the town of Lonesome Dove, Lee Hitch is bald and Stove Jones is shaggy-haired.
* Inez Scull complains that she dropped her buggy whip, then just a few paragraphs later, she begins to beat Gus with her buggy whip.
* Call grows bored with the rangers' conversation and walks away, then somehow contributes a comment to the same conversation.
Have I missed anything?
I greatly enjoyed the Lonesome Dove series, but would rank this book fourth in quality.
Not another "Lonesome Dove", but then again, what is?"Comanche Moon" is a very good read, second in chronological order in the series, and third in quality to my way of thinking. One thing that bothers me in all the 'Lonesome Dove' books is how in the world Gus and Woodrow ever earned their reputations as top-knotch Rangers? It must be because they survived so long, because they rarely are successful in ANY of their missions. The books are all competent in showing us frontier life as it was, lots of boredom broken up with a rare burst of violent conflict. I realize that the Real West wasn't all shoot-em-ups, but it would have been nice to see Gus and Woodrow go out on a mission and bring it to a successful conclusion once or twice, in order to allow us to see why they were so 'legendary.' Regardless, they are fascinating men in themselves, and "Comanche Moon" does fill in some gaps in their personal histories. I wish this book had been written earlier, though, because it seems as if McMurtry just got tired of those two characters and gave us a few pieces of gristle and little meat. If he'd have written this soon after "Dove", when he was still excited by the characters, we may have had another epic on our hands. I have a bone to pick with his adherence to history and realism, as he has characters firing repeating rifles long before it was possible, but these books are more character-driven anyway. All in all, this novel was not a major disappointment, and it held my interest all the way through. It was good to see the early developement of the other 'Dove' characters such as Newt, Jake Spoon, Deets, and Pea Eye, and blue pigs. We'll miss these characters, but perhaps it is best to put them to rest. Bob Johnson
The Holy Road (Thorndike Press Large Print Adventure Series)
Published in Hardcover by Thorndike Pr (Largeprint) (July, 2002)
Average review score:
Reader's ImaginationAt every turn in this book, Blake let the reader's imagination take over. Instead of lengthy descriptions he let dialog, actions, and situations plant the pictures in my head. I felt incredibly sad at times, mad at times, amazed and informed at times. I don't know if this was intended but that's how it read. I really enjoyed it and though I was a little miffed in the beginning that Dances With Wolves wasn't the main 'goin concern', I quickly got over that. This book delt with the tribes, their different views with white relations, and their struggle for survival.
Feeling Kicking Birds gut-wrenching realization that his way of life was forever lost was sobering. There could be no happy ending to this story and the lack of embellishment to the popular character's deaths, I think, coincided with the white mans attitude toward the Indians. (They didn't give it a second thought.)
The Holy Road Wasn't So Holy for allAfter having ready The Holy Road, I will probably go back and read Dances with Wolves. For the most part, I enjoyed Blake's style of writing. However, I do agree with another reviewer who wrote that the passing of such leaders as Ten Bears, Wind in My Hair, Kicking Bird and Dances with Wolves was certainly not elaborated upon as much as I would have liked to have seen. I suppose after having watched the movie "Dances With Wolves" so many times, [since I own a copy of it] I have associated those actors with the names and wanted every scrape of details.
Other than that, I commend Blake for his efforts on this sad but true topic.
Other than that, I commend Blake for his efforts on this sad but true topic.
The Holy RoadThis is an excellent book. It actually takes you back in time. It is well written. Very descriptive.