The Buckskin Line (Texas Rangers)

Rating:
Summary: Buffalo chips
Review: If the author of this book is "the greatest Western writer of all time", then it is time to leave the prairie. Seldom have I read a book so absolutely without highs or lows, of such flat descriptions that even a battle with the Comanches makes you yawn. While the characters have gnarled hands, black paint in their face and say 'ye god, they are absolutely two-dimensional. And the language! "Yonder come the yellow-legged soldiers". Where did he find that one? Some pony movie from the thirties? His typewriter must have run out of apostrophes by now.

Rating:
Summary: Good and thoughtful Western
Review: It's been ages since I've read a Western. The genre doesn't seem to be very popular these days. The library shelves are filled with Zane Gray and Louis L'Amour, as if they were still alive and pumping out the books. I wish L'Amour were still around - he's one of my favorite writers, and I've yet to read another Western author who enchanted me the way L'Amour did.
But I did find this little book at my local library, and decided to give it a try. I had seen other Kelton books but for whatever reason never checked them out. I should have - he's a fine writer.
This book is quite good. The subtitle says it's a novel about the Texas rangers, but that's not entirely accurate. The protagonist, Rusty Shannon, is a member of the fledgling ranger patrol, but the rangers aren't central to the plot.
The novel begins with a historic raid of a Texas coastal town by Comanches in 1840. A child with red hair is taken captive by a warrior, Buffalo Caller, but is rescued by Mike Shannon. Mike and his wife adopt the boy as his own. His Christian name is David, but everyone calls him Rusty because of his red hair.
The book skips forward to 1859, and again to the early 1860s and the outbreak of the Civil War. Mike is murdered, and Rusty attempts to kill who he thinks is the killer, but Preacher Webb talks him out of it and convinces him to join the rangers on a remote outpost. Rusty meets up with a solid family with a babe daughter about his age (you know where that's going), but the family is solid Union, while the local bully is a Confederate determined to rid Texas of Yankee traitors. And there's still Comanches hanging around and causing trouble.
I've greatly simplified the plot. This is not your typical shoot 'em up Western, though there is plenty of action. It's a thoughtful examination of duty and loyalty, of Rusty's struggles to do the right thing in a maelstrom of strong emotions and murky moral lines.
This is a solid book, well-written and thoroughly researched. It's too early to claim Kelton as a worthy heir to L'Amour, but I'm going to read more of his books just the same.

Rating:
Summary: A great book from a great author
Review: Please, please don't pay any attention to that last reader. I don't know what genre he reads, but it is apparently not western. Elmer Kelton is one of the best western writers alive. This was a great example of his work.

I used to play The Virginian on television for nine years with many great actors. I read the work of many writers, and there are very few as good as Kelton for realism and grit. The only man who can match him is Kirby Jonas, whose books I record on audio. They call Jonas the New Louis L'Amour. But as far as I'm concerned, and I've seen this written elsewhere by other reviewers, you don't need any other writers than Kelton and Jonas. Give the Buckskin Line a chance! You won't be sorry. Then try Death of an Eagle, by Kirby Jonas.