Official Review: Moonin Canoe & White Owl

[Shelle]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Moonin Canoe & White Owl" by Marty Napierski.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Western novels are known for their suave and heroic leading men, sweet damsels-in-distress, mean villains, and wild Indians on horseback. On the surface, Moonin Canoe & White Owl: The Great Gold Heist of 1870, appears to be much like that stereotypical Western. But after reading only a few pages, readers will discover this tale of the Old West is anything but typical. I rated this book 3 out of 4 stars.

While this story had too many twists and turns to easily summarize, the net effect was a fun chase through mountains and deserts, gunfights, double-crossing scoundrels, lots of gold, and many laugh-out-loud one liners. Like its title suggests, Moonin Canoe &White Owl: The Great Gold Heist of 1870, is about a gold heist of epic proportions. The scheming between characters and the lengths they go through to outwit one another are at times funny and entertaining. Parts of the story do drag on needlessly, which is unfortunate and detracts from the fine tale author Marty Napierski has put together.

Along with a wild ride of story, Moonin Canoe & White Owl is full of great characters. From the Pinkerton Detectives that resemble Keystone Cops, to the grizzled old gunfighters and lackeys doing their bidding, this story contains all the players needed for a fine Western novel. However, these characters all have a bit of a twist. The sweet damsel-in-distress is actually quite conniving and not sweet at all. The sheriff is just as bad as the bad guys bringing trouble into town, and the two Native American brothers, Moonin Canoe and White Owl, didn’t start out chasing gold at all and just wanted to retrieve their grandfather’s stolen horse.

I liked the characters and setting of this story, and for the most part found the plot to be enjoyable as well. There were times toward the beginning and middle where the story felt rather slow, but the last third definitely picked up and kept my attention. The latter part of the book also had more action scenes and the author is quite good with these descriptions. This book appeared to be professionally edited and error-free. There are a few uses of minor curse words and some violence.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the Western genre and those who like a little humor with their tales. While Moonin Canoe & White Owl: The Great Gold Heist of 1870 is a fine stand-alone novel, it's also the beginning of a series. Readers who enjoy this first book, will likely look forward to the next one as well.

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Moonin Canoe & White Owl
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Like Shelle's review? Post a comment saying so!

[kimmyschemy06]

I'm so into Western novels but this seems way different from Lonesome Dove and Wagons West because of the humorous touch Great job on the review.

[Kourtney Bradley]

In my opinion, an author can never go wrong with throwing in some humor! Nice review, thanks for sharing!