#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris returns with “a gripping, twisty-turny, thrill ride of a read (Karin Slaughter) in which Lizbeth is hired onto a new crew, transporting a crate into Dixie, the self-exiled southeast territory of the former United States. What the crate contains is something so powerful, that forces from across three territories want to possess it.In this … it.
In this second thrilling installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired onto a new crew for a seemingly easy protection job. She is tasked with transporting a crate into Dixie, just about the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. But what seemed like a straightforward job turns into a massacre as the crate is stolen. Up against a wall in Dixie, where social norms have stepped back into the last century, Lizbeth has to go undercover with an old friend to retrieve the crate as what’s inside can spark a rebellion, if she can get it back in time.
“Another winning series from a sure-bet author” (Booklist) Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse mysteries and Midnight, Texas trilogy) is at her best here, building the world of this alternate history of the United States, where magic is an acknowledged but despised power.
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This series by Charlaine Harris just gets better and better. This second installment finds Gunnie Rose with a new crew and quite quickly everything goes to hell. I love this character and find her common sense and sharp wit entertaining in this amazing dystopian fantasy. Don’t miss these books!
Lizbeth aka “Gunnie Rose” has quite a reputation, and she acquired it by applying Girl Scout traits to her job of gun for hire. In this 2nd book of the series, her new crew is hired to move a crate across territories via train. Disaster looms with shootouts, train troubles, anachronistic societies, and overall grisgoris (wizard) turf battles. Rumor has it the crate’s contests are a game changer and the “Deep State” of the day is having none of that.
This Western-styled alternate timeline is a high-octane, high stakes adventure with a female paladin. My kind of reading. I can’t wait for the next one!
Muddy Rose Reviews
“Everything was boring until the train blew up”, says Lizbeth Rose, a gunnie or a hired gunslinger, in A Longer Fall.
The United States has broken up into several smaller nations. Gunnie Rose is working with a new crew moving a mysterious crate from Texoma to Dixie when the train is blown off its tracks. After being shot and bludgeoned in the head, Gunnie Rose passes out.
When she arose, she was on the side of the toppled train. Some of her crew were dead and the remaining members were wounded. Leaving the crew leader guarding the crate, Gunnie Rose helps two of her crew get to the town’s hospital. When she returns, the leader is dead and the crate is gone. Suddenly, an old friend arrives to both help her find the crate and hire her to find the crate’s owner.
Since reading my first Sookie book, I have always enjoy the author’s writing style and this book is no different. She brings an immediacy to each plot that compels you to keep reading. In addition, her characters feel authentic and include real human strengths and weaknesses among their traits. Setting a thriller in an alternate history that feels simultaneously in the future and in the past is intriguing and innovative.
While I enjoyed reading A Longer Fall, I was confused for a while at the beginning. I felt like I began reading in the middle of the book. The plot, the setting, and especially the characters of this book rely heavily on the reader knowing what happened in the first book in the series. Therefore, I would not recommend reading this book as a standalone. With only that caveat, I recommend this book for those looking for a thriller with an innovative setting, great realistic characters, and paranormal fantasy aspects. 4 stars!
Thanks to Saga Press, Gallery Books, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
I love Charlaine Harris’s brilliant imagination, and this alternate history is so believable it’s kind of scary. The Wild West meets a fractured United States. Russian royalty and magical realism play an important part, but bad-ass Gunny Rose is my favorite female character in a long time.
Sorry when this one ended
A great, gritty female lead, a fascinating alternate timeline story, you just can’t put it down!
Enjoyed this book so much, that I decided to buy the first book in the series (this is the 2nd), and I will be buying the next one (#3) as well. I’ve enjoyed other Charlaine Harris series and this one is innovative and intriguing.
I’ve loved these stories from the first. This is an alternative world of the United States. It’s all fallen apart but there are still decent souls and jobs to do. I was confused in first installment but loved the main character and her unusual role. It’s just gotten better with each tale. Read on In order but don’t miss this series.
I’ll read anything Charlaine Harris writes. She never disappoints.
I’m really liking this series. Lizbeth Rose is a really great character. I like Eli but I’m not sure he’s right for Lizbeth. He would be lucky to have her in his life though.
I’m looking forward to The Russian Cage.
The second installment in Charlaine Harris’s new series features gunslingers, magic, a different America and enemies at every turn. Transporting a mysterious box across statelines with a new crew Gunner find herself in an unknown place, with no idea to trust and someone she thought she would never see again by her side. It’s unique and pretty darn cool and I really enjoyed every minute even though I have not read the first one. I did not find it hard to follow and caught up before I even knew it and feel pretty invested in these kick a.. characters! I cannot wait for more Gunnie Rose and her awesome gunslinger ways!
i love gunny rose
I love this series from author Charlaine Harris. I waited some time for my local library to make the book available to me.
What’s not to love about Magic and Gunslingers? In this second volume of the series, we meet up with the two protagonists after a fatal train derailment. Eli and Lizbeth must locate a crate which was stolen in the aftermath of the train crash. In addition to suspecting anyone and everyone for the theft, they must also deal with the suspicious town people. There is a great undercurrent of racism which has never been dealt with since the Civil War. This is a complex story, which will entertain any fan of Ms. Harris.
Alternate history, magical realism, and the best hook at the end of Chapter 1 ever! I read this book (2nd in the Gunny Rose series) before the first and it didn’t diminish my enjoyment in the least. I loved them both, but I’d say this is my favorite.
Rip-roaring weird western adventure returns with the second Gunnie Rose book, in which our heroine, a gun for hire in an alternate history Texas/Oklahoma, takes on a job requiring travel into Dixie. Yes, that’s the name of the country encompassing the southern portion of what was the United States, and it’s just as racially divided and regressive as you might expect. Neither Gunnie nor her Holy Russian Empire wizard/lover Eli fit in and it’s going to take her fighting skill and his magic to get them out alive.
Harris keeps the action coming with blazing pistols, train wrecks, a touch of romance, and the joys of good southern cooking. I can’t wait for the next Gunnie Rose novel!
In this second installment of the Gunnie Rose series, Lizbeth Rose is hired for a seemingly easy protection job, transporting a crate into Dixie—which is the last part of the former United States of America she wants to visit. What seemed like a straightforward job turns challenging when the crate is stolen, and Lizbeth goes undercover with an old friend to retrieve it.
I was a fan of this author’s Sookie Stackhouse series, but I haven’t read anything by her since. This series seemed interesting, and I picked up the first book. I liked it well enough to read the second. The author has a way with words that make you see everything going on just like you are there, and this series is no exception. I feel like I’m in an alternative western with magic, and you survive by your wits or magic. In this installment, Gunnie is with a new crew guarding a crate, things happen, and she runs into an old friend. I think Gunnie is an interesting character as is Eli, but sometimes I feel that they don’t really fit together but then something happens and I see it. Sometimes the book feels too much like a western, but the writing is so engaging, it’s hard to put down. I liked this plot and book better than the first one. If you liked the first one, you will definitely like this second. If you haven’t tried the series, you need to; it’s very unique and addicting. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.
his is the second book in the Gunnie Rose series. Lizbeth Rose, a.k.a., Gunnie Rose, is only 19 but already famous for her shooting skills. She is a gun for hire, protecting people and/or property. She joins a new crew to accompany a crate to be delivered to another country, but as they reach their destination their train is attacked.
Prince Ilya Savarov, Eli, returns in this story. Eli and Lizbeth have a very interesting relationship, they are mutually attracted to each other, but he is highly educated, a royal and a Grigori of the Holy Russian Empire. Lizbeth was born out of wedlock and went to school until she was 16, taught by her mother who is a teacher.
I liked the world building; this is a post-apocalyptic world which seems like the Old West but with magic. The United States has broken up into a number of countries and includes the Russian royals setting up in California. Lizbeth’s community is small, close-knit, and poor.
I received an ARC from Netgalley and this is my honest review.
Favorite Character: Lizbeth and Eli as a team.
I loved them both in the first book, and I loved them even more in the second book. Both live by a strict code, will kill when necessary, and love complicatedly. Eli is a magician from the Holy Roman Empire (which used to be California), and Lizbeth is a gunslinger from Texoma (formerly Texas). Together, they make a different kind of magic. They solve mysteries together, and it takes both to be successful.
What I Loved About A Longer Fall
The setting is incredibly detailed. It is set in Dixie and holds many of the same features as the real deep south that the reader will recognize along with the unique twists that the story brings. It’s both relatable and disturbing, and I laughed when the main characters discovered the very southern ”one meat and two sides” meal and wildlife, such as alligators.
Book Two is still taking on bold subjects. With the setting being Dixie, it was no surprise to me that the bold issue in this story is racism and the inequalities that still existed once slavery ended. It’s an illuminating look at the history of racism in our society as well as the world in the novel.
I loved that the main characters grew from book one to book two. They have become even more complicated with their hopes, and dreams are starting to come out a small little bit at a time, particularly Gunnie Rose, who, by her very nature is pragmatic to a fault. You also start to see glimmers of the inner conflict of Eli, who is usually calm, relaxed, and together. They both have solid walls built up, and I loved that I witnessed some small breaks in both of their walls.
A Longer Fall is very fast-paced. I finished it more quickly than I expected because I could not stop flipping those pages eagerly and rapidly. There is a special something about the story that makes me feel like I do when I take the first bite of a delectable dessert. It hits just the right spot.
What I Wish About A Longer Fall
My only wish about the story is that it had ended with more loose ends tied up – not all loose ends – just a few more. I enjoyed the way Book One ended and was surprised that book two ended with so many questions.
To Read or Not to Read
This book and series will appeal to fantasy book lovers, mystery thriller book lovers, and even lovers of historical fiction, so everyone will find something they love about it! A must-read!!!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I had a great time with this book! After enjoying the first book in the Gunnie Rose series, An Easy Death, I was pretty eager to jump back into this alternate world and go on another adventure with Lizbeth. The action in this book started right away and I found it to be a rather fast-paced novel. I found it impossible to put this book down and ended up reading it in a single day.
Lizbeth is working with another crew at the start of this book. Her crew has been tasked with delivering a crate to Dixie. It should be an easy job. But of course, things go wrong. Lizbeth is trying to hold things together when a familiar face shows up to help. She must work to find the crate and complete the crew’s mission.
I liked this book just as much as the first one. Gunnie Rose doesn’t give up on any mission and she seems to be able to instinctively know who should be trusted. The town she finds herself in has a lot of problems and tensions are high. She must work with her ally to find the crate and deliver it appropriately but she seems to find difficulties at every turn.
There were a few surprises in this book. The book takes place almost entirely in Dixie which is a different environment than what we saw in the first book. I had a great time trying to figure out exactly what was going on and how Lizbeth would complete her mission. I love the growth that we have seen in her character throughout the series.
I would highly recommend this book to others. This is an original and exciting story with wonderful characters and a bit of magic. I cannot wait to read more of Gunnie Rose’s adventures in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Gallery / Saga Press via NetGalley.