Nathaniel Cole never thought things would end this way. This was supposed to be his last job as an outlaw. Now, he finds himself cornered by the most skilled bounty hunter in the West, Levi Thompson. Nate looks down at the mysterious book in his hands. The words scroll across the pages as if penned by some invisible author. It’s a magical book—a portal to another world. He knows he doesn’t have a … have a choice. If he stays, he dies. When he finally takes the plunge, Nate finds himself in the land of Galamore—a place filled with outlaws worse than he, and dangers at every turn. But when he learns the bounty hunter has followed him there, Nate knows he either has to face Levi, or be the first to find his way back home. With the law on his trail, and an unfamiliar world before him, Nate must seek the help of wary strangers. On his journey through the mysterious land of Galamore, Nate discovers that getting back home won’t be so easy, and that he might be stuck in Galamore for a long time. Keeper of the Books blends a story of magical fantasy with the classic style of the Old West, creating a world that is both unique and full of adventure.
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The problem is I’ve never been a fan of westerns in any medium. And at heart this book is primarily a Western. Technically, it’s a historical portal fantasy, but stylistically it’s a Western and it just won’t appeal to anyone who isn’t a fan of westerns. I bought it thinking it was more fantasy than western, but it’s really just a Western with a fantasy background
Nevertheless, I’m going to try and be impartial. Because even if you are a huge fan of westerns there are some red flags that make the crossover attempt less than ideal…
It wasn’t bad. Didn’t hold my interest too well, but there were good bits. The characters seemed believable and were fairly unique. The only one with any real character development was the main character, Nate. He’s an antihero of sorts. A “bad guy” who isn’t really as bad as everyone thinks and we get lots of flashbacks into his traumatic past.
And right there’s one of the big flaws. The “flashback chapters” technique works when the backstory is complex and has surprising twists to it that give it a life of its own. Nate’s backstory isn’t so complex. I could give you the whole thing in one longish paragraph. I won’t, because, spoilers. But I could. He eventually tells it all to another character and we could easily find out through that scene and nothing would be lost, except some of the frustration and (minor) confusion from trudging through the flashback scenes.
Anyway, back to the characters. Or maybe not since Nate’s the only character with any real life. The bounty hunter chasing him (Levi) and Nate’s brother also get a little play, but not much really. Everyone else is pretty much empty. To be fair, the brother gets split off and has his own story, which isn’t really developed in this book so he probably gets a lot more play in book two.
Since it is a fantasy (ish), let’s discuss world-building. Sorry to say there wasn’t much. There was some. Just not what a real fantasy reader might expect. There are Dwarves and Ravagers that we never see, and Elves. The Wood Elves hate the Gray Elves, though he doesn’t describe the difference between the two very well. There’s only one of each and they aren’t described too well or often. The political situation in the new world is described decently well. There’s a president and his elite force, called Rangers, are a lot like an old West version of the Secret Service. And there’s rebels that are disorganized and mostly criminals but they hate the President and try to plot against him. And we get some hints that the general public may share some of rebels’ antipathy, though that’s not entirely clear. Overall the world doesn’t feel much like a fantasy world, more like an alt-history US. But with elves and Dwarves and wizards (called Sentinels) — none of which ever actually do anything in the book, but we’re told they exist.
The plot is kind of formulaic, using the Wizard of Oz as the template. Nate gets whisked into a strange world, picks up three companions and follows yellow brick road toward the Sentinels while being chased by the wicked witch bounty hunter and his Ranger monkeys. Instead of munchkins we get Old West style townsfolk. The annoying bit being that since it’s a series, they never actually get to Oz and we don’t see how it ends. The book ends shortly after Dorothy throws water on the wicked witch.
Overall, I don’t regret reading it. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t all that good either. It was interesting though. I won’t recommend it but it depends a lot on your personal tastes. I will be skipping book two, unless the author runs a “free” promotion on it, then… maybe.