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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Adrenaline Rush of a Western Novel - A Must Buy!, July 23, 2010
This review is from: Sonoran Rage: A Colton Brothers Saga, No. 2 (Paperback)
Melody Groves presents in Sonoran Rage an exciting representation of the turmoil that grew between the Anglo, Apache, and Mexican pioneers in what had just become the American Southwest during the mid 1800's.
Trace Colton, driver for the Butterfield Overland Stage Line, handles his mule team with strong arms providing his passengers with as decent a ride as could be expected. Riding shotgun (literally) is brother James, recently engaged to his love Lila.
Apache Chief Cochise, whose land the Stage rides through, protects his tribe with the resolution of a cornered bear, but is wise and honorable in his dealings with everyone. Until they broke their word...
Too bad James left Cochise off his wedding invitation list. Things may have gone easier for him and brother Trace. Struggling to survive in the Sonoran Desert even in winter is nasty enough. Negotiating between a proud warrior and a pompous self-righteous cavalry officer plus thinking of sweethearts you left behind leaves you with a mess only Melody Groves can get you out of.
I lived, travelled, and hiked in the area this story takes place. Melody Groves made me feel like I was back there again. If you are driving along Interstate 10 in New Mexico stop off in Mesilla and take a walk around the Plaza. San Albino Church is still there, and so is the spirit of the Coltons. While riding along the old Butterfield Stage road (on I-10) heading from Mesilla towards Tuscon, Arizona, keep an eye out for Cochise, for his spirit still stirs up dust devils in the desert.
I read Sonoran Rage hoping that getting into the middle of the Colton Brothers Saga trilogy wouldn't be confusing. Sonoran Rage stands strong on it's own. My only trouble was, I wasn't able to get any work done until I finished the darn book. The Colton brother's lives were at stake - I just couldn't put it down! Except now I'll have to buy Border Ambush and Arizona War: A Colton Brothers Saga to find what else the boys have been up to.
That's my kind of author - keep `em asking for more.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Non-Standard Western, May 31, 2009
This review is from: Sonoran Rage: A Colton Brothers Saga, No. 2 (Paperback)
Sonoran Rage is Book 2 of the Colton Brothers Saga, which might at first squint appear to be a standard Western action series, of the sort so familiar to those of us who grew up watching TV Westerns and reading pulp Westerns; post Civil War, on the far frontier, and something to do with cows and cowboys, occasional brushes with Indians, soldiers in Army blue and town sheriffs wearing a silver star. The Colton Brothers saga skews the familiar tradition of the Western, but not so far that a serious fan might be put off.
First, it is set just immediately before the Civil War, and in the deserts of New Mexico, on the stage-coach line between the town of Mesilla and points west. Mesilla is a major stop on that trail, just about the largest and most well-established town in a thousand miles of Apache-haunted deserts between Texas and California. The two oldest Colton brothers, Trace and James work for the Butterfield Line - Trace as a driver and James as guard. James is about to be married to his best girl, Lila Belle Simmons, who waits in Mesilla for them to return from a regular run to Tucson. The coaches, pulled by three teams of mules or horses move at a cracking pace, day and night, moving passengers and mail between the east and settlements in California, but as the story opens, war threatens from two directions. The secession of the southern states is about to halt traffic for the Butterfield Line entirely, but that's not the worst of Trace and James' problems - the great Apache warrior chief Cochise has been provoked into a bloody uprising by the unconsidered actions of a US Army officer. Captured by Cochise's war party, Trace and James are faced with an ultimatum; Trace will be sent as a messenger, to bargain for the release of Cochise's brother, who has been taken captive... and James will remain as a hostage. Every day that Trace remains away seeking help, James will be beaten brutally with Trace's own coach-driver's whip.
The story unfolds swiftly, and all the more interesting for being based on historical events. I was most particularly struck by the vivid descriptions of the southwestern desert; a harsh but beautiful place. At first glance, seen from the windows of a speeding car, or a hundred years ago, from the window of a stagecoach, it seems hardly credible that people could live there, would want to live there. But they did and still do, and this series is a good introduction to why.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Real page turner, January 26, 2009
This review is from: Sonoran Rage: A Colton Brothers Saga, No. 2 (Paperback)
I have been a huge fan of westerns for years and this book is one of my favorites. Unlike many of the books in this genre, Sonoran Rage doesn't sugar coat things. The west was a gritty, dirty, deadly place filled with sweeping beauty and inhuman brutality. Melody Groves has done a fantastic job of blending these two extremes into an engaging setting for a thrilling story. The characters are so real as they pit themselves against the unforgiving desert and the vicious racial tensions in a true fight for survival. A wonderful read!
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