Jonathan Arnold reviewed Warlock by Oakley M. Hall (New York Review Books classics)
Review of 'Warlock' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Fantastic! What a great Western. It tells the story of the town of Warlock, on the very edge of settlements, trying to find a way with Justice. They keep "losing" deputies, then they hire a "marshall", who has second thoughts about being used as the "moral" authority.
For once, I understood the characters enough that even unwritten motivations were clear. Each character, and believe me, there are plenty, comes across as a 3-dimensional person. There are also a lot of peripheral characters, but even those are fleshed out pretty well. I understood each character, as they ranged on a scale of not so bad, to probably real bad, but all had their moments.
I also realize how much I like books that are told in multiple different fashions. By far the best was Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy (especially the first one, Quicksilver) but this had a couple of memorable instances. …
Fantastic! What a great Western. It tells the story of the town of Warlock, on the very edge of settlements, trying to find a way with Justice. They keep "losing" deputies, then they hire a "marshall", who has second thoughts about being used as the "moral" authority.
For once, I understood the characters enough that even unwritten motivations were clear. Each character, and believe me, there are plenty, comes across as a 3-dimensional person. There are also a lot of peripheral characters, but even those are fleshed out pretty well. I understood each character, as they ranged on a scale of not so bad, to probably real bad, but all had their moments.
I also realize how much I like books that are told in multiple different fashions. By far the best was Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy (especially the first one, Quicksilver) but this had a couple of memorable instances. One was during the first shootout, written in a quasi-reporting fashion, piecing together the action after the fact. And one of the main narrator's stories was told through his "diary". And, most often, as the third-person omniscient narrator. It makes the book feel fresh throughout.
Highly recommended, even if you don't think you like "Westerns". This is a great American novel.
