CyborgHobbit reviewed Doc: Library Edition by Mark Bramhall
Review of 'Doc' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Light on action, but steeped in philosophy, Doc was a satisfying read from start to finish. I've heard it described as a Western for people who don't like Westerns, and that's not a bad description.
If the "light on action" statement didn't tip you off, there's no Tombstone in this book. Instead, the book focuses on earlier events in Dodge City that helped turn Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp into the larger-than-life characters of wild West myth they eventually inspired.
At the mercy of a different author, I'm not sure what value this story would hold. But Mary Doria Russell gets inside the heads of her characters (all the way down to the large cast of secondary characters) in such a way that light plot and abundant exposition are enjoyable and rewarding.
On a side note, every time I was worried that the story would slip into the eye-rollingly cheesy …
Light on action, but steeped in philosophy, Doc was a satisfying read from start to finish. I've heard it described as a Western for people who don't like Westerns, and that's not a bad description.
If the "light on action" statement didn't tip you off, there's no Tombstone in this book. Instead, the book focuses on earlier events in Dodge City that helped turn Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp into the larger-than-life characters of wild West myth they eventually inspired.
At the mercy of a different author, I'm not sure what value this story would hold. But Mary Doria Russell gets inside the heads of her characters (all the way down to the large cast of secondary characters) in such a way that light plot and abundant exposition are enjoyable and rewarding.
On a side note, every time I was worried that the story would slip into the eye-rollingly cheesy supernatural-ism of Russell's previous effort, [b:Dreamers of the Day|1276938|Dreamers of the Day|Mary Doria Russell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266761426s/1276938.jpg|3257102], she instead kept things grounded and respectable.
In my score sheet, Mary Doria Russell is 2 for 3 in her historical fiction forays. While I enjoyed her anthropological science fiction (I am a sci-fi nut), I enjoy her historical fiction so much that I really hope she keeps investing her excellent skill in it for novels to come.