Review: Very nicely written and well-paced
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 23, 2013
Bergstad does a good job of creating his main characters, Selmer Burks and his father, Silas Berks. It is not hard to see how Selmer became the hard man he is and why he takes the actions he takes, even when the reader can clearly see his mistakes (and those of his father) before he makes them. Like the little girl with the curl, the bad guys are thoroughly horrid. The good guys are often endearing, but they are mostly secondary characters. The main characters (Selmer and Silas) are more nuanced, and while Bergstad gives them clearer motivation for their actions, it is hard to call them "good guys." In fact it is hard to even like them. Bergstad resists any urge to romanticize the situation, even as he shows the deepest suffering of the Burks family. I would have liked to have gotten to know some of the female characters a little better. The women seem to be a bit more sketchily drawn than the male characters, but I expect that in the coming books the women will play a bigger role in the action.The book is very nicely written and well paced. I was never for a minute bored, yet the pace was not as breathless as in so many books these days. Bergstad is a confident author who takes the time he needs to tell his story. He is good at both characterization and at describing action, including one of the most painfully clinical fight scenes I've ever read. Bergstad works in a lot of interesting detail about ranching and life on the prairie, helping to bring the setting to life. The Western dialect is consistent and not overdone. But Bergstad's skills aren't limited to those required by the genre. He has a subtle command of language. He uses nice touches to both paint the scene and develop tension.Even readers who don't particularly care for Westerns or family sagas will likely enjoy the way No Man's Land works classic themes of justice, revenge, and how to build a just society. But be warned: This book ends with what may be the most compelling cliffhanger ever written.