Customer Reviews

King of the Mountain

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So I came across this series in 1997 when I was in the US NAVY. I found the special edition "Prairie Blood" and the 20th book "Wolf Pack". I read them both while at sea and liked both of them. Our ships library didn't have any other titles so, I had to wait until I came home to read other books in the series. I found out that there were dozens of books in the series and being that space and money were limited, I didn't get around to reading any other ones.

Now we have this new thing called "KINDLE". I kept giving excuses why I didn't need one to people who would ask if I had one. I was messing around on Amazon a few weeks back and I remembered the Wilderness series from more than a decade before. Now there are even more than I remembered, obviously. I still don't have the space for that many paper books but, at least money isn't a problem anymore. So, I checked to make sure that the first book was available in Kindle and to my delight it was. I purchased a Kindle and the first book I purchased was Wilderness #1 King of the Mountain.

I started reading it with much anticipation and happiness. Right away I knew something was wrong. The transfer from paper to digital was awful. Very poor spell check and in some cases it seemed like flat out omissions of sentences maybe even paragraphs. By not having read the book before I wasn't sure. I kept going and things seemed to get better with less spelling errors and less possibilities of gaps in the story. Then you get to the very end of the epilogue and the sentence before the last one led me to believe they left something out again. Not certain but it left me wondering.

So, with all my trepidations with the first book I started doing some research. I find out that after the second title, "YOU CANT GET THE 3RD ON YOUR KINDLE"!!!!! WTF! My reading of the 1st book wasn't very enjoyable. The story was great but the format sucked. I'll get to read the 2nd book if I want but then either have to buy the next several in paper back or wait and hope they become available on Kindle. Or jump ahead to the next available Kindle title. Then go back at a later date and read the ones I missed. HOW THE HELL IS ALL OF THIS SUPPOSED TO BE ENJOYABLE!!!!!

No, here's what I will do. I will put the Kindle on the shelf somewhere and let it sit with my Prairie Blood and Wolf Pack titles. When Kindle, Amazon, the publishers, the spell checkers, the typers, and whoever else are making these BS decisions get their heads out of you know where, I'll come back and gladly spend my money on a decent product.

Note to author David Thompson: Dude, I love the ones I have read and want to read the rest. I'm just not sure I can get this Kindle taste out of my mouth for some time. I'll be back as a reader of your work some day. Keep doing what you are doing!

I have enjoyed a few of Thompson's novels that came along later in this 'Wilderness' series. I became interested in the how the characters 'started out.' This book, being the first of the series written, explains the origins of the main characters, etc. I will probably now read the novels in the actual sequence * ** written.

Aug. 21, 2010 UPDATE: My notion of reading this series in * sequence has proven worthwhile. I am on novel no. 5. At the rate of speed that I read, I have y-e-a-r-s of enjoyment with "Wilderness" ahead of me. I am thankful for the Amazon book sellers which continue to make this out-of-print sequel available.

Aug. 6, 2011 UPDATE: Two observations offered -
1. I am now on 'Wilderness' book no. 21, I can report that in nearly every novel there is some reference to an event chronicled in a preceding novel, ** affirming to me, for me, the value of reading this series in sequence.
2. The easiest way I have found to 'look-up' these novels on Amazon is to simply put in quotes "Wilderness #x" with 'x' being the sought numbered novel in the series, e.g., "Wilderness #1" will bring up this subject reviewed book..... "Wilderness #18" will bring up Mountain Cat Wilderness #18. By just using the no. one need not have to fuss around with knowing the exact title wording.

If you're an affectionado of the mountain man era, or long for the freedom that wilderness living brings, this tale will introduce to the saga that David Thompson has authored in his fifty-nine + books. When Nate King's uncle Zeke sends a letter asking Nate to share a treasure, little does Nate know what he is in for. Filled with action, the story moves right along, right up to the end.

The Wilderness series by Oregon author David Thompson now includes over 60 entries. In this entry set in 1827, Nate King is just 19 years old and working as an accountant in a successful New York City firm. He hopes to marry his gorgeous girlfriend Adeline, who comes from a wealthy family and expects to live a life of ease in the future. Everything seems to be going rosy for Nate, but he senses that something is missing. A letter from his long lost uncle Zeke arrives from out of the blue; Zeke is the family black sheep who disappeared into the wilderness a decade earlier. Zeke promises Nate treasure if he meets him in St. Louis. Such treasure will allow him to marry Adeline and give her everything she desires, so Nate decides to take a great risk and venture to the wild west town of St. Louis. He's in for some big surprises.

I have to admit that I was not familiar with this series until I stumbled across this one by accident and decided to give it a try. I don't typically read in this genre, but I do sometimes enjoy survival type stories. With that caveat, I thought that "King of the Mountain" was just okay. I didn't dislike it at all, but the plot was rather predictable at times, and the writing is average at best. The book quickly fell into a bland formula of Nate reflecting along the lines of..."during this leg of the journey, two notable things happened. First...." Fortunately, it was a quick read and did hold my attention. Fans of this genre will likely rate this novel at least a star higher. I may read the next entry in the series ("Lure of the Wild"), although it appears that currently, most of the older books are out of print.

Note: This review is for the Kindle version of "King of the Mountain." The transfer to digital text was somewhat sloppy here, especially in the first few chapters. There are errors every few pages, mostly spelling errors, missing punctuation, or missing words. For example, one character is called Tutttle, Tuttle, and Turtle within a few pages. These problems don't really impede the reading of the novel, though, and after the first few chapters I did notice fewer errors; however, it is dispiriting seeing such carelessness.

I have always been into serial, western novels by authors like Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurtry. These serialized adventures of Nate and Shakespeare are proving to be almost as compelling when taken as a whole. I purchased Number 55 last evening because it was free on the Kindle and could not stop reading. This AM I finished #1 so I am obviously hooked. I am delighted there are so many titles in the series! I don't read particularly quickly but I am burning through these. They are not long books but I feel like an epic story of early America is being told-one nearly on par with the works of McCarthy, McMurtry and other authors from out west whose last names start with Mc.

Book was in fairly used shape. Enjoyed the book just found this series would like to find more of the series

I especially liked this book in the series because it tells of when Nate was still very green and unknowing of the wild.