Customer Reviews

Legend of the Painted Horse

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

 

 

While "The Legend of The Painted Horse" is not on the lofty levels of "Brules" and "The Scout", I don't think it was ever intended to be. Nonetheless, I'll always remember exactly where I was (at rhe gym) and exactly what I was doing (riding a stationary bike) when Combs tied together all the elements of the Brules story. I was emotionally overwhelmed. A fabulously romantic ending to an incredible story. I thought the painted horse history was pretty cool, too. The entire Brules saga is one of the best reads in my well read life. Tolkein, Mary Stewart, Roger Zelazny, Edgar Rice Burroughs, for me, Combs belongs among them.

As a big fan of Harry Comb's works in the Brules and The Scout books, I have just finished "The Legend of the Painted Horse".
And I still havent formed an opinion of it yet. It sounded kinda corny compared to the brutish scenes of the previous two novels , yet, it was innocent in an appealing way.
Brules and The Scout are perhaps the most treasured of all the books I have ever read, and I find myself reading them again from time to time, since the first time I read both of them.."The Legend of the Painted Horse" tried to end mystique of Cat Brules in a modern way, and in Steven Cartwrights telling of his life with Brule and the interplay was a tribute. I am glad that Mr.Combs wrote about the West in the way he did. It reflects on how much our lives have changed from the simple raw times of a hundred years ago. Steven Cartwright in a way, was also a true individual, just set in a more recent era. As I am closing this review, I decided that the book was good....so I rated it high based upon my sentimentality...from now on when ever I see a Painted horse, this book will come to mind.

R.I.P - Cat Brules, who made his own choices in life.

I think that the Painted Horse tied Combs two previous works together well. It answered alot of the situations in the earlier books. I found it to have a superb plot all the way through. I wonder if there is any connection between Harry Combs and the character he writes about.

I can't remember ever being more let down by a book than I was while reading The Legend of the Painted Horse. Brules was awesome, The Scout was right up there and then this book, yuk! It is not in the same universe as those other two. The only good thing that it does is tie some loose ends together. Yet, tieing those loose ends was so far fetched, I came away with less respect for the first two books. I'm going to try and burn this from my memory, reread Brules and The Scout and go back to bragging about Harry Combes the way I did before I read Painted Horse.

This book was written approximately 3 years before Harry Combs' death at 90 years of age. As such it feels more like a preliminary editor's copy, a first draft. I don't know if there wasn't more time to polish the work, or if Mr. Combs simply refused needed editorial advice. The story line is every bit as rich and promising as the other two books in the series. The style is there in flashes and pieces, but it is interspersed with undeveloped scenarios, and perhaps unnecessary storytelling devices. One can skip over reading the research on the origin of spotted horses in North America and lose nothing of the story itself.

That said, the book provides a very satisfying ending to the story of Cat Brules. It should not be read until one has read "Brules" and "The Scout". Many of the bad reviews of this book seem to have been written by people who either didn't read the first two books, or didn't read very much of this third book before rejecting it. This is obvious when even a publisher's review asserts inaccurately that 50 year old Cartwright is trying to impress and woo the 24 year old Becky, who the book clearly states Cartwright considers beyond his reach and to whom he tries not to be attracted.

Be that as it may, the book is the culmination of the "Brules" saga. If you've read the first two books you must read this one. Do not read it until you have.

I FOUND COMBS FIRST BOOK, "BRULES" TO BE AS GOOD AS "LONESOME DOVE" AND HIS SECOND BOOK, "THE SCOUT" OKAY, BUT "...THE PAINTED HORSE" WAS TERRIBLE! AS I READ IT I FELT CHEATED. THIS BOOK SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED.