Customer Reviews

No Good Like It Is

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A fast moving engaging Civil War epic. Following Captain Dobey Walls and his right hand man, Sergeant Major Melton through their adventures and mis-adventures puts you in the saddle in the middle of the action of Terry's Texas Rangers and the old west. The author's visual characterizations and graphic depiction of the battles and the country that our nation was based on is both enlightening and heart warming. I highly recommend this novel and look forward to the sequel.

I don't usually like books of the Western genre, but this one is well written and the dialog and characters compelled me to keep reading. I am enamored of Doc. I'd like to see a sequel with Doc as the main character.

You don't need to read McKendree Long's bio to discover he is from a long line of military veterans. His heritage and service is creatively woven into the pages of NO GOOD LIKE IT IS through his obvious knowledge and passion for the subject matter.

In addition to his vivid descriptions of Western landscapes, Long uses authentic dialogue for his characters (I love it when an author gets this right), and takes the reader back to the violent Old West with a compelling plot that has twists and turns right up to the final pages.

I am not one to give praise lightly, but have to applaud the attention to historical detail in NO GOOD LIKE IT IS. Long shows he has an obvious talent for smoothly blending intricate historical facts into his scenes, making this novel all that historical fiction should be: educational, enlightening, and, most of all, entertaining!

"[The outpost] was now a full-service establishment. All it lacked were customers, rainfall and safety."

This is a fantastic story that, like a plains twister, picks you up and drops you squarely in the middle of another time and place, a breathless and breathtaking former America. Great characters, begging to appear in a sequel, a perfectly-paced story, and a sense of humor dry enough to bake biscuits, all combine to make this a must for your collection.
Because if your library lacks this treasure, well, then, it just ain't no good like it is.

This one of those narratives usually described as episodic, rambling and picaresque. The plot is the journey - and the point of the journey sometimes seems like an afterthought. If it were a motion picture, it would be that kind of Western wherein a pair of oddly assorted pals wanders through adventures involving the usual genre Western characters; Indians, bad-men, renegades, an assortment of women of rather elastic virtue, drunks, crooked sheriffs and former slaves.

The story of West Point officer Thomas "Dobey" Walls and his sidekick, enlisted soldier Jimmy Melton really seems to fall into three separate parts; the first a prologue of how they meet and become acquainted during the late 1850s, when both are in the US Army, stationed on the wilds of the far frontier. It takes about ten chapters and 70 pages to establish their friendship and their characters - and since the whole meat of their adventure is their Civil War experience as part of the fabled cavalry unit, Terry's Texas Rangers, and their journey home from the war, those first chapters seem a little like marking time, waiting for the real story to begin. Conversely, the Civil War portion of the book seems also a little rushed. Surely Terry's Rangers had a great deal more going on during 1861-65, which would have given enough scope for a full set of wartime adventures and derring-do for the two of them?

Anyway, the real adventure begins when the two of them head home again, across the war-blasted south, with the eventual goal of finding Dobey Walls' surviving family, who may or may not be still at an isolating trading post in the present-day Panhandle. Who knows if they are still alive, for what with the War and all, he hasn't been in touch with them for years?

The historical research, regarding things like military gear and uniforms is impeccable, if sometimes a little overly detailed, and including elements like the Confederate Cherokee characters is an excellent touch. The Civil War was extremely complicated - even in Indian Territory. I would wish for a little more of a sense of place, and landscape, since the journey of Walls and Melton takes place over a wide swath of the South and West. And what seems like an irrelevant development regarding a stolen pay-roll is a lead-in to a sequel - so, the rambling journey will continue, for sure.

Sometimes the best stories are hidden in a rough exterior. No Good Like It Is qualifies as that diamond in the rough. The language is gruff, the individuals involved of questionable background, but the strength and quality of their character is par none.

No Good Like It Is is a fast-paced, action filled novel of the Civil War era that is loaded with believable characters saying and doing believable things. Thomas "Dobey" Walls and his fellow U.S. Cavalry soldier friends Melton, McConegly and Jones are serving on the western frontier when the Civil War begins. They go off to join the 8th Texas Cavalry and fight their way through major battles of the Civil War, surviving wounds and Yankee sharpshooters. The Civil War ends, and Dobey and now just Melton head back to the western frontier, encountering crooks, murderous lawmen, a regiment of Cherokees, and families needing to be saved. Love novels about the Civil War? Then don't miss reading No Good Like It Is.

Hello ,Ladies

This book will surprise you and maybe start that man in your life reading again, just for fun! This is historical fiction but certainly not boring. There is some violence, but it's not contrived. There's romance, but it's complicated. Sex? Yes, but understated. Profanity? Of course these after all these are soliders. However, there is also Junebug, the hooker who's trying to get the boys to clean up their language.

Not what I would normally read but nontheless it is the first book that I have ever written a review about.

You really feel like you are watching a movie; the action flows, the dialogue is just right and there is no question as to who the good guys are. I'm anxiously awaiting the sequel.

If television ever wants to bring back the Western series, good-guys Thomas "Dobey" Walls and his sidekick Jimmy Melton would be the place to start. The camera could provide the sweeping landscapes and Walls and Melton (backed by author McKendree Long) the rambling action-adventure that keeps it all moving from week to week.

Set in the chaotic Civil War years, both in the U.S. Cavalry immediately beforehand, the Confederate Terry's Texas Rangers cavalry with the Army of the Tennessee during the tragedy (which nevertheless freed millions), and across the war-devastated country afterwards, No Good Like It Is is Real Good Like It Is.

Fortunately, the cliff-hanger at the end forecasts that there will be a sequel, and more thoughtful episodic journeying through American history to come. If television is tired of super heroes, desperate house wives, and reality shows (and who isn't) they should snap up this option while the getting is good.

A wide-ranging view of the West during the Civil War and the many characters whose lives were changed by hard times and conflict.