Customer Reviews

Out of the Crucible (Treasure Quest Series #2)

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As the third book in Marion Wells's Treasure Quest Series, _Out of the Crucible_ carries the series along well, resolving some problems that I had been anxious to see resolved since the first and second books, while leaving room for the story to progress in _Jewel of Promise_. This book takes place mainly in the West, in and around the Colorado Territory during the first year of the Civil War. Matthew Thomas, a recurring character introduced in _Silver Highway_ but absent in _Colorado Gold_, rethinks the decision he made in the heat of anger at the end of _The Silver Highway_. Hoping to change what he had done a year earlier, he leaves his parents' Mississippi plantation in the spring of 1861, unwilling to fight for the Confederacy. Before he gets far, however, he is pressed into Confederate service by thugs. This turns out for the best, as the forces he is with travel west into Texas and New Mexico, and we know from _Colorado Gold_ that his estranged wife, Crystal, has gone to Colorado with former preacher's wife turned dance hall girl Amelia Randolph. While Matthew and Crystal learn of each other's presence in the territory, and Matthew seeks to leave behind his unwilling Confederate service, Amelia and her daughter, Amy, become closer after years apart, and both women try fight lingering troubles in their own marriages and try to aid Matthew and Crystal. If you've read _Silver Highway_ (the copy of which I read said it was the first book, although the Amazon site lists the later-set _Colorado Gold_ as Book 1) and Colorado Gold_, then _Out of the Crucible_ will satisfy you and make you eager for the sequel, _Jewel of Promise_.