Customer Reviews

Shooting Star (Saga of the Sierras)

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"Shooting Star" is a western set in 1848 in California at the start of the gold rush. Though this novel is the last book in the series, it's only lightly tied to the Will Reed novels in this series. It's essentially a stand-alone novel.

Historical details about everyday life in the gold camps and on a cattle drive were woven into the story. There were a couple of spots where the action stopped to give a history lesson, but they were brief. The authors tended to find everything that could go wrong and use every problem--using the very worst way things could go wrong--in the novel. So they pushed credulity at some points, but the story was exciting and suspenseful. The suspense was created primarily by physical danger.

The characters were interesting and varied. Will Reed's boys and Andrew were Christians. Andrew was called upon to give a funeral sermon. Later, a series of miracles occur to save their lives, and God was given the credit. So it was a Christian novel.

A word or short phrase of Spanish was often dropped into the writing. They usually weren't explained, but one could usually still follow what was going on. There was no bad language and no sex. The ending left some minor things unresolved.

If you're interested in this book because of the prologue in "A Thousand Shall Fall," you should know that only the shooting star fragment was explained. You do get a good idea of where the $20 gold coins came from, but they weren't specifically mentioned. However, the pocket watch and fob was never explained or mentioned.