Steven Law

Yuma Gold is a short, vanilla Western adventure, which is fine as it never pretends to be more than that. The plot is predictable but nevertheless enjoyable, the dialogue lacks spice but is still functional, and the characters are routine but not wooden. I found Ben, Francis and Redman to be largely interchangeable, which also goes for Felicia and Yudexy, or Duff and Calhoun. It is this glaring ability to see the joins in the story that prevents it from being a truly wonderful adventure, but a strong ending – with a thrilling set-piece to retrieve the treasure as water gushes in and floors give way – and my own boyish fondness for buried-treasure stories elevates Yuma Gold to a very respectable three-star rating.… (més)

El Paso Way by Steven Law is a different kind of western novel.

Eleven-year-old Enrique Osorio comes home from hunting to find his parents slaughtered and his sister Amelia kidnapped by Valdar, the Demon Warrior. When he’s spotted, he must run for his life, but not before swearing vengeance.

Pang Lo is a young Chinese living in Arizona Territory. He’s engaged to a young Chinese woman, but Valdar intrudes on the engagement dinner, killing Pang’s father and kidnapping his fiancée and his sister. He can expect no help from local white law enforcement, who think of the Chinese as heathens, and in fact jail Pang for having the temerity to press charges. Pang escapes from jail and goes in search of vengeance against Valdar.

When the white sheriff, Dutton, finds a white man who has been brutally killed by Valdar, he is forced to form a posse and go after him.

Three disparate individuals whose lives are entwined by a common quest, in a sweeping tale of adventure, romance, vengeance, and violence, set in the historical backdrop of America’s westward expansion and conflict with the indigenous Apache led by Geronimo, who resent the white man’s encroachment upon their land and customs.

Law is a master story-teller, who has woven a spell-binding tale that will leave you panting for more.… (més)

Steven Law did a great job with this western. There are some unexpected surprises in the book. The characters were delightful, except for a slight weakness in the main character. But that weakness evoked emotion, so that's a positive. A writer needs to be able to evoke emotion in his/her readers!
Steven pulled off a little bit of an oddity with surprising finesse by including an odd sort of treasure scene, kinda reminded me of the movie "Holes", but with much more for the imagination. I wanted to be there with them!
Read it yourself and see if you hated the bad guys as much as me! I wanted to jump in there and sock them in the mouths myself.
The scenes were done with perfection. The story kept me wanting to read. Thumbs up on this one!… (més)