In She Returns from War von Lee Collins machen Monster den Wilden Westen unsicher. Cora Oglesby macht sich wieder auf die Jagd...

http://www.weberseite.at/buecher/she-returns-from-war-lee-collins/ ( )

I don't use star ratings, so please read my review!

(Description nicked from B&N.com.)

“Four years after the horrific events in Leadville, a young woman from England, Victoria Dawes, sets into motion a series of events that will lead Cora and herself out into the New Mexico desert in pursuit of Anaba, a Navajo witch bent on taking revenge for the atrocities committed against her people.”

This book is quite different in tone from its predecessor, and I think this works to its advantage. This time out our main character is Victoria, a proper British young lady who finds herself in the wilds of frontier America on a quest for help avenging her parents’ death. While Cora, the main character from the first novel, does play a major part in the story, she’s not front and center as much as Victoria is. Cora is an abrasive character, and a little of her goes a long way. Not being stuck in her head as the point of view character was, for me, a plus.

It’s also nice to see how these two extremely different personalities play off of each other. They’re at the opposite ends of the spectrum in how they think and behave, and it’s Victoria who bears the brunt of changing to adapt to circumstances. Given that she’s the one who is out of her element, this makes sense. It also allows some of Cora’s personality to come through, anchoring readers to how she was portrayed in the first book.

The plot of She Returns from War pulled together its supernatural elements much more smoothly. The New Mexico setting provides the perfect backdrop for the Native American skinchanger, and she’s written such that her association with a creature from Cora’s past is logical. The plot also relies more on action and backstory than on a plot twist, the way the first novel did. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the twist in Dead of Winter, but it’s not something an author can pull twice in a row without feeling gimmicky. Letting this story run straight through without any tricks was a wise choice. And this novel’s plot is strong enough that it doesn’t need to play with its readers. All the various threads are woven together quite well and tighten into a fully formed tapestry at the book’s climax.

The only problem that I had with this story is that it seemed to end rather abruptly. The professed aim of Victoria’s trip isn’t dealt with by the book’s end, because it was sidetracked into a quest that involves Cora more than Victoria. I’m hopeful that Collins will write another book to tie up those loose ends.

She Returns from War melds the stark and brutal beauty of the American West with some of its most tragic and shameful episodes and then adds in a dash of the fantastic. Definitely not your typical “vampires and weird things” novel, Collins’s Cora Oglesby stories should appeal to those who like their fiction to take chances and strike out in directions not usually seen.

This review originally appeared on Owlcat Mountain on May 29, 2013.

When we reviewed The Dead of Winter by Lee Collins last Fall, I could hardly wait for the sequel to be published. Cora is one of those characters who just grabs you, and I needed to know what happened to her after she left Leadville. Thankfully Angry Robot didn’t wait a full year to publish She Returns From War, its follow-up. This is a paranormal Western and those are such fun! Although you don’t absolutely to have read The Dead of Winter to enjoy She Returns From War, I strongly recommend reading it first. I think it will result in a much better reading experience for you. Combining the Wild West with demons, vampires, shape shifters and all the paranormal has to offer makes for a winning combo you’re going to love! Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=5380. ( )

I received this eARC from the publisher via NetGalley. This book, a sequel to Dead of Winter, will be released on January 29th, 2013.

I read the first book a few months ago, also as an advanced release copy. While not a flawless book by any means--it grated with its reliance on old west cliches--it also brought a fresh paranormal bent to a Colorado pioneer town. The dark fantasy mood was brooding and psychological, and its heroine, Cora was a big part of that. Most urban fantasy-type heroines carry a lot of physical and mental scars, but Cora's were particularly deep, to the point where most folks (rightly) deemed her crazy.

Cora is still true to herself in this book, but it was much harder to deal with her from a different point of view.

That's because this second book is from the perspective of Victoria Dawes, a young English heiress. When her parents are killed under supernatural circumstances, Victoria hears words of Cora's exploits and sets off for America so she can hire the woman gunslinger. Victoria is naive but not in a generally too-stupid-to-live way, though she does come close to the latter a few times. Really, how many times does she drop a crucifix in this book? But I do like how she develops in the end.

However, there were two aspects to the book that really irritated me.

First of all, there's Cora. As I noted, she's not easy to like from another point of view. I'm okay with having an unlikeable main character, but she's pretty extreme here, to the point where she practically lets Victoria die and be raped. The rape issue was really the worst thing here. Everyone wants to rape Victoria. It's frustrating, it's insulting, and it's a lame way to force her character to grow up. Certainly, there were rapists in the 1880s New Mexico Territory, but it's dealt with a heavy hand here, especially since men living and dead are openly lined up to rape her. It annoyed me so much I almost stopped reading. If I had bought the book, I probably would have thrown the book aside in disgust, but since this is an ARC, I felt like I had an obligation to the publisher to carry through to the end and give a fair review. I'd glad I did. The book did become better in the end, but I remain very disappointed in how it developed.

I did like Collins' fair treatment of the Navajo, though I didn't feel like Albuquerque was really explored as a setting. The prime city of the first book, Leadville, came alive as a mining town in the grip of winter. Here, Albuquerque felt too much like a cliche-old-west-town. I would like to have understood more about the villains in the book, as there were still some things I was unclear about.

If Collins does continue the series with Victoria, I might be willing to keep reading--so long as her growth is instigated by more than her own rape-ability. As it is, my support for the second book is tepid. ( )