It started as a serialization in 1927 called The City in the Sky, and from that it was immediately obvious that Brand was making it up as he went along.
At least it had a promising beginning.
It starts with a young horse in danger of drowning in mud, and honestly this is the part with the most suspense in the entire story, as Joe Tarron rushes home to wake his lazy brother Les, the only one who can save the poor creature.
And in an amazing feat of strength, he does! That's pretty cool.
So after Les minds his own business on the farm, another novel passes through. I mean, a group of men on the hunt, lead by a man named Ingram, for a guy named Dorn, whom we learn is carrying a secret plot device with him. There's a lot of confusing hoo-ha about Ingram wanting Les' recently-rescued horse, involving a horse race, and a bet, and finally Ingram buys the horse, and Les goes along with him. What the huh?
The gang go off into the mountains and find a half-naked Dorn trying to escape, but Les betrays the group to save Dorn.
And surprisingly, Les is very expert in helping him. He's never been out in the world on his own before and yet he has these amazing stealth, tracking and survival skills. Was Brand's intention for Les to be this ideal action hero?
At least Les makes a few tiny little mistakes. While camping on the hill, he leaves Dorn all by himself and goes into town to get horses for them all. He is tested by the proprietor to see which horse is his, and spots it like that. I'll give that to him. he's an expert on horses.
But then he runs into Ingram, claiming Les stole his horse from him. If he had kept the horse for himself in the first place he wouldn't have this problem. Especially when he gets himself recognised after trying to pass himself off as Dorn's son.
He almost gets arrested, breaks out, manages to get the proprietor's horse and makes his way back to the camp with little consequence whatsoever, except that he's now a man on the run, but just because he's helping Dorn. He even manages to sneak out the plot device hidden in Dorn's belt. And he manages to be good at stealing food, too.
Dorn and Les then travel to the town of Santa Trista, on their way to La Paz. Dorn is convinced they'd be safe there, but Les isn't so sure. Santa Trista is one of those ancient Mexican towns so remote and hidden that electricity doesn't even work there. As far as Dorn is convinced, what are the chances of a murderous gang ever finding them there?
Surprise, surprise, Dorn is killed, while Les, who was hidden, is bent on revenge. Fair enough.
The one responsible for this, and for stealing the special plot device inside the belt, is a criminal named Quexada. Sounds like an important sounding special kind of guy, but he's barely in this novel and only lasts a chapter or two. He's intelligent and looks and sounds noble, but that's it. Little to no presence of his own whatsoever.
Almost as underdeveloped is the nameless landlord, depicted on the cover, that Les takes with him to Quexada. He's one of those characters whom you aren't sure is a double or a triple agent. Brand doesn't show you enough of him to find out and just wastes him.
When Les kills Quexada, he does it with calm unconcern. His first time killing a man and he's not taken aback once by it. Also, shouldn't it have been more difficult for him? Quexada had the potential to be a cool adversary but he wasn't.
After Brand goes into detail about how pretty the box is, he sends Les on his way to La Paz. Except that nobody has heard of it. They've heard of "Santa Maria", not "La Paz". It's almost obvious as to what the town is really called: Santa Maria de La Paz. Since Les is so smart he could have figured that out for himself.
On his way Les meets an old man, Pedro Gregorio, and the suspicious Lucia who tries to poison Les with food. Make that of what you will. Maybe because Les is an outlaw now, I can't tell. I don't understand what she found so suspicious about him. She makes Alicia from South of Rio Grande look hospitable.
Les shoots down the famous Silvio Oñate while looking for this city, and sadly Silvio is in this book for so little that he's almost indistinguishable from Quexada.
It turns out the real villain of the book is not Ingram, or Quexada, or Oñate but the gang boss Robert Langhorne, who wants the box, the plot device, because it has a map to a mine or something. A mine which the natives had closed when the Conquistadores arrived.
And chases ensue. Lots and lots and lots of chases. Chases that go on for an indiscriminate number of chapters. And he practically escapes unscathed and expertly from all these men after him. This is a boy who has had no experience of adventure before, people. Once he gets to Santa Maria de la Paz he manages to sneak into Langhorne's house, only to get out again and meets Alvarado whom the plot device was supposed to be transported to... and is welcomed as a hero, a hero of Mexicans and marries a pretty girl named Anna Maria Alvarado. Finally Langhorne conveniently kills himself and Les guns down Ingram after years.
So, in short, a bunch of stuff happened. None of which ties together as a coherent story.
I've tried to explain this one as best as I can because it is a huge mess. The plot goes all over the place, the characters come and go without us ever getting to know them properly (if they're Mexican, they're often the biggest offenders of this), there's hardly any development and the whole thing is so padded out with chases that I stopped caring any more. There could have been some good adversaries there, but they're not in it long enough to really develop.
I find it unbelievable that for a young man's first time out in the world, he guns down at least two notorious criminals. I know he's strong but he's supposed to be inexperienced, having grown up on a farm all his life, and sometimes strength isn't enough.
The book also rambles on and on about something or other and I have no time for that. I guess that because it was serialized Brand was being paid by the word and so had to drag it out each issue.
It also doesn't explain anything until the end, which makes you wonder if it was supposed to be a mystery, or an adventure, or both.
At least there are a few quiet, peaceful moments in the beginning. Those were nice.
Other than that, this book is really not worth it. It's a complete mess.
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