Joe Ambercrombie has written a tribute to Sergio Leone dollars trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns. Red country is divided into 5 sections, the first two sections are based roughly around For a Few Dollars More, where two bounty hunters chase a wanted fugitive and his gang. Abercrombie swaps out Clint Eastwood and Van Cleef for a new character called Shy south, a young lady with a dark past, who along with her step father, a 9 fingered northerner called lamb... set out in pursuit of a gang of ruthless outlaws who burnt their farm, killed their friend and stole her brother and sister. Over the course of the first two sections Shy and Lamb join a "fellowship", a wagon train of varied people heading over the desert to the far west to make their fortune, some are there to find gold, others to stake a claim to land, to raise cattle, etc. Nothing much really happens, these two sections build up the new characters we meet, though there are a few action scenes, the token Indians, this being a western, who are called "ghosts", best of all to me was the return of Nicomo Cosca and his army of mercenaries. During the journey the character development proceeds masterfully, the philosophising about the nature and effect of the USA's settlement of the west coast was thankfully minor and the story, whilst not riveting, was still interesting and a definite page turner.
Section 3 of the book is a homage to "A fistful of dollars", where Clint Eastwood walks into a lawless border town where there's a bitter feud between two rival gangs, and is courted by both to fight for them. Joe Ambercrombies take on a fistful of dollars is at once both excellent and disappointing. Excellent in both character development, story arch and originality, I kept expecting the characters to follow the story in the fistful of dollars and was continuously surprised, pleasantly, at how Joe's take on this was at once intimately familiar and happily unfamiliar. To me this section was also disappointing, though only in the sense that it felt like it was over too quickly and wanted it to go on for longer. Probably since "A fistfull of dollars" is one of my favourite films and i would have loved to read a book based on the film set in fantasy world.
Section 4 and 5 pay tribute to the classic film, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", where three bounty hunters compete to find and keep a fortune in gold amid the violent chaos of gunfights, hangings, American Civil War battles and prison camps. These two sections are most loosely based on a film, so I can't comment much in order to avoid spoilers, though suffice to say there's plenty of violence, double dealing and treasure to satisfy anyone.
If you're like me and were initially put of by the idea of western instead of a fantasy, don't be. Whilst it is a western, there's enough action, familiar faces and fantasy elements to keep you reading, if anything this is one of Joe Ambercrombies best books. If you liked any of his other books, or like fantasy and westerns, then buy this now, you'll be happy you did.
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Top reviews from other countries
AldriänCG
En el genero fantástico hay cabida para un western.
Reviewed in Mexico on 12 March 2016
