*Warning: this review contains one spoiler.
I LOVE the Old West. The mystery, the history, the land, the myth, the adventure. When I came across Vengeance Road, a 2015 YA novel by Erin Bowman, I felt I had found the book for me.
Here’s the premise: In 1878 Arizona Territory, teenager Kate Thompson is reeling from the murder of her beloved father, killed for having a map revealing a hidden gold mine. Out for revenge, Kate disguises herself as a boy and embarks on a journey far from home and quickly uncovers dark secrets about her family’s past. Accompanied by two cowboys, the Colton brothers, and a resourceful Apache girl, Liluye, Kate and her group encounter far more danger and deceit than they bargained for.
Revenge, gold, cowboys, strong female protagonist? Check. I love these themes. Told in first person from Kate’s perspective, the novel moves at lightning speed, but such a pace helps convey Kate’s sense of bewilderment and bloodthirsty rage at losing her father. And the novel doesn’t coddle its readers either. Bowman isn’t shy in her descriptions of bloodshed and death, seen when Kate and her band encounter the wreckage of a burned wagon: “There ain’t nothing but charred corpses inside the coach, so black and flame eaten, they look more skeleton than flesh. One of ’ems small” (57). More gunfights and violence ensues, but Bowman’s writing is taut enough to keep the novel from being bogged down in such dark themes. The novel has its share of funny moments, as Kate struggles to conceal her identity while riding with the bickering brothers. And being a YA novel, romance of some sort is nearly a prerequisite. Regarding the relationship between Kate and one of the brothers, Bowman expertly builds on her protagonist’s initial feelings of irritation and disgust to respect and curiosity, to something more.
The novel certainly feels period accurate in the dialect spoken by the characters, and in the distrust and outright racism projected against non-white individuals. In an era where white settlers and indigenous tribes clashed over land and culture, the novel would feel off if such themes went unacknowledged. Kate, half white, half Mexican, even admits that her town “ain’t taking kindly to Mexicans lately” and that the “cowardly part of me’s happy half my features are Pa’s” (15). Though Kate has many admirable qualities, such as strength and tenacity, she’s displays plenty of bigotry against the Apaches. When she crosses paths with Liluye, Kate and the brothers make clear they do not view her as an equal. However, the utter danger in Kate’s revenge quest soon forces them all to set aside their differences.
Despite the violence and revenge theme, the book ends on a happy, albeit clichéd, note in my opinion. Hey, after all the grief and bloodshed Kate, one of the most memorable female protagonists I’ve encountered in a bit, has endured, she deserves the true, if slightly sappy happy ending. But Kate’s story doesn’t end here, as Bowman just released Retribution Rails, the companion novel to Vengeance Road. Will I be reading that book? You bet, pardner! Bowman’s YA western has roped me in, and I want to see where the story rides off to (just as long as it’s not into the sunset.)
-LMC
Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 327 pages