In a book that serves as a both a sequel to Dead Man's Walk and a prequel to the beloved Lonesome Dove, McMurtry fills in the missing chapters in the Call and McCrae saga. It is a fantastic read, in many ways the best and gutsiest of the series. We join the Texas Rangers in their waning Indian-fighting years. The Comanches, after one last desperate raid led by the fearsome-but-aging Buffalo Hump, are almost defeated, though Buffalo Hump's son, Blue Duck, still terrorizes the relentless flow of settlers and lawmen. As Augustus and Woodrow follow one-eyed, tobacco-spitting Captain Inish Scull deep into a murderous madman's den in Mexico, their thoughts turn toward the end of their careers and the women they love in remarkably different ways back in Austin. What's amazing about McMurtry's West is that he sees beyond the romance. Neither his Indians, his cowboys, his gunslingers, nor his women act the way they did in either Zane Grey novels or John Wayne movies. Incredible beauty and lightning-quick violence are the bookends of his West, but it is the in-between moments of suffering and boredom where McMurtry shines. The suffering is poignant and heart-rending; the boredom tempered with doses of Augustus McCrae's sharp humor. Don't be surprised if you find yourself crying and laughing on the same page.


From Library Journal
If you've ever wondered what happened between Dead Man's Walk and Lonesome Dove, here's your chance to find out.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Entertainment Weekly
As ever, the conflict that interest McMurtry at least as much as the mortal combat between warlike Comanches and their Texan counterparts is the struggle between wandering men and the women left behind. Readers who loved Lonesome Dove are apt to find Comanche Moon consistently entertaining.


The New York Times Book Review, Andy Solomon
In Comanche Moon, McMurtry has created a sprawling, picaresque novel that, like the history of the West itself, leaves more than a few loose ends.... As usual, though, the characters are the novel's strength.


From AudioFile
Fans of the LONESOME DOVE saga will rejoice in listening to this third, and final, installment of the epic, which follows a band of Texas Rangers in the 1850s and '60s. Frank Muller has made this project his own, not only by narrating, but also by producing and directing the book. Muller does a terrific job with the characters and setting, uses excellent pacing, and generally creates a vivid landscape for McMurtry's people to inhabit. Muller is a bit breathy at the beginning, but he soon finds his rhythm and makes this a very enjoyable book. (In a book of this length, announcements of tape number and tape side endings would be a helpful enhancement.) R.I.G. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
McMurtry returns to reliable form in this follow-up to Dead Man's Walk (1995) that serves as a second prequel to his Texas epic Lonesome Dove (1985). As the great Comanche warrior Buffalo Hump slowly succumbs to weakness and old age, a younger generation both of Texans and Comanches rises to power. Buffalo Hump's son, Blue Duck, breaks away from his father to form a band of renegades who prefer the Texans' guns to the bow and arrow and their own whims to traditional ways. Events are set in motion by the theft of a great warhorse belonging to Harvard-educated adventurer and Texas ranger, Captain Inish Scull. The thief, a Comanche, resolves to undertake a mad display of heroism by presenting the animal to the Mexican warlord Ahumado (the ``Black Vaquero'') renowned for the creative methods of torture he visits on anyone foolish enough to cross him. Captain Scull, unhinged by the incident, sets off in pursuit and falls into Ahumado's hands. A brutal Comanche raid on Austin at the same time spurs the rise of two tough, bright, experienced young rangers: affable, whiskey- and whore-obsessed Augustus McCrae, who's nevertheless steadfast in his devotion to Clara Forsythe, an independent-minded shopkeeper who breaks his heart by marrying a more stable man; and dour, sensible, lethal Woodrow Call, who can't quite bring himself to acknowledge his illegitimate son or marry the sweet-natured prostitute with whom he has a longstanding relationship. The two battle-hardened friends sort out their troubles with women, tangle with the Comanches and Ahumado, and quietly become (reluctant) legends on the frontier. While the last third turns workmanlike in its efforts to set up the opening situation of Lonesome Dove, McMurtry nevertheless delivers a generally fine tableau of western life, full of imaginative exploits, convincing historical background, and characters who are alive. (Book-of-the-Month Club main selection/Literary Guild alternate selection/Quality Paperback Book Club selection) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
Judith Wynn Boston Herald Almost impossible to put down.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

We join Texas Rangers August McCrae and Woodrow F. Call in their middle years, just beginning to deal with the perplexing tensions of adult life - Gus and his great love, Clara Forsythe; Call and Maggie Tilton, the young whore who loves him - when they enlist with a Ranger troop in pursuit of Buffalo Hump, the great Comanche war chief; Kicking Wolf, the celebrated Comanche horse thief; and a deadly Mexican bandit king with a penchant for torture. Assisting the Rangers in their wild chase is the renowned Kickapoo tracker, Famous Shoes. Comanche Moon joins the twenty-year time line between Dead Man's Walk and Lonesome Dove, as we follow beloved heroes Gus and Call and their comrades-in-arms - Deets, Jake Spoon, and Pea Eye Parker - in their bitter struggle to protect an advancing Western frontier against the defiant Comanches, courageously determined to defend their territory and their way of life. At once realistic and yet vividly imagined, Comanche Moon is a giant of a book - written by one of America's most honored and distinguished novelists - and the keystone to a mighty achievement of storytelling, unparalleled for its sweep, its meticulous re-creation of the past, its sheer energy, and its celebration of life: an epic adventure full of heroism, tragedy, cruelty, courage, honor and betrayal, and the culmination of Larry McMurtry's peerless vision of the American West.

SYNOPSIS

An epic adventure of heroism, tragedy, honor, and betrayal, and the culmination of Larry McMurtry's acclaimed western saga that began with Lonesome Dove, Comanche Moon finds Texas Rangers August McCrae and Woodrow F. Call in their middle years, just beginning to experience the perplexing romantic entanglements of adult life. For Gus, there is his great love, Clara Forsythe, who longs for the security of marriage; for Call, there is the beautiful young whore, Maggie Tilton, who bears him a son. Following a brutal Comanche raid on Austin, Gus and Call enlist with a Ranger troop in pursuit of the legendary war chief Buffalo Hump, a campaign that reunites them with such familiar comrades-in-arms as Deets, Jake Spoon, and Pea Eye Parker, and introduces an exciting new cast of characters, including the eccentric Harvard professor turned Texas Ranger Captain Inish Scull; the notorious Mexican outlaw king Ahumado; and the celebrated Comanche horse-thief Kicking Wolf.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

If you've ever wondered what happened between Dead Man's Walk and Lonesome Dove, here's your chance to find out.

Kirkus Reviews

McMurtry returns to reliable form in this follow-up to Dead Man's Walk (1995) that serves as a second prequel to his Texas epic Lonesome Dove (1985).

As the great Comanche warrior Buffalo Hump slowly succumbs to weakness and old age, a younger generation both of Texans and Comanches rises to power. Buffalo Hump's son, Blue Duck, breaks away from his father to form a band of renegades who prefer the Texans' guns to the bow and arrow and their own whims to traditional ways. Events are set in motion by the theft of a great warhorse belonging to Harvard-educated adventurer and Texas ranger, Captain Inish Scull. The thief, a Comanche, resolves to undertake a mad display of heroism by presenting the animal to the Mexican warlord Ahumado (the "Black Vaquero") renowned for the creative methods of torture he visits on anyone foolish enough to cross him. Captain Scull, unhinged by the incident, sets off in pursuit and falls into Ahumado's hands. A brutal Comanche raid on Austin at the same time spurs the rise of two tough, bright, experienced young rangers: affable, whiskey- and whore-obsessed Augustus McCrae, who's nevertheless steadfast in his devotion to Clara Forsythe, an independent-minded shopkeeper who breaks his heart by marrying a more stable man; and dour, sensible, lethal Woodrow Call, who can't quite bring himself to acknowledge his illegitimate son or marry the sweet-natured prostitute with whom he has a longstanding relationship. The two battle-hardened friends sort out their troubles with women, tangle with the Comanches and Ahumado, and quietly become (reluctant) legends on the frontier.

While the last third turns workmanlike in its efforts to set up the opening situation of Lonesome Dove, McMurtry nevertheless delivers a generally fine tableau of western life, full of imaginative exploits, convincing historical background, and characters who are alive.