Devil's Tower

Devil's Tower

by Mark Sumner

The turning point of the Civil War had come when the bodies got up at Shiloh. Dangerous magic had risen on a flood of blood and violence, and it swept across the land, washing away all but the strong and the lucky. Unnatural powers had been loosed, and nothing would ever be the same again.
Towns out west were dying faster than mayflies in June. To survive the perils of the frontierbandits, hexes, marauders, and conjurations, folks needed a strong sheriff. And any lawman who expected to survive had better have a fast gun and a talent for magic.
Jake Bird wasn't aiming to pin any star to his chest. He had a talent, maybe a strong one. But before he could search out his future, he'd have to face his past--and stand up against the man who'd killed his father. That would mean a showdown against the most dangerous wielder of magic in all the West: General George Armstrong Custer!

Genres: Fantasy, Westerns, Alternate History, Steampunk, Weird West, Science Fiction, Fiction

346 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Sometimes credited as Mark C. Sumner or M.C. Sumner.

Reviews

[Burt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book more or less had me when the Indian rides into the frontier town on a dead horse to challenge the town sheriff to a magical duel at high noon.

It's a story about Jake, a kid from the plains who has a gift for magic. Magic however comes with its own troubles. When you're a chatterer (a specific type of magic user from the story's setting) everyone wants to challenge you to prove they're the best at what they do. These contests more than often prove fatal, and soon Jake is run out of town. In the weeks that follows, he finds more like himself and comes to the realization that most of the ills of his life stem from one source: Gen. Custer, the Butcher of Little Big Horn.

It's a great take on alternate history, as well as an interesting application of the fantasy genre to said history. It harkens to the days I would spend playing the Deadlands roleplaying game, and I wouldn;t be surprised if the author of the novel didn't occasionally rub shoulders with Shane Lacey Hensley of Pinnacle Entertainment Group renown.

It's a good popcorn book full of shoot 'em ups with a magical twist. A fun read.

[Dollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was certainly different. I enjoyed this book but don’t know if I will be continuing the series. It’s a post-Civil War book. It was never explained, but for some reason when all the battles in the east killed so many men, people in the West started discovering they had secret, magical talents. One of them, Jake Bird, is a nice young man whose father was sheriff of a town named Calio until George Armstrong Custer killed the sheriff and became the new sheriff of the town. Jake’s town is taken over by some of Custer’s henchmen and it’s all Jake can do to rescue the two women (young girls) who meant anything to him – Josie and Sela. He has some friends, Bred Smith, who changes into a bear, and Hattie, the Water Woman. They do manage to get Josie back, but Sela’s body was taken over by Jake’s stepmother’s soul. It was a very different concept for me – taking our history and changing it into a fantasy. I don't know if I like the changing of real history into fantasy, but it was a good story.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has one of the best opening lines in fantasy fiction, in my opinion

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago. I really enjoyed it. It was an interesting twist to add to the wild west. I would recommend it.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gérard Klein l'a déjà dit, et je ne reprend que ses mots. Plus qu'un genre, la SF est une espèce littéraire permettant l'expression de tous les genres classiques. Ici, c'est le western qui y passe. Etant un ancien fan du jeu de rôles Deadlands ("le western spaghetti avec suppléments de tentacules"), je ne pouvais que me délecter par avance de cette lecture, d'autant plus que la couverture reprend l'illustration de couverture du même Deadlands. Bref, l'odeur de la poudre m'attirait pas mal.
Pourtant, je ne peux m'empêcher de ressentir comme une déception à la suite de cette lecture. Parce que si Deadlands garde ses bases de far-west, ce roman, lui, s'en débarrasse assez rapidement. On y trouve ainsi aucun duel au pistolet, aucune fusillade. Donc, pas de western ici. L'époque est évidement la bonne, le décor est assez correct (les petites villes des grandes plaines, les canyons, ...), les personnages sont parfois intéressants, mais la magie qu'y ajoute l'auteur met un bazar tel qu'il ne reste plus rien des constructions habituelles du genre. A la place, on a droit à des duels de magiciens que ne démentirait pas un jeu comme Magic, à la différence près que les magiciens ne disposent ici que d'un unique moyen de faire de la magie.
On trouve les murmureurs, les crieurs, les façonneurs, et tant d'autres.
Mais ça n'est décidément pas pareil que deux hommes, le colt dans la ceinture, prêts à en découdre.
Sans doute est-ce ma vision du genre qui est trop stéréotypée, mais je n'accroche pas à cette révision du western. Surtout qu'une fois le décor enlevé, il ne reste plus grand chose dans cette histoire, qu'une banale histoire de vengeance, ne valant que par une scène finale d'antologie, digne d'un Brain Dead.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's an interesting concept: The post-civil war Wild West, except people are developing magical powers (and no, this is never explained). The book starts off well ("The shaman rode into town on a dead horse"), and exploring the wild west with magic is fun, but the book doesn't stay that great, unfortunately. It's hard to put my finger on why; The book is competently written, and the setting is certainly imaginative. I think what it comes down to are two connected issues, namely the book's pacing, and the author's decision that Custer should be the main villain, but then doesn't appear until the heroes attack him at the very end of the book.

(spoiler alert!)

The secondary villain, Quantrill, shows up and murders a bunch of people and sells the female lead into prostitution, but he dies three quarters of the way through the book. Then the heroes decide that they need to go stop Custer, although he has only appeared in flashbacks, and only then killing someone in a legal duel. It's like if Star Wars had Princess Leia blow Darth Vader's head off 3/4 of the way through and then Luke was like "Well, I guess we should go fight the Emperor" - it doesn't really make any sense, and drains most of the tension and drama.

(There's also the minor issue of our hero being a generic boring white guy, whereas his supporting cast - the aforementioned female lead, and the moronically named "Bred" who can turn himself into a giant bear - are much more interesting.)

Overall, this book isn't bad, and I guess I got my $3 out of it, but I wouldn't be running out to pick it up, unless you really love wild west were-bears.

[Math le maudit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Du fantastique à la sauce western ? C' est pas courant, mais ça existe ! Un Custer sorcier qui fait régner la terreur dans l' ouest et qui prépare une guerre totale avec les indiens, et il n'en faut pas plus pour amorcer un récit plein d' aventures et de dangers. Enfilez vos bottes, ajustez vos Stetson pieds-tendres, la poudre va parler !