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Texas Rangers #1-3
Lone Star Rising: The Texas Rangers Trilogy
In 1999, with Forge's publication of The Buckskin Line, Elmer Kelton launched a series of novels on the formative years of the Texas Rangers. In Texas Justice, the first three of these critically acclaimed books are now brought together in a single volume.
In The Buckskin Line, Kelton introduces the red-haired boy captured by a Comanche war party after the massacre of his family. Rescued by Mike Shannon, a member of a Texas "ranging company" protecting settlers from Indian raids, the boy known as Rusty is adopted by the Shannon family. In 1861, Mike Shannon is ambushed and killed, and Rusty follows in his footsteps and joins the Rangers. In the throes of the coming War Between the States, Rusty searches for the Confederates who lynched his adoptive father and awaits meeting the Comanche warrior who killed his family two decades past.
At the end of the Civil War, Rusty Shannon is thrown adrift when the Rangers are disbanded, and makes his way to his home on the Red River, where he hopes to marry the girl he left behind, Geneva Monahan. But as Badger Boy, the second novel of the saga, unfolds, Geneva has married another man in Rusty's absence. Faced with this betrayal, he must contend with the hate-filled Confederate and Union soldiers infesting Texas and with the continuing Indian raids against innocent settlers. Rusty's own childhood captivity returns to haunt him when he rescues Andy, a white child called Badger Boy by his Comanche captors.
In The Way of the Coyote, Andy rides with Rusty Shannon as the Rangers are re-formed in postwar turmoil. With Texas overrun with outlaws, disenfranchised Confederate veterans, nightriders, and marauding Comanche bands, Rusty tries to resume his pre-war life. When his friend Shanty, a freed slave, is burned out of his home by Ku Klux Klan and Rusty's own homestead is confiscated by a murderous band of thugs, he must follow perilous trails before he can put the war and its aftermath behind him.
Texas Justice is not only a masterful re-creation of the early years of the Texas Rangers, it is vintage Elmer Kelton, the undisputed master of the Western story.
In The Buckskin Line, Kelton introduces the red-haired boy captured by a Comanche war party after the massacre of his family. Rescued by Mike Shannon, a member of a Texas "ranging company" protecting settlers from Indian raids, the boy known as Rusty is adopted by the Shannon family. In 1861, Mike Shannon is ambushed and killed, and Rusty follows in his footsteps and joins the Rangers. In the throes of the coming War Between the States, Rusty searches for the Confederates who lynched his adoptive father and awaits meeting the Comanche warrior who killed his family two decades past.
At the end of the Civil War, Rusty Shannon is thrown adrift when the Rangers are disbanded, and makes his way to his home on the Red River, where he hopes to marry the girl he left behind, Geneva Monahan. But as Badger Boy, the second novel of the saga, unfolds, Geneva has married another man in Rusty's absence. Faced with this betrayal, he must contend with the hate-filled Confederate and Union soldiers infesting Texas and with the continuing Indian raids against innocent settlers. Rusty's own childhood captivity returns to haunt him when he rescues Andy, a white child called Badger Boy by his Comanche captors.
In The Way of the Coyote, Andy rides with Rusty Shannon as the Rangers are re-formed in postwar turmoil. With Texas overrun with outlaws, disenfranchised Confederate veterans, nightriders, and marauding Comanche bands, Rusty tries to resume his pre-war life. When his friend Shanty, a freed slave, is burned out of his home by Ku Klux Klan and Rusty's own homestead is confiscated by a murderous band of thugs, he must follow perilous trails before he can put the war and its aftermath behind him.
Texas Justice is not only a masterful re-creation of the early years of the Texas Rangers, it is vintage Elmer Kelton, the undisputed master of the Western story.
704 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Elmer Kelton
208 books279 followersElmer Kelton (1926-2009) was award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards have been seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His novel The Good Old Boys was made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for 42 years. He served in the infantry in World War II. He died in 2009.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/elmerk...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/elmerk...
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 19, 2025
Lone Star Rising is three books in one volume, the first three of Kelton's "Texas Rangers" series that went for nine novels.
The Buckskin Line:
A 1999-written western, Buckskin Line is about a Texas kid who is raised on the frontier by adopted parents after his family was killed by Comanches. The Comanches had their reasons.
The protagonist grows up and reaches age just as the Civil War breaks out, and he sympathizes with friends on both sides of the conflict in boring fashion. Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers are kind of stuck between those two groups and also between the peaceful Indians being imprisoned on their reservations and the vengeful Comanches outside the reservation who are always looking for ways to get back the land they lost.
Verdict: Buckskin Line just doesn't have interesting characters or writing that holds my attention like other westerns do. Kelton's stuff gets better.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
Badger Boy:
"Badger Boy" takes place in 1865 and finds a frontier farming settlement in Texas dealing with the end of the Civil War as soldiers and Rangers return home to pick up the pieces and navigate their new situation.
The Ranger from "The Buckskin Line" returns and has a backstory that works well in this one. We meet Badger Boy, a white teen who was adopted by Comanches like the Ranger had been but he is still with the Indians and considers himself one. This leads to a lot of good dialogue and moral gymnastics as the two reconcile their similarities, differences, and responsibilities when they finally meet late in the story. There are a few other storylines, well-paced and probably intended to influence further novels in the series, and they are all interesting, too.
Verdict: A smart western, easy to read, preachy at times as Kelton does, some eyerolling moments that are actually earned, and just a really fun western. Loved this one.
Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
The Way of the Coyote:
Rusty asked, "What is it you like so much about shootin' police?"
"I don't rightly know. Maybe it's the way they jump when they're hit. Anyway, they're all Yankees at heart. Texas could do with a lot less of them." - Farley Brackett
Coyote is the third entry in Kelton's Texas Ranger series and picks up right after the event that ended "Badger Boy". It would kind of spoil Badger if I told you exactly how Coyote starts, so I'll just say it begins in the Fall of 1865 right after the Civil War's end and the folks on the Texas frontier are still trying to figure out what to do with themselves now that the Texan state government and law enforcement is kind of a toothless carpetbagging paper authority.
Our hero Rusty Shannon splits main protagonist duties with the white former Comanche Andy Pickens as they deal with comancheros, whiskey runners, kidnappers, horse thieves, grudge settlers, carpetbaggers, racists, and stubborn womenfolk.
Verdict: Another good western from Kelton. I've come around on his stuff - this one still has its share of eyerolling moments and preachiness but comes across so fun and authentic it works. Way of the Coyote is even better than Badger Boy and I can't wait to read the next in the series.
Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG
Averaging the ratings for the three novels, I get a 3.3. A good volume for someone looking for a smart, easy, western adventure series.
The Buckskin Line:
A 1999-written western, Buckskin Line is about a Texas kid who is raised on the frontier by adopted parents after his family was killed by Comanches. The Comanches had their reasons.
The protagonist grows up and reaches age just as the Civil War breaks out, and he sympathizes with friends on both sides of the conflict in boring fashion. Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers are kind of stuck between those two groups and also between the peaceful Indians being imprisoned on their reservations and the vengeful Comanches outside the reservation who are always looking for ways to get back the land they lost.
Verdict: Buckskin Line just doesn't have interesting characters or writing that holds my attention like other westerns do. Kelton's stuff gets better.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
Badger Boy:
"Badger Boy" takes place in 1865 and finds a frontier farming settlement in Texas dealing with the end of the Civil War as soldiers and Rangers return home to pick up the pieces and navigate their new situation.
The Ranger from "The Buckskin Line" returns and has a backstory that works well in this one. We meet Badger Boy, a white teen who was adopted by Comanches like the Ranger had been but he is still with the Indians and considers himself one. This leads to a lot of good dialogue and moral gymnastics as the two reconcile their similarities, differences, and responsibilities when they finally meet late in the story. There are a few other storylines, well-paced and probably intended to influence further novels in the series, and they are all interesting, too.
Verdict: A smart western, easy to read, preachy at times as Kelton does, some eyerolling moments that are actually earned, and just a really fun western. Loved this one.
Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
The Way of the Coyote:
Rusty asked, "What is it you like so much about shootin' police?"
"I don't rightly know. Maybe it's the way they jump when they're hit. Anyway, they're all Yankees at heart. Texas could do with a lot less of them." - Farley Brackett
Coyote is the third entry in Kelton's Texas Ranger series and picks up right after the event that ended "Badger Boy". It would kind of spoil Badger if I told you exactly how Coyote starts, so I'll just say it begins in the Fall of 1865 right after the Civil War's end and the folks on the Texas frontier are still trying to figure out what to do with themselves now that the Texan state government and law enforcement is kind of a toothless carpetbagging paper authority.
Our hero Rusty Shannon splits main protagonist duties with the white former Comanche Andy Pickens as they deal with comancheros, whiskey runners, kidnappers, horse thieves, grudge settlers, carpetbaggers, racists, and stubborn womenfolk.
Verdict: Another good western from Kelton. I've come around on his stuff - this one still has its share of eyerolling moments and preachiness but comes across so fun and authentic it works. Way of the Coyote is even better than Badger Boy and I can't wait to read the next in the series.
Jeff's Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG
Averaging the ratings for the three novels, I get a 3.3. A good volume for someone looking for a smart, easy, western adventure series.
October 1, 2020
Page-turning trilogy of West Texas before during, and after the Civil War.
Outstanding characters and events with a tale told as few but Elmer Kelton can tell. These were the final days of the Comanche, the grim days of war and reconstruction, and the families who sacrificed deeply to bring peace and law and order to these endless plains. The Texas Rangers, often without pay but dedicated to duty and protecting the innocent, made a huge difference against marauding Indians and desperate outlaws. Tough times and magnificently told. Well worth the time.
Outstanding characters and events with a tale told as few but Elmer Kelton can tell. These were the final days of the Comanche, the grim days of war and reconstruction, and the families who sacrificed deeply to bring peace and law and order to these endless plains. The Texas Rangers, often without pay but dedicated to duty and protecting the innocent, made a huge difference against marauding Indians and desperate outlaws. Tough times and magnificently told. Well worth the time.
January 17, 2019
Excellent is an understatement
Very well written from a historical perspective as well as full of adventure. A novel full of very realistic danger that could have happened exactly as written. I highly recommend this book!
Very well written from a historical perspective as well as full of adventure. A novel full of very realistic danger that could have happened exactly as written. I highly recommend this book!
August 22, 2018
A compilation of 3 novels by Elmer Kelton covering the early years of the Texas republic from the 1850's through the Civil war. Simply, but beautifully written.
October 18, 2020
Not bad. I only read Part 1.
January 2, 2025
Great writer, sorely missed.
January 8, 2025
A great read with characters you connect with over the course of the book. Greatly enjoyed it.
August 30, 2026
Great epic story that would also make a fine movie.
June 26, 2026
Book 1: ★★★★★
Book 2: ★★★★★
Book 3: ★★★★★
Grew up adoring 'The Rifleman' with Chuck Connors and damn if Elmer Kelton doesn't take that fondness and elevate it with the historical accurate standards that the badass 'Texas Rangers' were. For those not familiar - think 'first Gorila Warfared' Spec Ops. When the natives showed that organized military forces got nothing but scoups for the enemy - the boys came up with the Rangers. These books follows the life of Rusty Shannon, a boy rescued from Comanche captivity, from the wild frontier through the Civil War. Starts in his childhood and goes through his life. They are among my favorite of the western genre, if not 'the' best of the rest. Those that want to read a historical fiction standard for the west via a 'boy to man's life' should look no further. Any others with interest should give it no thought and borrow/buy it asap.
Book 2: ★★★★★
Book 3: ★★★★★
Grew up adoring 'The Rifleman' with Chuck Connors and damn if Elmer Kelton doesn't take that fondness and elevate it with the historical accurate standards that the badass 'Texas Rangers' were. For those not familiar - think 'first Gorila Warfared' Spec Ops. When the natives showed that organized military forces got nothing but scoups for the enemy - the boys came up with the Rangers. These books follows the life of Rusty Shannon, a boy rescued from Comanche captivity, from the wild frontier through the Civil War. Starts in his childhood and goes through his life. They are among my favorite of the western genre, if not 'the' best of the rest. Those that want to read a historical fiction standard for the west via a 'boy to man's life' should look no further. Any others with interest should give it no thought and borrow/buy it asap.
January 25, 2009
I loved this trilogy about the start of the Texas Rangers. Kelton's descriptions of what Texas used to be like are excellent! I also felt that he carefully researched and presented both sides of several sticky political issues at the time. I really like all of Kelton's books I've read so far.
February 11, 2010
Classic Western. Engaging and a quick read. Relaxing compared to the Sanuel Huntington book.
March 15, 2014
I actually read this trilogy a couple years ago. It is a bit slow at times, but overall not a bad set of books. I found the historical aspects were good and the story very realistic.
August 22, 2016
These were meant to be standalone books, so when they lumped #1, #2 and #3 together, they repeat each other a lot.
September 3, 2016
Enjoyable read
December 21, 2012
Ordered
April 7, 2017
Kelton was the best
I love this series and have read it many times over the years. Gave it 4 stars because of all the typos. Wish Amazon would proof read before publishing the Kindle version.
I love this series and have read it many times over the years. Gave it 4 stars because of all the typos. Wish Amazon would proof read before publishing the Kindle version.
Read
March 10, 2018Really enjoyed this one. Great western that stayed true to historical fact for the most part. Not for someone looking for the pulp fiction kind of western.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews