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Flaming Irons
From the popular author of "Destry Rides Again" comes an exciting saga of adventure, romance, honor, and danger, in the Old West
- GenresWesterns
433 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1955
1 person is currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Max Brand
1,859 books140 followersFrederick Schiller Faust (see also Frederick Faust), aka Frank Austin, George Owen Baxter, Walter C. Butler, George Challis, Evin Evan, Evan Evans, Frederick Faust, John Frederick, Frederick Frost, David Manning, Peter Henry Morland, Lee Bolt, Peter Dawson, Martin Dexter, Dennis Lawson, M.B., Hugh Owen, Nicholas Silver
Max Brand, one of America's most popular and prolific novelists and author of such enduring works as Destry Rides Again and the Doctor Kildare stories, died on the Italian front in 1944.
Max Brand, one of America's most popular and prolific novelists and author of such enduring works as Destry Rides Again and the Doctor Kildare stories, died on the Italian front in 1944.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 3, 2023
I loved this story. Tarron is a no account kid barely working on his family’s farm. Along comes a group of men looking for another. They are impressed with his tracking and cognitive skills. He joins them, but as they lose in on the person they are seeking, Tarron switches sides. Tarron joins in a quest of which he knows nothing. It is a great story with plenty of action. It is a great adventure.
October 31, 2016
Young Les Tarron goes on the journey of his lifetime to unlock a mystery.
April 26, 2023
This is decent, if not special, western by Max Brand. Probably in the 3.5 star range, to be honesty. The book centers around on Les Tarron, a lay-about youth bored by farm life, who finds himself caught up in something of treasure hunt. There's plenty of adventure and action scenes, but there are some shortcomings that keep this book from reaching it's full potential.
The Les Tarron character starts off as promising. He's not a usual western hero, he's a somewhat lazy, if physically gifted, young man. He's kind of lost in his life, which had potential for creating an interesting character. But it's never quite realized. Tarron literally seems to just drift from one misadventure to the next, taking up a quest he knows nothing about more out of a sense of obligation then any actually conviction. The structure of the story is somewhat plodding, which doesn't help things. You learn almost next to nothing about this quest, and all the trouble around it, until the last twenty pages. This kind of creates a distance between the main character and the plot, making it hard to really relate to the main character. When the plot does resolves it does get a bit more interesting, but it's somewhat rushed and glossed over. Had Brand spent more time exploring that then I think the book would've worked better.
Despite that, it's still a fun enough read. One man taking on a small army of baddies, getting by on audacity and courage, even when in over his head. A fun enough read, just not as good as it could have been.
The Les Tarron character starts off as promising. He's not a usual western hero, he's a somewhat lazy, if physically gifted, young man. He's kind of lost in his life, which had potential for creating an interesting character. But it's never quite realized. Tarron literally seems to just drift from one misadventure to the next, taking up a quest he knows nothing about more out of a sense of obligation then any actually conviction. The structure of the story is somewhat plodding, which doesn't help things. You learn almost next to nothing about this quest, and all the trouble around it, until the last twenty pages. This kind of creates a distance between the main character and the plot, making it hard to really relate to the main character. When the plot does resolves it does get a bit more interesting, but it's somewhat rushed and glossed over. Had Brand spent more time exploring that then I think the book would've worked better.
Despite that, it's still a fun enough read. One man taking on a small army of baddies, getting by on audacity and courage, even when in over his head. A fun enough read, just not as good as it could have been.
September 18, 2020
Typical Western Novel Genre
June 14, 2021
A quick and engaging read by Max Brand. I enjoyed how the author slowly revealed the deeper reasons behind the hero’s quest as the story progressed.
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January 23, 2025Great
March 2, 2017
The book started out pretty solid, with brilliant-but-lazy Les Tarron rescuing a horse from drowning in a muddy river bank. But then it starts to feel like Brand is making it up as he goes along. One moment Tarron is minding his own business, the next minute there's a bunch of outlaws looking for a guy named Dorn, then Tarron is in a horse race, then off he goes on a wild goose chase after selling his horse. This gives you the impression that Tarron had nothing better to do and just went along with whatever just suddenly came into his life.
The imagery described in the book showed promise, but I'm afraid that as a whole it's a mess. Characters come and go. There's a criminal that Tarron faces who's barely given any time at all to make a name for himself as an antagonist. There's an innkeeper who sounds like a fun character but only appears once or twice in the whole thing. And there's a whole plot about a map or a mine or something. That is only touched upon a little.
This serialised story is just one thing after another, all flimsily tied together. I almost couldn't believe that this was the same author of 'South of Rio Grande', which had a much tighter, more engaging plot and stronger characters.
Tarron himself is a problem. He's supposed to be this kid who's inexperienced in adventure, and Brand turns him into an invincible superhero and a man of legend the moment he's paired with Dorn.
Now, he can have strengths, but it'd be nice if he had some more weaknesses as well, more humility and humanity. He did at the beginning, but that was all lost after he was actually out to avenge Dorn.
At least in 'South of Rio Grande', the hero is stronger in soul than in body, and the narrator is self-deprecating and self-aware, and not ashamed to admit his own fear of what he's going into.
That said, Brand does keep you guessing about what is going to happen next, and his descriptions of deep emotion is always appreciated.
Once again, it shows promise, but I'm afraid it's a mess.
The imagery described in the book showed promise, but I'm afraid that as a whole it's a mess. Characters come and go. There's a criminal that Tarron faces who's barely given any time at all to make a name for himself as an antagonist. There's an innkeeper who sounds like a fun character but only appears once or twice in the whole thing. And there's a whole plot about a map or a mine or something. That is only touched upon a little.
This serialised story is just one thing after another, all flimsily tied together. I almost couldn't believe that this was the same author of 'South of Rio Grande', which had a much tighter, more engaging plot and stronger characters.
Tarron himself is a problem. He's supposed to be this kid who's inexperienced in adventure, and Brand turns him into an invincible superhero and a man of legend the moment he's paired with Dorn.
Now, he can have strengths, but it'd be nice if he had some more weaknesses as well, more humility and humanity. He did at the beginning, but that was all lost after he was actually out to avenge Dorn.
At least in 'South of Rio Grande', the hero is stronger in soul than in body, and the narrator is self-deprecating and self-aware, and not ashamed to admit his own fear of what he's going into.
That said, Brand does keep you guessing about what is going to happen next, and his descriptions of deep emotion is always appreciated.
Once again, it shows promise, but I'm afraid it's a mess.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews