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Ride #4
Marta's Daughter
Scammed by a street woman-con artist, seventeen-year old Arsenia Eugen, daughter of the legendary Bud and Marta Eugen, vows revenge. But in a whirlwind of events, Arsenia finds herself rescuing her nemesis twice, and then partnering with her to take over a notorious cantina and cathouse. Ranch-raised and as capable as any vaquero, as well as educated at St. Joseph Academy in Eagle Pass, Texas, she finds herself in a world of fallen angels, gamblers, drunks, conmen, smugglers, gunrunners, banditos, treacherous militiamen, spies, and traitors.
When she is dragged into the Mexican Revolution, Arsenia falls for both a dashing turncoat Mexican officer and a shadowy gringo gunrunner. But if she has to fight, she fights to win, and disdains the mere shotgun as wielded by her mother--machine guns are more her style. Not always sure which side is worth the fight and sacrifice, Arsenia finds herself instead determined to survive the war and protect not only the women following her, but her sanity and her heart.
When she is dragged into the Mexican Revolution, Arsenia falls for both a dashing turncoat Mexican officer and a shadowy gringo gunrunner. But if she has to fight, she fights to win, and disdains the mere shotgun as wielded by her mother--machine guns are more her style. Not always sure which side is worth the fight and sacrifice, Arsenia finds herself instead determined to survive the war and protect not only the women following her, but her sanity and her heart.
Kindle Edition
Published February 5, 2018
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About the author
Gordon L. Rottman
208 books46 followersGordon L Rottman served for 26 years in the US Army in Special Forces, airborne infantry, long-range reconnaissance patrol, and military intelligence assignments in the Regular Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve. He has worked as a Special Operations Forces scenario writer for 14 years at the Army' s Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk , Louisiana where he developed training exercises for Special Forces.
Gordon began writing military history books in 1984 and is currently a full-time author. He has written 50 books for Osprey.He is married with four children and lives in Cypress, Texas.
Gordon began writing military history books in 1984 and is currently a full-time author. He has written 50 books for Osprey.He is married with four children and lives in Cypress, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 10, 2019
In your standard Western, women come in two kickass models: good (frontier wives/ preachers’ daughters) and bad (dance-hall girls/Soiled Doves such as Big Nose Kate, Doc Holliday’s common law wife). Occasionally, the Soiled Doves—if they had a Heart-of-Gold—become good saloon owners (like Miss Kitty in Gunsmoke) or even wives. Unless…
Unless Gordon Rottman is telling their story. Rottman has the most not-to-be-missed Author Notes out there, and those at the beginning of Marta’s Daughter are no exception. He introduces us to Las Soladeras—nicknamed Las Adelitas—the Mexican women who followed, cared for, and often fought beside troops on both sides of the revolution.
[quote:] "Las soladeras, las Adelitas, evolved today into the much-romanticized image of strong persevering Mexican women defending their families and demanding equal civil rights, an appropriate legacy for the valorous self-sacrificing women." [end quote]
Rottman’s heroine, Arsenia Eugen, has an even bigger heritage. Women around the world were beginning to stand up for their rights—French peasants on the revolution’s barricades, English suffragettes imprisoned and force-fed during hunger strikes, American women donning trousers and a gun to fight in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Arsenia looks at her world and instead of questioning her role, she demands it as her birthright.
But Arsenia has yet one more pair of shoes to step into. Sure she’s grown up on a successful ranch, and received an exclusive education. But she’s the daughter of Bud and Marta Eugen, Texas royalty whose exploits made them living legends. So Arsenia’s upbringing included her father telling her to close her eyes when she was eleven and he was about to shoot three banditos attempting to rob them—and then helping to gather their horses and weapons for sale. It included the somewhat unusual fatherly advice, “Keep your eyes open and always reload first thing.” And most of all, it included having Marta for a mother.
Being the daughter of a woman who was famous for her ferocity and determination—despite being unable to speak a word since a childhood head injury—meant that nobody, and least of all Arsenia herself, was going to doubt her ability to stand up for her own goals. That ability is tested almost to breaking by the events of Marta’s Daughter. At seventeen, some might have been surprised when Arsenia goes to rescue her kidnapped, slightly-feral friend Yaqui Ana, and the two young women end up shooting their assailants and taking over their saloon and brothel. But Bud and Marta remember the young girl who adopted and raised an orphaned wolf pup, only to let it go and finally shoot it when it didn’t adapt to captivity. Even as she manages the whorehouse’s business affairs, Arsenia finds herself drawn to, befriending, and even admiring their women employees.
As Arsenia and Yaqui Ana turn their violently acquired business into a lucrative gentleman’s club, they realize their biggest threat is the revolution in Mexico. But Arsenia is unprepared for a devastating night of horror and bloodshed which leads to her vow of revenge for the deaths of the women she’s come to like and respect.
Arsenia approaches Lieutenant Bianca, a woman and revolutionary leader, about joining them. Bianca turns her down with the daunting observation, “You will need something you must love more or hate more than the Revolution to endure it.” For Arsenia, the answer is simple. She exists with one goal: to kill Colonel Barrera, the Federal commander who ordered the deaths of her friends.
Although Arsenia finds love, this isn’t a romance. Instead it’s a story about love and about honor. As Marta’s daughter, Arsenia simply doesn’t know how to do anything except fight for those she loves and respects. Arsenia loves the women she accepts responsibility for in her whorehouse. She loves Yaqui Ana, the best friend and sister she’s committed to without even realizing it. She loves her parents who raised her to be a strong, capable, and honorable person.
Beside all that, the romantic love she feels for the young officer who follows her into the revolution is a doomed and secondary consideration, something she’s willing to sacrifice to her commitment to revenge the deaths of her friends. Like the earlier books in this series, this isn’t a pretty story. Despite the fact that Arsenia is only seventeen, it’s not a coming of age story either. From the beginning, she’s already the person her parents have raised her to be. She’s Marta’s daughter, and she’s fully capable of fighting a war on her own terms.
So…this is a western with all the trimmings and none of the tropes. There are no heroes in white ten-gallon hats, not a single WANTED poster, no gunfights at high noon. The hero is a seventeen year old girl who might twirl her gun on her finger, but who always remembers to reload first thing. She fights for those who can’t fight for themselves, she takes on the bad guy, she wins the heart of the good—if slightly ineffectual and not for one second someone she intends to take orders from—guy, and above all, she never forgets who she is: Marta’s daughter.
As you can probably tell, I love every book in this series. Marta is an unforgettable character, and her daughter Arsenia is her worthy heir.
**I received this book for from the publisher or author to facilitate an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**
Unless Gordon Rottman is telling their story. Rottman has the most not-to-be-missed Author Notes out there, and those at the beginning of Marta’s Daughter are no exception. He introduces us to Las Soladeras—nicknamed Las Adelitas—the Mexican women who followed, cared for, and often fought beside troops on both sides of the revolution.
[quote:] "Las soladeras, las Adelitas, evolved today into the much-romanticized image of strong persevering Mexican women defending their families and demanding equal civil rights, an appropriate legacy for the valorous self-sacrificing women." [end quote]
Rottman’s heroine, Arsenia Eugen, has an even bigger heritage. Women around the world were beginning to stand up for their rights—French peasants on the revolution’s barricades, English suffragettes imprisoned and force-fed during hunger strikes, American women donning trousers and a gun to fight in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Arsenia looks at her world and instead of questioning her role, she demands it as her birthright.
But Arsenia has yet one more pair of shoes to step into. Sure she’s grown up on a successful ranch, and received an exclusive education. But she’s the daughter of Bud and Marta Eugen, Texas royalty whose exploits made them living legends. So Arsenia’s upbringing included her father telling her to close her eyes when she was eleven and he was about to shoot three banditos attempting to rob them—and then helping to gather their horses and weapons for sale. It included the somewhat unusual fatherly advice, “Keep your eyes open and always reload first thing.” And most of all, it included having Marta for a mother.
Being the daughter of a woman who was famous for her ferocity and determination—despite being unable to speak a word since a childhood head injury—meant that nobody, and least of all Arsenia herself, was going to doubt her ability to stand up for her own goals. That ability is tested almost to breaking by the events of Marta’s Daughter. At seventeen, some might have been surprised when Arsenia goes to rescue her kidnapped, slightly-feral friend Yaqui Ana, and the two young women end up shooting their assailants and taking over their saloon and brothel. But Bud and Marta remember the young girl who adopted and raised an orphaned wolf pup, only to let it go and finally shoot it when it didn’t adapt to captivity. Even as she manages the whorehouse’s business affairs, Arsenia finds herself drawn to, befriending, and even admiring their women employees.
As Arsenia and Yaqui Ana turn their violently acquired business into a lucrative gentleman’s club, they realize their biggest threat is the revolution in Mexico. But Arsenia is unprepared for a devastating night of horror and bloodshed which leads to her vow of revenge for the deaths of the women she’s come to like and respect.
Arsenia approaches Lieutenant Bianca, a woman and revolutionary leader, about joining them. Bianca turns her down with the daunting observation, “You will need something you must love more or hate more than the Revolution to endure it.” For Arsenia, the answer is simple. She exists with one goal: to kill Colonel Barrera, the Federal commander who ordered the deaths of her friends.
Although Arsenia finds love, this isn’t a romance. Instead it’s a story about love and about honor. As Marta’s daughter, Arsenia simply doesn’t know how to do anything except fight for those she loves and respects. Arsenia loves the women she accepts responsibility for in her whorehouse. She loves Yaqui Ana, the best friend and sister she’s committed to without even realizing it. She loves her parents who raised her to be a strong, capable, and honorable person.
Beside all that, the romantic love she feels for the young officer who follows her into the revolution is a doomed and secondary consideration, something she’s willing to sacrifice to her commitment to revenge the deaths of her friends. Like the earlier books in this series, this isn’t a pretty story. Despite the fact that Arsenia is only seventeen, it’s not a coming of age story either. From the beginning, she’s already the person her parents have raised her to be. She’s Marta’s daughter, and she’s fully capable of fighting a war on her own terms.
So…this is a western with all the trimmings and none of the tropes. There are no heroes in white ten-gallon hats, not a single WANTED poster, no gunfights at high noon. The hero is a seventeen year old girl who might twirl her gun on her finger, but who always remembers to reload first thing. She fights for those who can’t fight for themselves, she takes on the bad guy, she wins the heart of the good—if slightly ineffectual and not for one second someone she intends to take orders from—guy, and above all, she never forgets who she is: Marta’s daughter.
As you can probably tell, I love every book in this series. Marta is an unforgettable character, and her daughter Arsenia is her worthy heir.
**I received this book for from the publisher or author to facilitate an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**
April 5, 2019
This book was a tremendous disappointment to me. Marta and Bud - great characters. Their daughter a vacuous pawn who, through the entire first 60% of the book, let life blow her like a dry leaf in the wind. With no convictions whatsoever, though, she kept her virginity in a whore house and shot people willy-nilly. Worst of all, the book got plain tedious. After finally finding a cause - revenge against a Federales who, like so many others in the book, was scum - Arsenia finds a way to kill hundreds more while miraculously escaping from being prisoner and under the gun. Many times, those escapes came by the hands of two men who were romantically interested in her.
I had been looking forward to a fourth book in the series, so this was a very sore disappointment.
I had been looking forward to a fourth book in the series, so this was a very sore disappointment.
April 18, 2021
Very good story line, poorly edited
I would give this story a five for the unique and engaging story line. Book 1 and this one, Book 4, were very good reads. But I would have to give this one a two for editing. So many mis-spellings, and incorrect words and punctuation errors. It is so disappointing and distracting. Why work so hard on something like a novel like this and then be so careless with the quality. The author tells a great story but needs a better proofreader.
I would give this story a five for the unique and engaging story line. Book 1 and this one, Book 4, were very good reads. But I would have to give this one a two for editing. So many mis-spellings, and incorrect words and punctuation errors. It is so disappointing and distracting. Why work so hard on something like a novel like this and then be so careless with the quality. The author tells a great story but needs a better proofreader.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews