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The Dakota Series #2
Silver Saddles
Book by Iversen, Cap
222 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 6, 2018
Reading Challenge 2018 - Pinterest: book that is more than 10 years old. What a nice sequel to the first book. Dakota Taylor has settled down with Bennie Colsen and has given up his guns and retired as a gunfighter. However, a mystery would draw him from retirement and shake his entire world. A bounty is on his head, he has been shot in the chest and back, and lays convalescing in a bed while an Angel takes care of him. With the help of his friends Willie Blue Eyes and Black Eagle, Dakota searches for more information about his dead mother and the person who has placed a bounty on his head. What he discovers was evident about halfway through the book, but took lots of action and gunfights to figure out on his own. I loved the western aspect of the novel, which is not really my favorite genre, but it is told in a way that a novice would enjoy. I am anxious to read the third and last book of the trilogy to see what happens to Dakota and Bennie and where he will end up.
January 1, 2016
4.0 of 5 stars – Nice Sequel to the Start of an Exciting Western Series.
I hadn't read a good gay western set in the old wild west in quite a while, and I got totally into this trilogy. The author has a great name for a writer of westerns, yet I have no idea who he is (I assume it's a pen name; but I couldn't find any author bios on the books or internet). So I don't know if he'd mind me saying that he reminded me of a gay Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, or Larry McMurtry, some of my favorite western authors. Iverson's books are similar, and this second one was almost as good as the wonderful debut in what has become a favorite western series of mine.
In this second book, the mystery was pretty straightforward, even if the extreme of the catalyst for trying to kill the MC (Dakota) seemed only a bit unlikely. The solution was mostly evident halfway through, and the rest of the way made for a good adventure of Dakota and his friends trying to figure it out themselves. Through it all, Dakota was one lucky sob leading a charmed life, with a couple spots that had some happy coincidences and required some credulity. And while I didn't get to see more of his relationship with his lover back home, I got to see how Dakota pined for his man. Along with some slippery old west moral code and forgiveness, I again enjoyed Dakota's gay gunslinger perspective of such things as men's foreplay, as he described it: "Watching a man undress was a tender prelude to lovemaking.… There was...something defenseless about a man dropping his clothes, [discarding] all that protected him…. Stripped down, we become lovers, not fighters. Banker or robber; preacher or killer; under the covers, in the dark, we all looked the same and had the same desires."
I also liked this for the same reasons I liked each in the series. First off, for those interested, it worked well as a standalone, with its own self-contained story, smoothly providing any explanations needed to bring a first-time reader up on previous happenings, while also further developing the character and life of the MC, his lover and other supporting characters in a way that continued an arc across the trilogy.
Second, it was a nice, short, easy read, with a good, well-paced plot and character development. I enjoyed the walk back in time to the old west, and Iverson's down home style described it vividly - in this one the early-1870's Sierras setting, the towns and people, their culture and clothes, the land and climate. Although there were some stereotypical elements, like being the fastest draw in the West, I liked the mix and clash of different cultures, as well as the culture at the time regarding gay men. Even the men's attraction to each other (both physical and emotional) and lovemaking (mostly off camera) sounded like the old west.
Third, Iverson also developed nicely the whole set of characters. Of course there was more on the MC; but even with the supporting cast I got a good feel for who they were. With Dakota, Iverson really got into the life and mindset of a trail-hardened, now somewhat tamed gunslinger. This was effectively facilitated by the first-person POV, allowing for things to be said and described in the voice and thoughts of the gunslinger in a way that put me in that time and place. Dakota was an old west version of a street smart, people-savvy tough guy who was good with a gun, and I grew to like him for all his skills, heart and humanness. His common sense form of justice was appealing, and his way of sizing things up reminded me of a saying from an old TV show: "no brag, just fact."
Who Cap is may be a mystery, but rest assured his legacy lives on with this enjoyable trilogy. I was impressed how Iverson delivered a second high-quality story to continue this series, and I look forward to the next one.
I hadn't read a good gay western set in the old wild west in quite a while, and I got totally into this trilogy. The author has a great name for a writer of westerns, yet I have no idea who he is (I assume it's a pen name; but I couldn't find any author bios on the books or internet). So I don't know if he'd mind me saying that he reminded me of a gay Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, or Larry McMurtry, some of my favorite western authors. Iverson's books are similar, and this second one was almost as good as the wonderful debut in what has become a favorite western series of mine.
In this second book, the mystery was pretty straightforward, even if the extreme of the catalyst for trying to kill the MC (Dakota) seemed only a bit unlikely. The solution was mostly evident halfway through, and the rest of the way made for a good adventure of Dakota and his friends trying to figure it out themselves. Through it all, Dakota was one lucky sob leading a charmed life, with a couple spots that had some happy coincidences and required some credulity. And while I didn't get to see more of his relationship with his lover back home, I got to see how Dakota pined for his man. Along with some slippery old west moral code and forgiveness, I again enjoyed Dakota's gay gunslinger perspective of such things as men's foreplay, as he described it: "Watching a man undress was a tender prelude to lovemaking.… There was...something defenseless about a man dropping his clothes, [discarding] all that protected him…. Stripped down, we become lovers, not fighters. Banker or robber; preacher or killer; under the covers, in the dark, we all looked the same and had the same desires."
I also liked this for the same reasons I liked each in the series. First off, for those interested, it worked well as a standalone, with its own self-contained story, smoothly providing any explanations needed to bring a first-time reader up on previous happenings, while also further developing the character and life of the MC, his lover and other supporting characters in a way that continued an arc across the trilogy.
Second, it was a nice, short, easy read, with a good, well-paced plot and character development. I enjoyed the walk back in time to the old west, and Iverson's down home style described it vividly - in this one the early-1870's Sierras setting, the towns and people, their culture and clothes, the land and climate. Although there were some stereotypical elements, like being the fastest draw in the West, I liked the mix and clash of different cultures, as well as the culture at the time regarding gay men. Even the men's attraction to each other (both physical and emotional) and lovemaking (mostly off camera) sounded like the old west.
Third, Iverson also developed nicely the whole set of characters. Of course there was more on the MC; but even with the supporting cast I got a good feel for who they were. With Dakota, Iverson really got into the life and mindset of a trail-hardened, now somewhat tamed gunslinger. This was effectively facilitated by the first-person POV, allowing for things to be said and described in the voice and thoughts of the gunslinger in a way that put me in that time and place. Dakota was an old west version of a street smart, people-savvy tough guy who was good with a gun, and I grew to like him for all his skills, heart and humanness. His common sense form of justice was appealing, and his way of sizing things up reminded me of a saying from an old TV show: "no brag, just fact."
Who Cap is may be a mystery, but rest assured his legacy lives on with this enjoyable trilogy. I was impressed how Iverson delivered a second high-quality story to continue this series, and I look forward to the next one.
May 7, 2023
Dust has gathered on those famous Colt .44s, two years on from Arson, our stay-abed hero content to watch the wildlife rather than shoot it. Dakota’s had a bellyful of killing. Two Rivers is in gold rush territory, a lawless place where there’s few women and no one bats an eyelid over two men in a clinch at the annual Mother Lode Dance.
Dakota goes into town to collect supplies, and a letter from his mother. There in the Gold Dust Saloon he meets a pretty, pony-tailed stranger with a guitar and sapphire blue eyes that’d hypnotise a cobra. Two years ago, Dakota would’ve leapt willing and eager into bed with Willie Blue Eyes. Now, he just wants to get home to Bennie. His fear that cosy domesticity is going to be the death of him very nearly becomes real when he’s waylaid picking blackberries on the trail home. Someone wants Dakota, dead or alive, and they’d have got him if not for fortuitous intervention by a strange boy Dakota comes to call Angel.
When Dakota comes to, he’s 200 miles from Bennie, near the Nevada border. Is it coincidence that Snake Eye is his childhood home? Where did bounty hunter Nathan Perkins get his fancy silver saddle with the initials SB? What does handsome dandy Caleb Buckridge want, and why does his presence fill Dakota with a blurred sense of remembering?
Dakota can’t afford to worry about Bennie, and is unable to come up with the right words to explain to him what’s happened. Dakota must think himself back into gunfighter mode. But Bennie is a constant presence in the book, make no mistake; it’s Dakota’s dream of growing old with his beautiful boy that sustains him.
Dakota sees with his third eye. He’s a dreamer, who’s been to the edge, seen the best and worst in himself and other men. As in Arson, good men sometimes are driven by circumstances to do wrong. Black Eagle Feather, Paiute outlaw, comes to Dakota’s aid because he trusts his blood brother to do the right thing. Dakota has always accepted what he is, and has led a free life on his own terms, refusing to compromise. Others aren’t so lucky. Dakota got his first gun so no one would call him on his ‘affectional proclivities’ but it cost him his mother’s love.
Family secrets, sexuality & relationships and parental expectations, the nature/nurture debate, weave into a complex and satisfying tale. The story winds to an explosive climax, when Dakota gets to the bottom of the mystery that’s kept him from Bennie. Okay, I’d mostly guessed the truth, but hadn’t considered implications, and there are surprises.
I love Dakota Taylor, and this book. And I’ve got #3 in the series looking at me now as I type…
Dakota goes into town to collect supplies, and a letter from his mother. There in the Gold Dust Saloon he meets a pretty, pony-tailed stranger with a guitar and sapphire blue eyes that’d hypnotise a cobra. Two years ago, Dakota would’ve leapt willing and eager into bed with Willie Blue Eyes. Now, he just wants to get home to Bennie. His fear that cosy domesticity is going to be the death of him very nearly becomes real when he’s waylaid picking blackberries on the trail home. Someone wants Dakota, dead or alive, and they’d have got him if not for fortuitous intervention by a strange boy Dakota comes to call Angel.
When Dakota comes to, he’s 200 miles from Bennie, near the Nevada border. Is it coincidence that Snake Eye is his childhood home? Where did bounty hunter Nathan Perkins get his fancy silver saddle with the initials SB? What does handsome dandy Caleb Buckridge want, and why does his presence fill Dakota with a blurred sense of remembering?
Dakota can’t afford to worry about Bennie, and is unable to come up with the right words to explain to him what’s happened. Dakota must think himself back into gunfighter mode. But Bennie is a constant presence in the book, make no mistake; it’s Dakota’s dream of growing old with his beautiful boy that sustains him.
Dakota sees with his third eye. He’s a dreamer, who’s been to the edge, seen the best and worst in himself and other men. As in Arson, good men sometimes are driven by circumstances to do wrong. Black Eagle Feather, Paiute outlaw, comes to Dakota’s aid because he trusts his blood brother to do the right thing. Dakota has always accepted what he is, and has led a free life on his own terms, refusing to compromise. Others aren’t so lucky. Dakota got his first gun so no one would call him on his ‘affectional proclivities’ but it cost him his mother’s love.
Family secrets, sexuality & relationships and parental expectations, the nature/nurture debate, weave into a complex and satisfying tale. The story winds to an explosive climax, when Dakota gets to the bottom of the mystery that’s kept him from Bennie. Okay, I’d mostly guessed the truth, but hadn’t considered implications, and there are surprises.
I love Dakota Taylor, and this book. And I’ve got #3 in the series looking at me now as I type…
April 4, 2011
Gerry B's Book Reviews - http://www.gerrycan.wordpress.com
Having read Arson: The Dakota Series by Cap Iversen, and enjoyed it, I then went on to find (not that easily done) Silver Saddles [Alyson Books, 1993].
In this tale, gunslinger Dakota Taylor is now happily partnered with Benjamin Colsen, whom he met in the first of the series, and all is well until he get’s the news that his mother has passed away at the family’s homestead. After hearing this news in town he is ambushed on his way home, and discovers that someone has posted a bounty for him, dead or alive. When he recovers from his injuries, he sets out on a nine-month odyssey to find out why someone would hate him enough to go to all this effort to see him dead.
To this point it is classic western fare, i.e. good guy v. bad guy(s), but then the author takes off on a flight of fancy that is both complex and incredible at times. It is the sort of thing that requires not only tight writing, but also tight control of the characters and events that are galloping all over the place. In this regard Iversen does quite well for the most part, and almost pulls it off…that is, almost.
Fundamentally, the story suffers from too many characters doing too many things, as well as a plot that is too clever-by-half. Still, having said that, if you read it as being a “let’s pretend the West was like that,” it is a fun read and an evening’s entertainment. Three and one-half stars.
Gerry Burnie
"Two Irish Lads" & "Journey to Big Sky"
Having read Arson: The Dakota Series by Cap Iversen, and enjoyed it, I then went on to find (not that easily done) Silver Saddles [Alyson Books, 1993].
In this tale, gunslinger Dakota Taylor is now happily partnered with Benjamin Colsen, whom he met in the first of the series, and all is well until he get’s the news that his mother has passed away at the family’s homestead. After hearing this news in town he is ambushed on his way home, and discovers that someone has posted a bounty for him, dead or alive. When he recovers from his injuries, he sets out on a nine-month odyssey to find out why someone would hate him enough to go to all this effort to see him dead.
To this point it is classic western fare, i.e. good guy v. bad guy(s), but then the author takes off on a flight of fancy that is both complex and incredible at times. It is the sort of thing that requires not only tight writing, but also tight control of the characters and events that are galloping all over the place. In this regard Iversen does quite well for the most part, and almost pulls it off…that is, almost.
Fundamentally, the story suffers from too many characters doing too many things, as well as a plot that is too clever-by-half. Still, having said that, if you read it as being a “let’s pretend the West was like that,” it is a fun read and an evening’s entertainment. Three and one-half stars.
Gerry Burnie
"Two Irish Lads" & "Journey to Big Sky"
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews