Amazon Cover
Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON
Having stumbled onto a plot within his homeland of Jamaica, former espionage agent, Desmond Coke, finds himself caught between warring religious and political factions, all vying for control of a mysterious boy named Lij Tafari.
Wanting the boy to have a chance to live a free life, Desmond assumes responsibility for him and they flee. But a dogged enemy agent remains ever on their heels, desperate to obtain the secrets held within Lij for her employer alone.
Assassins, intrigue, and steammen stand between Desmond and Lij as they search for a place to call home in a North America that could have been.
MY REVIEW
Book club read for March by the ConCarolina 2020 Guest of Honor.
An alternate history, steampunk, weird west novella which sticks a lot of material in a very small space, maybe too small. It has an exploration of different storytelling traditions, a commentary of expansionist governments, and the pure fun of guns and the wild west. I think the central plot is figuring out how a found family works.
The ending is abrupt, but as stated throughout the storytelling examples – stories are messy, and clean, and complicated, and simple, and you never know where they end or begin.
The copyediting/proofreading could use another pass to eliminate the couple-few repeated phrases.