This is a long book for L'Amour. He spends some time getting philosophical - a boy on his own living in the desert, communing with nature, learning & such. There's a good look at early Los Angeles - well, it sounded good to me. I can't vouch for actual historical accuracy, though. It was interesting, not just a shoot 'em up. ( )

All of L'Amour's writings encourage hard work and exercising one's character. This one in particular has a "relatively typical" plot line for LL in that a man alone must grow mentally, socially, and in knowledge in order to overcome all that life and his enemies throw at him.

In The Lonesome Gods, L'Amour departed from "typical" in that (like a few of his other novels) this one dwelt on our lack of understanding of supernatural manifestations. I generally don't enjoy these as much, nor jump at the chance to read pseudo-spiritual works. This one was tolerable because of other aspects.

Another component of every LL novel is the conflict of good and evil. Especially how small-minded individuals that have no desire to build anything lasting (and only take from anyone and everyone) not only harm individuals, but also communities and society as a whole. The main evil characters were Don Isidro: vain, extremely prejudiced grandfather, Frederico: selfish, Fletcher: cruel and suspicious of everyone, expecting them to have a similar lack of character as himself, Rad: an immature bully, and Chato: a purely evil murderer.

In most of his novels, "the man alone" prevails over "the crowd of evil," but this one also highlights everyone's need for loyal, morally good, and tough friends, as well as how sometimes the friends one has made are all that stand between a long, full life and an untimely death. The good characters are (of course) the main character -- Johannes Verne, his father Zachary, Miss Nesselrode, Farley, Kelso, Meghan, and Thomas Fraser.

The element of the novel that tied it all together was the desert. It is harsh, yet one can live in harmony with it, or not -- and suffer terminal consequences.

While I enjoyed the book, it was not one of my all-time favorites. ( )

An odd story - not in L'Amour's usual vein. An orphan boy must find his way in the earliest days of California's settlement by whites. Not precisely paranormal - as some of his stories are - but this one has that sort of feel. ( )

Johannes Verne is abandoned in the desert as a child in the 1840s, and he spends his life avoiding his enemies, including his grandfather. ( )