Good old fashioned western action. Really enjoyed this better than expected.
Received through the early readers group and was interesting read. Part of a series that has intrigued me to read more. ( )

Hmm, not my favorite western. I've recently been reading the Longmire series by Craig Johnson. The difference between Johnson's writing and Johnstone's writing is the difference between college and kindergarten. Someone else noted that Carnage of Eagles reads like it was written like an 8th grader. I'll add that it was apparently written *for* a fifth grader. The triteness of the plot is matched only by the simplicity of the writing style. Take a pass on this one. ( )

I’m not a Western book reader. I loved Western movies and TV shows growing up. I never heard of William W. Johnstone until receiving Carnage of Eagles. A Google search shows him deceased as of Feb 8, 2004. Carnage of Eagles shows on the front cover William W. Johnstone with J.A. Johnstone. J.A. Johnstone is his nephew who worked with Bill for many years and now also publishes under his own name. This review is really about the writing of J.A. Johnstone. I’m confused how books continue to be published under the name of a deceased writer who can’t contribute to the book. I’m not familiar with any of William W. Johnstone or J. A. Johnstone other Western books. I enjoyed the book. It is a very easy read which I did in five days. There is lots of action involving gun play. The main story line involves a town being terrorized by the Judge and Sheriff. The local newspaper man writes a friend from the Civil War seeking his help. As in all good Westerns, the hero rides in to save the day. ( )

Carnage of Eagles reads like it was written by an 8th grader. Not having read anything by the late William Johnstone before, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and blame the sophomoric prose on J.A. and the ghostwriter.

Being a big fan of Westerns, particularly the great Louis L'amour and Elmer Kelton, I thought this book would be right up my alley. I was wrong. Suffice to say that this is the type of cheap magazine rack pulp that gives the entire genre a bad name. ( )

Having a free evening for a change, I decided to do a little light reading. I had just finished Louis L’Amour’s Kilrone, and thought this book would make a good continuation of the Western theme. Bad mistake.

The scene: a (West?) Texas town called Sorrento, presumably in the late 19th century, with a corrupt sheriff and a hanging-mad judge in charge. After some dialect-ridden conversation, the hero escapes from jail, and as he rides away one of the townsmen describes him as “a folk hero”. Huh?

There follows a scene with four drunken sheriff’s deputies, one of whom shoots an innocent traveling salesman – not in a fight, but through sheer drunken incompetence. Of course the corrupt sheriff does nothing. OK, we get the picture, the sheriff is evil. But just in case we haven’t figured this out, he is also ugly, having lost the eyelid and half the eyebrow over his left eye to a knife, presumably in a fight – although I can’t rule out an incompetent drunken surgeon…

On page 12, one of the townsmen uses the word “facilitates.” Er…

On page 16, we are introduced to an evil albino gunman, who proceeds, six pages later, to kill a young cowboy for no reason other than to demonstrate his evil nature.

On page 17, we have an interesting demonstration of arithmetic: “There were nearly a dozen customers in the saloon; three of them were at the bar, the other three sharing a table.” I looked at this passage three times, sighed, and went on.

On page 26, the hero kills the evil gunman by jerking him through an open second story doorway, allowing him to fall through the banisters and break his neck on the piano below. Everyone cheers.

On page 27, being in the mood for a Western, not a slapstick comedy, I went back to Louis L’Amour.

Rating: one and a half stars (half star added for unintentional humor). ( )