Synopsis

It’s not the people in this town you have to watch out for.

It’s the buildings.

Monster hunter and part-time centaur Todd Crane didn’t ask to be sheriff of Deadwood. For one thing, he’s never had an easy time staying on the right side of the law. For another, he’s too busy trying to find a dangerous sorcerer who nearly destroyed the United States of Neverica.

But some men—and centaurs—have greatness thrust upon them. Not only is Todd the reluctant defender of the peace in Deadwood, he’s the only one who can thwart the schemes of a powerful magical entity manipulating the town from the shadows.

And when Todd’s past comes back to haunt him, the stakes get a lot more personal for him and his friends.

Heroes will fall. Secrets will be revealed. Everything is about to change.

GoodReads | Amazon | Author’s Website

HOW CAN I POSSIBLY RECOVER FROM THIS???

Excuse me while I go carry some torches and pitchforks to Kyle Shultz’s house because WHAT DID HE JUST DO TO MY POOR HEART??? For anyone who has already read this, feel free to join me.

*deep breath*

OKAY. I’m pretty sure it’s no secret I will read literally anything this author produces. I’m such a fan of his hilarious (and apparently also heartrending) stories. AND THIS ONE. It ended up being one of my favorites. (Despite the fact that I want to bring an angry mob to the author’s house. Hey, I only threaten my favorite authors. That’s how you know you wrote a good book, amirite?)

Let me see if I can bring any semblance of coherency to my thoughts about this story. No promises.

THE RUNDOWN

Deadwood is book #2 in the Crockett and Crane series. You’re prooobably gonna want to read book #1 before this one. Otherwise you may be…very confused. But don’t worry, I won’t spoil book #1 or this one in this review, so you are safe to keep reading!

But if you want to hear my thoughts of the first book:

• My Horseman (Crockett and Crane #1) Review

You may have heard of the author’s Beaumont and Beasley series. This is a prequel series set in the same world but a different continent and about separate characters. This second book did have quite a few more mentions and some threads from the B&B series, a lot more than the first Crockett and Crane book. But still, if you just want to jump into these without having read the B&B books, you’ll be fine. If you have read the B&B series well…eheheheh. Get ready for some reeling plot twists about certain characters.

Let’s just say this author is really good at balancing about 19348 different plot threads and timelines and other things. Reading all the books set in the “Afterverse” is totally worthwhile. But, again, reading the series separately is fine too. (As far as I know right now, anyway.)

The Crockett and Crane series is set during the wild west in the United States of Neverica (the punny names in these books give me life, gonna be real). But this isn’t your average western series. This is full of MAGIC. And the main character is a part-time centaur, so there’s that. (Yes, I said “part-time”.) And the books are also retellings of a sort of fairy tales and myths. AND IT IS AWESOME.

So what about the actual book, Christine? Ahem, right. Let’s talk about that!

Deadwood plops you right into some unfortunate circumstances for the gang and you’re just like UM???? WHAT IS GOING ON? But no fear! Things soon become clear and oooh boy. Are the characters in trouble!

Todd, Amy, Julio, and Meg have found themselves in a dead end town and unable to escape…because the town may or may not be alive.

Oh yeah, did I mention this was a Pinocchio retelling? YEPPP. I’m gonna be honest, the story of Pinocchio has always freaked me out. It’s the one fairy tale I usually never want to have anything to do with. Just…talking puppets? NOPENOPENOPENOPE. But this story? THIS STORY? It. Was. AWESOME! It almost made me change my mind about steering clear from Pinocchio retellings!

CHARACTERS

The whole gang from book one is back, and it was so very nice being with this motley foursome again!

Todd is our main protagonist. His bits are told in first person, but we actually get quite a few chapters from other people’s POV in third person, which I quite enjoyed. It was fun getting the occasional change of POV. Though I think being in Todd’s head is my favorite.

Snarky, reckless, but so full of heart—that’s Todd. He can also turn into a centaur via a magic ring (thus the “part-time” centaur thing). And come on, how cool is that? Todd’s constant stream of sassy monologue and dialogue had me snickering endlessly. The boy is so full of dry wit I just can’t.

Amy is still very much the strong-headed, sassy mom friend we all love and adore. I’m pretty sure she would ask you if you’ve eaten supper and threaten to shoot you all within the same breath. Gotta love her! I also firmly believe I could read like 100k words of just her and Todd bantering and be perfectly happy. Ilovethemsomuch.

Meg just shone in this one! Sometimes she seems so young and playful and precious, and sometimes you realize how much pain she holds inside and and and MY HEART. Her emotions ran deep in this one and it made me ACHE. But she still had moments of fun. The girl’s got a mischievous side, which is totally hilarious. She was also yelling at the others when they started throwing books on the floor, and proceeded to tenderly pick up the books and put them in order so basically MEG IS THE BEST. Relatable content right here.

And then there’s JULIOOOOO!!! Who still remains my favorite of the four. (I guess? GAH. I LOVE THEM ALL.) Julio is a shapeshifting dragon and that should tell you right there how fabulous he is. But he’s also just so NICE. And adorable. He’s a snuggly dragon! And yet…not? Like Meg, Julio’s emotions ran deeeeep in this novel. We get a much deeper look at who Julio really is and AKJSDJFL:JSKJ:FJ:LKJDSFJSJD:LJSF. And that’s all I’m saying. (But but but JULIO!)

We also got some new additions. Like Julio’s tiny mechanical dragon Hector. YES YES YES. I also I adored Irina and Gus! They played some fun and important roles. I was not expecting to become so attached to them but UGH. Every person in this novel gave me FEELS.

Then there’s the main villain and just DUDE. This was a force to be reckoned with! I was so scared for the characters. This villain was just downright chilling. And fascinating. And just AAAGGHHHH.

OTHER THINGS TO LOVE

Good gravy, there’s so much to love about this novel!

The whole plot is a whirlwind. It’s kind of hard to talk much about it without spoiling things. I honestly think this was this author’s darkest, most feelsy book and…I loved that about it? Because I guess I hate myself. But WOOOOOW. Were my emotions thrown in a blender! I’m pretty sure I was screaming through 80% of the book, and then I was laughing all the other bit of the time.

I honest to goodness, on many occasions, had to set the book down to compose myself because I was either laughing hysterically and realizing just how much I love these precious characters. OR I was positively reeling from a plot twist.

BECAUSE THIS STORY.

There were plot twists like every other chapter??? Mainly for those of us who have read the Beaumont and Beasley books. Because thiiiings were revealed about certain people and just WUT. But there were still plenty of plot twists thrown in tied specifically to this storyline as well.

AND STUFF HAPPENED. Unthinkable stuff and just KYLE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??? I was seriously not expecting my emotions to be this shredded.

Never fear though! Just because this was a highly feelsy book, does not mean it’s lacking the author’s trademark humor. Oh no, sir! The humor is spot on as always. Like I said, sometimes I literally had to stop reading because I was laughing so hard. Sometimes I would end up laughing, screaming, and crying…all within the same page! That’s how insane this story was. I just…I wasn’t expecting it to get so very emotional. But I looooved that about it.

It’s been a bit since I was this emotionally involved in a story. And it was so great! In fact, the day after I finished it, I went to grab it that night to read before bed, like I had been doing the previous nights, only to remember…I had finished it. It was done. I wouldn’t be settling in with those beloved characters again. I was so pumped to continue reading, I literally somehow forgot I had already finished AND IT MADE ME SAD. I already miss the characters so so so much.

Oh, by the way. THERE IS A CLIFFHANGER TO HANG ALL CLIFFHANGERS. As if the whole story hadn’t left me screaming enough DAT ENDING. *SCREECHES* I just…what? how? when? where? whyyyyy????

KYLE, WRITE FASTER I NEEDED BOOK #3 YESTERDAY!

Ahem. Aaaanyways. I’ve basically told you nothing about the actual book, but, like I said, it’s really hard to talk about without giving stuff away. Basically, if you liked book #1, you NEED this next one in your life. Like RIGHT NOW. (Also, if you haven’t read the first book, you need it too!)

To sum it up, this book was insanely twisty, deliciously creepy, downright hilarious, full of epic magic, set in a chilling western town, has the most loveable characters of ever, is such a cool take on Pinocchio, and there are FEELS. EVERYWHERE.

If you value your heart and sanity do not, I repeat DO NOT, read this book. (But psshhh. What bookworm values their emotions and sanity???)

CONTENT CAUTIONS

Nothing really! These books are always refreshingly clean and fun. This one is one of the darker ones, but it’s still not really a dark book per se. When things start to get scary, there’s humor to balance it out, and nothing ever goes into great detail. I’ve always found these books perfectly suitable for a younger audience.

There is, of course, magic though. Lots and lots of magic. So if that’s not you’re thing, do be warned. There is also some vampire and werewolf-type of creatures. Though this story’s take on them is super unique and they’re not romanticized or seen as a good thing at all. Even though vampires is nooot my favorite thing, I had no problem with how they were portrayed in this.

CONCLUSION

I feel like this entire review was just me screaming. But, to be fair, the entire reading of the book was just me screaming too.

I loved the first book, but this sequel was EVERYTHING. It got so much deeper into the characters, their pasts, their fears, their relationships. It really brought it all together in such a fascinating way. The take on Pinocchio was absolutely EPIC. Even if you’re not the biggest Pinocchio fan like me, I still think you’re gonna like this book! It takes a verrry different approach to the story, and it was brilliant!

There was humor, there were feels (so. many. feels.), there were plot twists by the bucket load, there was magic and legendary creatures and myths brought to life in such a fresh, unique way—all set in a strange town in an alternate version of the wild west. What more could you ask for?

. . . 5 out of 5 stars . . .

LET’S TALK!

Have you read this one yet? (Because if you have, I NEED TO SCREAM WITH YOU.) What do you think of western fantasies? And super important question: Would you rather be able to shapeshift into a dragon or a centaur?

NOTE: A major thank you to the author for sending me a copy of this! I was by no means required to write a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.