Buffalo for the Broken Heart by Dan O'Brien

So I actually expected this book to be more of a memoir of sorts.  And in a way it was, but largely, it was what the cover said, "restoring life to a black hills ranch."  More specifically, restoring buffalo to the land.

Dan O'Brien has owned a ranch in the Black Hills for some time.  And he started out with cattle.  But like most ranchers in the area, making ends meet with this type of ranching is near impossible.  So much so that he has to take jobs elsewhere just to make the mortgage payment.  But in addition to being a rancher, O'Brien is also a teacher, ecologist, and so many more roles and he's interested in bringing the wildlife back to the Black Hills after years of overgrazing.  One step further has him start raising Buffalo instead of cattle and while he's a novice to begin with, he learns as he goes.  This book greatly details how running a sustainable Buffalo farm works for O'Brien and his hardships and triumphs within the first few years.

O'Brien talks about the Buffalo in this book mainly, but there are small snippets of his life.  From his sadness over his divorce, his joy in children discovering the buffalo, and just getting along with his neighbors, we can see that overall he's a good person, who's committed to the land.  He doesn't hesitate to point out flaws, like the sloppiness of the guy who helps him work the ranch, but he is kind about it and still makes sure to point out all the good things too.  And he cares about all the animals.  From the falcons he keeps as a hobby, to the bird dogs, to the buffalo themselves, he doesn't mistreat them.  He lets nature take it's course and doesn't add any cruelty to it.  He lets them be animals.

I'm not going to lie, I did find this book dull at times. Most specifically when he is at auction buying more buffalo.  I much prefer his descriptions of them out on the land and the care of them.  Even the roundups are kind of exciting, but still not nearly as good as him just describing the land.  And it is nice he's still making it work, even selling the meat on the internet through his wildideabuffalo site.  He's a believer in not finishing his buffalo in feed lots, and that's admirable.  O'Brien does a good job describing the life of a rancher.  It's not glorious or romantic and you can tell you really have to love what you're doing to stay in the business. 

An inspiring read.  I definitely learned a lot more about buffalo than I ever knew before. 

Buffalo for the Broken Heart
Copyright 2001
254 pages

Cerulean Dreams by Dan O'Brien

**This book was received as a free advanced readers copy**

O'Brien has a very distinctive writing style. I hesitate to call it masculine, but I do feel that it may attract more of a masculine crowd. I'm not saying those who like a feminine tone won't like this book, just merely stating the ideas that flitted through my head as I read it. I thought the premise was interesting myself, but I just couldn't connect to the characters.

In a place called Orion, human beings are connected directly into the system. A company called Cerulean Dreams has everybody on the grid, and they are seemingly content that way. And everybody stays in Orion because the desert outside wouldn't allow anyone to live, or so they've been told. So when Alexander, in his pursuit of finding a murderer who's been preying on young girls, comes across one of these girls and they have to flee the city for reasons that are somewhat unknown to them, he learns just how hard Cerulean Dreams wants to keep everybody in the dark. And if they make it out of the city, they have no idea what may lie in store for them.

Alexander was interesting to say the least. He was a strong character, and very convinced of his convictions. He was actually admirable in that way. But he has some strange tendencies too, which are in part brought on by his world and the events that happen to him. Dana, the girl, is kind of a strange character too. She starts off all knowing and quickly falls to the role of a damsel in distress. I think I would have preferred her to be one or the other consistently through the book. And the main bad guy was somewhat odd in his motivations too, although he made a very compelling threat.

The plot started out as sci-fi, drifted into philosophical and then returned to sci-fi. The problem was the ideas didn't mesh in a way that was cohesive and supportive of each other. I think that maybe letting it all be sci-fi and removing such elements as the creature "the Mimic" and other philosophical things would have made a smoother read. They were actually all really good ideas, but perhaps better suited to two different books. And the ending was a bit rushed and kind of threw a curve ball in with no real answers. I would have liked to have seen several different plot elements elaborated on more to support the ending. But I did like the writing, the dialogue was nicely done and the descriptions were crisp in tone.

Not a bad book. I think there are ideas that could be expanded on but any sci-fi person will probably like it.

Cerulean Dreams
Copyright 2011
345 pages

Bitten by Dan O'Brien

***This book was received as a free advanced reader's copy***

This was a supernatural crime mystery type of book. It had a good plot, the pace was a bit off, but the characters were good. And it looks like it may be the start of a series, which sounds interesting.

Lauren Westlake is headed to a sleepy little town up North on the trail of a case. A series of strange, possibly supernatural killings have happened, and a new murder has brought her here. The local police force, while resentful at first, soon appreciates her help when another murder occurs that is just as grisly as the first. And it won't be the last either. But Lauren's even got a little romance going as well, with a mysterious man who seems older than he really is. But since the town is full of strange surprises it doesn't alarm her. The cold blooded killer is still on the prowl, and Lauren knows she has to stop him, but its going to be tougher than she thinks.

I liked Lauren. She's pretty no-nonsense and won't take any crap. But at the same time she kind of seems unsure of herself as well. She does fall a little fast for her love interest, but hey, chemistry can happen that way sometimes. The police are also pretty no-nonsense but they are believable for the most part. And I liked the O'Brien gave them some backstories. I was a little weirded out by Hecate, unless she appears in the rest of the series (if it is in fact a series) she just seemed out of place and like an afterthought in this book. Her character and conversations almost made the book unbelievable (well unbelievable in the scope of a supernatural novel anyway). She just didn't seem authentic.

I will say that there is a lot of gore, violence, sex, and wildly colorful language in this book. I'm thinking that if you're sensitive to any of these things, it probably won't be to your taste. But the gruesome did make it a good horror story. It was descriptive and very visual. The conversation I felt a bit strange. I'm assuming this is modern time and the language was a bit formal for now, although I did like that he used northern expressions for some of the characters. I guess for a supernatural suspense, it just seemed like poetic language mixed in between cusswords, and it didn't come off natural. The idea of the killer and the backstory behind it was unique. I actually liked the twist that O'Brien put on the werewolf myth. It was different.

I would read the next in this series and will probably look for it to hit shelves. I'm eager to see if it puts a different spin on another supernatural being.

Bitten
Copyright 2011
274 pages

The Journey by Dan O'Brien

***This book was received as a free advanced readers copy***

Ok, I freely admit that I really just did not get this book. But I enjoyed the language in it for the most part, and thought it was interesting. It just made me feel a little dumb.

A being called The Lonely sets out on a journey. There a shape shifter called the Crossroads points him in the four directions of the compass, to meet a different kind of being at each end. To the North, a being of logic, the South, one of passion, the West something a little more wild, and to the East, something peaceful. Each of them has a lesson to impart and only after speaking with them can he continue on his journey, to try to figure out who or what he is and why is on this journey in the first place. And ultimately the journey is about knowledge.

The Lonely was kind of pretentious. I'm not going to lie. For a guy who claims to now know what's going on or where he is, he sure does like to argue with these all powerful type beings and try to show them up. But hey, at least he has spunk. The beings themselves are all very different from one another, and that's in both appearance and the messages that they have to impart. I actually think I liked the South the best out of all of them, just because she was a little wild and warm. She'd probably be a good friend. The last figure kind of confused me as I wasn't sure the lesson he was trying to drive home.

So aside from the book making me feel like an idiot with some of its ideas, I did like the imagery. I could actually picture the different places that the Lonely visited and enjoyed the concept of finding a different person in each direction. It was just the conversation (and this book is mainly conversation) that left me at a loss sometimes. I don't consider myself a genius or anything, but some of it was pretty high level and I don't think it could be enjoyed by a wide group of people, I certainly had some trouble in parts anyway. This book is probably for a chose few who like philosophy and figuring out life's lessons and deeper meanings. Its definitely one of those books you have to think about.

I'm still pretty confused and may have to go back and read it again just to see if I can figure a little more out. But considering I read for pleasure I'm more likely to be distracted by something a little more brain friendly.

The Journey
Copyright 2011
176 pages