Rabid Reader's Reviews

Publication Date: December 30, 2014

In Yancy (The Landon Saga Book 5) by Tell Cotten, Yancy Landon is losing an election when we meet him again. When he learns that his brother, Cooper, is looking for a boy captured by Apaches, he’s the first to volunteer to join the hunt. In the quest for recovery, how will Yancy react when his values and ethics are challenged? Yancy is the fifth book in the Landon Family Saga.

Tell Cotten is a phenomenal storyteller. Yancy flows seamlessly with the other four books in the Landon Family Saga. As the series progresses and the family is more comfortable with the West, Cotton infuses a lightness of spirit of men living in the immediacy of the moment while accomplishing some quite weighty tasks. In “Yancy,” the brothers are faced with recovering a child that was taken when his parents were murdered. There’s an awareness of his living on borrowed time and the chance of recovery becoming more distant as time progresses.

Cotten’s Landon Brothers are stalwart men of the West. They live by a code that can, at times, be misguided. Westerns tend to have a straw-chewing, white-hat wearing stand for the little guy manly man. Cotten’s characters are believable distinctive. Yancy is the uncompromising brother. He has always done what is right even when it hurts him personally. Therefore, a novel that puts this character in a position where his personal code of ethics is challenged, is his ideal story. The banter between the brothers is polished and practiced. At one point in the novel, Yancy and Cooper are discussing if they trust men purporting to help them, and the banter gives a flavor of the brothers each reading the mind of the other.

My Dad, David, is a huge Western novel fan and shared his thoughts with me after reading Yancy. David liked the short chapters. He found the story told in Yancy’s voice to be a quick read. David also liked that this novel especially was reminiscent of a production in which the great John Wayne may have played a role. He could easily see the Duke playing either Cooper or Yancy with Gary Cooper as the other brother. The quick and smart banter made the story easy to visualize.

Despite the number of books I read, I find Cotten’s Landon Saga to be among those that stick with me. Each novel is a wonderful visit with an old friend. The family has expanded with marriages and children. The character updates from prior novels are always welcome and Cotten’s ability to paint a picture of an era has him on the same level as greats of Western fiction like Louis L’Amour. His stories are always uncompromising in the setting and imbued with the well-rounded characters we’ve come to know in prior novels, but who are framed in “Yancy” to easily stand alone. What I love best about Cotten’s novels is that these are the ones that my dad and I are most excited to discuss.

Tell Cotten is a seventh generation Texas and raises cattle in West Texas. His first novel in the series, Confessions Of A Gunfighter (The Landon Saga Book 1) that was reviewed on our homepage, won a number of awards including the honor of  Best New Western in the Laramie Awards. If you are interested in the Landon Saga by Tell Cotten, check out our reviews of Entwined Paths (The Landon Saga Book 2), Cooper (The Landon Saga Book 3)  and Rondo (The Landon Saga Book 4).

If you are a fan of Western fiction, do not miss Tell Cotten and pick up Yancy and the rest of the Landon Family Saga.

Read an excerpt and buy Yancy (The Landon Saga Book 5) by Tell Cotten on

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