Doc Holliday and Theodore Roosevelt team up with Geronimo to lift the magic that prevents the US from spreading to the pacific. The other Indian medicine men summon a demon to destroy them and prevent this from happening. A good fun read but not as good as the previous books. ( )

I’m not sure if this novel was meant to be for young adults (it was shelved in the adult section at the library) but it reads more YA than it does adult. It’s a steampunk western (think Wild, Wild West) using several historic figures- Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Doc Holliday, Ned Buntline, Bat Masterson, and Geronimo- but in a very different North America. In Resnick’s version, the USA stops at the Mississippi River, held back by Native American magic. Some whites are allowed west of the river, but they are few. Geronimo, alone of the medicine men, wants to remove the barrier and allow whites to take over the continent. The only white man he trusts to help him with this is Theodore Roosevelt, but the other medicine men are ahead of him- they’ve created a magical giant warrior, War Bonnet, specifically to defeat Roosevelt and Geronimo.

Sadly, the book bored me. There is no depth to the characters, and the plot is thin. I had to wonder why, if the Native Americans had a way to keep white people from taking over the continent- a way that was costing no lives- one of them would decide to end that; especially Geronimo, who in real life stated that he had been wrong to surrender and that he should have fought until he was the last man standing. Alternate history plays loosely with facts but usually leaves the characters of historical figures intact.

It’s an amusing story, but falls short of what I expected from reviews. ( )

This is the third book in the wonderful Weird West Tales series.

The series itself is 'steampunk' in the Wild West. Doc Holliday is "The Doctor". Geronimo and the other medicine men have created a magical barrier to prevent wide scale immigration by the 'white man' across the Mississippi. Thomas Edison is sent to Tombstone to try to find a way to bring down the barrier. His accomplish is the inventor Ned Buntline. As Edison describes the relationship - Edison gets the idea and Ned builds it.

In this third episode, Geronimo has decided to lift the magic spell keeping the 'white man' from coming in large numbers across the Mississippi River and the only white man he will treat with is Teddy Roosevelt. Bat Masterson is sent to bring Roosevelt to Tombstone. (Bat and Geronimo have a difficult relationship because some time back Geronimo turned Bat into a bat. Doc managed to get the spell lifted, but it has left a bad taste in Masterson's mounth and he went back east to become a sports writer.) In the meantime four other medicine men, opposed to Geronimo's plan, create a spirit monster whose only task is to kill Geronimo and Teddy. Doc Holliday is brought back from the sanitarium in Colorado to protect Roosevelt. Thomas Edison and Ned Buntline are there to figure out how to do it. I love this series. I have a horrible feeling that this is the end book. The Fable of Tonite series was a trilogy and so this one probably is as well. Doc is clearly near death, but I wish he would come back at least once more.

As Doc would say, "I'm your huckleberry." He certainly is mine. ( )