Comanche Moon

Written by Larry McMurtry

Narrated by Frank Muller

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

The second prequel, following Dead Man’s Walk, to Larry McMurtry’s classic novel Lonesome Dove charts the harrowing careers of Texas Rangers Augustus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call as they fight foes throughout the Texas territory and their own demons, setting up the events of the Pulitzer Prize–winning classic.

The second book of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove tetralogy, Comanche Moon takes us once again into the world of the American West.

Texas Rangers August McCrae and Woodrow Call, now in their middle years, continue to deal with the ever-increasing tensions of adult life—Gus with his great love, Clara Forsythe, and Call with Maggie Tilton, the young whore who loves him. Two proud but very different men, they enlist with the Ranger troop in pursuit of Buffalo Hump, the great Comanche war chief; Kicking Wolf, the celebrated Comanche horse thief; and a deadly Mexican bandit king with a penchant for torture. Assisting the Rangers in their wild chase is the renowned Kickapoo tracker, Famous Shoes.

Comanche Moon closes the twenty-year gap between Dead Man’s Walk and Lonesome Dove, following beloved heroes Gus and Call and their comrades in arms—Deets, Jake Spoon, and Pea Eye Parker—in their bitter struggle to protect the advancing West frontier against the defiant Comanches, courageously determined to defend their territory and their way of life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 1, 1997
• ISBN: 9780743573016

Larry McMurtry

Larry McMurtry (1936–2021) was the author of twenty-nine novels, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Lonesome Dove, three memoirs, two collections of essays, and more than thirty screenplays. He lived in Archer City, Texas.

Reviews for Comanche Moon

[Sabrina Fedosenko · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a great book. You get a lot of perspectives from the various native american characters, which is so great! All the characters from this book are so memorable and feel so real. This is definitely one of my favourite book series ever.

[Lyle Miller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think it’s a fantastic book! I really appreciated the insight into the Native American point of view. Fun book! Big Horse Skull reminds me of Mad Eye Moody from Harry Potter.

[Rahul Gor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great story about the end of a conflict between the settlers and the Indians in the old days.

[nigellicus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gus and Call have adventures Rangerin' round Texas with a large and colourful and often murderous cast of supporting characters.

[73pctgeek-23012 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fourth in publication and second in chronological order, it's a good read that doesn't quite live up to Lonesome Dove. The writing is good, and though it's interesting to find out what happened before the events in Lonesome Dove, I didn't find the story as compelling. There is also a section where a specific torture method described really bothered me and I had to struggle past it in order to finish. Worth the read, but I'm very glad to have started the series with Lonesome Dove.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When we join the Texas Rangers in Austin, this time they do not have a particular mission. Their main objective appears to be keeping the Comanche tribe from interrupting the travel of whites headed west across their land. They spend more time burying the dead than they do protecting them when alive. Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call are growing up and developing deeper relationships with women. Like Dead Man's Walk, Comanche Moon is full of torture and death, but it is the characters that make it the epic tale that it is.
This might be a spoiler alert, but I found myself liking McMurtry for not having the happy endings we all think we need. Maggie and Clara find different men to love. Blue Duck exacts his revenge on his father. Good men die. Despicable men somehow thrive.

[kittycunningh-815148 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I having read the whole cycle, I want to reread Lonesome Dove, now.

[lapsus16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great Far west book, accurate and realistic

[comfypants · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Texas Rangers are ineffective at fighting Indians.2/4 (Indifferent).800 pages of aimless rambling.

[boundtogetherforgood · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I do not think I would have thought to read this series of books if it had not been for Natalie Bradshaw, who sent me Lonesome Dove, the first book of the series, in a Christmas gift exchange.

Tracey pointed out to me that the overarching story is a sad one, throughout the series. In light of that, especially, I would not have expected to like the books. McMurtry is a good storyteller.

[adrianburke_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Romper stomper.
This is so much better than the Last Words saloon novel. Not a cliche in sight even though it travels trails well travelled.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Comanche Moon is the second book of the story of Woodrow Call and Augustus McCrae. The first book is Dead Man's Walk which tells the beginnings of the duo's life with the Texas Rangers. In it they meet up with the Comanche braves, Buffalo Hump and Kicking Wolf, for the first time. In this book they are still Texas Rangers and they have had many skirmishes with the Comanches but by the end of the book Buffalo Hump has died. Kicking Wolf is still alive at the end of the book but he knows that the time of the Comanches as free people is all but over. Woodrow's and Gus's time as Texas Rangers is almost over as well.

Neither man has been lucky in love. Gus's great love, Clara Forsythe, married someone else and moved to Nebraska. Maggie Tilton, the whore who loves Woodrow and bears his son, Newt, dies of tuberculosis while Woodrow and Gus are away on their final raid. Woodrow was never able to bring himself to marry Maggie or accept Newt as his son and he seems a much lesser man for that. Gus may be an alcoholic but at least he is capable of love and understands human emotion. I confess I didn't like Woodrow very much in this book.

I also found this book to dwell on brutality, especially the tortures of Ahumado, too much for my taste. I think I could have gotten the message that he was a bad man without quite so much detail.

However, I'm glad I have finally read this book as it ties together Dead Man's Walk with Lonesome Dove. I read Lonesome Dove years ago and my memory is not to fresh. I may have to go back and read it some day (as if there weren't enough books to read without re-reading ones I have already read!)

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The cover of Comanche Moon announces that it is the “final volume of the Lonesome Dove saga,” a series of four novels of the Old West by Larry McMurtry. It may have been the last one composed, but it is a prequel to its more famous ostensible sequel, Lonesome Dove.

Comanche Moon is a pretty good tale in its own right. In it, we meet most of the characters who achieved fame in the television miniseries of the earlier written Lonesome Dove. It is a long (752 pages) narrative that rarely drags. The principal characters, many of whom are Native Americans, are always interesting. McMurtry’s inhabitants (both red and white) of southwest Texas in the mid 19th century were extremely tough and often brutal. Nevertheless, some of them achieve a high level of dignity in McMurtry’s telling, even if they (the Comanches) are inclined to torture their captives or (the Texas rangers) hang their suspected criminal prisoners without trial.

When we enter the minds of the Indians (that’s what they were called in those days), we encounter spirits, witches, and omens. I don’t know whether the Indians back then actually thought that way, but the trope is useful as a way of emphasizing a very real difference in perception between them and their Texan enemies.

The meta-message behind the literal narrative is the end of the Comanche’s way of life as white settlers move in and drive away the great buffalo herds that were their primary source of food and clothing. Their great war chief, Buffalo Hump, leads one last great raid from the plains all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, but in the end even he realizes that not only he, but his entire culture, is dying.

A fine tale, well-told.

(JAB)

[choochtriplem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The third novel (time line wise) in the Lonesome Dove series, and through the first three, the second best. The story continues after ‘Dead Man’s Walk’, and tells the story of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Cal. The story has the two men becoming Captains of the Texas Rangers, and also introduces Lonesome Dove characters Blue Duck, Pea Eye, Newt and Deets. The old stories that the gang tells in Lonesome Dove have their routes in this book of the series. McMurtry is an excellent story teller. His character description is un-believable. He tells what the characters are thinking, how they are affected by each other and the world around them. Reading this series from Lonesome Dove on did not ruin the story for me, but sticking to the time line in reading would have made it a truly epic experience. Onto ‘Streets of Laredo’.

[silva_44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have loved every book in this series. This one was particulary interesting because of the greusomeness of what happened to Inish Scull, and the loves and losses of Captains McCrae and Call.

[brose72 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

good story, descriptions of inhumanity that have remained with me over the years

[writestuff_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing series...recommend all books in this series.