Review: The Devil’s Revolver by V.S. McGrath

Recommended Read!

“It grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let me go.”
~ Under the Covers

Hettie Alabama has lost nearly everything: her mother, her father, her home. The only thing she has left is her younger sister, but she has been kidnapped. Determined to help her she leaves the only place she has known in search of her sister, picking up a band of misfits as she goes. Her journey will lead to discovering some dark truths about her father including his gun. A gun cursed so that with every life she extinguishes with it, the revolver takes a year of the wielder’s life. Hettie’s life span starts to dwindle as she runs headlong into danger in a bid to find her sister.

How was I supposed to resist that cover? A girl with a wild and angry sneer on her scarred face holding a gun, all on that blood red background. It grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let me go. A trend that continued when I opened this up and started reading. The Devil’s Revolver is an action packed mixture of western and fantasy, a place where people wield guns and magic as an everyday occurrence. It’s also a YA novel, or at least the heroine Hettie Alabama is a 17 year old girl.

Before I get going, I should point out that this book isn’t a romance, romance isn’t even a subplot. Maybe something will develop further on in the series there does seem to be a small spark between Hettie and one of her companions. But, I will have to read on to find out. The Devil’s Revolver is instead an action packed adventure story, crammed with gun fights, magic and running.

McGrath does a good job in this book in setting up the world, it seems at first like a straight historical western and then magic crops up. As the story goes on we are introduced to the different types of magic and how it can used and how society it views it.  McGrath doesn’t shy away from the social issues of the time, like racism, sexism and corruption and I enjoyed the slight twist that magic added to this gritty adventure story.

What really shone for me and why I liked it so much was Hettie. The heroine of the story. She was stubborn, single-minded and bad ass. She was determined to save her sister and she was going to do it if it killed her. I also liked some of the characters she picked up along the way. Especially as you never really know if you can trust them. They all have their own agendas and you are never quite certain if they align with Hettie’s or not. It added a bit more tension to the book as you are on the look out for a double cross.

This was a great book, it was well written with intriguing characters and a fast paced and interesting plot line. If you are after a YA that doesn’t fall in to the trap of teenage angst, or just fancy a gritty action fuelled read than this is a great book to try. I certainly can’t wait to read the next book to see what happens next.

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[about-author author=” V.S. McGrath”]

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