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Territory

by Emma Bull (Goodreads Author)

3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 · rating details · 953 ratings · 209 reviews

Wyatt Earp. Doc Holliday. Ike Clanton.

You think you know the story. You don't.

Tombstone, Arizona in 1881 is the site of one of the richest mineral strikes in American history, where veins of silver run like ley lines under the earth, a network of power that belongs to anyone who knows how to claim and defend it.

Above the ground, power is also about allegiances. A magician...more

Hardcover, 318 pages

Published July 10th 2007 by Tom Doherty Associates

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Community Reviews

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Apr 02, 2010 Jeffrey rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Emma Bull fans, fantasy fans who like different venues

Shelves: westerns, historical-fiction, fantasy, read-in-2008

I am a big fan of Emma Bull's books which have various settings. One thing they all share is the magical prose. Bull is a pretty good stylist and she writes well. This book is an unconventional take on the events prior to the Gunfight at the OK Corral. The story opens with a stage coach robbery in which 2 men are killed. The robbers are 4 men -- one of whom is secretly Morgan Earp -- Wyatt Earp's brother. Wyatt Earp, who is a lynchpin of the story, turns out to be a black sorcerer, who is using...more

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Jan 24, 2008 Catherine rated it 2 of 5 stars

Fantasy set in Tombstone, AZ featuring a number of historical figures including Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers. While I liked things about the main characters and found the book quite atmospheric, I just couldn't like it as much as I wanted to. The plot is pretty sketchy, mostly suggesting a 2 book deal rather than a completed story arc. I also could've done without the author's portrayal of the Chinese American characters. This ranges from having them speak in a version of pigeon English to...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: hardback

I have greatly enjoyed Emma Bull's books (even built a fan page for her work at http://books.ofearna.us/bull.html ^_^ ) and for some reason, even the LOVELY Palencar cover hadn't drawn me to read this book sooner and I wonder why. I'm tempted to watch the movie Tombstone now, which I've never done and I'd actually think my brother Bobby would like this book as he used to be really interested in things about the Earps and what happened in Tombstone.

Huh

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Nov 02, 2007 The Sheila rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fourteen-year-old girls who like Westerns

The Mysterious Stranger and the Independent Widow will always almost hook up--but only almost! Chinese men are wise and gnomic! Women can write good too! Wyatt Earp was a dick! Oh, Emma Bull, your time has passed.

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Apr 13, 2008 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: historical fiction fans, western fans, people who like to smile while reading

Recommended to Stephanie by: Nancy Pearl's Podcast

Shelves: fiction, fantasy, historical

Territory by Emma Bull falls into the category of a fiction story portraying a real historical event with a twist. In this case the event is the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and all the happenings that lead up to it and the twist is a couple of fictional characters and the fact that Wyatt Earp was a sorcerer. This makes it sounds kind of silly but it isn’t –the fantastical elements of the story are subtly dealt with and I would even wager that folks not normally inclined to fantasy literature wou...more Territory by Emma Bull falls into the category of a fiction story portraying a real historical event with a twist. In this case the event is the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and all the happenings that lead up to it and the twist is a couple of fictional characters and the fact that Wyatt Earp was a sorcerer. This makes it sounds kind of silly but it isn’t –the fantastical elements of the story are subtly dealt with and I would even wager that folks not normally inclined to fantasy literature wouldn’t be put off.

The events take place in Tombstone Arizona in the 1880’s and the story is told from the perspective of three characters: Jesse Fox a wanderer, horse tamer; Mildred Benjamin a widower and typesetter at one of the newspapers in town and on the sly a writer of trashy western short stories; and finally Doc Holliday, dentist turned gambler and Wyatt Earp’s best friend. Most of this book deals with events in the year or so leading up to the gunfight in October 1886 and of course Emma Bull suggests some other motives and conspiracies behind the fight (which is good because from what I’ve read of the real event, the motives behind it just seemed to be that the participants were violent, drunken asshats who didn’t like each other – not very interesting). Be warned that this book doesn’t actually get to the gunfight – there is a second volume on the way sometime in the future.

This book was great fun and while it didn’t change my life it was a highly enjoyable read. Most of the reviews I’d read of the book before reading it didn’t mention how funny it is and Emma Bull’s talent in my opinion lies in her approach to descriptions with a unique and witty eye that created images that really stuck with me. She has a bartender describe a locally made peach liqueur as “like a pretty whore with brass knuckles”. I found myself re-reading and then writing out several passages from the book that I really loved.
The characters were great - I have a pretty big crush on Jesse Fox and she manages to make Mildred a heroine while being a normal person and not an annoying supergirl.

I really enjoyed it and now anxiously await the second volume.
(less)

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Jan 14, 2009 Imperfectlyrua Castle-Hackett rated it 4 of 5 stars

I keep trying to quantify what I liked about this book and failing. The re-characterization of the familiar names were believable and interesting in the main. The original characters weren't terribly original but they were enjoyable. The dialogue may have been the selling point; I thought it seemed wonderfully authentic (I have no particular knowledge in this area.) The depiction of the setting was appropriately sparse. The structure of the magic was explained just enough to give it structure bu...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Kristen rated it 3 of 5 stars

This sounded like it would be a kind of "Harry Potter meets the wild west" and I thought that would be an interesting approach to magic. It turned out to be both more and less than I expected.

There was magic, but it was very understated as a part of the story. In fact, you aren't quite sure if magic is happening or not for a good part of the book. The way the author, Emma Bull works the magic in is very, VERY subtle and she almost seems to want the reader to guess what the heck is going on in To...more

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Nov 22, 2011 Zoe rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction, historical-fiction

I bought this book because Emma Bull wrote it, and I like her books rather a lot. Once I got it and actually read what it was about, I was nearly put off when I realised it was an alternate Wild West, an era and area that has been of not just little interest to me, but that I've actually disliked. However, it's Emma Bull.

In some ways I was probably a perfect reader. Because of my lack of interest in the wild west/western frontier stories, I actually didn't know the story of Wyatt Earp. Sure, th...more I bought this book because Emma Bull wrote it, and I like her books rather a lot. Once I got it and actually read what it was about, I was nearly put off when I realised it was an alternate Wild West, an era and area that has been of not just little interest to me, but that I've actually disliked. However, it's Emma Bull.

In some ways I was probably a perfect reader. Because of my lack of interest in the wild west/western frontier stories, I actually didn't know the story of Wyatt Earp. Sure, the name was vaguely familiar, but the details of his specific legendary status were lost on me. But in some ways I was also the worst possible reader, because as she introduced different characters that would have been familiar to most people who did know the stories about Tombstone, AZ and the shoot-out at the OK Corral (I looked it up on Wikipedia), I felt nothing. There was no thrill of recognition, no interest to see a different take on a familiar person, nothing. Her version didn't have to fight my preconceptions, but it couldn't use them in its favour either.

So, that background aside, it was...well, kind of disappointing. There was an awful lot of the book that was setting stuff up, with little to no speculative elements. I believe I've mentioned not being a fan of the western genre, so my pleasure in her character development was partly overshadowed by the setting and wanting her to get on with the fantasy elements. The hints of there being more going on than met the eye - and with lead characters who were reluctant to admit that there was more going on than met the eye - was frustrating and, for me, went on too long. By the time Jesse & Mildred and, to a lesser extent, Doc Holliday all admitted that Wyatt Earp was up to a bit more than holding up a stagecoach, there wasn't much of the book left. That made for what I thought was a rushed resolution, and for me it was an unsatisfying one. I couldn't help contrasting it with Bone Dance, which also featured a main character who resisted their destiny/supernatural abilities for a lot of the book, but had a convincing and satisfying acceptance of them and then went on to have a satisfying confrontation with the "big bad".

So. Characters were great, especially Mildred and Chow Lung (the inclusion of Chinese characters was actually a big plus for me, as the contrast between the romanticised west and the historical west is one of the reasons I don't like the genre) and the bits on archaic horse-breaking techniques were surprisingly fascinating. The pacing for me was off. Oddly, I think I could have stood the non-fantastic parts of the book much better if the bits post-revelation-of-fantastical elements (well, to the characters, anyway) had been longer. It might have given the characters a bit more chance to accept what was really happening, and then the fantastical elements would have felt less tacked-on. And the end was distinctly underwhelming. Feels like there should be another book - and if there were, I would read it, so I guess it must have been a success. Just wish I'd liked it more.(less)

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Sep 26, 2011 Shazza Maddog rated it 5 of 5 stars

The storyline takes place before the shooting at the O.K. Corral and centers around two people - Mildred Benjamin, a widow who works for The Nugget (one of the two town newspapers) as a typesetter and Jesse Fox, a drifter and horse tamer who wanders into town on his way to Mexico. It turns out that Jesse has ties with the Chinese community in a time when that is not only unheard of but looked down on. He is the one-time reluctant apprentice and friend of Chow Lung, the doctor and medicine man. L...more The storyline takes place before the shooting at the O.K. Corral and centers around two people - Mildred Benjamin, a widow who works for The Nugget (one of the two town newspapers) as a typesetter and Jesse Fox, a drifter and horse tamer who wanders into town on his way to Mexico. It turns out that Jesse has ties with the Chinese community in a time when that is not only unheard of but looked down on. He is the one-time reluctant apprentice and friend of Chow Lung, the doctor and medicine man. Lung insists he called Jesse to town as he needs help that only Jesse can provide. Jesse, who watched his sister slip into madness because of her inability to control her powers, doesn't want anything to do with it and has distanced himself from his magical abilities. His reluctance lessens as he gets involved with some of the people in and around Tombstone.

Mildred writes sensational stories on the sly and sends them out of town to what would amount to The Star today. She manages to befriend Allie Earp, Virgil's wife, and in doing so, the rest of the women in the family. She notices that the Earp women are shunned by other women in town, despite their kindness to her. She pins the townsfolks' reactions to the Earp women directly on the lapel of Wyatt, whom she instantly doesn't like (to the point of not letting him shake her hand when she meets him).

Jesse and Mildred meet under normal circumstances - Jesse comes into The Nugget looking for news - but they are bound together by the peculiar - after their attempt to rescue a man from a lynching, they find the same man's severed arm, clutching a braid of silver. The silver braid is a calling card, of sorts, and leads Jesse into a game of cat and mouse where he isn't sure sometimes where he stands as predator or prey. When a Chinese prostitute is killed, Lung asks Jesse to investigate with him and they find that her spilled blood has created a lock on the city and territory of Tombstone. Jesse manages to break the lock, though in doing so, he's alerted the person who set it in place in the first place that he's out there.

Rich in characters, both the imagined and the historical, Territory weaves a retelling of a story many of us know into something fresh and intriguing. I would particularly love to see a sequel, however, with the way the book ended, it was very satisfactory and not nearly as abstract as some of the fiction I've read lately. (less)

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May 08, 2011 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars

One of those novels that lays a fantasy gloss over documented historical events, in this case the machinations of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday in Tombstone, 1881.

Really enjoyable but not, I think, very successful. It would make a pretty good footnote in an essay about how writing fanfiction permits creativity and depth of reimagination that writing for traditional publication doesn’t. I loved the parts of this book that were about the twisted-up, co-dependent thing between Earp and Holliday, and...more

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Mar 13, 2011 Levi rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, fantasy

Enjoyable. The first fantasy (the first fiction) I've read in a surprisingly long time.

The ending was weirdly anticlimactic, though. I mean, call me naive, but I thought the actual Gunfight was going to be involved. This was more like... fanfic of a historical event. Like she didn't feel the need to cover everything; she was just covering a side story. I guess that's okay if you're a LOT more familiar with the historical events than I am. I read the Wikipedia page, though, and while I was entert...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Xenophon Hendrix rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had this book for a while, but I didn't read it because I'd read somewhere that it ends on a cliffhanger, so I wanted the sequel available before I read the first part of the narrative. Eventually, though, I broke down, and now I have read it. Territory doesn't end on a cliffhanger, actually, but it is far from being a complete narrative. Most of the plot threads do not get tied off in this volume.

Furthermore, its copyright is 2007, and the sequel is not yet available as of this writing.

Those...more

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Aug 22, 2010 Nicole rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, historic-novel

Wyatt Earp & brothers Virgil & Morgan along with Doc Holiday are enmeshed in settling the historic power struggle with Arizona's Cowboys (Syn cattle ranchers & rustlers) and Tombstone's growing need for law.
The POV character is Mildred Benjamin, a widow making her way as a type setter and apprentice reporter for one of Tombstone's two rival newspapers. The drifter Jesse Fox becomes the third player in the power struggle based in political and in sorcerous power. His is the leverage p...more

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Feb 07, 2010 Sueij rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A solidly good read.

I mostly read contemporary- or future-based fiction, so this fantasy novel of the Wild West was unusual for me. But I met and heard Emma Bull at a science fiction convention a few years ago and have wanted to read her work ever since. She's an excellent writer.

The timing in the book felt a little odd. A quarter of the way into the book I still felt like the main conflict driving the story hadn't been introduced. (As a matter of fact I re-read the back cover about then and it...more

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Jun 11, 2009 Annette rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I picked this title up after reading "Finder," by the same author. This story is set in the old-west town of Tombstone, and features the usual suspects, namely the Earp brothers and Doc Holiday. The twist is that both Wyatt and the hero of the story have magical powers that allow them to influence those around them and - in some cases - draw strength from them, either intentionally or unintentionally. Doc Holiday, for instance, is supposed to be basically in thrall to Earp, who is out to grab as...more

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Apr 20, 2011 Donna Fitch rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I'll be clear right off what draws me into a book: accurately-detailed history (or with enough verisimilitude that it feels accurate), a fun and intriguing protagonist, and a healthy dose of magic. I also enjoy brushes with historical characters that make me wonder if this really could've happened. Territory fulfills on all counts.

The setting--Tombstone, Arizona in 1881--is finely drawn, making me want to brush trail dust from the pages. From the moment Jessie Fox, with his "smoky green glass"...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Barbara Deer rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I kind of wish there was a rating between 3 and 4 stars, because I enjoyed Territory, and I love the subject matter and the alternate (fantasy) reality take on it. The characters were well-drawn. BUT - requisite big but - it started tepidly, and then built to a climax that was resolved in the last few pages of the book and happened largely off-canvas, leaving me feeling a little cheated. I mean, I've got a good imagination, but I would have like to have seen the final magical resolution.

Because...more I kind of wish there was a rating between 3 and 4 stars, because I enjoyed Territory, and I love the subject matter and the alternate (fantasy) reality take on it. The characters were well-drawn. BUT - requisite big but - it started tepidly, and then built to a climax that was resolved in the last few pages of the book and happened largely off-canvas, leaving me feeling a little cheated. I mean, I've got a good imagination, but I would have like to have seen the final magical resolution.

Because that's what this story is about - it's a re-imagining of the events surrounding Wyatt Earp and John Henry "Doc" Holliday in Tombstone. Wyatt is a sorcerer. Doc has magical ability that is blocked to his own usage. The Earps are up to shenanigans, and Wyatt is using Doc's power to help protect his brothers when they all get involved in less-than-lawful dealings. The story is told from Doc's POV, as well as from two other (fictional) characters: Mildred Benjamin, a typesetter/journalist, and Jesse Fox, a sort of horse-whisperer who also has untapped magical abilities.

Truly, the characterizations are enjoyable, and they made the story for me. The actual historical figures are heavily fictionalized (if you want fiction closer to actual history, read Mary Doria Russell's Doc instead), but both they and the fictional characters are fully realized and interesting. Bull does a really good job with the women in particular - even the Earp wives and the legendary Kate Horony (billed as Kate Holliday in the book, even though she and Doc were never married) seem realistic.

I almost ended up forgetting that there was a magical aspect to this story, to the point that when it figures heavily in the story's climax, it didn't entirely work for me. The final confrontation between Wyatt Earp and Jesse Fox is stirring, but we've seen far too little of what got them to that point to feel much more than puzzled. This is one case where maybe history is a bit more compelling than fiction.(less)

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Nov 12, 2010 Donna Jo Atwood rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: western, magic, earps

This is the story of the lead up to the shootout at the OK Corral, but it probably is not the story that you think you know.
Yes, Wyatt Earp and his brothers are there and Doc Holliday, Johnny Ringo,the Clantons and the others that feature in the history of the event, but Emma Bull adds her own take.
I liked her addition of the young widow Mildred Benjamin, the Chinese doctor Chow Lung, and the horsetraining drifter Jesse Fox. I even liked her take on the Earp family (and I can say that as a dista...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Forgotten Realms Queen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: donated, kids

I liked the concept of this book. Set in the Tombstone of the old west, in the days of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, Territory meshes magic with history.

In this account Wyatt is a scorcerer using black magic with good intentions: keeping his family and the boom town of Tombstone safe. Doc Holliday is a central character in the book, as well as Jesse Fox, another scorcerer, and Mildred Benjamen, a widowed lady reporter whose investigative journalism shows her more than she needed to know.

The only...more

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Oct 31, 2010 Patty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, western-us, arizona, women-writers, fiction, historical-fiction, fantasy, speculative-fiction

Emma Bull hasn't written lots of books, but those that I have read I have enjoyed. Somehow, I had managed to miss this one, so I picked it up a couple of weeks ago. Like the others it was well written and I had trouble putting it down. But the subject seems weird to me. Why would someone who had written well accepted urban fantasy decide to write about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday? A western, urban, historical fantasy? What a combination.

I have to say that Bull sent me to the 'net so I could learn...more

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Dec 17, 2009 Jocelyn Zombie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, western

Emma Bull is one of my favorite authors, a pioneer in Urban Fantasy. I loved this book, as I expected to, despite the fact that it's a western, which I'm not really into.

This one is based on the events in Tombstone, AZ when Wyatt Earp was there. It deals with everything leading up to the shoot-out at the OK Corral. Which, honestly, is the only thing that bothers me about it - the book feels like it ends 50 pages too early. The plot resolution is assumed to be common knowledge because everyone kn...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Karissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved War of the Oaks by Bull and was excited to see that she had another book out. I ended up listening to this book on audio. I enjoyed the Western take on the fantasy and the intricacy with which the world and characters were created. The story moved a bit slow for me though and in the end there were too many things left unresolved.

The audiobook was well done, the story is told from three main viewpoints. The male ones are read by one narrator and the female one by another narrator. In gene...more I loved War of the Oaks by Bull and was excited to see that she had another book out. I ended up listening to this book on audio. I enjoyed the Western take on the fantasy and the intricacy with which the world and characters were created. The story moved a bit slow for me though and in the end there were too many things left unresolved.

The audiobook was well done, the story is told from three main viewpoints. The male ones are read by one narrator and the female one by another narrator. In general I really enjoyed the way the story was read.

The story is complicated and includes some of our favorite Western heroes. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Ike Clanton are all part of the story. And the story is a complicated one. The story is mainly told from three viewpoints. Jesse Fox has decided to travel west and when he shows up in Tombstone he ends up drawn into a political battle that may end up being about more than politics. The second viewpoint is Doc's, he has tuberculosis but it seems to ease when he is around Wyatt, he trying not to get drawn into the seedy events happening in Tombstone but he is. Mildred Benjamin is the third; she is a widow who sets type at a local newspaper...she can sometimes sense or see things that shouldn't be there...because of this she also gets drawn into some strange goings on.

Just trying to give a good synopsis of this story makes my head hurt. I am not at all familiar with Western history, so I didn't really recognize or relate to any of the characters right off the bat. There are a lot of characters introduced and it was difficult for me to keep them all straight in the first third of the story. To add to this difficultly we change viewpoint a lot and the plot is not at all clear. The story starts as a recounting of seemingly unrelated events that happen in Tombstone. It takes a long while for the reader to figure out how all the events are connected and even then the story doesn't seem to have a real point.

It also takes a while for the magic to show up. You can tell that Wyatt isn't quite right from the beginning of the story; but it seems more like a misuse of power than anything magical. You also know that Jesse Fox is struggling with accepting that he has more than normal abilities. All of this isn't very well explained until late in the second half of the book; so it takes awhile to realize that there is magic and it does have relevance to everything that is going on.

The plot itself isn't much of a plot. Basically you are reading about Tombstone and what is going on there; the main plot is basically the mystery to unravel why all of these people are doing what they are doing and why they are all in Tombstone in the first place. I found the first part of the book to be slow and boring and had a hard time figuring out what the point was.

There were some things I did enjoy. You can tell that Bull put a ton of work into research for this novel; I loved the detail and the way things were described. It seems like she put a lot of effort into mirroring the true history of Tombstone; it would have been nice to have an afterward addressing this.

I also really enjoyed the characters of Mildred and Jesse. Mildred was a wonderful example of how the Wild West let women take on more responsibilty and start to carve their own futures without giving up being women. Jesse Fox was mysterious, yet very easy to relate too. It was funny how daring he could be at times but how when it came to Mildred he always put his foot in his mouth. I enjoyed these two characters and though they were well done. The surrounding characters were okay but never came alive for me like these two did.

The book ends pretty ambiguously. The main problem is kind of dealt with but not in a permanent way. You never really find out where all of the characters go or end up. The story just kind of stops. I looked to see if there was going to be a sequel but it doesn't look like it.

Overall an okay book. I really enjoyed the detail and intricacy in the story; you can tell a lot of research went into this story. I also enjoyed the two main characters. I thought the story was poorly paced though and had trouble with all of the viewpoints. The plot wanders a lot and takes a lot of time to get to the point, when it does get to the point it's kind of anti-climatic. The ending is pretty open; the story just stops. I would tentatively recommend this story to those who like Weird West stories with a touch of magic in them. Just make sure you have patience if you are going to read this.(less)

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it

Territory retells the story of the 1881 shootout at Tombstone's O.K. Corral, but no writer has yet approached the event with the same compelling mix of history and fantasy as Emma Bull. She blends historical and fictional characters to great effect; although the story is packed with suspense, romance, violence, and action, the psychologically deep, larger-than-life characters drive the narrative. Bull's spare use of magic and sorcery adds a welcome dimension to this often-told story. Simply put,

...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Virginia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-fantasy

I liked it. It seems compared to some reviewers, I have a more simplistic view of the books I read. I wonder if it's mood-based. i.e. "Am I feeling philosophical today..."

Anyway...I did like it. It did inspire some late-night reading/finishing. I'm gleefully a'wait'n the sequel now.
It might be I'm also a bit tickled due to the setting of the book - which is in my home state.
I suspect my favorite thing about this author's books (I've read all of two now...) is the banter. I love the dialog. Cle...more

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Aug 01, 2011 KG rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: wish-i-had-not-read

Hmmm, this book only barely held my interest. I don't know if I'd have continued beyond page 50 if the author hadn't used the gimmicky hook of having the Earps, Doc Holliday, Johnny Ringo, and the whole Tombstone setting as principle characters and a backdrop. [In retrospect, I feel a little strung-along by this trick!] Also, the magic (hinted to LIBERALLY in on the dust-jacket blurb) is only BARELY present. But, there is a nice scene (one of the few that actually worked, for me) about horse-bre...more Hmmm, this book only barely held my interest. I don't know if I'd have continued beyond page 50 if the author hadn't used the gimmicky hook of having the Earps, Doc Holliday, Johnny Ringo, and the whole Tombstone setting as principle characters and a backdrop. [In retrospect, I feel a little strung-along by this trick!] Also, the magic (hinted to LIBERALLY in on the dust-jacket blurb) is only BARELY present. But, there is a nice scene (one of the few that actually worked, for me) about horse-breaking...about 1/3 into the book! So, for a little over 200 pages, this book somehow managed to keep me balancing on the precarious edge of "almost interested".

As for the writing, it was choppy and confusing, with vague or misplaced references and modifiers. And, at times, it was almost like the author felt the reader should be able to fill in the logical gaps in conversation, and so, therefore, decided to omit connective thoughts and sentences. Also, there may have been an attempt to simulate frontier speech and dialogue, but that only worked out marginally – with some antiquated word usages merely leading to confusion or misinterpretation by the reader. Only Doc Holliday’s lingo seemed well designed and unique (although, oddly enough, not always presented consistently throughout the book!)…but that was only because Val Kilmer’s characterization keeps resonating in your head – as you anxiously await SOME reference to “huckleberry”! And at no point did I feel that the author really cared about taking the effort to lead the reader comfortably through this mélange of tangled plotlines and intersecting character-stories.

Oh, but hold the presses (an ironic statement since a primary character in this book works at a newspaper!)! I should have anticipated this...ppg.222/223, we get treated to some PG-14 Cowboy porn! Oh for the love of my sanity, at the 2/3 point, this book began to read like a Fabio-covered Harlequin romance novel, and soon treated me to a lesson in dressmaking. Can we just get to the O.K. Corral gunfight already?

Now, back to the issue of the magic…which is still SO covert as to be almost non-existent. Subtle would be a bit more than one grain of newts-eye per 50K words! This is more like...obscure! And while dark forces did begin to rear their mystic heads a bit near the 2/3 mark - still, I don't think this element was crafted into the overall storyline all that well. Was this just another gimmick? (Probably!) The characters ARE dark but shallow, the suspense is erratic, and the intrigue is questionably developed. And just when I’d begin to care a little about a character, the chracterization would stop development, and I was given no further reason to continue caring. So when the text began dwelling on dresses, dancing, and décolletage…well, only the later held my attention!

Now as to this being historical fiction – well, the real historical minutia is pretty scant…yet obvious - nothing that couldn't be cobbled-together from a quick search on wikipedia, or by watching the movie "Tombstone". Throughout my reading, I continued to be repeatedly underwhelmed. More and more I’m thinking that this entire novel is just a clever marketing device (hook) with only a tiny bit of real literary substance.

Then, as quick as a blink, we're absolutely ass-deep in sorcerers…and with only about 80 pages to go, we’re virtually up to our earlobes in magic-wielders – popping up around every corner! Now that's some subtle plot development! (And THAT’S some blatant sarcasm!)

Well, grill my flapjacks and scramble my grits...the last 20 pages were actually pretty darn engaging! SO, all totaled that's, what, about 50-60 pages out of 318 that were captivating? Also interesting to note is that the dialogue/repartee at the end was actually pretty poignant, (e.g., Wyatt Earp: “God damn it, Doc. I’m your friend. If I see someone doing you dirt, what the hell am I suppose to do?” Doc Holliday: “Punish them for usurping your prerogative?”). Okay - THAT was well done!!! Oh sure, there were a few attempts at clever banter all along – but they never really worked out well, not to the previously quoted level…until the end!

Looking back on the entirety, I’m wondering that, if the author had begun the story where the plot was around page 225, brought forward about 80 good pages of character development from the first 200, and then taken us onward through the O.K. Corral – perhaps this book might have been more enthralling!

Having never read any of her other works, I can't help but wonder if Emma Bull has used some of these characters in other stuff? Some of text felt like I was expected to know a bit about their back-stories. If not, there are SEVERAL character-stories that just pick up in the middle, and leave off shortly thereafter – waltzing in to add some exposition (and confusion), then mambo-ing out again! What was Jesse and Lung’s history together? Why is Ringo such a powerful person? What’s up with little Chu? What was the story on Wyatt Earp’s dad? Questions are raised, potential intrigue waxes; no answers are given, my interest wanes!

So, historically speaking, this book really ended, for me, on a penultimate note that almost verged on cruelty – mere weeks (days?) before the date of the famed shootout! After all that development over months of story-time (a tease?), there really was not much of a denouement! After such a build-up, I want my gun-slinging bloodbath! As is, I was left feeling more than just a little bit cheated…and further underwhelmed. At the end of the maze – no cheese!

ADDENDUM: I just found out that this book is going to have a sequel...and that REALLY cheeses me even more! NOWHERE in "Territory" (neither on the dust-jacket, nor in a forward/afterward, nor even hinted at within the text) was there ANY indication that this was a multi-part story. I guess it figures, though...since we never made it to the actual O.K. Corral! Still, I have a real problem with authors that create such blatant cliff-hangers! Is this some heavy-handed enticement to buy the next book? How hard is it to wrap up the current action in a nice and tidy package for the first book, and THEN create a sequel that uses those same characters - but in a new adventure? Come on! Really! How about a little consideration for the reader! From where the action (such as it was) ended in "Territory", there are only a few weeks (historically) until the gun-fight. So I'm dubious that much more intrigue - that we don't already know from TV and movies - can be wrung from this turnip! And, how will sorcerers be worked into the actual shootout? I'm not sure it has much potential there! Historically, hardly anybody really hit their targets during the actual gun battle - so saying that Wyatt Earp is "magically protected" would be pretty lame! I probably won't bother to find out!
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May 04, 2013 Kylara Jensen rated it 3 of 5 stars

At times I found this book quite engaging. I loved the characterizations. Emma Bull is quite amazing at making us feel for her characters with the tiniest bit of set-up. It's like, every bit of writing was so carefully edited leaving only the best bits. My favorite characters were of course Jesse and Mildred. I loved Mildred.

I felt like this book should have been dry or heavy or boring, but it was so much more engaging than I thought it would be. I never had to slug through the words like I thou...more

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Feb 12, 2010 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: award-nominee-world-fantasy, multiple-award-nominee, award-nominee-locus, audiobook, historical-fantasy

4.0 stars. An excellent, beautifully written story. Great characters and a flawless weaving of magical elements into a classic American tale. Highly recommended!!

Nominee: World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (2008)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (2008)

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Feb 04, 2011 Tim Hicks rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Ding blame it! Why can't they tell us ahead of time it's book 1 of 2?

Good read, not great. Book 2 might be great, based on the setup.

I can't understand why Wyatt Earp needs to be such a giant dick in this. He could be all that he needs to be without being such a tool about it.

I seem to have read a lot of Plucky Independent Woman novels lately. I'm ready for one in which she is only marginally poised and competent.

Chinee characta much silly, yes pliz. I haven't seen that since Blackhawk Comic...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was first introduced to Emma Bull through the novel "Freedom and Necessity" which she co-wrote with Steven Brust (if you've not read his books, you should! Look him up!). I found that book engaging even if I was a bit unsatisfied with the hint of the supernatural that never actually materialized. I liked the writing style and the characters.

"Territory" gave me the satisfaction I was looking for. Same great writing style (the story flows so effortlessly), same intriguing characters (even if Jes...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Nina rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Emma Bull

Emma Bull is a science fiction and fantasy author whose best-known novel is War for the Oaks, one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. She has participated in Terri Windling's Borderland shared universe, which is the setting of her 1994 novel Finder. She sang in the rock-funk band Cats Laughing, and both sang and played guitar in the folk duo The Flash Girls while living in Minneapolis, Minne...more

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