A River Run Red

Dan'L Boone: Lost Wilderness Tales #1

by Dodge Tyler

Known to the colonists as "Boone" and to the Shawnees as "Sheltowee," Daniel Boone seeks revenge on his cousin's killers in the untouched wilderness and will stand alone against an entire army, until his revenge was complete or until he is faced with death.

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

Reviews

[Scott Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a stronger opinion about this one than is probably necessary. Something about it just kept me from enjoying it. I discovered that something when I went in search of the fact behind the fiction and discovered the majority of the book wasn't based on fact at all. The crux of the plot, Daniel seeking revenge on a French general who killed Boone's cousin, is complete fiction. Boone had no cousin named Ethan and there was no butcher-general Duvall at Fort Dusquene.To serve this plot Boone is depicted as a killing machine action hero which feels disingenuous to the real man. Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires works because of the absurdity, that's part of the fun, but here we have Boone scalping an Indian, slitting throats and mowing down people chapter after chapter. The liberties taken here just don't sit well with me. There's also the weird bit of the title, A River Run Red, but there's no river central to the plot. This would have been a great book if the main character had been inspired by and modeled after Boone, not written as him.

[S.wagenaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, a two-fisted frontier adventure starring Daniel Boone (here known as Dan’l). I’m not familiar with the historical details of the real life Boone, but I’m pretty sure this series of adventure novels is a highly fictional version of the truth. Nevertheless we get a fun yarn of Dan’l fighting and brawling against the French army and hordes of vicious Shawnee warriors. Much blood is spilled as our intrepid hero seeks vengeance against a psychotic French commander who kilt some kin of Dan’l, and he won’t rest until he has the murderer under his knife. If you’re looking for an easy to read frontier adventure and aren’t afraid of some blood-soaked killing and scalping, this is okay. Recommended.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big Daniel Boone fan. While I know these stories are fiction based on his life I still enjoyed them. Recommended