2 out of 4 stars
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Westward: The Journey of Adolf Nagel is the first in a series by Harry Simpson set in the emerging Wild West and tells of new beginnings and opportunities.
Adolf Nagel is eager to call on his girlfriend Caroline. On arriving at her parent's house he finds Caroline being attacked and leaps to her defence by shooting the would-be rapist. Unfortunately for Adolf the blow kills the attacker who turns out to be the son of a prominent business owner in the town. Urged on by both Caroline's parents as well as his own, he flees to his uncle's ranch with his best friend Oskar in tow. The future looks bleak for young Adolf but he soon finds himself settling in on the ranch and quickly learns fresh skills which in turn spawn novel ideas. Keen to test these ideas, Adolf and Oskar, as well as a new friend Sven, set off across the great American plains. Nothing so far in their lives could have prepared them for the adventures they will partake in and the friends and foes they will meet. Will they survive the floods, the battles with Indians, the stress of starting a new ranch and still have time for family?
The idea of carving out a new life while being on the run for a crime committed in self-defence was an interesting one. The three friends certainly have some crazy adventures together and many of their actions are written to impart a moral or value to the reader. The enthusiasm that the author has for the characters and their stories definitely shines through, and I applaud his efforts in trying to make the story as real as possible.
Unfortunately this book fell flat for me, both from an editing viewpoint as well as the writing itself. Too many mistakes cropped up, ranging from a character's name changing spelling, to prepositions being used incorrectly, missing punctuation, general spelling mistakes and far too many similes being used. All of this really broke up the flow of the reading. The speech jumped back and forth from formal to informal which was confusing. In the beginning of the book and towards the end the "cowboy-like" direct speech filtered through to the rest of the writing which gave it a juvenile feel, and this sometimes caused uncertainty as to what the author wanted to convey. The reader is also bombarded with footnotes about horses and guns for approximately half of the book which in some cases was informative and in others just irrelevant. A lot of the descriptions were too detailed, like a room's description taking up nearly two pages. The characters (even though the author attempted to express their personalities) were two dimensional and much of their speech and even some actions were questionable. There is also a big disconnect between the second last and last chapter and I feel that the time difference could have been dealt with in a more seamless manner.
I found the book a little anti-climactic as only in the last 10% did it reach what it promised to deliver in the blurb. A rating star is lost due to editing and another due to the story not having enough substance and clarity. I thus rate Westward: The Journey of Adolf Nagel 2 out of 4 stars and recommend it for young adults and up, especially those with a western predilection.
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Westward: The Journey of Adolf Nagel
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