A sprawling Weird Western that sets up a rich world of magic, with great characters and a quest to save a little sister.

Hettie was a badass character, but I did feel like she came across as… whiney, I guess, a lot of times, and defaulting to what other characters thought she should do. And hey, I can be the same way though in stressful situations, so I’m not dissing it, but it DID feel a little awkward sometimes with how she decided to do what she did.

The style was a bit boring in parts and sorta jumpy, but otherwise it was an easy read and there were plenty of plot twists and turns to keep me reading despite any boringness I was feeling. It could have been more engagingly written, but the plot itself was good enough to power through. All the characters are not who they seem to be when they first come into the story, and everyone is morally corrupt SOMEHOW or another, for better or worse. I was worried that Walker and Hettie would become a Thing, but aside from a small scene when talking strategy, this was relatively romance free which was also a delight! It honestly was another big reason that I kept reading, because it was just focused on Hettie saving her sister, and not getting hung up on anyone.

I got strong Red Dead Redemption visuals throughout this and the magic used was relatively well explained and I never really felt too lost. It did have a lot more proper fantasy magic than I’m used to in weird westerns (I tend towards the subtle magical realism ones), so I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy this, but not so! I am definitely looking forward to continuing the series to see what other adventures Hettie falls into!

Highly recommended for any weird western lover, or those who like magic-based worlds who are wanting to give weird westerns a try!

This was better than I imagined.  I loved the cover and that is what sold me on reading it.  The story is part fantasy and part western but the story is total enjoyment as Hettie tries to save her little sister, Abby.  Bonded with Diablo (a.k.a the Devil’s Revolver) Hettie unfortunately is walking into many situations blindly.  Her accuracy holding a firearm is one talent she can count on and one that she uses to her advantage.

I like how Hettie takes matters into her own hands.  She doesn’t wait around and hope for someone to help her out and she doesn’t whine, she moves.  She almost moves too fast, sometimes.  She immediately goes after Abby.  When she sees Ling in trouble, she steps in.  She’s not afraid of speaking her mind to anyone, she is herself. When bonded with Diablo, the unknown of what has occurred doesn’t shake her, she just continues on.  

With magic and loaded weapons, Hettie learns the truth behind Diablo and the price this demonic weapon carries. This was a high energy read for read and the magical aspects of the novel were entertaining.  I can’t wait to read what happens in the next novel. 4.5 stars

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and IBPA in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this novel, it was different. I am normally not a fan of westerns but a kick ass female who has a cursed gun it’s a winner

The Devil’s Revolver by V. S. McGrath is a well written and genuinely surprising book.  Set in the wild west, with fantastical elements, Hettie is not your typically western protagonist.  The characters are all people, they are flawed, and a product of their times.  The world building is great, the adventure is fast paced.  I'm curious to see what Heddie gets up to next.

This was the first western themed book I've ever read, and holy cow what  a book.  I really enjoyed the fantasy tie in, for me, that's what it pulled me in.  But the writing style and world building is what really got me hooked.  McGrath builds a world that you can feel around you, there is only one other Author that has done that this year for me.  I'm glad to add McGrath to the list.  I can't wait to place the order for all 3, heck if I could pre-order everything she is currently thinking about writing that would be great too!!!!

The Devil's Revolver by VS McGrath throws us headlong into the world of Hettie Alabama. A world with magic and machine. All was right in Hettie’s life- as right as it could be with a sick sister- until the day she won a shooting contest, saved a man’s life, and saw her father kill a bound man in cold blood. Not long after, undesirables come snooping around the Alabama ranch. Next thing Hettie knows is her parents are dead, and her sister kidnapped, all over a mysterious box tied to the legend of the Devil’s Revolver. 

Hettie sets off to retrieve her sister, accompanied by three companions collected along the way. Oh yes, and with the fabled Devil’s Revolver, a powerful mage weapon she accidentally bonded to herself. Not that it's power comes without a price. This deadly weapon was forged to destroy and destroy it does, both wielder and target. For every life taken a year of life is also taken from the wielder, aging them prematurely. Despite this, and the companions she’s not sure she can trust, despite being beset by numerous factions eager to lay hands on Diablo, Hettie plows forward, focused on finding her sister. Her path leads her to Patrice Favreau, the Soothsayer of the South, who points Hettie towards her sister, and lays an even heavier burden upon her. But when Hettie finally reached her sister, things have changed on all fronts. And in the end, Hettie will be betrayed by the one she trusted most.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a book mixing fantasy with Western, a genre I'm not much a fan of, but the premise sounded so cool. I wasn't to be disappointed!! Hettie is an easy character to like, given all she's put through. She's pretty badass in her own right. Add a sentient magical weapon and she becomes uberbadass. Hettie’s got grit and determination in spades. She’s young yet, and has a great deal to learn, about fighting, and negotiating life, though. Diablo, the Devil's Revolver, reminded me of Charon’s Claw, the sentient magical sword wielded by Artemis Entreri of RA Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt series. The brief glimpses into its mind were intriguing. 

I enjoyed Hettie's companions. I get why they were all male. Except for the rare few, women of this era didn't charge into battles, guns blazing. Hettie was different from the start, more interested in hunting and the ranch than in trying to secure a 'good match’ for a husband. Each could use a different type of magic, too, and neat magics are a favourite of mine. Ling is a Celestial (read Chinese) who used Eastern ether magic, and is trained as a healer. Walker is a bounty hunter, who uses Western talisman magic. Last is ‘Uncle’ Jeremiah, who seems to know many types of magic. We also meet Patrice, who is a Soothsayer, and Zavi, a Kukulos warlock who uses blood magic. 

This is a world where technology is as important as magic. There are trains, mine cars, guns (and the facilities to make them), and Patrice even has a mechanical wheelchair. Most fantasy I read is set during times before modern(ish) technology. This story held a perfect blend between the two- just the thing I love about the Final Fantasy game series. I'm looking forward to the next book! I want to see how Hettie evolves, and learn more about Diablo. Highly, highly recommended!!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Brain Mill Press for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Devil's Revolver is outside of my reading comfort zone. I decided to venture out of my circle of romance and try something new and am ever so glad I did. A gem in a sea of diamonds is what this story is. Sorry, for the exaggeration but seriously this is an underrated book that deserves much praise for its packed story line and setting (a Wild west with a twist of fantasy with a good dose of action and gun shooting), along with its brilliant writing that did not bore me to sleep, and topped off with flawed - realistic characters such as Hettie and the many many others in the story. 
Hettie is a naturally confident and capable heroine who is her own boss and does takes no "direction" from the guys. 
READ! READ!READ! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!

Family history has caught up with Hattie: her father’s past and connection to a terrifying demonic revolver has lead to a lot of bad attention. Attention that robs Hattie of everything and leaves her desperate to find her sister; in a trek across the magical Wild West with a range of forces arrayed against her. She’s backed by a group of allies - but how many of them can she trust and what is their real agendas?


Well, this is different. Well developed magical steampunk western. Ok, bizarre quirk? I hate westerns but I love paranormal westerns and steampunk westerns. Especially if you throw in some really excellent world building

And this world building is excellent. The way magic is incorporated into the actual world and businesses. Like the Pinkertons are a magical detective agency, the use of Zoom tunnels not just as magical transport, but the way they’ve been controlled and used basically in the same manner as railroad companies. We have magical rich and poor areas but we also have a world where magic is very much integrated into daily life with common ranchers using magic to protect their livestock, competitions regularly checking if people are carrying magic and a general assumption of magic as a common factor in everyone’s world without turning it into an odd fantasy elves-and-wizards-story. There is a suggestion of greater than normal technology as well - a definite steampunk edge but we don’t explore that much because magic and technology don’t mix much and these characters are all magical but it does promise a lot for future books.

But it’s also interesting how the magical setting actually works with the prejudices of the era (which continue to this day) and how it’s considered how magic would change history - or not. Like there’s an exploration of massacred Native Americans and they talk about how magic doesn’t generally work on metal (except very limited special circumstances): and no matter how magically powerful Native tribes were, because magic cannot stop bullets and modern weaponry is just deadly. This is something we see reinforced a lot which does a great job of emphasising why the Diablo is so special: magic is impressive but if men are pointing guns at you? Or gatling guns are being brought out?


Or there’s how Ling, a main character who is Asian not only faces lots of prejudice for being Chinese but this is also linked to his magic - magic doesn’t free him from prejudice but is in turn seen to be a reason to suspect him: his magic becomes suspect because he’s Asian. Similarly there’s a scene where we find that one of the reasons racists hate magic and are encouraging anti-magic sentiment is because magic isn’t racist. They are outraged and furious that magic can give Black people power, that it makes Black people equal or more than them (since Black sorcerers also seem to have equal status in the world). They examine a lot of the rage and prejudice and evil Ling faces as well. It’s interesting to see magic not just erasing prejudice in the world; nor being ignored as a factor in the world building that would affect magic.

Our protagonist is Hettie and she’s pretty awesome. Her overpowering motivation is to save her sister. She doesn’t have any super powers but manages to inherit the Diablo revolver through the plot. She’s a pretty quintessential ordinary-woman-thrust-into-extraordinary-circumstances and having to stand up. But she does this while being neither an utterly useless burden in need of carrying nor by being super-woman who effortlessly masters skills she shouldn’t have. She relies on her team, but also contributes to it. She makes mistakes and she makes bad decisions, but they’re bad decisions that are understandable given the circumstances, emotion and lack of options. It’s also interesting that she is described as unattractive or vaguely “plain” even before the book  starts and during the book gains a substantial facial scar. This appears not to be a classic case of she-doesn’t-know-she’s-beautiful Urban Fantasy thing but a character who just isn’t classically beautiful and is in denial. Romance also doesn’t appear to be a major element of her story despite some do-si-so between her and Walker.

There’s also a female character who is classically feminine, rich, beautiful and      doesn’t really like her. But what is interesting is that the book is clear that this character isn’t objectively bad (which is something a lot of Urban Fantasy and beyond gets wrong). Hettie doesn’t like her at all. That’s not because she’s a bad person or deserves that dislike - this is Hettie‘s issues

I like that Hettie‘s quest involves a lot of dark places and Hettie having to do some pretty dark things while continually trying to rationalise things and not always doing a great job. Her quest to save her sister leaves a lot of bodies in her wake and not all of them can be considered “good deaths”, throw in the actual nature of Diablo, the cursed demon gun, the choices Hettie is forced to make and, ultimately how this book ends for her tells me we’re going to have a powerfully dark character for future books

I even like her little sister Abbie and the little we see of her at the end because, again, it points to a complex character who isn’t the morally pure innocent Hettie wants to believe.

I also really like how all of these characters seem to have their own very real personality and history.       Ling is revealed to have a much more to his motivations than we originally see as well as having several acts in his own storyline. Woodrow again has his own motivations and history and Uncle Jeremiah’s whole relationship with Hettie is so complex and layered and full of family drama and love/hate/loyalty/resentment that it’s a perfect mess. All these characters feel real. Throw in a background world that has a few POC and takes a little time to nod towards the effects of racism (though the afterword of the book has a big piece on how the author consulted Native American sources for authenticity etc which is really nice… but  there wasn’t actually a lot of Native American characters here barring a small band of ghosts) and one of the main characters is Asian. There are no LGBTQ characters

This book serves as both an incredibly fun story with powerful characters, a great world and lots of twists and hard choices. It also serves as a truly excellent foundation for a series that I am so very very eager to explore as we’ve set up not just a great protagonist but a very unique one. I’m looking forward to this series.

Very good read a wonder take on Wild West magic. Story was wonderful and drug you in kicking and screaming for more. Little slow at first but that was setting you up with some great character story and history!

An enjoyable read with a strong female lead and moral conundrums galore. Hettie accidentally takes possession or is possessed by a gun and struggles with the desire to use it. Who can she trust, who should she save?

Not exactly the usual fare that I go for, but I reasonably enjoyed it. It's got it's issues, certainly, but it's an overall entertaining and interesting read.

I made a mistake in requesting this book.

NOTE : The one star rating is due to the requirement of a rating to submit feedback NOT based on personal preference.

This is not my normal read, but I found it intriguing enough to read both books. Caught my attention, but I would like to see a bit more world building in the future titles.

It was fresh and original and sooo good. I couldn’t stop reading. 

4,5 stars

This is such a great book. The writing is excellent, the plot is packed with action, intrigue, and twists, and the world is fascinating; it's the Wild West with a fantasy twist, and although I think I would've preferred it if it was the Wild West without the magic, the world building is still strong and well nuanced. 

The cast of characters are awesome. There's Ling, the Chinese friend of Hettie's, there's Walker, the bounty hunter, there's Uncle, Hettie's family friend, and there's Sophie, Jemma, Abby, and a ton more compelling people. They're all so vivid and human. I also love the strong emphasis on family and friendship. 

Hettie is a terrific heroine. She's capable, resourceful, incredibly proactive, and I absolutely adore the fact that she saves the guys so many times. It's great. And she's also such a naturally feminist female character; she's a brilliant shot with a gun, she frequently outsmarts and outdoes the guys, she frequently outsmarts and outdoes the guys, she doesn't always do what they say, she's her own boss through and through, but the attitude isn't preachy or forced. She's simply capable. She's simply confident within herself. That's who she is. I love it.

Not my usual fare - there are a few writers of westerns I frequent, but I find most westerns too moribund with clichés for me to enjoy. This series however definitely comes under the "weird western" category.. There's a steampunk feel about it - although magic substitutes as the power source of this version of the Wild West. There's magic, deviltry, and a wall across the Mexican border to keep the USA out! My only quibble is that there is too much reliance on plot complexity being generated by the over-used device of taciturn protagonists concealing information for no real reason. Apart from that, I liked the characters, and I liked what is, despite ostensibly being set within our geography, a pretty good job of world-building. Actually, the more I think about it, Hettie Alabama's little posse is really a fantasy quest group transplanted  to the US/Mexico Borderlands as they might be if magic ran through the world.

Let me start with saying that this ARC was provided from Netgalley for an honest review, so here it is!

One of my favorite books of the year! And in a genre I hardly ever read!

Part western and part fantasy, V.S McGrath introduces us to Hettie, a teenage girl that in one night has lost everything; family, home, and any dreams she may have had. On the belief that her younger sister is still alive, she seeks revenge as she has unknowingly bonded with a magic infused gun known as the Diablo's Revolver and together, they'll seek vengeance for that night.

This was a non stop page turner for me that, while yes, left some obvious unanswered questions but seeing that it's the first of a series, one can only hope that they are answered as the authoress goes along so that doesn't bother me. Characters are well written and have strong characteristics which made them different from each other and really helped drive the story along.
Thanks again to #Netgalley for letting me read #thedevilsrevolver!  Can't wait to read where this goes!

Girls with magic guns seem to be a thing these days. Fortunately, The Devil’s Revolver by V.S. McGrath is one of the better takes on the theme.

Part Western and part fantasy, The Devil’s Revolver launches a new YA series following the adventures of 17-year-old Hettie Alabama. In this book, Hettie sets out to rescue her little sister, Abby (Hunger Games, anyone?).  The world is cleverly drawn and believable, even enticing if you like horses, trains and dusty, desolate scenery, which I do. Lace those with magic, ghosts, and shape-shifters, and you have the start of something really intriguing. If the book has a flaw, it’s that it leaves some obvious unanswered questions, a common mistake among first books intended as part of a series but not an insurmountable one. Readers are left wanting more, or at least to find out what happens after Hettie and her gang ride off into the sunset. Somehow, I doubt everything is going to be rosy.

The Devil's Revolver begins like a typical western. Hettie Alabama's daddy's hidden outlaw catches up to him and the family. Here's were things get interesting. The band of outlaws want something he has hidden, a special demon gun. A gun that transforms into what the shooter needs and does not miss, the cost one year of the shooter's life for each kill. The gang kills Hettie's parents, leaving Hettie for dead, and kidnaps her sister. Hettie's "Uncle" takes the box and runs with it. Hettie vows to find her sister and eventually bonds with the gun. Warlocks, magic wielding Pinkertons, travel tunnels, and soothsayers, all spice up this western tale of a girl just trying to save her little sister with a little help from some friends. Full of action and twists, the story takes the reader on a bucking wild ride. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

I liked the general idea and plot of this. It's set in a really cool world that is basically the Old West but with magic and I think she did a lot of interesting things with the world-building and the way the spells and things work. I also really like the idea of the Devil's Revolver, although I don't necessarily think it was used to its full potential. Still, it's the first book in the series so I'm sure it just needs a bit of time to pick up.

What I didn't like was ...most of the characters. Hettie is okay although I wish she would stand up for herself more and also ditch like ...literally everyone she is with. Her uncle is a jerk and incredibly condescending; half of the major problems in this book could have been avoided if he had just told her what was going on. I absolutely can't stand Walker and I'm afraid he's being set up to be her love interest in future books. Ugh. The only one I could even halfway stand was Ling and then ...well, you'll see. 

Maybe she comes into her own in the second book but I'm very unsure if I actually want to read it at this point. Also I hated how rapey everything was. I mean no one actually got raped during the book but it wasn't for lack of trying. I guess you can scream 'historical accuracy' because this is technically still set in the U.S. in the late 1800s [I think] but also ...if you're going to create a world with all this magic and stuff why not also just make it less rapey? Like, what do we gain from this? Next book isn't out til April so I guess I have some time to think about it.