First Imgur link goes to a post that goes live tomorrow July 23rd
Second Imgur link goes to final review going up around release on Oct 21st (subject to movement)
Blog post goes live Oct 24th
Amazon and Barnes & Noble reviews will go up when available
Youtube Review will be in Friday Reads for 7/25

**TL;DR**: Deeply researched and absolutely blood-soaked, this was a ride.
**Source**: NetGalley - Thank you to the publisher!!

**Structure**: I enjoyed the structure, and found myself impressed with how everything came together here.
**Characters**: A lot of these guys blended together (there is a lot) but our author noted distinguishing things each time it was relevant which helped.
**Setting:** As someone who doesn’t know anything about Gold Rush era California this did a good job painting it.
**Readability:** Excellent. I found this easy breezy to move through.

**Thoughts:**

A full disclaimer here is that I know very little about this time and place in history. I grew up watching Westerns with my Dad and grandfathers but that’s it (and it probably does more harm then good). So this really caught my eye, I’ve heard of Zorro and I don’t know anything about the source - I was down to try it!

As with any nonfiction book we worry about the density of the writing, and how easy it is to read. This one, while it reads slow is very easy to read and engrossing. It’s hard to look away even if what you’re reading is lots of folks stabbing and shooting each other. Which they do, a LOT. The place is given a real feeling and I wasn’t lost at any point in the book.

This story is very interesting. The author cites extensive sources, and works very hard to bring what he believes the truth of this story to light. For an every day reader or someone new to this story and history this was a great read. I kind of wanted another story all about Joaquin’s widow. Her life was WILD.

I really enjoyed this and for History fans this could be a huge hit. Give it a try if you’re interested.