SO MANY GREAT THINGS

Title: A Man Called Outlaw

Author: K.M. Weiland

Publisher: PenForASword Publishing (October 1, 2007)

Pages: 354

How do we come to read a book? A suggestion from a friend? Happen to come across it on the internet? Spotted it on the shelf at the store? However one comes to purchasing a book and reading it is not as important as the outcome. Just the same, here is how I came to read A MAN CALLED OUTLAW by KM WEILAND.

I happened upon A MAN CALLED OUTLAW due to reading a non-fiction by KM WEILAND. My thinking was if she is able to give great advice on writing a novel, it is worth seeing if she can produce the type of stories she has aided others to write.

Shane Lassiter never knew his biological father. Nathaniel Wilcock stepped up and did the job. A man Shane owes everything to yet questions his morals.

Anne Cassidy refuses to sell her land. Not to the man that threatened to destroy her, or any other man. She was willing to even refuse the man she loved.

I have this bizarre love hate relationship with A MAN CALLED OUTLAW KM WEILAND. Well, perhaps hate is too strong of a word. For many chapters the switching from the past to future, and the number of characters had my head swimming. If not for the amazing writing, I would have given up early on.

The amount of characters and now soon they were introduced was an issue. The switch from the past the present at times was an issue as well. Even more so due to the same character names in both. The more I read, the more it became apparent that I could not stop reading A MAN CALLED OUTLAW.

Despite the fact that switching from past to present can be a tad confusing, I love this approach to a novel. Author MAUREEN LANG did this brilliantly in THE OAK LEAVES and ON SPARROW HILL. Living in the past and the present, getting a glimpse into both just to have it all come together in the end is something you won’t get in a novel that takes place in only one time frame.

To be honest, I would have loved to have a better ending. Or perhaps a second book to continue where A MAN CALLED OUTLAW left off. I wanted closure, though one may argue that MS WEILAND did just that.

What I loved about A MAN CALLED OUTLAW is the connection to the past and the present. The unique way the author wove them together. MS WEILAND did an amazing job of adding the element of surprise. There were a few things that I thought I knew what was going to happen, just to be shocked to discover something else.

Brilliant writing and a unique approach to a storyline will have me reading more books – both fiction and non-fiction – by KM WEILAND.