I finished Pony Soldiers Monday night. I really enjoyed it. I had completely forgotten about the gateway in New York being a Chron Trans Unit also. I liked the exploration of both of the redoubts, and I liked the return of Cort Strasser. I remembered that Yellowhair was Strasser from when I read PS back in the 1980's, but I had completely forgotten about Man Whose Eyes See More, and I was surprised to see that he joined the group at the end of the book, even more surprised at the way he joined. I did think it a bit dumb that Jak didn't kill Strasser when he had the chance, but we all know that was so LJ could bring Strasser back in another book. I think this was one of the better early books, and I give it a 9.

Ryan and his gang find themselves in New Mexico, where they discover an old enemy has resurfaced.

This book has kind of a cowboys and indians type of theme, its a decent book, but I was disappointed with the ending because their indian allies turned out to be just as creepy as the sec men, except for the shaman, who joins the party for the next book.

I liked the ruturn of the villain from book one.

Ok so the main word that comes to mind when I was reading this particular novel was 'TORTURE'. Well this one had a lot of it, but I'll get to that later.

First I just want to say that the beginning of the book was just what I like from a DL title. A link to the past and the Third World War. The scene where they encounter the corpses of the inhabitants of the redoubt was very touching, especially when they discover the CO. This is reflected later in the novel when they discover the inhabitant if 'Hillbilly Heaven'.

The main plot was ok, with a cross between post-apocalyptic storylines with an old wester type feel. Really like Dl meets the Old West. Kinda, cool if you ask me. I would have preferred a little more back story, though,on how Strasser managed to organize his little army from a rag tag bunch of mercenaries into a well disciplined force.

This book really shocked me with the amount of violence it described. Especially in reference to the torture scenes. Wow, they were sick! Talk about barbaric. The ending was a little disappointing though. I wanted the Mescalero to come out of the as being rather civilized but the author turned them into a bunch of malicious savages.

However, was still a good read, though the main quip I have with it is that it bore little relation to Mike Herring's excellent cover art. Aside, though, it was good. Not the best but good.

When Cort Strasser raises his bloody head up in any Deathlands novel - it is a sure fire hit!!
Strasser was one of the baddest asses that the companions ever had to deal with.
I always liked the way the original author gave his biggest enemies 3 books to die off. You ever noticed that? The same with Zimyanin.
But the idea of this one with all the awesome Indian characters with the clues of Custer coming back from the dead was just pure genius.
It fit the Deathlands novel like a skin-tight glove!
A must read.

This is a great story that will remind you of old Cowboys vs Indians movies.

Its a full out battle vs the two, with Ryan taking the side of the Indians.. Personally, the highlights outside of the great story for me was the torture methods used by both the "Cowboys" and the "Indians"