Reviews for The Justice Riders

The average rating for The Justice Riders based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-06-17 00:00:00 David Lass You know a book HAS to be good when it takes four authors to write it. A Christian Western written by Chuck Norris & Co. I don't know what to say about this book. In ways it makes Left Behind look like High Literature. It's a terrible book on so many levels. Which one to choose to start with? Gosh, I don't know. It's been about three years or so since I read this, so my memory of the details are hazy, but some of the awfulness was so vivid it has stuck with me. One. This is a sort of historical novel, about the wild West in the time after the Civil War. The Justice Riders are Christians out there fighting the good fight, hunting down bad people. Kind of like bounty hunters for JC or something. I forget the actual details. They are all really tough though. Just like Chuck. Two. This is a historical novel, in which none of the writers seem to have much grasp on history. There are many historical problems, and weapons exist that couldn't have really existed. It's sort of like those awful 80's commando type movies I watched as a kid. Like Invasion USA, starring Chuck Norris, where he took out a whole army of Cubans in a mall with an uzi strapped to each arm. He kicked serious ass with those guns, of course he shot probably 10,000 bullets to do it and never reloaded or could have since he had guns attached to his hands the whole time. Most of the fighting scenes are like that. Plus there is the high level of Martial Arts these cowboys can do. Matrix style kicks and shit. I'm pretty sure in the old West the cowboys were trained in MMA. Three. There is the most bizarre set of ethics in play here. There is some weird Christian Morality that is paid lip service to, but then there is an undercurrent of, 'go fuck yourself and die in the most brutal way possible, and we will only say you deserve it if you happen to not be a Christian.' This ethic even goes towards innocent people who happen to not believe in JC. Of course the slew of people the Justice Riders kill because their beliefs say it's ok are all good killings and when one of the Justice Riders die it's as if a pure angel had been plucked from the world unjustly. A father who doesn't believe in Jesus dies in a horrible steamboat accident that the Justice Riders could have saved him from, but they just watch the motherfucker die and think he deserves it. Good ethical lessons. Four. The writing, it's awful. You think with four people they would have some sense of what sounds good and maybe find an editor, but it doesn't appear so. This begs the question of why so much of what is written in God's service isn't written better? I don't know for a fact, but I'm sure Chuck would say that God inspired him, and maybe even written this book through him in some weird fucking way, if so why doesn't it read better? It's like that emo band in the Why should the Devil Have All the Good Music documentary who claim that they don't write their songs, God writes them through them. I'd imagine an all powerful deity, would write music that isn't derivative of Green Day and Blink-182, but so much worse than either of those not so great to begin with bands. Seriously he's all knowing all powerful, and he can't even out write Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day? Come on people. That's my memory of this book. I wanted to read the follow up but it came out straight to paper-back, so I couldn't borrow it from the store, and there was no way in heaven I was going to pay money for it.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-10-09 00:00:00 Mrs C Phillipps It reads a lot like an episode of Walker Texas Ranger. The dialogue is a bit stilted and the exposition is clunky, but quite entertaining none the less. Justice Riders follows Ezra Justice and a hand selected band of men assigned to "special tasks" by General Sherman at the end of the Civil War. These men are assigned to harrass confederate troops to buy time for the North, escort troops freed from Andersonville(Civil War POW camp in the South) to the St. Louis, and then to a special, more personal mission. While I did enjoy the read, I felt the Christian message was dealt with a roundhouse kick. I appreciate the message Chuck Norris is trying to convey, but it really should melt into the story a bit better. I have the sequel and will rate that one in a week or so...after I've read it.