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I'm not much a book critique, as a matter of fact, this will be my first book review ever. I'm already destined to be critiqued myself as I am quite biased, Craig is a good friend of mine.

With that said, I'll dive in...

I picked up Honor Among Outlaws for two reasons, I backed WWX pretty significantly, picking up just about all the Outlaw miniatures, as well as a big Warrior Nation faction, and a small Union contingent. The second reason was that I wanted to support my friend and give his book a read.

I ordered the book off the publishers web site, www.WingedHussarPublishing.com, and when I first opened it, I was struck by the odd measurement. The book is 5" x 6.5" which at first I didn't like, but I have to admit it fits nicely in my pocket and wasn't bad after a few sittings. The text printing itself is also a little compact, the line spacing is not as wide as I'd like, but you certainly get your money's worth in terms of content in the 300+ pages.

The book does a great job of putting you into the setting of the wild west. At first, as I cracked the pages, I was afraid that the y'alls, 'round the fires, ain't ya got none, and other wild west terms would become distracting, but it was quite the opposite. There was great variation in the language and descriptions and even at the end of the book I was coming across new ones like "You couldn't lead a pack o' cowboys fresh off the trail to a whorehouse on nickel night"...a particular favorite I plan to work into my regular speech some day.

I walked away from the book feeling like I really know the main character, Jesse James, and have a good sense for who the major players are in this world. Dr. Carpathian, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, General Grant, and even President Johnson make appearances or get tied in throughout the book. The characters that took the spot light in the book, Jesse James, Frank James, Lucinda Loveless, Wyatt Earp and a hand full of others were well developed. I didn't expect to get that far into Jesse James head, actually, and was surprised at how well rounded he became. I'm not accustomed to reading a lot of game focused literature. I've read the Horus Heresy and Gaunt's Ghosts, but other than reading the fluff in rule books, I'm not someone who devours this type of thing. This may be obvious to some, but for me, it has made me very excited to paint and field Jesse James on the battlefield. I can't wait to have Lucinda Loveless on the other side of the table or play a mission against a friend who has Billy the Kid in his force. Better yet, trying to take down Dr. Carpathian or beat him to some prize in the center of the table.

In some ways, the production of the book, being a side-effect of a gaming franchise, worked against it somewhat in that you could sense at certain points that characters or scenes were being introduced only to cover them. With that said, the connections and junctures to those parts of the story were handled well and I don't think they took away from the book as much as they may not have added a lot to it. On the other side of that coin, the vehicles and weapons that are covered really add a lot for a gamer. I recently got my kickstarter package and one of the first things I put together was my Blackjack, a three wheeled vehicle, which in the book is a prototype that Jesse James gets to ride. It was awesome to put it together and will probably be the first thing I paint. Frank James rifle, Sophie, is another favorite and I'll be sure to give her some extra love and attention on the painting table. In general, the entire aspect of RJ-1027 (the pseudo-magical fuel of WWX) is brought to life throughout the book, making it feel right at home to have machines, generators, high tech weaponry, and cybernetics mixed into a wild west genre.

I won't rate the book, per say, as it wouldn't be fair. My feelings on the book are too tainted by friendship and pride in the work of a good buddy, but I will recommend it highly. It is the first novel for a writer who has cut his teeth on a lot of game related projects, fluff for rule books, compendiums, and source material. It is incredibly well done and the story is crafted in such a way that you will want to, if not need to, read the second and third books in the series. It may not be perfect, I noticed a few more missing coma's, plurals, and prepositions than you might find in a bigger budget book but that type of thing doesn't affect me like it might others. I also know the pace at which it went from conception to publishing so I probably over look that type of thing more. I personally found the book to lean towards very descriptive, which isn't usually my cup of tea. To be fair, I'd have to say I generally read youth fiction, Ender's Game being my favorite book. Somehow though, the descriptive nature of the book ended up working for me, and I took in the landscape and scenery in a way I wouldn't normally.

Overall, if you are going to play WWX, I think it is a must read. If your curious what the world is like, it is a great introduction. If your interested in alternate history and what could have been had cowboys had laser pistols and hover bikes...it is a must read. If your looking for a good book to hunker down and enjoy, it is a must read...I'd say pick it up, it's a fun read and a cool world and may get you to jump into WWX which is good for me, because it gives me more players to face!

Good luck folks, happy hunting and...in Jesse we trust!!

Good review, balanced and seemingly as unbiased as possible.

Curious, have you read any of the WM/H stand alone fiction recently? I'm curious how it compares to some of that fiction which can tend to 'showing the feats', similar to how random characters were introduced in WWX.

I haven't read any of that...if anyone has, I'd be interested in knowing which ones are good as I enjoy that world. Especially the retribution dudes.