School Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Gr 9 Up—When Faolan Kelly's beloved Pops dies, she is left with no choice but to temporarily follow the direction of the mayor or risk exposing that her grandfather had been passing her off as a boy for years and thereby lose agency over her own life. So off she goes to the Settlement, a nearby monasterylike community that takes in boarders, with only one suitcase, a handful of chickens, and her goat. With the deed she will need to reclaim her family land safely hidden in her boot, Faolan does her best to get along with the group and its unsettling, controlling leader His Benevolence Gideon Dillard, HisBen for short. But her pragmatic intentions of laying low until she can return home are derailed almost immediately by her inability to hide her curiosity or leave questions unresolved, and there is no shortage of mysterious circumstances to go around. Faolan carries the signature warmth, sharp wit, and dogged determination of McBride's lovable characters, and Tallis, the charming love interest, is a member of a semi-nomadic group with seeming Romany inspiration. Readers will be hooked immediately, then rewarded with a plot that just keeps unfolding; cult problems, creature danger, magic, and mayhem abound. VERDICT All the gritty violence of a Western melds with a dark mystery to great effect. A definite purchase for most collections.—Allie Stevens

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A girl disguises herself as a boy to escape gender roles and takes down a magical cult in this fantasy Western. Faolan Kelly lives in an alternate universe very similar to our own, but one where the Old West is pervaded with magic and horror. She’s feared and hated by others because of superstitions about her red hair and gray eyes. When her grandfather dies, she’s set to inherit his land—until the mayor concocts a scheme to steal it out from under her, beginning by sending her to live at the compound of the worshippers of the Shining God. But there’s something not right about the community, aside from its charismatic cult leader—and something there is killing people. Through her adventures, Faolan meets the attractive and intelligent Tallis, who’s a Rover. The Rovers display an amalgamation of characteristics commonly used to cue Native American and Romani peoples, but they’re depicted thoughtfully and without too much exoticism. They embrace far more progressive values than Faolan’s townsfolk do. Soon a heart-fluttering romance develops alongside the spooky magic and gunslinging as Faolan learns to love and trust others. The well-crafted plot is exciting, and Faolan is a clever, tough, and sensitive protagonist. Most of the secondary characters are essentially one-note, but they’re likable, nonetheless. Mysteriously spooky and ultimately heartwarming.(Fantasy. 13-17) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Faolan Kelly has a secret: for most of her life, she’s presented to the world as a boy. It’s safer, growing up as she has on the outskirts of a western town. But with the death of her Pops (Faolan’s last living relative), she’s quickly packed off to the Settlement, a place for orphans and others without homes, overseen by His Benevolence, Gideon Dillard. Despite the prosperity of the Settlement, something about the place gives Faolan the creeps, and she suspects that the discovery of her secret would not go over well. She has every intention of escaping as soon as possible—but where can she go? Plus, strange things are afoot: missing people, animals torn to shreds, and the sound of a vicious beast stalking in the night. The longer Faolan stays at the Settlement, the more danger she just might be in. This fast-paced western horror falls into some stereotypes around the portrayal of Native Americans in western narratives as saviors with “ancient wisdom,” but it stars a main character with a strong voice and tons of personality.