Originally posted on GoodReads.

Synopsis: Rhett Walker is looking for peace, the memories of all he's lost haunting his dreams. And now the Shadow tugs him West, back to where his journey began.

With the lawless Rangers on his heels and monster attacks surging, Rhett is surrounded on all sides. This time it's not all about horses and land. This time, it feels personal. Because the newest monster on the horizon just may be wearing the face of someone from Rhett's past.

To save the Durango territory, Rhett must accept the Shadow's call and fulfill his destiny.

Rating: 5/5

I can usually count how much I like a book by how fast I read through it because I just can't put it down. This is, honestly, the quickest I've ever finished a book of this size before (about six or seven hours total — for reference, Wake and Conspiracy took me two days, and Malice took me a day), and part of that is because it's the last book in the series.

The other part is because it's just so damn freakin' good!

As usual for these books, the plot isn't what I was mostly focused on since they're more character-driven, personal narratives. I saw the reveal of Monty being El Rey from a mile away, tbh. I was still surprised by it, but after the reveal, I didn't really... care? Like, I didn't care about Monty anymore and I preferred him as he was in Rhett's memory (which is probably also how Rhett likes it). I definitely wasn't sad when he died (again). The threat of El Rey felt more serious and daunting to me than Trevisan had. Trevisan didn't really scare me as a villain and I didn't find his evilness believable, especially in Conspiracy where he doesn't even appear until the last fourth or so of the book. In terms of pacing and plot, I feel like Treason of Hawks was closer to Wake. The plot was somewhat well-paced (better than Conspiracy, in my opinion) and it wasn't just all traveling and stuff. It was a simple narrative because, once again, the characters drove the real narrative.

I don't have much to say for once because I feel like I've already said it all in my previous reviews, but I will talk a bit about what I liked regarding the character-building. Rhett finally learns to joke around with his crew; their jokes at his expense make him angry, but he always reacts with irritation and lashes out at them instead of learning to laugh along with them. There's a lot of exploration into how he perceives the world and how he views these jokes as an attack when they're just for fun.

The big thing that I really found insightful and, at this point expected from Bowen to put something thought-provoking in and she didn't let me down was Rhett and Sam's differing viewpoints on how to treat Pap after they found him left for dead by El Rey. Rhett briefly ponders this when he thinks about how Dan and Winifred hate how oppressed they were (and still are) under white men. Sam hasn't faced the same "tragedy" Rhett, Dan, and Winifred have — he's a white man, and as a white man, he doesn't face the same type of racism that they do and hasn't grown up oppressed like they have. Sam wants to treat Pap with some kindness, chatting with him at least and sparing him the time of the day, while Rhett sulks off in anger and threatens Pap a couple of times when Pap tries to lie to him or butter him up with false pleasantries. Rhett internally monologues that he doesn't want Sam to look at him like a villain, but the thing is... Rhett isn't the villain.

He sure can be a downright jerk sometimes, but Rhett isn't the villain. Systematic racism is the villain, and Pap is one of its minions. Sam has and never will live through the same racial oppression that Rhett, Dan, Winifred, and countless others in their company have lived through, so he doesn't understand or grasp Rhett's anger. Yes, Sam is sweet and kind, and he's a gentleman, but he hasn't been on the other side of oppression and doesn't recognize Rhett's anger as the justified anger that someone who's been oppressed feels toward their oppressor. This comes up a lot in today's society — being too angry at the system that hurts you when you could choose to be the better person and forgive instead or just walk away. Sam reasons that they'll just drop Pap off at the next town they cross, but Rhett isn't content with just treating Pap like someone to be forgotten. He can't forget the horrible way Pap and Mam treated him when he was younger.

Rhett has grown up with only anger and resentment, and in the past four books, it's been shown that all he knows is how to take care of what needs to be done when everyone else is too afraid or incapable of stepping up. And he's valid. His anger and his speaking down at Pap is valid and justified. Is it appropriate? That's subjective. He has the right to brush Pap off and ignore him or talk back to him as much as he wants, as long as he's not needlessly hurting or torturing him.

Sometimes, for some people, it's not enough to forgive your oppressor or your abuser. Some may find comfort in being the better person, the bigger person, and taking the moral high road to kill with kindness, metaphorically. For others, that's not enough.

For others, like Rhett, they've survived hell and came back with a story to tell, and they have the right to use their voice and be loud and angry about it.

Buddy read with Kirsten.