Honestly, I wasn't very excited about Retribution Rails after the end of Vengeance Road. Becuse the end of Vengeance Road was feeling very end. Retribution Rails was companion novel, Erin Bowman said, but I had doubts about that. I was still expecting a re-telling of Vengeance Road, after 10 years later and new two main characters and their own POV.
It was true at the beggining, very similar to Vengeance Road. THEN changed. It was a fast-paced, like Vengeance Road, but better. Erin Bowman improved herself with sensible and strong main characters. And I realy liked that, they didn't play dumbs. Really, I got bored about that in nearly all of the YA books.
I liked Reece and Charlotte and their movements. And the main reasons of author's inspiration. It was like Vengeance Road, but has more reality.
I've got two problems with this book; first the end (not the 'very end' but close); second, the similarity with Vengeance Road- maybe because they were both Western and in the same time line.
If you like Western or liked Vengeance Road(they're both the same but anyway) highly recommend it. If you didn't read anything about Western... Well, you can try it with this series!

Erin Bowman is a master at crafting endings.

I finished an ARC of Retribution Rails only moments ago and I’m sitting here with a big, dumb smile on my face because it was the perfect amount of closure and such a gorgeous tribute to the first book. By the way, you could totally read Retribution Rails without reading Vengeance Road first, but I wouldn’t recommend it. There are quite a few cameos that made me do the dumb grin, and I don’t think you’d have the same overall experience if you hadn’t read Ms. Bowman’s prior novel before trying this one.
First, let’s get the disclaimer out of the way: I received this book free, from NetGalley, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. Now onto the review.

The story follows Charlotte Vaughn and Reece Murphy, two young Westerners trapped in unfortunate situations. Reece—better known as “The Rose Kid”—is a renowned outlaw and feared for his supposed cruelty. He works with The Rose Riders, a gang who introduced themselves in Vengeance Road, but this faction runs under Luther Rose, the half-brother of Waylan. Reece has been forced to ride with the outlaws for years, all due to an unfortunate mission that leaves him at the mercy of Luther.
Charlotte Vaughn is a young, aspiring journalist, determined to make a name for herself despite her conniving Uncle, who has stolen credit for everything good and credible that her family has done. With the death of Charlotte’s father, the owner of a mine and an investor in several large projects including the A&P Train Line, Uncle Gerald has sunken his fingers into the remains of the Vaughns’ fortune, and it’s up to Charlotte to thwart his plans.

We’re reintroduced to several familiar settings, like Prescott and Wickenburg, and two very dear characters: Kate and Jesse Colton. That was such a welcome surprise; I figured that the two of them would make a cameo appearance, but they’re very much central to the plot and have an active role for at least three quarters of the story. Also… they’re expecting! It’s so fun to see Kate as the hardcore pregnant lady, a baby in her tummy and two guns in her hands.

We get to look into their family dynamic, ten years after the events in Vengeance Road, which I thought was really sweet on Ms. Bowman’s part. She totally could have written them off—“Oh, Jesse and Kate are fine and living somewhere and they have two kids,” but no. She fleshes out their story even further, and I’m glad for it.
I’m dying because I don’t want to give away too much information, but also I want to talk about everythingggg. It was so good!

Let’s talk villains. Luther is just as dastardly, just as driven, and just as unforgiving as his deceased brother; but rather than going after money, like Waylan, Luther operates off of a skewed sense of love and loyalty. He truly loves Reese Murphy as a son, though his way of displaying that love is horribly twisted. Kate states in the first book that “money makes monsters of men,” but Luther’s motivation is stated clearly and on his own terms: “Love makes us do odd things.” And I think that this quote encompasses the theme of the entire book. Every character in this story is working out of compassion: Reese, to make right his sins. Charlotte, to save her family. Jesse and Kate, to protect the safe-haven that they’ve created together. Gold is an afterthought in this story, which I thought was a good decision on Ms. Bowman’s part, because not only do we explore a new set of characters that are fundamentally different from the cast of Vengeance Road; we also get to observe aspects of characters whom we are already familiar with, so we don’t get tired of them. Not that I could get tired of Kate and Jesse.

Another cool thing about this story is that Kate and Jesse were really young in the first book; I think something like seventeen and around twenty, I’m not sure. In this one, they’re each ten years older. They’re adults. They deal with the situation with all the experience and confidence of adults. I’m not sure exactly how to describe it, but you can tell that they aren’t the same since the events in Superstition Canyon and everything that happened afterwards.

While I initially found Charlotte pretentious and a bit whiny, her character development is stunning. She’s an admirable person from the beginning: as a journalist, she wants to chase the truth. By the end of the novel, her desire to state the facts and reveal the truth to the world remains, but she’s come to understand that humans are complex beings, not entirely black and white, and this affects her world-view greatly. Reese is also incredibly dynamic, but what I found most interesting is that he starts off as a character who very much craves death but by the end of the tale, he’s learned that in order to move past everything he has done, he’s got to face his demons. A lot of gorgeous moments of character maturation crop up, especially when Reese has to betray his gang, who are pretty much the only family he’s had for the past few years. And there’s a ton of introspection that plays into both characters, which makes them much more relatable and much more sympathetic.

What was most noticeable for me was the rapid change in dialect. Charlotte speaks like a journalist: her words are clear, free of the if’ns and yers and the western accent that’s so tangible in any other character’s speech. She also strings together long sentences that are full of analogies, metaphors, and description. I remember thinking that her thoughts read like a novel, and I think it’s an interesting detail that Ms. Bowman included on her part. I appreciated it. And that ending. Oh my goodness. She kept me on my toes even after all the action was over.
I’ve already said so much and I want people to form their own opinions, so that’s it for my review. I really, really loved this book, and I thought that it was a perfect way to end the story of Jesse and Kate, while also introducing us to a new cast of equally intriguing characters. I think that she could definitely do more with the series, focusing on the Native Americans or perhaps another aspect of the Wild West, but I highly recommend this series to anyone with interest in the gun-slinging, fast-paced, high-octane-high-stakes adventures of cowboys and outlaws.

When I first read Vengeance Road in 2015, I wasn't sure if I would like it or not. I had not really read any YA Western books, so I was apprehensive. All of my fears were quelled when I began the story. Erin Bowman wrote a wonderful story set in the Wild West, and I loved every second of it. So of course when I saw that Retribution Rails was available on Netgalley, I immediately requested it.

Retribution Rails is set in the same Wild West world as VR, but 10 years later. The main character is 18 year old Reece Murphy, also known as the Rose Kid. He is an unwitting member of the Rose Rider gang, and has been accused of multiple murders that he did not commit. He meets the very fierce Charlotte Vaughn while attempting to rob the train she is on. Their meeting sets off a deadly chain of events that is non-stop throughout the book. 

First off, I LOVED Reece and Charlotte. Sure, Charlotte was really impulsive and did plenty of stupid things throughout the book, but she was also fierce and determined to get her life back. I can't fault her because I think plenty of us would be willing to do whatever it took to get out of bad situations like she and her mother were in. Reese on the other hand, was not your average bad guy. He was caught up in a bad situation and forced to do what he had to do to protect his mother. Despite his reputation and tough exterior, Reese was actually a very good guy. 

Both of them had quite the dynamic together. It was a lot of tension when they got together, that's for sure. 

I must say that when I got to the last page, I was SO confused because I kept swiping trying to get to the last page only to realize that I had already reached the last page! Then I read the epilogue and was still shocked that it just ended like that. Why Erin, why?! 

Overall, I was very happy with this companion story to Vengeance Road. Erin Bowman does a wonderful job at writing Westerns, and I hope she continues to do so.

English/Español review

First of all, I wanted to thank HMH teen for sending me an advance copy of this book. I'm from Chile (really far away from them) and they give me this chance and I'm truly grateful for that.

I just finished this book and I'm overexcited, so excuse me if this review is all me fangirling. I don't want to spoil you anything, so I'm not going to give so much detail about the book, but if you liked Vengeance Road, you'll love this book. I couldn't stop reading it (It took me only 3 days to finish it) and I have to say, I'm not interested (I never was) of cowboy stories, but this book makes me reconsidered it. Erin Bowman just proved with this book what we already know: she can put a cowboy story with great characters (most of all, great and strong female characters) with most accurate background and history as she can and there's no time of boring on this book, the actions keeps you on the plot, it really catch you, and, something I want to recall: she puts her book besides all YA books that exist out there but without the typical clichés, and... it is just amazing. I sincerely love it, I was really excited to read it and I'm not disappointed at all. I really want to this book officially comes out and gets the recognize that it deserves. 

De veras no puedo decir hasta qué punto estoy emocionada con este libro desde principio a fin. Nunca pensé que tendría la oportunidad de leer un libro antes de que saliera a la venta, pero gracias a la editorial no solo tuve esta oportunidad, sino que además se trataba de un libro en el cual tenía grandes expectativas ya que Vengeance Road me había gustado mucho. No estoy en absoluto decepcionada, este libro fue completo de principio a fin. Personajes fuertes (sobre todo los femeninos, lo cual me encanta ya que la autora logra mujeres independientes en una época en que era difícil ser mujer en general), una historia interesante donde no hay buenos ni malos, solo personas, donde vemos la historia típica del cowboy pero sin los típicos clichés, en donde no se puede dejar de leer hasta el final. Incluso me atrevería a decir que este libro supera a su predecesor. En serio espero que esta historia reciba el reconocimiento que merece, ya que (a mi juicio) estaba bien formada, desde el contexto historico hasta los personajes, pasando por la trama. No voy a profundizar mucho en la historia en sí para no hacer spoiler, pero recomiendo enormemente este libro, vale la pena dedicarle tiempo a esta increíble historia.

This book was AMAZING! From the very beginning, I was sucked into Bowman's wild west and she had me nervous and wary and excited throughout the entire book. I didn't want to put it down at all. It was beautifully and authentically written! I loved the main characters, Charlotte and Reece, and how they both developed throughout the novel, going from disliking each other to a slow friendship. They were amazing and grew so much! If you loved VENGEANCE ROAD, this book will not disappoint!

This book was superbly written, peaked my interest from the very first page. And can we just take a moment to appreciate the cover art and the map design?

Here's why you need to read this book as soon as it comes out on the 7th of November: 
1. It's a YA western (somewhat historical) fiction novel. 
2. The world Bowman's created and drafted is spectacular and very easy to create the main idea by, ( just Google Arizona 1887 )
3. It's a companion novel to Vengeance Road and is set in the same world as VR is.
4. It's action packed, nail-bitingly thrilling and immensely addictive! 
5. The characters are probably one of the most humane ones I've ever read about.

The constantly switching between narrators is refreshing and does not bore easily. The dialogue is sparkling and mostly uplifting. The other characters, well most of them that are, are brute and cruel, this interesting facet makes the others appear even kinder.

The ending of this book was mind-blowing; it was everything I could've hoped for and even more. It was thrilling, exciting and soothing.

It's an easy and quick read and stays long on your mind after you've finished it.

There's little to no romance in this YA book, which is refreshing and makes it easier for the both the characters and the reader to solemnly focus on the mission. 

RR's plot reminded me of the film/ true story The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. 
Retribution Rails is a must read for anyone who loves a good stand-alone, Vengeance Road, a Western or just a good book in general.