Louis L'AmourLast of the Breed

I'm a big fan of the late great author Louis L'Amour. I've read 7 of his westerns almost all 5 stars, The Haunted Mesa his only sci fi 5 stars and the Walking Drum another great novel 5 stars. Louis L'Amour was one of America's great authors. His Last of the Breed was spectacular... 5 stars.Louis L'Amour was great with character development and scenery description. The plot is great and is action packed. The book is a page burner...I read it in 1 1/2 day...371 pages. There were no boring parts and the reader wants to read on.Our hero is a US Air Force Major/ super test pilot Joe Mack. He can fly anything. Joe was university educated, an officer and a gentleman but also a skilled Sioux warrior. He is an expert living off the land and highly trained with survival skills. An ambitious Russian Colonel Zamatev planned to have Joe Mack crash in Siberia, capture and torture him to get all the top secret information as well as several other people from different countries. Learn what they can from them via torture and eliminate them. Really evil people.I won't ruin the story for you. Joe is an almost Decathlon Olympic athlete and escapes and pole vaults over a 10 ft razor wire prison fence and escapes into the wooded Siberia in minus 50 degrees below zero weather. We see him making friends with a beautiful women and other poor people of the forest. Joe is trying to make it across the Bering Strait from Siberia just like his ancestors did thousands of years ago. He is hunted by an evil expert tracker/killer Alekhin, the evil Colonel, other officers, the KGB and it seems half of the Russian military. Non stop super action with great survival skills shown and beautiful descriptive scenery.The ending is great but INMO was only 1/2 an ending. INMO Louis L'Amour left himself open for a continuation of the book. I would of bought it immediately. Unfortunately L'Amour has passed away and we won't see the sequel as his wife and kids would of already submitted any continuance to Bantam for publication.L'Amour is mainly known as a world class western writer but was much more. This Last of the Breed shows he was great as an action adventure non western writer too. Also Haunted Mesa shows he could of been a great sci fi writer too if he wanted to. All in all a great total author. The Last of the Breed a great book, highly recommended 5 stars.

Never a dull moment. From beginning to end, it kept me interested and involved. This is my second read of this book and I had forgotten how great it is.

Classic Louis Lamour.

Plot: An American test pilot, Major Joe Mack, a half Sioux half Scottish man is shot down by Russians and taken prisoner to a camp in Siberia. There the ambitious Colonel Zamatev plans to break and interrogate the Major in order to further his experimental espionage operation. Mack's only option? To execute a daring escape in the dead of winter with only the clothes on his back. But where will he go? Stuck in the middle of Siberia during the Cold War, with no one from the Air Force aware of his being alive or a prisoner his only option will be to retrace the trek of his ancestors and cross the Bering Straight in order to get home to America.My thoughts: This is a fantastical tall tale, it's hard to believe how much it engrossed me. Was is because it was my first taste of survival fiction? Maybe it was just a good story. I was reading it not for entertainment value but not specifically to learn from it and yet I was entertained and picked up a couple of things (to be verified). Here are somethings that rocked my boat:Every character, even Joe, had great love for the land but little regard for governments.There is great contempt for the bureaucracy. It's incompetence and apathy is reflected when Alekhin, the Yakut hunting the American, is hampered over and over by the governmental machine, "everything comes second to paperwork these days" he meditates.Alekhin's character can be summed with this quote "He liked none of them, but he preferred to work with Zamatev. The man was cruel, ice hard, and ruthless. Alekhin did not like him, either, and it would be only what he deserved if the American turned around and went back to find and kill him.".Of the four qualities a Sioux warrior must posses Mack knows himself brave and with fortitude but what about generosity and wisdom? Does he posses these? Can he survive without them? I like introspection, I think it's a powerful thing to know one's own strengths and weaknesses. And having a clear outlook of the challenges we may face is intrinsically tied to our ability to survive and prepare to face them.The knowledge and skills Mack honed as a half Sioux in the Idaho wilderness and the training he received as an Air Force officer greatly aided him and somewhat prepared him for what he had to face in Siberia.I think having a strong mind and heart guided by a well trained moral compass can make a ordinary person into an extraordinary survivor. I enjoyed Major Mack's indomitable wild spirit. His determination to live or die free, his mental readiness to evaluate and adapt to his circumstances, and his well founded faith on his chosen course are uplifting.In closing survival and preparedness are not about any one thing but a combination and balance of many things. I think knowing who we are, what we're rooted in and what we can do are thoughts worth exploring on this quest we're on. I find that prepping and acquiring survival skills help cultivate many fine qualities and there's a lot more good lessons that can be taken from Mack's story. Last Of The Breed was an enjoyable read though there was a degree of repetitiveness, triteness and stereotypes I'm not fond of. All in all, I think this is a good read.On Prepping and Surviving:Staring into a fire messes up your night vision.Learn to make a bow and arrows, also a sling.There is no replacement for a good knife.Always scout an alternate way out.Game trails and wildlife can sometimes show you the way out of a tough spot.Words of Wisdom:"There are good men everywhere.""Trust is often based on very little more than one's measure of a man.""When I die, remember that what you knew of me is with you always.""Possessions can rob one of freedom just as much as the bars of a cage."

What a wonderful & gifted story-teller, Louis L'Amour has been for those who knew him, some only knowing him through his books. Louis brings his books alive, at least for me, & especially this one.My original copy 'Last of the Breed' I purchased for my husband ~ 30 years ago. While he was reading other books, I decided to read this one. This isn't a read it & get back to it months later kind of novel. I've read this book 20 + times. Every time I read it, I learn something new.Joe Mack, has been wronged & he will fight with everything he knows. In order to survive he needs to remember his roots, lessons he learned from his grand-father. I've been by Joe's side, & felt cold when he did.Read along & guaranteed, you will love this novel too.'My original copy' has become marked with so many sticky notes, been hi-lited (thank goodness for assorted colours that don't seep through pages), etc . . . Oh yes, & dog-eared pages, etc. . . . It's time to buy a new one.

Great book, it should be a movie - would be superb.I wonder who would star in it?Jason Momoa maybe?

I tried my best to read a novel but couldn't ....i couldnt ever complete even half of it ....then i tried this book as it was acc. To my genre....and believe me it is worth a try.....you will never regret it ...i feel seriously glad that this was my first novel ....

Great writing by a great author.

Fantastic descriptive writing. You can see in your mind the landscapes that Joe Mack travels through. I would recall this book to anyone who enjoys a Western with a difference.