Daniel Burton's Reviews > City of the Saints

If there were a genre for a book that includes the Old West, an alternate American history, a rebel Mormon kingdom, a slave-free Confederacy, more than a bit of steam punk, fantasy, and an all star cast of historical-larger-than-life-and-truth-is-stranger-than-fiction characters, I don't know what it would be called, but City of the Saints by D.J. Butler has invented it.

And did I mention that it was explosive, fast, and action packed?

On the eve of the American Civil War, the Kingdom of Deseret is the destination for for diplomats, spies, and explorers, Pinkertons, criminals, and mountain men as agents of Queen Victoria, the United States, the Confederacy, and Mexico converge on Salt Lake City. War is imminent, and each is seeking an edge.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I opened City of the Saints. I met Dave Butler at Salt Lake Comic Con in 2013, and then ran into him again at Life, the Universe, and Everything (LTUE)earlier this year. The first time I met Butler, he had been on a panel discussing themes in Lord of the Rings. Then, at LTUE he started off a panel on folklore in modern fiction by informing the other panelists that he was in the mood for a good debate...which it was.

I couldn't help but like Butler's style, and I opened his book that night, not sure what to expect, but with promises from Butler that I would enjoy it.

And Butler did not oversell. From the first pages, City of the Saints is fast paced, with a swirling and full cast of colorful action figures. Pulling a whose who of the mid-nineteenth into the ranks of his characters, Butler cleverly saves himself time in character development by leveraging the very real lives of some of the most vibrant characters of the time. From Captain Richard Burton to Edgar Alan Poe, Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) to Porter Rockwell, Butler weaves in nods to American history, western lore, and Mormon heroes, villains and misfits, including Eliza R. Snow, John D. Lee, Brigham Young, and John Moses Browning, whose guns are among the most famous, even today.

This isn't to say that Butler doesn't develop his characters. In fact, Butler does very well building a large cast, multiple protagonists, streaming the plot lines together, and building on the relationships each has with others. For any novelist, its a feat. For a first time novelist, it's most impressive.

And despite the setting in the early Mormon west, this is not a "Mormon" book. Quite the contrary. Featuring swearing Irish, mad scientists, and an almost endless supply of thuggish Pinkertons, it's a mix that defies a simple description, niche, or market, but is well-written, engaging, and, surprisingly, self-published.

Yeah, I know. Self-published. I don't get it. Well written, a romp to read, and thoroughly and carefully conceived: I guarantee I'll be reading another Butler book soon.