A terrific and moving novel. Dark (as so many of his books are) but with humanity, compassion and warmth too, this story has everything about life carried within it. Moving and profound.

An unforgettable story. It's beautiful all through, but the closing chapters are just astonishing, transcendent and hope-filled and life-affirming.

All the Pretty Horses is another wonderful evocative read from this gifted author. His book The Road lived with me for months after reading it, passages kept coming back into my head with their inspiring descriptive prose, And so it is with this work.
This is a story of loss, revenge, love and friendship. Surviving life with courage and resilience, atmospheric and evocative of the times and hardships, set in the 1950’s it is at times hard hitting, tense but also at times amusing and romantic.
I have no way the means to describe this book with the gift Mr McCarthy is endowed with, all can say is to me it is another masterpiece.
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

Cormac McCarthy is a great writer and I'm always fascinated by his books, atmospheres, and characters.
This is a sort of picaresque story, cruel and funny at the same time.
The author is a master storyteller and this is an excellent story.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A story of contrasts, set in a world where the present is being overtaken by the future. Spine tinglingly good, so good I read it twice.

This might not reach the blood and horrors of Blood Meridian, but this still contains Cormac McCarthy's trademark blood and violence. Published in the early 1990s, it is the first in the border trilogy, a post-WW2 setting in 1949-1950, an epic bleak, philosophical and melancholic coming of age story, located in Texas and Mexico, a western depicting a dying era. Beautifully written, it centres on 16 year old John Grady Cole, gifted in his ability to connect with horses, who upon his grandfather's death, is forced to leave the ranch that is to be sold. Making the decision to ride to Mexico, he is accompanied by his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, on the challenging idyllic, yet dangerous journey and adventure, hoping to secure work on a ranch. A young boy claiming to be older than he is, Jimmy Blevins, unlikely to be his real name, with an expensive horse joins them, destined to bring them trouble.

Becoming ranch hands in Mexico, Cole falls deeply in love with the rancher's daughter, Alejandra, a doomed love affair. This is an enthralling, evocative, vibrant and captivating read that makes an emotional impact, with its skilful changes of pace and layers of meaning, pain and horrors, and the hostile beauty of the landscape. McCarthy's sharp, complex and astute characterisations are the means through which he explores fundamental issues of what it is to be human, life and death, and the grim harshness of actual realities against which dreams, ideals and love founder. There is the inherent darkness, the repercussions of decisions made, romance, the magical connection between man and nature, in this case, the horses, friendship, loyalty, courage, resilience, love and loss. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher.

am A Big Fan of McCarthy. I say that right at the start mainly to remind myself to be as unbiased as possible. That doesn't change the plain fact that 'All the Pretty Horses' - the first part of a trilogy - is one of the best novels ever written. The characters are intriguing, the narrative is compelling and often (especially towards the end) petulantly unperturbed whether you're following or not. McCarthy's use of dialogue is lyrical, effective because of the almost scientific cadence. On top of that, the plot and the atmosphere is handled with the deliberate effect of ramping up the tension. BUT, this is not a novel for the soft-hearted, and it's not an easy novel to read, both in terms of style and content - none of McCarthy's novels are that. The narrative style begs to be commented on, it dares readers to criticise. Don't expect an easy ride on these pretty horses, but that's all about the utter control and the brass-neck of McCarthy, and I love that. Very highly recommended.