Westerns are a study in archetypes that are almost entirely unique to American civilization. Horseback walkers with Stetson hats and gleaming weapons at their sides, these Nameless Men sweep like wandering knights, protecting cities from both villains and encroaching civilization.

In “The Legend of Tommy Jo Sanchez,” our hero is not John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, or any of the countless other characters that can be found in the Louis L’Amour canon. TJ Sanchez is a woman, as passionate as her male counterparts are fierce. However, TJ does exactly what these men do: she stands as a symbol representing the spirit of the Old West.

Refusing to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a prostitute, TJ steals a horse and sets off for the historic town of Tombstone, AZ, determined to build her future. It’s a harsh desert, one that’s profoundly inhospitable, even to men, but despite the savage Apache, those who seek her out for revenge, and her own fierce temper, TJ finds a kind of tough family among the leathery cowboys, the players. and prostitutes. She conjures up a plan that will allow him to live life on her own terms, according to her own code of honor. A talented poker dealer, TJ, with the help of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, organizes a high-stakes poker game to lure some high rollers to his table, hoping to win enough to buy his hall, so they she can secure her own future. and take care of the girls who work there too.

This independent sense of justice is not a strange theme in the Western genre. Individual law, whether upheld solely for personal benefit or for altruistic reasons, is the hallmark of an indomitable age, before the spread of progress spread across the arid lands, bringing with it impersonal morality and enforced order. These “knightly” figures are either respected or feared. They live by their own wits and on their own terms. Within them lie the perplexities that is the Old West: noble integrity and unflinching cruelty. TJ Sanchez is all of these things, and he must be to survive. She demands uncompromising respect, even from men who seek to woo her. Fortunately, TJ has the flaws part of her, otherwise she would be intolerable and unlikeable as a character. her erratic temper, her head, her stubbornness, and her tendency to run away whenever there’s a problem, make her absolutely infuriating, but give her layers you can relate to.

A most notable aspect of “The Legend of Tommy Jo Sanchez” is that the play’s villain is also a woman. As much like TJ as day is night, the well-to-do, smartly dressed player from Louisiana is drawn to TJ Sanchez’s high-stakes game, and quickly proves that while she’s TJ’s equal in strength of character, she’s much more ruthless and willing to go to any lengths without rivaling her plumbing to get what she wants. Just as TJ Sanchez stands out among his peers as a spirit of the Wild West, Fannie is a prime example of the intrusive progression across the dusty plain. She is more aggressive, more political in her double game. She is too bright and too new to Tombstone, AZ. She arrives, however, and tries to steal those things that most explicitly typify the Old West.

“The Legend of Tommy Jo Sanchez” creates engaging, genuine, and genre-worthy characters. They rub shoulders with the likes of Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and Clara Barton, in Tombstone, AZ, giving them a sense of history. It’s clear that the author enjoyed doing her research, and the details bring the story to life. By way of criticism, the book could benefit from the editor’s eye for grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors. Still, “The Legend of Tommy Jo Sanchez” is an exciting read in a genre that gets little attention these days. It offers something to satisfy without following all the usual tropes and is therefore truly unique.

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