Captured By Cowboy Cougars

There are books that are meant to stand by their own, there are books that are meant to be part of a series, and there are books that are meant to introduce a series. This book lies in the first category, but, boy, how do I wish it was in the last one.

Captured By Cowboy Cougars by H. A. Kirsch revolves about the relationship between Jacob, a human escaping from his old life, and Dwayne and Zeke, the eponymous Cowboy Cougars who capture Jacob to sell him into slavery. Will Jacob cooperate with his captors, or will he try to escape and continue his journey to the vaunted west coast?

I'll start this review with the two things I most like. First is the worldbuilding. The story takes place in a country clearly divided between “the old world” (where humans reside) and the wasteland (where anthropomorphic animals and other creatures dwell). Whatever caused this divide is not known, but a few events during the ending hint at what might have caused this situation. Second is the character building. Jacob, a man on the run from the mafia and the police after getting them to kill his brother; Dwayne, a former medic and the good cop to Zeke's bad cop; and Zeke, the crazy member of the duo who is also smarter than what he seems at first glance. They make a good trio, and I won't deny that what got me vested in the story was Dwayne and Zeke's dynamic as they complement each other very well, not only in their interactions and attitudes with each other but also in the way they treated the main character.

All of this together should lead to a good story, but the issue is that there's barely any story at all. Dwayne and Zeke capture Jacob and, after what seems to only be a couple of days later (tops), they arrive at Red Rock City and the story ends. When talking about events, you could barely count one or two before the ending and there's not much in character development either. If this was the first part of a series, it would be understandable as it'd just be set up for further events, and on that front, it works very well. The way the ending plays out, not to mention the backstories of all the characters, could easily lend to a sequel or a prequel; and even if these didn't happen, I think a spin-off in the same universe would be more than welcome. However, this does not seem to be the case...

All in all, as an introduction to this world and characters, I feel that Captured By Cowboy Cougars did a great job. But as a stand-alone book, I find it to be more than a little lacking.