Last of the Breed (Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures): A Novel

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.

I love the detail of the country and the history of the American Indian. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves history and adventure

Last of The Breed is one of Louis L’Amour’s Lost Treasures that had not been published in Louis’ lifetime. It was brought to life by his son, Beau and I thought he did a great job. As a young man I read scores of L’Amour’s old western books and never read one that I did not like. I have been on a western kick lately and jumped at the chance to read “Last of The Breed.” At first, I was confused. Frankly, I thought this was going to be one of his traditional westerns and was surprised that it was not. Nevertheless, I was hooked within minutes and had a difficult time putting it down. I finally finished it about 2 a.m. this morning. This is a tale about an U. S. Airforce test pilot, Major Joseph Makatozi who was also a Sioux Indian who grew up in wilderness. The story begins in Russia where “Joe Mack” finds himself a prisoner somewhere in Siberia captured because of his experience flying top secret airplanes for which his captures wanted to extract information from him. The Antagonist was Colonel Arkady Zamatev, a rising soviet star. Upon the first meeting between the Colonel and Joe Mack, Arkady was annoyed by the extreme calmness of his composed and confident prisoner. Seated in the room was Yakut native, Alekhin, a legendary tracker who was familiar with every square foot of Siberia. No prisoner had ever escape Alekhin. With the help of a fellow prisoner who provided a distraction for the Major, Joe escapes the prison in the night and heads for the wilderness where he makes some friends via his hunting skills. Afraid he would put those people in danger, Mack heads to the deep Siberian Wilderness as he is tracked by numerous soviets, mountain men, and the most skilled Yakut native, Alekhin. Only Alekhin was in the same class as the athletically skilled survivalist, Joseph Makazoti. Both men vowed that only one of them would survive as Joe makes his way through the cold winter Siberian wilderness, quickly regressing into his ancestral native skills, living off the land, killing with bow and arrow he made and wearing self-made clothing from the fur and hide of animals he trapped. The author provided a bird’s eye view of the impossible escape trek and tracked prisoner from beginning to end leaving the reader in awe throughout the spellbinding journey. Enjoy!

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."

Have read this book several times and marvel about the detail and accuracy of the various exploits. It is so easy to loose yourself in the story. Very entertaining tale. It has intrigue, mystery, justice, romance and all around adventure in real locations. Would love to know how L'Amour compiled the material for this story and then constructed such a great story based on real places and real history. Awesome work by a great artist.

This was the first Louis Lamour novel I’ve ever read and wow, am I impressed. My dad read Louis Lamour books and I thought they were all just about the old west and Cowboys and Indians. Having been born in Arizona I was really not interested in reading westerns. But this book was not a Western nor was it just about the old west and Cowboys and Indians. It was about the American Indian from my new perspective. The author does an amazing job of character development, stunning descriptions of locations and a well paced plot. I would recommend reading this book to anyone who loves a good story, good depth, the characters and an introduction into the land of Siberia.

My spouse is part of a reading club. This is an interesting book they picked. Since it is a paperback she carries it with her and reads when waiting or free time. She enjoys it.

Never read one of his westerns, however the non-westerns are great reads

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 ....

This book is incredibly important to educate the reader about the traditions and customs of our First Nations people. Louis L'amour is well known for his exceptional Western novels, which I thoroughly enjoy. His detailed descriptions and thorough coverings of both scenes and characters, totally transport you out of your world and into theirs. This work begins in modern times with an airforce test pilot and then brings you into a more primitive and primal cat and mouse survival experience. The return to his ancestral techniques and knowledge for survival is educational, timeless and riveting.

Louis L'Amour is one of my favourite authors. This book varies from the frequent Cowboy American History novels and is one of the very best action novels I have ever read. It's a long story, so be prepared for al all nighter. I've been reading books all my life but this one really had me hooked. Well written, fantastic knowledge of the setting for the story, looks deeply into what is brave, what is human and what can a human achieve. Stunning and fully recomended.

Louis Lamour is simply the best. My bucket list is to own the complete collection. This book is another example of his prowess.

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.