{"id":30,"date":"2019-07-07T15:32:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T19:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samiamreadingandreviewing.wordpress.com\/?p=30"},"modified":"2025-06-24T21:06:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T21:06:15","slug":"a-longmire-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/?p=30","title":{"rendered":"A Long(mire) Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Title: Hell Is Empty<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Craig Johnson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never expected to be so captivated by the Longmire series; I watched TV series on Netflix and decided to pick up the books. If you\u2019re still watching the show, don\u2019t worry about spoilers – just about the only thing the novels and film have in common are the characters\u2019 names. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to being captivated: the first book moved so slowly that I really debated about not picking up the second. But, some part of it appealed to me, and I am SO glad that I did. Hell Is Empty is the seventh book in the series, and things only get wilder and crazier here.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson takes a slightly different turn with this book as it\u2019s mainly Walt being introspective while chasing a fugitive up a mountain (the same mountain where he froze part of his ear while rescuing Henry). Other books usually have Walt interacting significantly with other characters, so this was a change of pace. However, Johnson brings back some visitors we\u2019ve met in previous books, such as Virgil White Buffalo, the nomadic Indian, and the Old Cheyenne. So, how is this book interesting, given that Walt is going up a mountain by himself? He encounters his fair share of obstacles, including a serial killer Indian, fires, the cold, and himself. This may be the most challenging book in the series yet, and we\u2019ll get to Why after a couple of points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought again about the spirits that I\u2019d encountered in the mountains more than a year ago and the resonance they\u2019d placed in my life, even though I still refused to believe that they existed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old Cheyenne<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This wouldn\u2019t be a worthy blog post if I didn\u2019t get excited about the return of the Old Cheyenne (Walt\u2019s nickname for the Spirits – many people call them many things throughout this book)! We haven\u2019t really heard much about them since book 1 – there might have been a whispering in books two and three, but until now they haven\u2019t been prominently featured. This book reminds us of their presence, and also alerts us to why we haven\u2019t heard about them – it seems that Walt is doubting whether he experienced them when he rescued Henry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it\u2019s because of the serial killer who speaks to the spirits (Shade), Virgil White Buffalo, the mountain, or the fact that Walt is once again suffering through the cold climb for a worthy cause, the spirits are out in full force, playing a part in his survival (many times over). In the first book, they did assist in his climb down the mountain, and were really present in the antique rifle that was the key to solving the mystery. Their presence again now can’t be a coincidence. Even Virgil White Buffalo tells Walt that since he started living on the mountain, they\u2019ve started speaking with him as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere might have been stranger places I\u2019ve woken up than Virgil White Buffalo\u2019s cave in the Big Horns, but I can\u2019t remember where they might have been.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virgil White Buffalo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virgil White Buffalo is an enigma. In a previous book, he was locked in Walt\u2019s jail for several days as a suspect. During his stay, he ate the jail out of house and home, played a lot of chess, and gained a (mutual) respect for Walt. He comes and goes as he pleases and leads a generally nomadic existence. In this book, he joins Walt for his trek up the mountain and serves as his guide, confidant, and protector – he tells Walt that the spirits said to watch over him. He serves an additional purpose of reminding Walt about the spirits (coincidentally [?] just as Walt is beginning to doubt them).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walt, it seems, and understandably so, becomes more delusional as he climbs up the mountain. He sees Virgil disappear, then reappear; die, then live; fall, and then get up again; and Virgil gives him the weapon that finally allows Walt to beat Shade at the top of the mountain. Walt has rambling conversations with Virgil, covering anything from Dante\u2019s Inferno, to the Spirits, to Virgil\u2019s grandmother beckoning him home to be with the spirits. Even though he enters halfway through, Virgil ends up playing quite a large role in this novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c…I was sure that Virgil had been killed, but it seemed as if he was just as certain that I had died, and numerous times.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember I said this book was the most challenging? Well, towards the end, Walt sees Virgil shot twice, and then later lying dead in the snow. Closer to the end, Virgil brings Walt the weapon that saves his life. Askance at seeing Virgin alive and well, Walt insists that he\u2019s dead – while Virgil insists that Walt is dead and had been raised by the spirits four times (after four different deaths). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virgil poses to Walt that one of them is<\/em> actually dead and has been sent by the Spirits to protect and guide the other to the \u201cSky-Country\u201d (afterlife). If that\u2019s not difficult enough to follow and understand for the average reader, we learn later in the book that Walt is the one still alive – so we have to infer that Virgil is the spirit. However, before he loses consciousness, Walt watches Virgil say \u201cit was fun being big\u201d and transform into a small boy. The last words on Walt\u2019s lips are \u201cOwen\u201d (if I didn\u2019t cover that before, Owen is Virgil\u2019s grandson who was Shade\u2019s first victim. Shade has been carrying Owen\u2019s remains up the mountain).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this leaves a huge question: Where is Virgil? Is he really dead? Or was the spirit of Owen masquerading as Virgil because he was someone Walt knew and trusted? I am full<\/em> of questions after reading this novel, especially since Walt spent half of it conversing with someone who may or may not be a spirit. I\u2019m fine with it either way, but the mystery of it and its implications are really thought-provoking.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give the book a read for yourself and let me know your conclusion!
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: Hell Is Empty Author: Craig Johnson I never expected to be so captivated by the Longmire series; I watched TV series on Netflix and decided to pick up the books. If you\u2019re still watching the show, don\u2019t worry about spoilers – just about the only thing the novels and film have in common areContinue reading “A Long(mire) Post”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[14,52,90,146,237,287,288,446,447,449],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-absaroka","tag-book-review","tag-craig-johnson","tag-hell-is-empty","tag-longmire","tag-mystery","tag-mystery-novel","tag-walt-longmire","tag-walter","tag-western","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":694,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samiamreading.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}