A Touch of the Classic Western - Reviewing Mage Leader's "And Hell Followed With Him"

Rev. Elijah Sheffield's struggles in the small Montana town of Pearson's Hope are both familiar in their feel, and competent in their execution.

Dec 26, 2024

In the mountains, hills, and valleys of the Montana upland, a circuit preacher travels from town to town in service of the many flocks in his parish. An aging but kindly fellow, Reverend Elijah Sheffield is en route to the next stop along his path, the small farming community of Pearson’s Hope, when he comes across one of her citizens being waylaid by a small group of bandits. Forced into a situation where he must gun down these men to save the life of the young man he steps in to protect, Rev. Sheffield discovers that Pearson’s Hope has changed in the time he’s been away, and not for the better.

Struggling and scared, the townsfolk live under the threat of a sizable gang led by former Confederate Isaac Calhoun, a man with whom Sheffield has a great deal of history. To make matters worse, a new law passed by the mayor dictates that there are to be no firearms within the town’s limits, leaving the town effectively defenseless against the threat of Calhoun and his men. These are the odds which stand against the good Reverend as he aims to both protect his flock and settle with this specter from his past.

Upon reading the above paragraphs, if you were stricken with a sense of intriguing familiarity, then you are not alone. And Hell Followed With Him, the first novel by author and YouTube creator Mage Leader, very deliberately carries that sense of familiarity all throughout its text. From the opening sentence to the final paragraph, fans of Western television and films will find themselves reminded of the likes of Clint Eastwood’s Pale Rider or, to a lesser extent, High Plains Drifter. At the same time, shows like “Bonanza” and classic radio serials also come to mind when reading this story.

All of this is to say that if you’re on the lookout for something new and fresh within the genre, you’re not likely to find it here. Mage Leader’s story walks on well worn trails, paths that Western fans have seen trod many times before. Be mindful, though, dear readers. This may sound like I’m giving criticism to his story for this when, in reality, it’s anything but. And Hell Followed With Him may not do anything to shake up our expectations within the genre, but that’s because it doesn’t need to. This is his first book, after all, and as such the author put his focus in what I personally believe was the correct place: competent storytelling.

This is where And Hell Follows With Him shines. By focusing on the competency of his writing, Mage Leader puts the concepts and tropes of the genre he’s chosen to utilize in the best possible light that he can. What this results in is a story that is admittedly simple, straightforward, and predictable in many ways to people like myself who are familiar with Westerns. However, predictability and simplicity aren’t drawbacks in this case - not major ones, at any rate - because of the genuine effort the author puts in to present this story as a love letter to the genre. Mage Leader adores his Westerns, and it shows in his writing.

Let’s get a bit more specific with it, though. What exactly is it about this story that works well? First and foremost is the atmosphere of the setting themselves. Pearson’s Hope and its surroundings feel like characters unto itself. The township reads just like the sort of out-of-the-way community you’d find in not just Western stories of a town or village put under the thumb of an oppressor, but any classic tale of that kind. The trappings may make it more The Magnificent Seven than The Seven Samurai, but that same spirit is shared between them all.

Similarly is the location of Dead Horse Point, a clifftop plateau where Calhoun and his men have made their camp. This location gives off a cold, claustrophobic feel, with steep cliffs on one side and sheer drops on the other. The wind and snow that whip through it further this feeling, and it helps to add to the sense of dread and danger for our true introduction to Isaac Calhoun. Indeed, if there’s any one thing Mage Leader does well within his story, it’s building a gripping sense of atmosphere.

Atmosphere alone does not a story make, though. One also requires a plot and characters to follow. As noted earlier, And Hell Followed With Him doesn’t do anything particularly unexpected with its plot. If you’ve seen Clint Eastwood’s later Westerns, especially The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pale Rider, you’ll quickly recognize elements of their plots within this story. That being said, it’s important to stress that recognition of these elements did not lead to the always unwelcome reminder that you could be reading or watching a similar story that’s better. Instead, again as mentioned earlier, this element feels more like a love letter to the genre.

That leaves us with the characters of the story. How does our cast fare? Decently well, I’d say, though this is one area in which I do feel the story could’ve been improved. Rev. Sheffield works well as our central protagonist. Charming and likable, he’s written in such a way that he carries a sense of both intellect and gravitas that makes him magnetic not just to the characters in the story, but myself as the reader. Investment into his story was easy for me to build as well, and that’s because the facts about the past he tried to leave behind are handled with tact and careful pacing. We don’t get all the information dumped at once with Sheffield, which left me wanting to witness more of his exploits, past and present.

Interestingly, one way in which Sheffield stood out to me was in regard to what he didn’t feel like. I’ve mentioned numerous times already that And Hell Followed With Him carries its sense of familiarity very deliberately. The influence of numerous Westerns, but most powerfully those of Clint Eastwood, are very apparent here. Given that’s the case, one would expect that Sheffield would read like one of Eastwood’s stoic protagonists. In fact, as a huge fan of Pale Rider myself - I did recently state that it’s my favorite Eastwood Western, after all - it quickly became my expectation that Sheffield would come across much like Preacher does. I’m happy to say I was very wrong in that estimation. Sheffield does have some sense of mystery to him, and a touch of stoicism as well, but the main thing he exudes is a kindly, patient charm. He’s a Reverend after all, a man of and for his people, and it shows in his character. He is, first and foremost, a man of hope and faith.

On the other side of the equation we have Isaac Calhoun, the former Confederate turned brigand and gang leader. Calhoun is set up as the story’s primary villain almost from the outset, so it’s of little surprise to discover that he acts the foil to Sheffield’s good nature. However, much like with Sheffield, there’s more to Calhoun than meets the eye. He’s confident and ruthlessly calculating on the surface, and it doesn’t take long to see that there’s more to be found beneath that sinister exterior. Don’t take this to mean that we’re being given the relatable villain trope, though. Instead, as we begin to see the facts of what made Calhoun what he is laid before us, the story makes it quite clear that these realities don’t absolve him of the wrongs he’s done. In this manner, he’s simultaneously Sheffield’s mirror, and the man most similar to him in this story. Indeed, I must say that for as little page time as Calhoun actually gets in the story, Mage Leader did a very good job of efficiently using that time to make him compelling.

Unfortunately, the same doesn’t hold as true for the rest of the cast. And Hell Followed With Him has a decent sized cast of named characters within it. Sheriff Welles, shopkeeper Sam Carson, and mother and daughter Mary and Catherine Thibadeau are but a segment of the named cast we meet in the first two chapters. Across the book we meet a decent number of named folks, including some of Calhoun’s men. In almost all cases, these are tertiary characters within the story whose purpose is to build up our sense of Sheffield’s familiarity with the citizens of Pearson’s Hope. It’s a sensible approach to take. As the town’s Reverend, Sheffield would know the names and faces of most folks within his parish. In this regard, I take no issue with presenting a multitude of character names, as it has a direct purpose and value to the story.

Where things started to fall short for me was with the secondary characters, people like Sam Carson and the Thibadeaus. Before I say anything else, I want to be perfectly clear here: I don’t think characters like Welles, Carson, the Thibadeaus, or later inclusions such as the Mayor, Robert, or Jed are bad characters. They have their roles and they work well within those roles. Sticking with the first three examples, Sam Carson fits nicely into the role of the kindly old shop keep; Mary Thibadeau works as the tougher-than-expected community matriarch; and Catherine is the young woman who endured a tragic loss and seeks to find her peace with it.

These are the archetypes this trio fit most neatly into and, ultimately, that’s all they ever end up being. With some minor exceptions, such as Sheriff Welles, the secondary cast fills their roles within the story well, but has a lack of depth to them which does hinder investment during the story’s climactic engagements. When tertiary characters are injured or die, that’s to be expected. There’s a degree of expectation to secondary characters with that, too, but the hope is that if such a thing does happen with the secondary characters, it will carry greater weight.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that was the case for me. The secondary characters stuck too true to their archetypes for me to have the level of investment needed to feel a significant impact when the unexpected and/or unwanted happens to them. Again, this doesn’t make them bad characters. They are fun to read and I did enjoy their presence in the story. It does make them shallow, though, and that’s a bit of a shame since it slightly cheapens the very well paced and written action sequences in the later half of the book.

Speaking of things which didn’t work for me, there is an elephant in the room which I need to address. In my summary at the start of this review, I mentioned that one of the major struggles the people of Pearson’s Hope are forced to contend with is the fact that a new law passed by their mayor has forced them to surrender their firearms to Sheriff Welles while they’re within the town limits, classic problem to pit characters against within the genre. However, this problem for the characters also results in a problem within the story itself, and that’s an issue of messaging.

Look, I take no umbrage with authors wanting to weave messaging into their stories. If anything, I welcome it, so long as it’s handled well. For the overwhelming majority of his book, Mage Leader spends his time presenting us with a recognizable but engaging story first and foremost. However, when the subject of the mayor’s no guns policy comes into play, those scales begin to tip in the other direction and it’s very noticeable. For example, below is a dialogue excerpt between Rev. Sheffield and Sheriff Welles from the second page of chapter 2:

“A simple matter of security,” said Welles, collecting the pistols and setting them aside. “The whole country would be a safer place if it learned from our example. One day, Reverend, you won’t be able to find a gun anywhere in this nation and murderous rampages will be a distant memory.”
“I suspect finding one wouldn’t be as hard as all that,” Sheffield replied. He waved a hand in the direction of the sheriff’s hip. “After all, you still carry one.”
“The Law must always be armed,” said Welles. “But some day we’ll be the only ones who are, and when that day comes I think you’ll find the world to be a safer place. Nobody will need to carry their own repeater when the criminals live in total fear of the lawmen and the lawmen have no need to fear their own neighbors.”
“Some would say that the lawmen should fear their neighbors,” said Sheffield. “Helps to keep them honest.”

Permit me to begin with something positive - I find the dialogue here to be quite well written, and it’s indicative of the sort of banter Mage Leader presents throughout his book. You can feel the influence of Western films in his writing, and that makes it a great deal of fun to read. However, the method in which the message regarding the Second Amendment debate is presented is, frankly, quite blunt. Blunt enough that when passages like this came up, they threatened to pull me from the story because it started to feel less like I was reading the dialogue between two characters, and more like they were being used as mouthpieces to make a point.

I don’t know Mage Leader well. I’ve had the opportunity to briefly speak with him a couple times while I was reading his book, but I’ve never spoken to him on subjects of politics, religion, or current events. (Appropriately, we mainly spent our time talking Westerns and books.) Even so, after reading the couple passages like this that I found within his book, there’s a part of me that feels like I know his stance without ever having asked it.

The subjects of gun ownership and the right to self defense are commonly explored in the Western genre, so the issue isn’t one of these ideas feeling out of place. Quite the opposite, they fit right in for a story like this. It’s also not an issue with me agreeing or disagreeing with the point being made. Whether I agree with a message or not makes no difference when it’s the lack of tact involved that makes for the unwelcome distraction. I don’t know whether Mage Leader intended for this and the couple of future passages on the matter to read in this way. Based on most of his other dialogue, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and say no, this probably wasn’t intentional. However, the bluntness of that pro-2A message is present whether it was intended or not, and I’d be remiss to overlook that. Doubly so since the issue appears so early in the story, I could see it potentially turning off some readers before they properly get stuck-in to this largely enjoyable tale.

While this issue is an elephant, it’s at least a small one. A baby, if you would. It did demand my attention, but not for so long that I wasn’t able to swiftly get right back into the story once I’d moved past those couple problem sections. (Anyone who knows anything about how baby elephants really behave knows that this is actually a terrible analogy.) Ultimately, Mage Leader’s And Hell Followed With Him is a compelling entry into the genre that shows just how much the author loves his Westerns. With fantastic pacing, rich atmosphere, and a compelling protagonist and antagonist, there’s plenty here for new and old fans of the Western to enjoy. It may play a bit safe, but its solid storytelling more than makes up for that.

If you’re looking for a new Western to sink your teeth into, you could do a lot worse for a lot more money. Hop on over to Amazon and pick up a paperback copy for yourself.

My first novella, In the Giant’s Shadow, is available for purchase! Lured to the sleepy farming community of Jötungatt by a mysterious white raven, Gaiur the Valdunite soon finds herself caught in a strange conspiracy of ritual murder and very real nightmares.

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