“An adventure tale that practically bleeds Americana. . . . For fans of Little Big Man, this might be the book you didn’t know you were waiting for.”

“Lock creates a memorable character who sees it all while providing a shimmering eulogy for the loss of one America in order to create another.”

“In one slender book, Norman Lock has made use of all the tools in the historical fiction writer’s arsenal, telling a sweeping story of the American West.”

“American Meteor is a fascinating, prophetic contribution to recent historical fiction, and Lock is plainly an author well worth our attention.”

“American Meteor is at its heart a frontier yarn of adventure and discovery, insight and yearning [for] readers who savor the well-turned phrase and those who demand a little swash with their buckle.”

“Lovely, burnished prose.”

“Like the western sky, American Meteor stretches to the horizon in all directions. . . . A lovely panorama to behold.”

“[American Meteor] is not only a history lesson but also a reading pleasure.”

“Successfully blends beautiful language reminiscent of 19th-century prose with cynicism and bald, ugly truth.”

“Rather like Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man. . . . [Lock] writes beautifully, with many subtle, complex insights.”

“Memorably encompasses grand themes and notions of transcendence without ever losing sight of the grit and moral horrors present in the period.”

“American Meteor is, at its core, a spiritual treatise that forces its readers to examine their own role in history’s unceasing march forward [and] casts new and lyrical light on our nation’s violent past.”

“[American Meteor] feels like a campfire story, an old-fashioned yarn full of rich historical detail about hard-earned lessons and learning to do right.”

“As the railroad spread across the United States, it became part of the mythology of the American West. So too did photographs of the landscapes, documented by a number of renowned photographers. The protagonist of Norman Lock’s American Meteor, a young man seeking his fortune, comes into contact with both of these strands of the West—but where they lead him is anywhere but familiar.”

“For a young country, the United States has had a violent and complicated history, one that is brilliantly brought to life by Norman Lock’s American Meteor. An enthralling coming-of-age story that also follows the tale of Manifest Destiny, American Meteor makes history as interesting as the year’s biggest blockbusters.”

“A tall tale, with a fascinating mix of historical facts and sound teachings. . . . [American Meteor] includes history, fiction, comedy and elegy and challenges the reader to examine the American story and to search for not what is true, but for what is truth.”

“[Walt Whitman] hovers over [American Meteor], just as Mark Twain’s spirit pervaded The Boy in His Winter. . . . Like all Mr. Lock’s books, this is an ambitious work, where ideas crowd together on the page like desperate men on a battlefield.”

“Sheds brilliant light along the meteoric path of American westward expansion. . . . [A] pithy, compact beautifully conducted version of the American Dream, from its portrait of the young wounded soldier in the beginning to its powerful rendering of Crazy Horse’s prophecy for life on earth at the end.”