Bold Journey is a fast-moving, clearly told tale that at once grips the reader's imagination and holds it.

Each chapter has its own descriptive title, and each one builds to an impressive climax regarding the episode involved. Bohner's metaphors and similes are not only appropriate to the teller of the tale or to the other characters in it, they help to develop the personality of the characters. They usually carry with them a homey kind of wit and colorfulness, as when Hugh describes Captain Lewis becoming angry and upset at the slow progress the expedition was making: "He was like a corked kettle with the fire blazing and the steam rising." Or when Drewyer and another man are trying to discover some tracks, they "trudged ahead like oxen pulling a plow, searching the ground for a trail."

Touches of humor enliven the text, too: it is...