Zane Grey Combo #2: Riders of the Purple Sage/The Lone Star Ranger/The Mysterious Rider

by Zane Grey

Three novels in one book RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE THE LONE STAR RANGER THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER Three books for one low price in one excellent volume This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1492113751
• ISBN13: 9781492113751
• Release Date: August 2013
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 540 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Two of His Best, Plus One

What can one say about "Riders of the Purple Sage"? For as long as man has dreamed of the west, he has written about it or sought it out for himself. Yes, James Fennimore Cooper wrote about the "west". There were the Dime Novels and the Penny Dreadfuls of the 1800's written by such as Ned Buntline. Then an Eastener named Owen Wister created a character called "The Virginian" and Zane Grey had already written "Heritage of the Desert" but "Riders of the Purple Sage" would immortalize both the author and the genre of "westerns". From then on every "western" would be compared to this one. The ironic part is: Zane Grey never considered them to be "westerns"; they were romances, romantic adventures, romantic novels. And to be totally accurate, the word, "western" did not exist at the time this book was written; it did not come into use until 1927 at the earliest, so to insist Zane Grey was a "western" writer is suspect, at best. But "Riders of the Purple Sage" has everything a person has come to know and understand that belongs in a story of the west--the taciturn gunfighter; the woman in distress fighting a losing battle; great scenery; fast horses; and evil men. Yet "Riders" is more than that. It has sub-plots upon sub-plots that keep the reader wondering what is going to happen next, and this book "fills the bill". And, what most people don't know or realize today, Zane Grey wrote quite often from a woman's viewpoint, and does so in this book. At the time of ZG's greatest popularity more than half of his readership were women, and he was published in such magazines as, Cosmopolitan, Colliers, and Ladies Home Journal. If you have never read a "western" I whole-heartedly urge you to try this one. The Lone Star Ranger: What has traditionally been one of the best selling of Zane Grey's novels, and considered by some to be one of his best, I find far inferior to the two novels from which this book was created by the editors at Harper Brothers. The two novels, Last of the Duanes and Rangers of the Lone Star stand far above this book. There are too many missing events and characters in this version. The female love interest is completely missing in Part Two of the book and there are many other unanswered questions created by the melding of these two works. But, if one is to have a complete set of Zane Grey, then this book is collectable and readable; but NOT one of his best. It is however far superior to anything being published today. I'd say this book is average, or little below average. The Mysterious Rider perhaps would have been better titled, Beauty and the Beast, and I am not in any way being disparaging. Zane Grey used the same type of plot lines for many of his books, and then added an extra character to bring the book to its logical conclusion. A young girl, the adopted daughter of a wealthy rancher, is forced to marry the rancher's no-good, drunk of a son, while the young girl loves another cowboy as different from the son as could possibly be--a similar scenario is found in Heritage of the Desert. But here a "mysterious stranger" is on the scene to make things right. And we can all guess who this "mysterious stranger" is, can't we? If you can't guess, I'm not going to tell you and ruin the book. Still, having said that, this book is a good Zane Grey romance told as only the master of historical romance could tell it, and worth reading--even more than once.