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popslamdunk's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
loki728's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
_viscosity_'s review against another edition
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
gatun's review against another edition
4.0
Review first posted on Audiobook Reviewer.
Riders of the Purple Sage
Written by: Zane Grey
Narrated by: Ann M. Richardson
Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
Series: Riders of the Purple Sage, Book 1
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:04-18-16
Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press Inc.
Riders of the Purple Sage is a classic western from author Zane Grey. It was published in 1912 and has remained in print and popular to this day. The story is set in 1871 in the Utah territory. There is no separation of church and state. The Mormon church and it’s patriarchal society hold all power.
The main character Jane is very non-traditional for the time period and for Mormon women. She is unmarried in her late twenties. She is also wealthy because of inheriting her father’s estate. She further defies convention by refusing to marry one of the Mormon elders in the area who demand she get in line with church teachings. Worst of all, in the eyes of her Mormon neighbors, is her belief in treating all men, whether Mormon or Gentile (non-Mormon) with equal dignity.
Her property is very valuable since it has a reliable water source. Her horses are also well known and sought after. Elder Tull wants to marry her, her wealth equal in his eyes to her beauty. The local Bishop, Dyer, supports Tull in his attempt to make Jane into a respectable Mormon wife. When Jane does not jump at the chance to become another of Tull’s wives, Tull and Dyer set about forcing her by attacking her Gentile ranch hands. Without her trusted hands, Jane cannot keep the ranch functioning.
As Jane continues to fight for what she feels is right and not what the Mormon men tell her is right, help comes from an unexpected and very dangerous source. Lassiter, a gunman known for his antipathy towards Mormons and accused of killing several Mormon men, arrives at Jane’s ranch. His reputation proceeds him and causes the to resort to even more violence in an attempt to force Jane into marriage.
Lassiter is an anti-hero. He is a man who has willingly killed other men. He has a very open hatred of all things Mormon. Yet he demonstrates more honor than the religious men trying to rob Jane of her independence and wealth. The pairing of a gunslinger and a Mormon woman drive the plot to an unexpected and thrilling conclusion.
I enjoyed the book, the first Zane Grey I have read or listened to. My only disappointment was it took Jane so long to realize that the Elder and Bishop were not motivated by religion but by greed. She was naive. Other than that, all the characters were well rounded.
I had previously listened to the version narrated by Mark Bramhall. I was interested to hear the book narrated by a woman, Ann M. Richardson. Different narrators can bring different tones or emphasis to the same book. I was very interested whether the gender of the narrator would affect the story itself. I found the gender of the narrator in this particular instance did not make a difference. Ms. Richardson did a very fine job of narrating the book. After listening to the same passages read by the two different narrators, I found I enjoyed them both. If this is an edge at all, it goes to Ms. Richardson. Her voice is very pleasant and she handles the range of voices, male/female, very well.
Rating: Story (Plot) 4
Rating: Performance 5
Rating: Production Quality 5
Rating: Attention Holding 4
Rating 4.5
ABR received this audiobook for free from the Publisher, Submitted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the audiobook or the content of our review.
Riders of the Purple Sage
Written by: Zane Grey
Narrated by: Ann M. Richardson
Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
Series: Riders of the Purple Sage, Book 1
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:04-18-16
Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press Inc.
Riders of the Purple Sage is a classic western from author Zane Grey. It was published in 1912 and has remained in print and popular to this day. The story is set in 1871 in the Utah territory. There is no separation of church and state. The Mormon church and it’s patriarchal society hold all power.
The main character Jane is very non-traditional for the time period and for Mormon women. She is unmarried in her late twenties. She is also wealthy because of inheriting her father’s estate. She further defies convention by refusing to marry one of the Mormon elders in the area who demand she get in line with church teachings. Worst of all, in the eyes of her Mormon neighbors, is her belief in treating all men, whether Mormon or Gentile (non-Mormon) with equal dignity.
Her property is very valuable since it has a reliable water source. Her horses are also well known and sought after. Elder Tull wants to marry her, her wealth equal in his eyes to her beauty. The local Bishop, Dyer, supports Tull in his attempt to make Jane into a respectable Mormon wife. When Jane does not jump at the chance to become another of Tull’s wives, Tull and Dyer set about forcing her by attacking her Gentile ranch hands. Without her trusted hands, Jane cannot keep the ranch functioning.
As Jane continues to fight for what she feels is right and not what the Mormon men tell her is right, help comes from an unexpected and very dangerous source. Lassiter, a gunman known for his antipathy towards Mormons and accused of killing several Mormon men, arrives at Jane’s ranch. His reputation proceeds him and causes the to resort to even more violence in an attempt to force Jane into marriage.
Lassiter is an anti-hero. He is a man who has willingly killed other men. He has a very open hatred of all things Mormon. Yet he demonstrates more honor than the religious men trying to rob Jane of her independence and wealth. The pairing of a gunslinger and a Mormon woman drive the plot to an unexpected and thrilling conclusion.
I enjoyed the book, the first Zane Grey I have read or listened to. My only disappointment was it took Jane so long to realize that the Elder and Bishop were not motivated by religion but by greed. She was naive. Other than that, all the characters were well rounded.
I had previously listened to the version narrated by Mark Bramhall. I was interested to hear the book narrated by a woman, Ann M. Richardson. Different narrators can bring different tones or emphasis to the same book. I was very interested whether the gender of the narrator would affect the story itself. I found the gender of the narrator in this particular instance did not make a difference. Ms. Richardson did a very fine job of narrating the book. After listening to the same passages read by the two different narrators, I found I enjoyed them both. If this is an edge at all, it goes to Ms. Richardson. Her voice is very pleasant and she handles the range of voices, male/female, very well.
Rating: Story (Plot) 4
Rating: Performance 5
Rating: Production Quality 5
Rating: Attention Holding 4
Rating 4.5
ABR received this audiobook for free from the Publisher, Submitted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the audiobook or the content of our review.
ryanwhitley's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
What started off on a promising note took a turn real quick into soap opera schlock. It took me forever to read this book because it made me groan thinking about it. That said, mixed in with the melodrama, meaningful glances, and lines that over-act themselves was some of the most beautiful nature writing I’ve read in a piece of fiction. I’m glad I read this because of its significance to the canon of Westerns, but man, am I glad to be done with it, too.
sarahanne8382's review against another edition
3.0
Not my cup of tea, but still very good. Jane Withersteen is the heiress to her father's ranch on the southern Utah frontier in 1871. Because she prefers to befriend all, not just fellow Mormons, her churchmen are determined to convince her of the error of her ways and employ ever harsher methods to do so. Luckily good men of the sage, such as her former rider, Byrne Vinters, and infamous Mormon-hunter Lassiter, come to her aide and allow her to withstand the persecution a bit longer. Vinters ends up nursing a friend's long-lost daughter back to health and Jane finds herself relying more and more on the gunslinger Lassiter, while simultaneously urging him to change his Mormon-killing ways.
Wonderful melodrama abounds, but there's also way too much description of the scenery and, showing that westerns are romance for men, an obsession with purity which means the romantic action centers around reluctant admissions of feeling and men doing daring deeds for the women they love. Not what I would normally choose for myself, but I'm glad I read it to get a feel for the genre and because it was pretty entertaining when Grey wasn't busy waxing poetic about the purple sage, yet again. Also, it's maybe a tad dated in it's unabashed Mormon-hating.
Wonderful melodrama abounds, but there's also way too much description of the scenery and, showing that westerns are romance for men, an obsession with purity which means the romantic action centers around reluctant admissions of feeling and men doing daring deeds for the women they love. Not what I would normally choose for myself, but I'm glad I read it to get a feel for the genre and because it was pretty entertaining when Grey wasn't busy waxing poetic about the purple sage, yet again. Also, it's maybe a tad dated in it's unabashed Mormon-hating.
youarenotthewalrus's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry
byrdlynd's review against another edition
Beautiful prose, but two dimensional characters (especially the women), and a plot that didn't engage me.
clayjs's review against another edition
4.0
As one of the great westerns of all time, as the herald of the birth of a new genre, as a literary masterpiece cleverly disguised as popcorn fiction, this book promised for 3/5 of its duration to disappoint violently. The characters have become cliches, the dialogue was jarring, and there is (almost) literally an exclamation point after the main character's name every time somebody speaks it. Lassiter! What an ass.
That said, once my disbelief and disgust were safely suspended and I start to get into the story a bit, I also started to find it remarkably charming. I can easily see why fans of westerns would love it--it's really lovable, and they don't have to look down their noses to see that, like I did. The characters (except maybe Lassiter!) have some depth and really feel human sometimes. At least when they're not speaking. The real gold here is the story, though. The tension builds steadily, and Grey slings a Chekhov's gun with the best of them, and by the time you get to Venters's vengeful race across the sage, it's legitimately difficult to put down the book. It's hard to care about the Lassiter! and Jane subplot (which many might argue is actually the main plot, except that it's about a third as exciting, and the characters are about a sixteenth as likable), but Venters is a legit badass, and though he doesn't mill a stampede riding a blind horse like Lassiter! does, he feels actual human emotion and makes mistakes and shit, which is significantly more worth my snobbish, snobbish time.
Please understand, if it hasn't come across yet, that I'm a book snob. I generally only read the driest, wormeatenest old volumes of British highbrowery I can find. And though I almost poked my eye out with a dull stick (in order to maximize its distracting power) about six times in the first 100 pages of this book, I legitimately enjoyed the last 100.
Please also understand that Riders of the Purple Sage slings a lot of religious intolerance around in a way that might not be palatable to all people. If you happen to be Mormon, or if you are sensitive to such things, it'll likely leave a pretty bad taste in your mouth. As a reader of old British highbrowery, religious intolerance is pretty par for the course in my reading catalogue, and I hardly noticed it. It was almost novel to read a novel hating on a different group for a change.
That said, once my disbelief and disgust were safely suspended and I start to get into the story a bit, I also started to find it remarkably charming. I can easily see why fans of westerns would love it--it's really lovable, and they don't have to look down their noses to see that, like I did. The characters (except maybe Lassiter!) have some depth and really feel human sometimes. At least when they're not speaking. The real gold here is the story, though. The tension builds steadily, and Grey slings a Chekhov's gun with the best of them, and by the time you get to Venters's vengeful race across the sage, it's legitimately difficult to put down the book. It's hard to care about the Lassiter! and Jane subplot (which many might argue is actually the main plot, except that it's about a third as exciting, and the characters are about a sixteenth as likable), but Venters is a legit badass, and though he doesn't mill a stampede riding a blind horse like Lassiter! does, he feels actual human emotion and makes mistakes and shit, which is significantly more worth my snobbish, snobbish time.
Please understand, if it hasn't come across yet, that I'm a book snob. I generally only read the driest, wormeatenest old volumes of British highbrowery I can find. And though I almost poked my eye out with a dull stick (in order to maximize its distracting power) about six times in the first 100 pages of this book, I legitimately enjoyed the last 100.
Please also understand that Riders of the Purple Sage slings a lot of religious intolerance around in a way that might not be palatable to all people. If you happen to be Mormon, or if you are sensitive to such things, it'll likely leave a pretty bad taste in your mouth. As a reader of old British highbrowery, religious intolerance is pretty par for the course in my reading catalogue, and I hardly noticed it. It was almost novel to read a novel hating on a different group for a change.
jbarr5's review against another edition
4.0
Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey
Recall a band by this name and love their music. This book starts out with a few men who tend to Jane Withersteen's horses that she's raising and selling after training them.
In Utal the Mormoms rule the land and they want her land and round up men to steal her horses. Before she knows it a little come Fay comes to stay with her because the woman taking care of her has died.
There are many trouble and upheavals during this book involving many different sets of people. Liked the scenery because it is so descriptive from the daybreak to the full sun and at dusk-the purple sage is always being described.
Love how they band together and make a run for it. Learned so much about this area-even gold! Great Book.
Recall a band by this name and love their music. This book starts out with a few men who tend to Jane Withersteen's horses that she's raising and selling after training them.
In Utal the Mormoms rule the land and they want her land and round up men to steal her horses. Before she knows it a little come Fay comes to stay with her because the woman taking care of her has died.
There are many trouble and upheavals during this book involving many different sets of people. Liked the scenery because it is so descriptive from the daybreak to the full sun and at dusk-the purple sage is always being described.
Love how they band together and make a run for it. Learned so much about this area-even gold! Great Book.