Zane Grey (1872–1939)

Valley of Wild Horses is one of Zane Grey’s most satisfying westerns. Everything that was wonderful about Zane Grey — his magnificent storytelling, his vivid descriptions of the landscape and horses, the sheer excitement of a roundup, and the thrill of gunplay — are on display so vibrantly in Valley of Wild Horses that the reader is rarely annoyed by some stilted dialog which creeps in, and some slight awkwardness in the romance department — which are also Grey trademarks.

There is great beauty here in Valley of Wild Horses, a purity of the human spirit. On its pages exists a love for decency and what is right, even if it must be administered with a gun. Even then, there is always regret, a wish that it hadn't come to that. Grey never painted a better portrait of those with checkered pasts trying to find a place they belong, than he did in Valley of Wild Horses. The simplicity of Grey’s narrative is deceptive, because it is a rich and beautiful portrait of a young man named Panhandle Smith, who represents a time and place in history as well as any Grey ever painted.

For a western, it begins somewhat languidly, because it is the story of Panhandle as he grows up. We get to see the cowboys and cattle, the excitement and the harshness of these times, all circumstances which shape Pan’s life as a young man. At the age of twelve, Pan is already riding in the roundup, and loses one of the cowboys around him when he is taken away for stealing horses. Schoolteacher Amanda Hill is his first crush, Dick Hardman his first enemy, a situation which will play out over the years in their love for Lucy. Lucy is the young girl he helps deliver in a barn one snowy day, when he himself is but a boy. As she grows up, Pan’s feelings for her become romantic, as Lucy’s do for Pan, but Dick Hardman proves to always be in the way.

Once his beloved horse Curly is gone, and a terrible scrape with Dick mars the future, Panhandle drifts to Montana and Arkansas at the age of twenty, and that’s where this tale switches gears, and become one of Grey’s greatest achievements. As Panhandle becomes a name known by many, sometimes for the wrong reasons, he never forgets Lucy, or his beloved family. It is when he meets up with old pals Blinky Moran and Gus, and returns to discover his father has been swindled, and Lucy is being blackmailed into marrying Dick Hardman in order to save her father, that the pieces which make this a great western saga all fall into place. There is a softhearted saloon girl named Louise whom Blinky loves that has ties to Dick, a corrupt sheriff named Matthews, and Dick’s powerful father and his dangerous men for Panhandle to deal with. But not before one of the most thrilling roundups you’ll ever read, as Pan and his pals seek to find the wild horses and make a new start in Arizona.

There will be some treachery, some gunplay, and some twists and turns where Lucy and Louise are concerned. Louise in fact, is one of Grey’s best-drawn characters, and what happens is not only exciting, but quite moving. Throughout the book, there is a sense of family, and decency, and the hope of pioneers as they sought to carve out a new life. The storytelling is old-fashioned, to be sure, the dialog sometimes awkward, as Grey writes it phonetically as they speak it. But this is a lush, beautiful work, surprisingly layered and more complex than the premise suggests. The ending of Valley of Wild Horses is as lovely as any western you’ll ever read. It is simple, and pure, and hopeful. The reader will be imagining their lives going forward, and smiling.

The first portion of the novel, as Grey focuses on Panhandle’s childhood, is too lengthy and makes the narrative move more slowly than it should. That said, there is a rich reward waiting for those who forge on, and a pot of western gold when they reach the final page. This is Zane Grey at his finest, which is to say warts and all. It may be too old-fashioned for a great many modern readers, its narrative style too different for them to accept and enjoy, but it’s as romantic and lovely as any western you’ll ever read, the ending pure. A great achievement by Grey that fans of traditional westerns of old will appreciate more than most modern readers. Highly recommended!… (more)

“Going through life is something like riding a deep canyon where the light seldom shines. It is a strange canyon with unexpected turns and insurmountable walls and cross-canyons, boxed completely from the light. I suppose when we hit the closing wall of one of these box canyons it looks like the end and we want to beat our life out there. Sometimes by accident, sometimes by design, we feel our way out into the place where the light comes through at times, and we go on down that way because farther on there may be a way out into that light. Don’t you want to struggle on a little longer, Magdaline? I’m boxed in at present myself, in a canyon as dark as hell, but I’m feeling around for the way out.”

So philosophizes cowboy John Curry to his Indian friend, Magdaline. Both find themselves in dark canyons, but John has more experience in such matters. Compared to Magdaline’s 19 years, John is a wise old sage at 28. Their troubles involve John’s love interest, Mary Newton, a good woman married to a scoundrel. Even though she’s unhappy and often hurt by her scumbag husband, she feels bound by her obligations in the marriage vows. There is also High-Lo, the 19 year-old cowboy protege and best friend of John. They call him High-Lo because sometimes when work is to be done, they have to look “high and low” in order to find him. He’s the most interesting and fun character of the story. Grey gives us a fine story of how these folks deal with life--the choices they make, and the cards they’re dealt along the way.
Originally published in magazine serial form in 1926, Captives of the Desert is a Zane Grey mixture of old and new West. The setting is Black Mesa, Arizona of the 1920s. Sometimes they’re riding horses, sometimes cars. As with all Grey novels of the West, the landscape of mesas, canyons, and sage are beautifully woven into the story.
Although the outcome is fairly predictable, there are a few twists and turns, with interesting events. A Hopi snake dance is vividly described. Grey’s respect and admiration for the American Indian is displayed more so than in other of his novels that I’ve read.
There isn’t much gun play as can be found in such titles as, [b:Riders of the Purple Sage|90160|Riders of the Purple Sage (Riders of the Purple Sage #1)|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320415192l/90160._SY75_.jpg|2663060], [b:The Rainbow Trail|121292|The Rainbow Trail ( Riders of the Purple Sage#2)|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1171832383l/121292._SY75_.jpg|3063248], and [b:The Lonestar Ranger|25844040|The Lonestar Ranger|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438357091l/25844040._SX50_.jpg|2425493] , but there’s plenty romance, even if some of it may seem a bit strange to the 21st century reader.… (more)

It's Zane Grey alright, but not on par with most of his excellent work. There's some of the great western atmosphere that he so eloquently describes, along with the wild west gun-play that no one does better. And, of course, the romance. Grey himself said that he wrote romance novels, and most of them have a setting in the Western US of the 19th century. That romance is one of the main things I like about his novels. But, this one was just corny and overdone. Twin sisters that no one can tell apart fall for our hero, Brazos Keene. He favors one, but because the sisters always dress and act exactly alike, and make play with it on everyone, Keene is never really sure which sister is which. This could work in a comedy novel, but this isn't comedy, and it got on my last nerve. It goes on and on. Just frustrating. Since [b:Twin Sombreros|121209|Twin Sombreros|Zane Grey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329014386l/121209._SY75_.jpg|116716] is a sequel to [b:Knights of the Range|121203|Knights of the Range|Zane Grey|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|2662999], (an excellent novel) I was looking forward to more of the same, but didn't get it.… (more)