Sackett Series Shared Read Challenge

Are you a lifelong Louis L'Amour fan?

Or a reader who's just discovered his story-telling abilities?

Or somewhere between the two?

Or even someone who's never tried any of this author's works?

Join a few of us in reading (or rereading) the Sackett series, probably the best known of all this author's novels.

We're getting a late start for 2018, or an early start for 2019, but we'd love your company, your thoughts, comments, or reviews as you read about the Sackett family.

Come on in and set a spell, make yourself at home!

There are officially seventeen Sackett novels, so starting in August 2018 has us completing the series in December 2019.

Chronologically (according to LT) here are the Sacketts' stories:

1. Sackett's Land
2. To the Far Blue Mountains
3. The Warrior's Path
4. Jubal Sackett
5. Ride the River
6. The Daybreakers
7. Lando
8. Sackett
9. Mojave Crossing
10. The Sackett Brand
11. The Sky-Liners
12. The Lonely Men
13. Mustang Man
14. Galloway
15. Treasure Mountain
16. Ride the Dark Trail
17. Lonely on the Mountain

One a month shouldn't be onerous.

Jump in whenever!

Addendum: I seem to recall Jubal immediately following To The Far Blue Mountains. If I find it needs to be bumped up to #3, I'll do so.

Who were the Sacketts, and why did L'Amour write so much about them?

From louislamour.com:

Louis L'Amour's inspiration for the Sackett characters was a pair of young cowboys that pulled him out of a street fight in Tucumcari, New Mexico when he was fifteen. When Louis asked them why the other boys had seemed so afraid of them the older one explained that they were cousins and between them they had over a dozen brothers . . . "and if you fight one of us and beat him, you've got to fight us all." Louis spent only a few days with them, talking through the evenings and riding the Pecos valley but their sense of clan-like loyalty and simple but honest philosophy stayed with him.

Years later, exploring the desert west of Yuma, Arizona, Louis came upon a spot called Sackett's Well. Named after a Lt. Delos Sackett, this bleak desert watering hole gave him the name for his fictional family. After his initial success with "The Daybreakers," "Lando," and "Sackett," L'Amour committed himself to an enormous project; to write a series of adventure stories touching on all eras of American history. Through the eyes of three families, the Sacketts, the Chantrys, and the Talons, he intended to take us on a tour of the past from the 1590s to the 1890s. Sadly, Louis did not live long enough to write more than half of the stories that he intended.

I'll take you up on that offer! I've only ever read two Louis L'Amours, but really enjoyed Bendigo Shafter in 2014. My library has the first in this Sackett series, so I"m ready to join in!

This is a good idea, fuzzi! I have read The Daybreakers and am now reading Sackett, because after finishing Daybreakers my husband and I started watching the 1979 mini-series, which incorporates the two novels. I decided I should read those two together. Once finished, I'll go back to the beginning and work my way through the saga chronologically. I didn't expect to be so taken with L'Amour when I picked up my first for the AAC this month. But now I'm think I'm hooked. Don't know if I'll manage one a month, but I will surely follow along here.

Thanks for setting this up, @fuzzi!

Oh, yes, I'm in! I'm going to skip the first one, since I reread that one fairly recently, but I'll be aboard for To the Far Blue Mountains in September.

Woo! Love seeing people discover L'Amour.

I was a "Pooh, a western???" skeptic myself back in the late 1980s. Boy, was I wrong.

August's Selection


The date is about 1600, and small landholder Barnabas Sackett dreams of going to the new world to seek his fortune. How he handles hostile natives, pirates, and the wilderness makes for an entertaining first book in the Sackett series.

Adding a link to this thread on the group wiki.

>9 drneutron: woo! Thank you!

I'm in! L'Amour was one of my Dad's favorite authors, and I've only read one or two of his books. Time to change that! I've got Sackett's Land ebook from the library, all set to go!

Karen O.

>11 klobrien2: welcome!

Just a reminder: let's try to avoid spoiling these books for others. Use the word < spoiler > (without the spaces) at the beginning of the text you want to hide, and then < /spoiler > (also without spaces) at the end of the text you want to hide.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!

September's Selection

To the Far Blue Mountains by Louis L'Amour

In this sequel to Sackett's Land we find our protagonist trying to escape his native England in order to return to the American wilderness that he loves. On the way he makes friends, defeats enemies, and has several adventures.

I liked this installment a little better than the first, but both are enjoyable and engaging reads.

To the Far Blue Mountains, by Louis L'Amour



The second Sackett novel in chronological order continues the story of the family's founder in the New World, Barnabas, at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century. The blend of wilderness and frontier adventure with shipboard action works fairly well, though some of the segments might have benefited from a little more expansion. I recalled the ending, though not the details, but had associated it with a different book in the series, so I was a bit surprised. Recommended.

What L'Amour will you be reading this month?

The Warrior's Path is listed on LT as #3, but I've seen Jubal Sackett also considered the next book in the series.

>15 fuzzi: I'll be reading The Warrior's Path. Kin Ring is older than Jubal, though both are sons of Barnabas, so I'd take it as next.

I just finished The Warrior's Path, and enjoyed it quite a bit.

The official Louis L'Amour website suggests that it be read as book number three in the Sackett series, and it won't hurt to do so, but I am going to shelve Jubal Sackett as number three and place The Warrior's Path as number four.

Why? Three main reasons: (no spoilers)

1. References to a cabin being built since the end events of To the Far Blue Mountains means The Warrior's Path didn't happen immediately afterwards

2. Commentary in The Warrior's Path by Jeremy Ring about how it's been several years since the end events of To the Far Blue Mountains shows a gap in time between the two books

3. Jubal's book begins with news of the end events of To the Far Blue Mountains as just having occurred

There is no gap in time from the end of To the Far Blue Mountains and the beginning of Jubal Sackett, but "several years" as mentioned in The Warrior's Path.

Read them as you like, in whatever order. :)

The Warrior's Path by Louis L'Amour

Well-written addition to the Sackett series, with Kin Ring taking the leading role as he and his brother Yance search for a couple young girls taken hostage, supposedly by members of the Pequot tribe.

>17 fuzzi: Those are convincing reasons. I'll stick with The Warrior's Path for this month, but I may follow your lead should I ever get around to shelving them as a series.

The Warrior's Path, by Louis L'Amour

When the sister of Yance Sackett's wife is kidnapped, apparently by Indians, he and his elder brother Kin Ring head north to Massachusetts in search of the missing girl and another taken with her. Putting an end to the disappearances brings even farther-reaching travel for the eldest son of Barnabas Sackett, as well as adventure, romance, and battle. Recommended.

I'm about halfway through Jubal Sackett, a reread of my first Louis L'Amour book.

Jubal Sackett by Louis L'Amour

Jubal heads west from North Carolina for the far blue mountains that fascinated his father, Barnabas. On his journey he meets friend and foe, and overcomes numerous physical obstacles.

This was my first L'Amour read, and remains one of my favorites.

Jubal Sackett, by Louis L'Amour



Driven by the same urge to explore that compelled his father, Jubal Sackett finds adventure and romance beyond the Far-Seeing Lands, in a story with a hint of the supernatural such as is found in some other L'Amour works (e.g., The Californios) and some interesting speculation. The novel, published near the end of the author's life, gives evidence that further stories might have been planned, but it is a satisfyingly complete story in itself. Recommended.

Ride the River, by Louis L'Amour



In 1840, Echo Sackett travels from the hill country of Tennessee to Philadelphia to collect an inheritance left to her as the youngest descendant of Kin-Ring Sackett, son of Barnabas. She faces a variety of perils, both in the city and on her homeward journey, but finds friends, and perhaps more, as well. An interesting story in the Sackett family saga, and one could wish L'Amour had lived long enough to add more to the series. There are some odd notes, as the narration shifts from first-person to third-person and back from time to time, and occasionally those changes are a bit awkward. Recommended.

Ride the River by Louis L'Amour

Mountain gal heads to the city to pick up an inheritance left by a friend of the family. She meets with trouble and danger from those who will stop at nothing to take her money, and possibly her life.

I enjoyed this addition to the Sackett series, and would have liked reading more about Echo and her family.

Not a Sackett book, but one of L'Amour's best imo, The Last of the Breed is on sale today on Amazon for $1.99.

I was planning a reread, anyway...

Ride the River struck a discordant note for me. I think he's done better at writing female characters. This one was too much of a caricaturization.

I'm out of order, as Jubal hasn't come in for me at the library, yet. Have hopes that one will be better.

Jubal is one of my favorites, was my first L'Amour read too.

fuzzi - I'm planting this here, even though you'll soon be making a new thread in the 2019 group. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll lose it. But it's been helpful to me in dating the books in the series I've read so far.

Chronology based on the book The Sackett Companion by Louis L'Amour himself.

>29 countrylife: thank you!

Based upon my recent rereads of the first four books, I’m going to politely disagree with the “official” order, as I’ve explained above, but it’s not worth feudin’. ;)

2019 thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/300974#