The Border Legion
by Zane Grey
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The inspiration for several Western movies, Zane Grey's The Border Legion tells the tale of hardened gunslinger Jack Kells, who finds his gruff facade melting when he encounters Joan Randle, a spunky heroine who has been captured by a militia stationed near the Idaho border..
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I dunno, pretty standard fare for the genre, I think. There's bandits, there's horses, there's one beautiful, pure, intelligent, fearless, young woman, facing the "one thing worse than death", but who occasionally needs a truly manly man to rescue her.
In this case, we're out on the edges of Idaho, where a gold strike is about to happen. Or at least so the prospectors hope. Gold makes people crazy and steals their souls. Then there are those who don't want to work for gold, so figure appropriating someone else's gold makes more sense to them. That makes them crazy as well.
Joan Randal has a fight with her sweetheart, and he heads off to the wild border to become "bad". Joan repents some harsh words she said, and heads out to bring him show more back, because, after he left, she realized that she loves the galoot. Well, naturally, she can't find the sweetheart, but gets picked up by a gang of thieves. The head of the gang falls in love with her. Eventually her sweetheart shows up to join the gang. She redeems him, of course, and perhaps the head thief a little bit as well.
Not great literature, and it dragged a bit, but if you want mindless adventure with manly men and womenly women, I'm sure this will suffice. show less
In this case, we're out on the edges of Idaho, where a gold strike is about to happen. Or at least so the prospectors hope. Gold makes people crazy and steals their souls. Then there are those who don't want to work for gold, so figure appropriating someone else's gold makes more sense to them. That makes them crazy as well.
Joan Randal has a fight with her sweetheart, and he heads off to the wild border to become "bad". Joan repents some harsh words she said, and heads out to bring him show more back, because, after he left, she realized that she loves the galoot. Well, naturally, she can't find the sweetheart, but gets picked up by a gang of thieves. The head of the gang falls in love with her. Eventually her sweetheart shows up to join the gang. She redeems him, of course, and perhaps the head thief a little bit as well.
Not great literature, and it dragged a bit, but if you want mindless adventure with manly men and womenly women, I'm sure this will suffice. show less
It's replete with the typical simplistic plot, acted out by cartoons. But it's more deeply dimensioned than some stories in this genre because of the way Grey conveys the spiritual power of women to affect the emotions of men. He also portrays the underlying character of human spirit, including the acceptance of a dare and the ability to try again after failing.
Early Zane Grey work, so the book is heavy on the melodrama. The bandit leader lusting after his 16 year old captive is a bit off putting.
A kidnapped girl is forced into following the group of gold robbers until her old flame shows up.
Book Description: New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1916. Cloth Hard Cover. No Jacket. First Edition?. Clean very good hard back copy, dark yellow cloth binding with brown picture and lettering. Binding is tight,and the pages are clean and bright
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438+ Works 20,876 Members
Zane Grey was born Pearl Zane Gray in 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio. He studied dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania, married Lina Elise Roth in 1905, then moved his family west where he began to write novels. The author of 86 books, he is today considered the father of the Western genre, with its heady romances and mysterious outlaws. Riders show more of the Purple Sage (1912) brought Grey his greatest popular acclaim. Other notable titles include The Light of Western Stars (1914) and The Vanishing American (1925). An extremely prolific writer, he often completed three novels a year, while his publisher would issue only one at a time. Twenty-five of his novels were published posthumously. His last, The Reef Girl, was published in 1977. Zane Grey died of heart failure on October 23 in Altadena, California, in 1939. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1916
- Related movies
- The Border Legion (1940 | IMDb)
- First words
- Joan Randle reined in her horse on the crest of the cedar ridge, and with remorse and dread beginning to knock at her heart she gazed before her at the wild and looming mountain range.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"But, Jim, in my fury I discovered my love!"
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