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Riders of the Purple Sage (Riders of the Purple Sage, #1)

Zane Grey

Start date: October 1, 2022

Finish date: December 31, 2022

Discussion: Lesser Know/Wilderness Classics

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Lesser Know/Wilderness Classics

* 2025 Must Read Lesser Known Classics: Scheduled Reads
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last updated Sep 06, 2025 07:14AM

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What Members Thought

Oct 28, 2021 Jim Townsend rated it it was amazing

One of the best Westerns, it has romance, a good guy, a bad guy, adventure, action, and richly deserves its place as the most popular Western.

8 likes · Like · see review

Jul 10, 2020 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it liked it

Shelves: frontier-western, read-in-2020, american-lit, historical-fiction, romance

Over the course of the past two years I have discovered that I can be charmed by a book about the American frontier. A western. This is due to the fact that I read, and loved, McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning book Lonesome Dove. So, I wanted to read something written more close to the time it portrays. A classic, and Zane Grey is an author whose name I have recognized for years.

So I went into Riders of the Purple Sage expecting a western, with hard scrabble men, gunfights, cattle drives, and ve ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 20, 2020 Shirley (stampartiste) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-classics, challenge-bingo-2020

I read this well-known American western classic for a "Classic Western" challenge. It was my first experience reading a true western novel. Although the story had some very interesting and exciting moments, I felt like I was plodding through most of the book. Grey wrote numerous long and detailed descriptions of the Utah landscape of the late 19th century, but his descriptions were confusing and almost clinical. One of my favorite authors, Tony Hillerman, also wrote detailed descriptions of the ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 01, 2015 Laura marked it as to-read

Shelves: fiction-20th-century, e-books, gutenberg, american-western

Free download available at Project Gutenberg. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2015 Janet rated it really liked it

A peek at the Mormon culture, intolerance, and hypocritical values from Zane Gray. Enjoyable story, prose, and characters from an old master.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 05, 2021 Darren rated it liked it

B
3.5 stars

As one of the first novels of this genre, and penned by the legendary Zane Grey, I'd wanted to read this for some while. It lived up to its promise but viewed the lens of 100+ years, there were certainly cringeworthy moments. Yet Grey countered the stereotypes - the damsels in distress, for example - enough by writing strong women as well. I suppose that should be a credit to him given the time period - not only of when he wrote it in 1912 but that he portrays some 40-50 years earlier. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2014 Zuzana rated it it was ok

Shelves: romance, historical-fiction, 2014-challenge

Sage, sage, purple sage and more sage ...It could have been a cool story but it was swamped in unnecesary description of scenery. Also one of the MCs is an annoying brainwashed sheep.

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 08, 2021 JoAnne Murphy-Moore rated it really liked it

I read this book because my grandmother's favorite author was Zane Grey (she was born in 1899). She died when I was 5, and I wanted to get a small glimpse of her by reading a book that she really enjoyed. To be honest, the writing is really good. The book is a wild west romance novel and I'm not really into that genre. Grey definitely has control of the English language. He can really pull you into the story/action. I can see how in the 1930's this would have been wonderful entertainment. I am g ...more

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Mar 06, 2023 Melissa (ladybug) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: yearly-challenge

Really wanted to like this book but it is not to be. Forgettable plot wise. I can put it down and not even feel an inkling to pick it back up. Boring!

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