Riders of the Purple Sage: Reflection

So ends the final chapter of my Old West adventures. This book was great. It was great in ways that the other two books were and weren't. It took the typical frontier vibe and put an umphy (meaning it had a lotta umph) set of characters and an engaging story. From the get go, I knew this story was going to feel like a classic Western fireside story, but read and sound like a truly epic narrative. The plot for which this story is based on could sound like a typical Old West story: Bad guy wants money. Kidnaps rich girl for said money. Holds the whole town hostage. Enter mysterious cowboy man. Mysterious cowboy man tries to deal with bad guy. Gets captured. Escapes. Kills bad guy. Saves the town. Gets the girl. On and on. While I am a sucker for this kind of tale, this one hit me differently. It had substance. There was something about the suspense I felt when reading this book that made me think that it was truly special. It could have been the masterfully crafted characters or landscapes. Or it could have been in the raw dialogue that the characters utilized. Whatever reason, this book was really something else. It has increased my interest in the Old West genre and I am so glad that I stumbled across it for my project!