One of my all-time favorite books and definitely my favorite Western
I just finished Riders of the Purple Sage again. I can't tell you how many times I've read it. Along with the book, I also have the 1996 movie with Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, and the radio play. This is just an awesome story, and one of my very favorite books. Certainly my favorite western. Zane Grey was rather harsh on Mormons in this book, and they are the bad guys. That's not giving anything away, as you can see it from the beginning, as can all but one of the characters. Unfortunately, she's the one everybody is working for, or trying to help, so her blindness in that issue is a lot of what leads the story on. There is a gun-man, like in many Westerns, but the fact that he softens as the story progresses and you begin to wonder if he ever will use his guns makes the story real to me. It gives me another element that a lot of Westerns don't have.
There are several main characters, and as the story progresses, what you think will happen to each by the end of the book changes. What I like most, and what brings me back to the story again and again, is the lack of a fairy-tale ending. Good things happen, bad things happen, all through the book. It keeps you reading, wanting to know just what will happen next. I love Zane Grey's writing style, his descriptions of everything, the canyons, the sage, the Withersteen place.
This is definitely a five star book. And if I may slightly change a line from the book: Go, you riders of the purple sage! Find a copy of the book, open the cover and start reading. Trust me, you won't regret the time spent.