Short read, which sadly a lot of it is filler. Story of Lassiter and Venters (terrible names) and their love interests Jane and Bess. I'm not a big fan of romance and was disappointed that it's the primary arc. Around page 200 of 280 I was anxiously still waiting for "something" to happen as the first 200 pages felt very light on action. The last 80 are worth it, albeit by how much I struggle to say. The chapter with Wrangle's race is the most exciting until the ending, but it's not until page 200 or so. The first chapter was great, but it's pretty tough going until the last 80 pages. Majority of the text seems to be descriptors and imagery. Grey seems to be some kind of purple fetishist.

This was likely a great book when it was published in 1912, however I don't think it's held up well in age. The Goodreads page reads "the most famous novel of the American West" and it makes me cringe so hard. There are countless Westerns that are far better than this - Lonesome Dove comes to mind and often while reading this I wished I was re-reading Lonesome Dove instead. The Son by Philipp Meyer is another Western miles ahead.


Reminded me a lot of Mountain Men by Vardis Fisher, some great crumbs of action but overall left me underwhelmed and somewhat betrayed by lack of action. Most of all reminded me of the Hank the Cowdog series from my childhood.