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Rider of Distant Trails
Western. Buck Duane Series. Zane Grey.
- GenresWesterns
187 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 18, 2018
Both of Zane Grey's sons worked to continue their father's legacy in the years after his death, but met with only middling success. Loren Grey worked on a pulp series featuring Lassiter from RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, while Romer Grey wrote (or maybe just oversaw) new stories for several Zane Grey heroes, including THE LONE STAR RANGER's Buck Duane. RIDER OF DISTANT TRAILS consists of two novellas chronicling Duane's further adventures, in which typos and cowboy cliches battle each other for ultimate dominance.
The first novella--the titular RIDER OF DISTANT TRAILS--isn't worth reading. The idea of a Texas Ranger going undercover to clean up a lawless town is uninspired as it gets, but it's the cringe-inducing romance that sinks this story faster than cement shoes. The dialog between Buck and his potential love interests is unforgivable, and the embarrassing ways in which women throw themselves at the hero made me want to gag.
The second novella--THE LURE OF BURIED GOLD--is a vast improvement, and though it remains predictable and filled with obvious misspellings and other proofreading mistakes, at least it's entertaining. This time around, there's no romance to spoil things, and the female characters do more than simply serve as one-dimensional love interests.
The second story mostly makes up for the first one, which is why I'm rounding up and giving the book a positive rating. Admittedly though, three stars is incredibly generous.
The first novella--the titular RIDER OF DISTANT TRAILS--isn't worth reading. The idea of a Texas Ranger going undercover to clean up a lawless town is uninspired as it gets, but it's the cringe-inducing romance that sinks this story faster than cement shoes. The dialog between Buck and his potential love interests is unforgivable, and the embarrassing ways in which women throw themselves at the hero made me want to gag.
The second novella--THE LURE OF BURIED GOLD--is a vast improvement, and though it remains predictable and filled with obvious misspellings and other proofreading mistakes, at least it's entertaining. This time around, there's no romance to spoil things, and the female characters do more than simply serve as one-dimensional love interests.
The second story mostly makes up for the first one, which is why I'm rounding up and giving the book a positive rating. Admittedly though, three stars is incredibly generous.
July 12, 2021
yeehaw! This is probably the only cowboy book I will ever read. Machismo is better left dead. This is an aight book for people who know better than to be cowboys but will still gawk.
October 28, 2012
Both stories were good, full of action, but there were a ton of typos/wrong words in this edition, to the point they were distracting. I'm not sure if they were in the original manuscript (sometimes it looked like the author hand-wrote the story and the typesetter had trouble reading his handwriting)or if this was a badly produced knock-off edition. It will be interesting to read more from this author.
That said, I thought he did a nice job continuing the Buck Duane saga started by his father. Continuity is an issue (the love interest in the first story is never mentioned in the second, which takes place after it, even though we were left with the impression Duane was staying with her forever). But the action was good.
That said, I thought he did a nice job continuing the Buck Duane saga started by his father. Continuity is an issue (the love interest in the first story is never mentioned in the second, which takes place after it, even though we were left with the impression Duane was staying with her forever). But the action was good.
May 28, 2012
It's a nice change of pace from the usual crime books I've been reading.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews