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The Zane Grey Megapack
The Zane Grey Megapack assembles a massive collection of 42 novels and short stories by the acclaimed western writer. Included BETTY ZANE (1903)
SPIRIT OF THE BORDER (1906)
THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN (1908)
THE LAST TRAIL (1909)
THE SHORTSTOP (1909)
THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT (1910)
THE YOUNG FORESTER (1910)
THE YOUNG PITCHER (1911)
THE YOUNG LION HUNTER (1911)
THE HORSES OF BOSTIL'S FORD (1912)
RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE (1912)
TIGRE (1913)
FANTOMS OF PEACE (1913)
DESERT GOLD (1913)
THE RUSTLERS OF PECOS COUNTY (1914)
THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS (1914)
THE LONE STAR RANGER (1915)
THE RAINBOW TRAIL (1915)
THE BORDER LEGION (1916)
WILDFIRE (1917)
THE U. P. TRAIL (1918)
THE DESERT OF WHEAT (1919)
TALES OF FISHES (1919)
THE MAN OF THE FOREST (1920)
THE REDHEADED OUTFIELD (1920)
THE RUBE (1920)
THE RUBE'S PENNANT (1920)
THE RUBE'S HONEYMOON (1920)
THE RUBE'S WATERLOO (1920)
BREAKING INTO FAST COMPANY (1920)
THE KNOCKER (1920)
THE WINNING BALL (1920)
FALSE COLORS (1920)
THE MANAGER OF MADDEN'S HILL (1920)
OLD WELL-WELL (1920)
THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER (1921)
TO THE LAST MAN (1921)
THE DAY OF THE BEAST (1922)
TALES OF LONELY TRAILS (1922)
THE CALL OF THE CANYON (1924)
VALLEY OF WILD HORSES (1927)
THE WILD-HORSE HUNTER (1933)
And don't forget to search this ebook store for "Wildside Megapack" to see many more entries in this series, covering westerns, mysteries, science fiction, and much, much more!"
SPIRIT OF THE BORDER (1906)
THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN (1908)
THE LAST TRAIL (1909)
THE SHORTSTOP (1909)
THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT (1910)
THE YOUNG FORESTER (1910)
THE YOUNG PITCHER (1911)
THE YOUNG LION HUNTER (1911)
THE HORSES OF BOSTIL'S FORD (1912)
RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE (1912)
TIGRE (1913)
FANTOMS OF PEACE (1913)
DESERT GOLD (1913)
THE RUSTLERS OF PECOS COUNTY (1914)
THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS (1914)
THE LONE STAR RANGER (1915)
THE RAINBOW TRAIL (1915)
THE BORDER LEGION (1916)
WILDFIRE (1917)
THE U. P. TRAIL (1918)
THE DESERT OF WHEAT (1919)
TALES OF FISHES (1919)
THE MAN OF THE FOREST (1920)
THE REDHEADED OUTFIELD (1920)
THE RUBE (1920)
THE RUBE'S PENNANT (1920)
THE RUBE'S HONEYMOON (1920)
THE RUBE'S WATERLOO (1920)
BREAKING INTO FAST COMPANY (1920)
THE KNOCKER (1920)
THE WINNING BALL (1920)
FALSE COLORS (1920)
THE MANAGER OF MADDEN'S HILL (1920)
OLD WELL-WELL (1920)
THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER (1921)
TO THE LAST MAN (1921)
THE DAY OF THE BEAST (1922)
TALES OF LONELY TRAILS (1922)
THE CALL OF THE CANYON (1924)
VALLEY OF WILD HORSES (1927)
THE WILD-HORSE HUNTER (1933)
And don't forget to search this ebook store for "Wildside Megapack" to see many more entries in this series, covering westerns, mysteries, science fiction, and much, much more!"
5453 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 6, 2013
285 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
About the author
Zane Grey
2,070 books590 followersPearl Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the rugged Old West. As of June 2007, the Internet Movie Database credits Grey with 110 films, one TV episode, and a series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater based loosely on his novels and short stories.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 19, 2014
Riders of the purple sage
May 25, 2015
First time with Zane
First time I've read Zane Grey, and quickly became a fan of his stories. A lot of fun reading. Thanks.
First time I've read Zane Grey, and quickly became a fan of his stories. A lot of fun reading. Thanks.
April 19, 2025
First, a clarification: this is not a review of the novels of Zane Grey. It reviews only one book, 'The Mysterious Rider.'
A classic Western by Zane Grey, you think, as you begin. It has all the elements in it – dignified, self-respecting and well-to-do rancher, with a bunch of cattle and the men who ride the horses, a no-good son and an adopted daughter. Gunfights, liquor, saloons and oh my, gambling! Plus a whiff of cattle-rustling among the mountain lion and coyote and wolf…
There's more to it than just that, though. Zane Grey’s skill in word painting brings the wild Colorado mountains alive in the shades he uses over and over: white, purple, grey, clear, green, scarlet; sunshine and snow; and the woods of spruce, fir, pine; in the cattle he describes when they might be particularly restless, at a round-up, or at branding time. “Beautiful country. Open, big peaks an’ ranges, with valleys an’ lakes. Never seen such grass!” says a local trapper/prospector, with inarticulate poetry. Most western thrillers talk a lot about hosses and colts and mustangs, but this is the first in which dogs and strays are seen with sympathetic eyes, not simply as curs.
But the real magic in this book is its level of psychological intensity, which is given an additional colour by the deeply philosophical questions it raises, and which are unanswerable. These lie in the kind of characters who people the book. To take just one example, look at the old rancher and his no-good son. To say that the father is blind to his son's misdeeds is not quite correct; why does he dote on the selfish blackguard? There is speculation by some of the cowboys that the boy takes after his mother, now no more, but who in her time, was pretty near as wild. And the old rancher adored her. His son he saw with the clear eyes of a man, but the boy he loved for the woman he had lost.
This story mirror-reverses that of the eponymous mystery rider so exactly that it is almost predictable. ‘Hell-bent Wade’ the rider come looking for a job, is pursued by his own devils: “Wade was now in passionate strife with the encroaching mood that was a mocker of his idealism. Many times during the strange, long martyrdom of his penance had he faced this crisis, only to go down to defeat before elemental instincts.”
As for the romantic lead, the hero is rendered hors-de-combat in a gruesome manner almost at the start, so the weight of the romance falls on the heroine, named Columbine, after the flowers where she was found as an infant. An unfortunate choice of label, for columbines have several meanings. They could stand for endurance, but they more commonly mean foolishness, flattery and treachery, and our Columbine has little of the former and plenty of the latter: foolishness. If she is not exactly treacherous, she is not staunch, either.
So – a classic western, with a difference! And such pleasure in the reading, even if it is not one of Zane Grey's best novels in the Megapack edition in which I read it. Incidentally, this is a good Zane Grey collection, although it does not include an individual table of contents, and on Kindle, goes by location, and not page numbers.
A classic Western by Zane Grey, you think, as you begin. It has all the elements in it – dignified, self-respecting and well-to-do rancher, with a bunch of cattle and the men who ride the horses, a no-good son and an adopted daughter. Gunfights, liquor, saloons and oh my, gambling! Plus a whiff of cattle-rustling among the mountain lion and coyote and wolf…
There's more to it than just that, though. Zane Grey’s skill in word painting brings the wild Colorado mountains alive in the shades he uses over and over: white, purple, grey, clear, green, scarlet; sunshine and snow; and the woods of spruce, fir, pine; in the cattle he describes when they might be particularly restless, at a round-up, or at branding time. “Beautiful country. Open, big peaks an’ ranges, with valleys an’ lakes. Never seen such grass!” says a local trapper/prospector, with inarticulate poetry. Most western thrillers talk a lot about hosses and colts and mustangs, but this is the first in which dogs and strays are seen with sympathetic eyes, not simply as curs.
But the real magic in this book is its level of psychological intensity, which is given an additional colour by the deeply philosophical questions it raises, and which are unanswerable. These lie in the kind of characters who people the book. To take just one example, look at the old rancher and his no-good son. To say that the father is blind to his son's misdeeds is not quite correct; why does he dote on the selfish blackguard? There is speculation by some of the cowboys that the boy takes after his mother, now no more, but who in her time, was pretty near as wild. And the old rancher adored her. His son he saw with the clear eyes of a man, but the boy he loved for the woman he had lost.
This story mirror-reverses that of the eponymous mystery rider so exactly that it is almost predictable. ‘Hell-bent Wade’ the rider come looking for a job, is pursued by his own devils: “Wade was now in passionate strife with the encroaching mood that was a mocker of his idealism. Many times during the strange, long martyrdom of his penance had he faced this crisis, only to go down to defeat before elemental instincts.”
As for the romantic lead, the hero is rendered hors-de-combat in a gruesome manner almost at the start, so the weight of the romance falls on the heroine, named Columbine, after the flowers where she was found as an infant. An unfortunate choice of label, for columbines have several meanings. They could stand for endurance, but they more commonly mean foolishness, flattery and treachery, and our Columbine has little of the former and plenty of the latter: foolishness. If she is not exactly treacherous, she is not staunch, either.
So – a classic western, with a difference! And such pleasure in the reading, even if it is not one of Zane Grey's best novels in the Megapack edition in which I read it. Incidentally, this is a good Zane Grey collection, although it does not include an individual table of contents, and on Kindle, goes by location, and not page numbers.
April 21, 2021
A Long Ride
I had never read any of Zane Grey's stories before I got this mega pack. I was pleasantly surprised by the descriptive writing that Grey employed in the telling of his tales of the old west. You could easily imagine yourself being on the plains or the canyons where these stories took place. Included in this large collection were also a number of short stories that had a baseball theme. Sometimes it seemed like the author knew he was being paid by the word so he padded his stories with endless descriptions of the scenery or the characters' deepest feelings. Overall though the stories were interesting enough to.keep you reading to see what would happen next.
I had never read any of Zane Grey's stories before I got this mega pack. I was pleasantly surprised by the descriptive writing that Grey employed in the telling of his tales of the old west. You could easily imagine yourself being on the plains or the canyons where these stories took place. Included in this large collection were also a number of short stories that had a baseball theme. Sometimes it seemed like the author knew he was being paid by the word so he padded his stories with endless descriptions of the scenery or the characters' deepest feelings. Overall though the stories were interesting enough to.keep you reading to see what would happen next.
June 29, 2021
Life
What a collection of life challenges with humor, tragedy, success, excitement, Old West, war recovery, romance not only between man and woman but the romance of the beauty that is around us.
What a collection of life challenges with humor, tragedy, success, excitement, Old West, war recovery, romance not only between man and woman but the romance of the beauty that is around us.
September 29, 2020
The Light of Western Stars : I read this as part of the Zane Grey Megapack.. It is an amazing story, published in 1914. Heroism, romance, and the broad expanse of the west. The cowboy, Gene Stewart's story of his unrequited love of an eastern beauty, Madeline "Majesty" Hammond. The times are those of the politics of rebellion in Mexico and it's effects on the Texas - Mexican border. Zane Grey is a master storyteller. I've always been a Sci Fi fan, but reading Zane Gray's work has turned me into a Western fan as well. This story, already over a hundred years old still is a terrific read. Just be prepared. What would be considered racist language today, is routinely scattered across the story. Don't let it offend you, but let it wash over you to give you some of the feelings of the time it was written. Much like Mark Twain's language in his classic tales, I don't believe this takes away from the story, but rather gives you a sense of what life was during this time frame.
The Lone Star Ranger: Zane Grey "reused" an earlier story's outline, to generate a new story that closely mirrors that earlier one.
The Rainbow Trail: Z. Grey has a "formula" that he writes to. This general formula is repeated in all his western romances. The stories are still enjoyable. He has a romantic vision of the west, that always comes out in the stories allowing you to have a sense of being in the locale he is describing. Rainbow Trail returns to characters first seen in Riders of the Purple Sage, while introducing some new, and lovable characters. A pleasant read.
Border Legion:
Wildfire: A bittersweet ending
The U.P.Trail: Zane Grey's western's always follow a romance as a central thread to the story. This one was no different from this regard, but what made this particularly interesting was the fictional account of the building of the Union Pacific Railroad, and it's linkage of the East and West Coast via railroad. The character development was good, and it was a historically accurate fictionalization of this massive industrial effort and it's impact on the West. A very enjoyable read.
Tales of Fishes: although part of the mega-pack, this is not a fiction story, but a non-fiction account of Zane Grey's experience fishing for sailfish, tuna, and swordfish. It bored me a bit and I gave up on it, moving to the next selection.
The Man of the Forest: A part of the Megapack, Zane Grey's prose In "The Man of the Forest" is so eloquent, that it is easy to imagine that you are right there with a bird's eye view of the story unfolding. Filled with adventure, romance, action, suspense and beauty they draw you back to the old West in the final stages of it's taming by brave men and strong women who love life and live it to the fullest. I really enjoyed this read. You will too.
The Redheaded Outfield, The Rube, The Rube's Pennant, The Rube's Honeymoon, The Rube's Waterloo, Breaking into Fast Company, The Knocker, The Winning Ball, False Colors, The Manager of Madden's Hill, and Old Well-Well were all minor league baseball fiction stories. I skipped them as I had no interest.
The Mysterious Rider:
To the Last Man:
The Day of the Beast: The story is about the return of a WWI soldier to the United States. He suffers from what we would now know as PTSD, and must deal with deep illness from his service. In addition, he struggles with the changes that have occured, societally in his home town. Written in 1922, the story resembles what our Viet Nam veteran's must have endured when they returned home. One of Zane Grey's more tragic stories.
Tales of Lonely Trails:by Zane Grey (1922, and republished in 1986 and 1988) is a nonfiction collection of Grey's own first person accounts about his numerous adventures in the wild outdoors of the American West.
The Call of the Canyon: I read this as part of the Zane Grey Mega Pack. This is the second story where Zane Grey addressed the plight of men that had gone off to serve in Europe during WWI, and returned to a country where they were not honored for their service. Using the term of the day, "being shell shocked", he relates in detail the effects of what we call PTSD. Much of what he writes will find itself once again repeated, as the US endured Viet Nam, and it's aftermath for those veterans. Grey also addresses the societal conditions of the time, of the easy approach to life that the nation began to adopt (what we know as the "roaring twenties", and how people retreated from the challenges that were hard. The story centers on a young soldier, who on his return, left for the west to recover from the issues he was mentally dealing with when he returned from the war, leaving behind his fiancee. She goes out to Arizona, to try to convince him to come back home to NY City. The story takes you though what transpires. It's a good read.
Valley of Wild Horses: It was the next to the last story. Grey loves his western romances, and this one was one of his best. It was a fun read.
The Wild-Horse Hunter: A short story
The Lone Star Ranger: Zane Grey "reused" an earlier story's outline, to generate a new story that closely mirrors that earlier one.
The Rainbow Trail: Z. Grey has a "formula" that he writes to. This general formula is repeated in all his western romances. The stories are still enjoyable. He has a romantic vision of the west, that always comes out in the stories allowing you to have a sense of being in the locale he is describing. Rainbow Trail returns to characters first seen in Riders of the Purple Sage, while introducing some new, and lovable characters. A pleasant read.
Border Legion:
Wildfire: A bittersweet ending
The U.P.Trail: Zane Grey's western's always follow a romance as a central thread to the story. This one was no different from this regard, but what made this particularly interesting was the fictional account of the building of the Union Pacific Railroad, and it's linkage of the East and West Coast via railroad. The character development was good, and it was a historically accurate fictionalization of this massive industrial effort and it's impact on the West. A very enjoyable read.
Tales of Fishes: although part of the mega-pack, this is not a fiction story, but a non-fiction account of Zane Grey's experience fishing for sailfish, tuna, and swordfish. It bored me a bit and I gave up on it, moving to the next selection.
The Man of the Forest: A part of the Megapack, Zane Grey's prose In "The Man of the Forest" is so eloquent, that it is easy to imagine that you are right there with a bird's eye view of the story unfolding. Filled with adventure, romance, action, suspense and beauty they draw you back to the old West in the final stages of it's taming by brave men and strong women who love life and live it to the fullest. I really enjoyed this read. You will too.
The Redheaded Outfield, The Rube, The Rube's Pennant, The Rube's Honeymoon, The Rube's Waterloo, Breaking into Fast Company, The Knocker, The Winning Ball, False Colors, The Manager of Madden's Hill, and Old Well-Well were all minor league baseball fiction stories. I skipped them as I had no interest.
The Mysterious Rider:
To the Last Man:
The Day of the Beast: The story is about the return of a WWI soldier to the United States. He suffers from what we would now know as PTSD, and must deal with deep illness from his service. In addition, he struggles with the changes that have occured, societally in his home town. Written in 1922, the story resembles what our Viet Nam veteran's must have endured when they returned home. One of Zane Grey's more tragic stories.
Tales of Lonely Trails:by Zane Grey (1922, and republished in 1986 and 1988) is a nonfiction collection of Grey's own first person accounts about his numerous adventures in the wild outdoors of the American West.
The Call of the Canyon: I read this as part of the Zane Grey Mega Pack. This is the second story where Zane Grey addressed the plight of men that had gone off to serve in Europe during WWI, and returned to a country where they were not honored for their service. Using the term of the day, "being shell shocked", he relates in detail the effects of what we call PTSD. Much of what he writes will find itself once again repeated, as the US endured Viet Nam, and it's aftermath for those veterans. Grey also addresses the societal conditions of the time, of the easy approach to life that the nation began to adopt (what we know as the "roaring twenties", and how people retreated from the challenges that were hard. The story centers on a young soldier, who on his return, left for the west to recover from the issues he was mentally dealing with when he returned from the war, leaving behind his fiancee. She goes out to Arizona, to try to convince him to come back home to NY City. The story takes you though what transpires. It's a good read.
Valley of Wild Horses: It was the next to the last story. Grey loves his western romances, and this one was one of his best. It was a fun read.
The Wild-Horse Hunter: A short story
Read
November 6, 202210/29 The Last Trail (Ohio River Trilogy) finished
11/14/20 finished The Heritage of the Desert
11/18/20 Finished The Young Forester
11/27/2020 finished The Young Pitcher
12/6/2020 finished The Young Lion Hunter
12/18/2020 finished Riders of the Purple Sage
1/1/2021 -- finished Desert Gold
~ This collection is put together based on publication dates and is not complete. Noting that -- it wasn't until this point, 1913, that it seems the author develops a admiration of humanity other than white race. Prior to this, native Americans were referred to as savages, African Americans viewed as stupid... But his writing improves constantly in the areas of description, almost as if with each point of scenery he falls more and more in love with his location.
2/2/2021 finished Light of Western Stars
2/16/2021 finished The Lone Star Ranger
3/4/2021 finished The Rainbow Trail
3/24/2021 finished The Border Legion
4/11/2021 finished Wildfire
6/13/2021 finished The UP Trail
8/9/2021 finished the desert of wheat
finished Tales of Fishes (mostly, I skipped the last few after I got to worrying that some of those breeds of fish might now be extinct) The Man of the Forest, The Redheaded Outfield and other Baseball Stories, The Mysterious Rider
... 5/18/2022 finished To The Last Man
6/1/2022 finished The Day of the Beast
9/28/2022 finished Call of the Mountain, two to go
11/14/20 finished The Heritage of the Desert
11/18/20 Finished The Young Forester
11/27/2020 finished The Young Pitcher
12/6/2020 finished The Young Lion Hunter
12/18/2020 finished Riders of the Purple Sage
1/1/2021 -- finished Desert Gold
~ This collection is put together based on publication dates and is not complete. Noting that -- it wasn't until this point, 1913, that it seems the author develops a admiration of humanity other than white race. Prior to this, native Americans were referred to as savages, African Americans viewed as stupid... But his writing improves constantly in the areas of description, almost as if with each point of scenery he falls more and more in love with his location.
2/2/2021 finished Light of Western Stars
2/16/2021 finished The Lone Star Ranger
3/4/2021 finished The Rainbow Trail
3/24/2021 finished The Border Legion
4/11/2021 finished Wildfire
6/13/2021 finished The UP Trail
8/9/2021 finished the desert of wheat
finished Tales of Fishes (mostly, I skipped the last few after I got to worrying that some of those breeds of fish might now be extinct) The Man of the Forest, The Redheaded Outfield and other Baseball Stories, The Mysterious Rider
... 5/18/2022 finished To The Last Man
6/1/2022 finished The Day of the Beast
9/28/2022 finished Call of the Mountain, two to go
October 9, 2016
Loved them.
Some are a bit tired and it's a mistake to read the anthology in full since they are a little similar.
It's been a fantastic collection to enjoy.
Some are a bit tired and it's a mistake to read the anthology in full since they are a little similar.
It's been a fantastic collection to enjoy.
January 29, 2015
A must for Zane Grey fans.
October 3, 2015
Read it
Book was fine. relatively annoyed I cannot progress without rating this book. Will research how to avoid this next time.
Book was fine. relatively annoyed I cannot progress without rating this book. Will research how to avoid this next time.
December 20, 2016
V good.
Very good. Much better than I thought it would be.
I love the west and could not wait to get back the western side of his books.
Very good. Much better than I thought it would be.
I love the west and could not wait to get back the western side of his books.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews