Zorro #3: Zorro Rides Again

Zorro #3

by Johnston McCulley

Zorro Rides Again is the third novella featuring Zorro, the Robin Hood of Old California. Reina de Los Angeles is being terrorised by a masked swordsman who marks the faces of his victims with Zorro’s trademark Z. But is this the real Zorro? The Governor of California offers a reward for the capture of Don Diego Vega (who is known to have previously been Zorro) dead or alive, while an army – led by the ruthless Captain Rocha – is in hot pursuit of the outlaw. Assisted by a coterie of allies and the native Cocopah tribe, Don Diego seeks to establish his innocence and unmask the evil imposter.

4 hr. 20 min.

Genres: Classics, Audiobook, Comics, Adventure, Fiction

322 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 1931

About the author

Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 – November 23, 1958) was the author of hundreds of stories, fifty novels, numerous screenplays for film and television, and the creator of the character Zorro.

Many of his novels and stories were written under the pseudonyms Harrington Strong, Raley Brien, George Drayne, Monica Morton, Rowena Raley, Frederic Phelps, Walter Pierson, and John Mack Stone, among others.

McCulley started as a police reporter for The Police Gazette and served as an Army public affairs officer during World War I. An amateur history buff, he went on to a career in pulp magazines and screenplays, often using a Southern California backdrop for his stories.

Aside from Zorro, McCulley created many other pulp characters, including Black Star, The Spider, The Mongoose, and Thubway Tham. Many of McCulley's characters — The Green Ghost, The Thunderbolt, and The Crimson Clown — were inspirations for the masked heroes that have appeared in popular culture from McCulley's time to the present day.

Born in Ottawa, Illinois, and raised in Chillicothe, Illinois, he died in 1958 in Los Angeles, California, aged 75. -wikipedia

Reviews

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another adventure filled tale of the daring Zorro. This was the third chronologically released Zorro story. In this one someone is impersonating Zorro to ruin his reputation and Don Diego must find out who and why.

As usual this was a fun story. McCulley really can write a fun adventure tale. I really like the setup. However, I feel like everyone too readily believes it’s Zorro that is doing the bad things. I mean no one really even considers it’s someone else dressing up as Zorro, and when they do, they dismiss it as a ridiculous idea.

That being said, I enjoyed the story.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zorro Rides Again, third the original series by Johnston McCulley, sees Zorro still unmarried and after a huge time skip: three whole years since the ending of The Further Adventures of Zorro. Apparently it is because Lolita took so desperately ill that, even though she couldn't say marriage vows, she could still travel back to Spain to receive treatment. Despite how suspension-of-disbelief breaking that is, it's really just a pretext for McCulley to still have his main character still be unmarried, and thus able to be Zorro. In this book, Zorro needs to ride because some imposter has been going around dressed in the cloak and mask abusing all the people Zorro was famous for helping - namely: natives, women, and the poor - and everyone thinks that Diego has gone mad if he's doing this. Diego takes up the mask once more to catch the imposter, who turns out to be the new commander, a man of many motive: revenge, as he was a close friend of Captain Ramon; greed, as he's been promised reward by the governor for ruining Zorro; and jealousy, as he's trying to force a newly-returned-from-Spain Lolita to marry him instead of her betrothed.

This story was...okay. The whole 'there's an imposter Zorro' is a pretty common trope throughout Zorro media, so I wasn't surprised to see it in the original stories. However - and these are my twenty-first century sensibilities peeking through - the plotting and characterization are not great. McCulley wrote himself into a corner with the ending of Mark/Curse, when Zorro's identity was revealed to everyone and he vowed that, as a married man, he would ride as Zorro no more. Unfortunately, that means that, in subsequent stories, he has to write around his main character no longer having a secret identity - which opens up some story possibilities, but closes off a lot of others - and needing to be unmarried to maintain his status as a man of honour (because riding as Zorro after his marriage would mean breaking his solemn word). Thus we are starting to see increasingly unlikely plot devices to avoid the romance that the entire first book set up and the second book expanded on; I'm almost not sure I want to see what the next book, The Sign of Zorro, does. But I do own Sign so I will read it, though I will probably not read any more of McCulley's original Zorro stories unless the quality begins to vastly improve. As with a lot of old fiction, these are interesting views into the past, but that doesn't mean I particularly enjoy the time spent there.

[Svea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book,

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't too bad though could see some of the TV series and movie 'tales' popping in here, where someone impersonates Zorro and tries to make out he's a bad guy. Still a tad old fashioned with the damsel in distress, and Zorro himself not as 'charming' as the shows, but as far as classics go, okay for a read.

[Pietro Rossi · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are loved by the masses and hide your face, can someone impersonate you and make you the bad guy?

This is the plot of this story as Zorro finds himself being blamed for wrong doings.  

Of course it's an impersonator trying to blacken his name.

Overall it was a good story but I did find the voices weren't easily identifiable. Despite thay, I could follow the story. 6/10

[Elizabeth Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy this more than the second book but not as much as the first book. The narrator's over-the-top Spanish accent still annoyed me. There was some racism/paternalism showing in the author's description of Natives. But the Zorro imposter was mostly fun.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This edition has the Third novel, Zorro Rides Again, and eleven short stories about Zorro. Illustrated and filled with information about Zorro, again I recommend this edition.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was better than the 2nd one IMO but the 1st is still the best of this series.

[Hank · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short stories are rather formulaic.

[SandersA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun enough but nothing special

[Annabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great follow up to the first Zorro book. I really love these

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much fun, filled with humor and, of course, adventure. I love these stories!

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third book in the Zorro series.

[Cindy Paslawski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up watching Disney's Zorro, and it wasn't until The Mask of Zorro came out as a movie that the interest was rekindled. Imagine my surprise to discover a series of books now available, created from the old magazine serials. DelaVega is still femmie by day and dashing swordsman at night. He is still out there helping the poor who are being squashed by the Commandante. The stories are rich in detail and atmosphere. There's something different about the books written earlier in the twentieth century. The words, the well-written prose make them a treat to read. No TV, no radio, the books were the best entertainment, because the stories mattered. Zorro is a great read for these very reasons.