x

Western

The 4th book in the Sackett's series. It's the story of Jubal Sackett and his trip to find himself in the Rocky Mountains. He makes a friend, finds a wife, rides a buffalo, and fights a mammoth. All in all a good book. ( )

While I have read five of Louis L' Amour's western novels, this is my first selection from his celebrated "Sackett" series. Although this one is 4th in the Sackett series chronologically, it does not suffer from a reader's lack of previous experience with the family saga.

Jubal Sackett is a lone explorer, making his way through the wilderness of North America in the early to mid 1600s. Despite the harsh wilderness conditions, the chief dangers Jubal faces are native Americans of various tribes, with whom he barters and battles. Along the way, he joins up with an Indian companion, a Kickapoo named Keokotah; he also gains a mission: to find a crown princess Itchakomi and tell her that her home tribe, the Nathchee, want her to return and lead her people, since the chief is dying. He finds Itchakomi, and she falls for Jubal, and seeks to make a life with him instead, but not before Jubal has fought off and killed the half-breed Natchee who has been seeking her for his own lustful and ambitious purposes. One recurring element that stretches the truth to the breaking point is how, in the vast wilderness, Jubal, Keokotah and Itchakomi manage to find each other easily enough across vast stretches of territory. Another aspect, one that grows a bit tiresome on repetition, is Jubal's own periodic ruminations on what his siblings and relatives back in England are doing at any given time. Nevertheless, the story itself is enjoyable (if a bit long for its content).

I found it especially interesting to view the country through which Jubal travels through his eyes, and since the landmarks are not given their modern names, to figure out what they were encountering (Smoky Mts, Mississippi River, and what may be the Mammoth Caves). The book ends with a startling episoide; supposedly mammoths / mastodons have not yet died out, and Jubal battles one to the death. In an addendum, the author asserts that while the great beasts are thought to have died out by 6000 BCE (a date a few thousand years more recently than paleontologists cite), that enigmatic reports from the 1800s suggest that the animals were still extant. A questionable assertion, that, but the episode spiced up the story. In any case, I found this book enjoyable. It's a "western" of a different sort, being dated to >200 years before the typical cowboy novels. ( )

Jubal heads west from North Carolina for the far blue mountains that fascinated his father, Barnabas. On his journey he meets friend and foe, and overcomes numerous physical obstacles.

This was my first L'Amour read, and remains one of my favorites. ( )