Majesty's Rancho [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Zane Grey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1983

After Lance Sidway comes to beautiful Madge Stewart's defense and ends up on the wrong side of the law, he escapes to Arizona and finds work on her father's ranch. Madge is kidnapped by a gang of cattle rustlers, and Sidway must intervene once again to save her life--even at the cost of his own.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 501 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Pr (March 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896213471
• ISBN-13: 978-0896213470
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,735,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MAJESTY'S RANCHO... or how Lance Sidway lost his great horse Umpqua after all..., May 7, 2010

By 

H. Bala "Me Too Can Read" (Just moved to posh Marina Del Rey, CA - where if you drop a quarter, why, you just keep on walking) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Majesty's Rancho (Hardcover)

For me, if it's not Louis L'Amour, then it's Zane Grey. It's how I roll in my American West literature (sorry, Max Brand; sorry, Larry McMurtry). Anyway, one hint that a book is dusty and dated is when instead of a character saying "Damn!" it comes out as "----!" This book offers up several of these cloaked expletives. MAJESTY'S RANCHO was written pretty late in the day in Zane Grey's career and, for whatever reason, happens to be one of my top two favorites in this author's bibliography (the other is THE DUDE RANGER). I haven't read all of Grey's novels, but I've read enough of his more serious, more epic stuff. Held up next to those, MAJESTY'S RANCHO comes off as more fun and upbeat by miles (HERITAGE OF THE DESERT or RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, to name two, are solemn reads). This one feels like Zane Grey letting his hair down, putting his feet up. I also like that the story takes place in modern times, or what was modern times when this book was first written. It's a nice change of pace.

It's 1932, Hollywood, and western cinema is very much in vogue. Lance Sidway, lean and tall cowboy from Oregon and hoping to scarce up funds for his sister's surgery, rode into Tinseltown and became an instant success. Or, rather, his magnificent horse "Umpqua" (which means "Swift") became an instant success. On his last day in Los Angeles, Sidway runs into the fiery college student Madge Stewart and helps her out of a jam (she was being harassed by a policeman Lothario). Sidway is instantly smitten, but things don't work out. He ends up leaving town.

Sidway and Umpqua make their way into Arizona where Sidway is on the lookout for job prospects. He ends up in Majesty's Rancho, where the owner sizes him up and signs him on as a ranch hand. And if you've read LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS, well, then this is when you get reacquainted with the protagonists of that book, Gene Stewart and his wife Madeline. They own Majesty's Rancho. Guess who their daughter is? You're darn tootin'.

Coincidence has a nose and it sticks it in. No sooner does Sidway get hired than Gene's daughter, Majesty or "Madge" shows up, expelled from university and now come home to stay. Madge is dazzled by Umpqua and demands that Sidway sell his beloved horse to her. Sidway refuses. Madge also accuses Sidway of purposely showing up at her home to chase her. Sidway, affronted, denies it. Zane Grey builds on this initial misunderstanding and, soon enough, these two are at each other's throats. Which means only one thing. Or as one of Majesty's college girl friends murmurs: "It's the most delicious love story there ever was in all the world." Oh, Zane Grey, you softie.

Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour are both wonderful narrators of the Old West. But where L'Amour's stories are more stripped down, leaner and meaner, with more blistering "oomph" in the action sequences, Grey tends to be more expansive. He allows more moments to play out, he fosters dialogue. In MAJESTY'S RANCHO, chunks of time elapse with the hero NOT fighting villains - and, yeah, there are gangsters and rustlers and kidnappers in these pages. The focus of the book seems to be most on Madge and Sidway's combustible romance, with all the other goings-on, including the villain sub-plots, serving as backdrop. And it's okay. Because Sidway is an agreeable cowboy (although he could've done with more of a sense of humor), and I've been halfway in love with the stunning, imperious Madge Stewart since I read this book years and years ago. Even if she's about as high maintenance as one could get.

One of the subplots centers around the financial hole the Stewart family had fallen into while Madge was away in college. Gene Stewart's concern is that his daughter will prove not to be "true blue western" but instead a flighty, spoiled city girl. We find out which sort she is fairly quickly.

Shenanigans play out at the ranch, especially when Madge's college pals come a-visitin' for the summer. Sidway and Madge keep on circling each other, trying their best to one-up each other. Madge is the adventurous type and so she keeps getting into scrapes, and it doesn't sit too well with her that Sidway is the one always bailing her out. And then, everything comes to a head when Madge is suddenly kidnapped. And then Zane Grey really gets going.