This book was the first of L’Amour’s Sackett series that
felt like a “regular Western,” to me – much like many of his other books. As
such, it was a little less interesting to me, though still entertaining. The
two brothers, Orrin and Tyrel, remain strong, decisive men, cut from the same
cloth as the rest of the Sacketts.
One interesting aspect of this novel was that of
race. The Sacketts moved in New Mexico just after it has become part of the
United States, and there was considerable question about the way local power
would be changed by this new state of affairs. Some white Americans, among whom
we find the majority of the book’s villains, thought they could go to Santa Fe
and basically rip off the Mexicans/Spaniards of not just their political power
but also their economic wealth by stealing their land and cattle. The Sacketts
showed themselves to be open to all races. Their judgment of a person has everything
to do with how that person behaves and nothing to do with his/her background or
race or anything else, really. That is the way I strive to view others, as
well.
