After 80+ western novels of range-wars and
quick-draw gunslingers, iconic author Louis L'Amour decided to branch
out and try a different type of frontier storytelling. Beginning in
1974, L'Amour authored Sackett's Land, the first of four novels that
presented the origins of his critically-acclaimed Sacketts family. The
entire series encompasses 17 total works with 13 set in the mid to late
1800s. Using a time period of 1599-1620, L'Amour describes pioneer life
in early America. To the Far Blue Mountains, published in 1976, is a
direct continuation of the remarkable story told in Sackett's Land, a
novel that set the bar at a nearly insurmountable height. Could this
subsequent episode deliver the same stellar result?
In the novel's opening act, we once again find main character
Barnabas Sackett in England. After defeating the Earl and his men in the
prior novel, Barnabas is eager to set sail for America. However, the
Queen still wants Barnabas in chains hoping that he will confess to
discovering the Crown Jewels (an early mix-up in the first novel). In a
crescendo of galloping horses, Barnabas avoids the law and eventually
makes his way to Ireland before catching a ship to America.
In a wild chain of events, Barnabas is shanghaied at sea and taken
back to a cold, brutal English prison called Newgate. Facing severe
punishment and torture on the rack, Barnabas eventually escapes only to
struggle reaching America. As the book's first half comes to a
satisfying close, I could sense that the author's swashbuckling
adventure writing had reached its finale.
The novel's second half is a portrait of survival in a hostile new
land. Settling somewhere in what would eventually be central Virginia,
Barnabas and his friends begin farming and trading goods with
neighboring Indians. But the peace and serenity doesn't last long when
Barnabas, and his family, are marked for death by numerous tribes.
L'Amour's storytelling is at its absolute peak as wave after wave of
Indians assault Barnabas. Will he ever make it to the “Far Blue
Mountains”?
In a lot of ways, this book comes full circle. Not only does it
continue the early adventures of Barnabas in both England and the New
World, but it extends into his old age. The author utilizes this time
period to begin branching off the family through Barnabas' sons
Kin-Ring, Jubal, Yance and Brian. This isn't a surprise considering the
next two installments focus on the mid-1600s, with the fourth and final
chapter of this early saga simply titled “Jubal Sackett”.
As an exceptional storyteller, it's hard to imagine L'Amour
improving beyond Sackett's Land. Yet, To the Far Blue Mountains is
the gold standard. I've read this novel multiple times and still get
goosebumps during the final pages. Adventure and western authors would
be hard pressed to deliver another literary work this sweeping,
compelling and satisfying. This epic presentation, from shore to shore,
is a grand spectacle and an absolutely riveting experience for the
reader. It simply doesn't get any better than this.
Notes:
- The first Chantry character appears briefly in this book. His
story would continue in 1978's Fair Blows the Wind. Later Chantry books state that the Chantry and Sackett family fought side by side
during the Revolutionary War.
- In the Bantam paperback edition of Jubal Sackett, L'Amour
writes that his plans at the time were to explore the Sackett family
history during America's Revolutionary and Civil War. Unfortunately,
those novels never came to fruition as L'Amour would die afterwards in
1988.
- L'Amour would continue more adventure stories with his novel The Walking Drum (1984) set in 12th century Europe.
- There's some loose supernatural elements within To the Far Blue
Mountains. In one scene Barnabas sees what he thinks is another city
(or world) in the shoreline mist. L'Amour would experiment more with
these elements in his science-fiction novel Haunted Mesa (1987).
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