The Man of the Forest

A fun read and so well written. Loved the character development. And the descriptions of the geography are wonderful. Makes one realize that Grey must have experienced the vistas he so eloquently explained.

While still a good read, I would not put this Zane Grey story at the same level as Riders of the Purple Sage, The Rainbow Trail, and The Last Trail. Overall the story was good, but seemed to drag a little bit in the middle before the real action kicked in.

This was a story that really captivated me. The descritions of the scenes and development of characters are masterfully done. Some scenes are a bit predictable but others are a complete surprise. The feelings and perceptions of the main character are things I can relate to. It gives one an intimate connection with the people and their experiences.

I was attracted to this book by its title, since I am a forester. It has been a long time since I've read a Zane Grey book and I forgot how much I enjoy them. This is a book that I think everyone will enjoy.

Featuring archaic and corny dialect with racial slurs it surely isn't a book for today...but it has goodwill to a long-gone core. It's a sort of fun read in a good guy Vs bad guy way. At least the morals are clean and as an added bonus you get a idea of inheritance by force.

Very disappointed when I opened this book to read on my kindle. The print was too small to read and the pictures so faded they may as well have not been there. There was no way to enlarge the print with my kindle's font choices because these pages are like photographs of each page from the original text. This should not have been offered to buy as is unreadable!

I loved this book!! Couldn't put it down! I love these books set in history. I love to read the details of how people lived and survived. This author does an excellent job of transporting you right into the lives of the characters. I depend greatly on reviews that are posted on the store. Even when I am left purchasing an item elsewhere, I read what the reviewers here have to say. I want to assist others by providing reviews that give detailed personal experience about the products that I buy on the store.
I received no compensation for my review and state my honest and unbiased opinion of the product. My words and the rating I provide are mine and are based on my own personal experience with this book.

One of my favorites of the Zane Grey books.
Characterization, sequence flow of description are excellent and carry the thought trend favorably for me. .
It is high on my list of Grey books to read.

This was just a wonderful book Zane just describes everything so beautiful too bad he wrote only 80books I could read his works everyday. He was such a romantic makes you just want to be where he talks about

The Man of the Forest is the first Zane Gray book I have read. I don't know for sure, but I could swear Zane Gray is a woman. The story drags so much in parts where descriptions of emotions and thoughts that it was tough to get started, and tough to keep going. This book needs a Readers Digest Version. The overall story is excellent. The descriptions of the scenery was excellent. I gave it for stars for these to areas. It would have 5 stars if it did not drag so. I would recommend this book especially to women.

I always enjoy Zane Grey's books! I can count on it being a great story set in the beautiful background of the west. This is a great read, with an uplifting view of nature's lessons. Zane Grey never disappoints me!

Would recommend
I have read about half of Zane Grey's Western's and this is almost as good as the Zane Family series.
I usually read all of an Author's books that are available in ebooks before changing .

Zane Grey's novels can practically be considered classics today. Present day readers may find his stories and often his opinions dated, but they do give one a true sense of what the American West must have been like in the late 1800's early 1900's. This book tells about life in the forest and what those people did to survive and flourish.

Is but one reason why I still enjoy books over this owned medium. Leave me the hell alone kindle/the store. I'm not interested in helping you sell this poor excuse for a temporary expensive version of a lending library. Books can go where this electronic thing cannot, and require no strings to be read. When or where there are no chargers or internet connections, books will still be there to lead us out of darkness, and to while away the lonely times.

By the way, the story is a wonderful read, in Zane Grey's flowery, adjective laden way.

Another western written in mr. Grey's unique style. The raw cruelty and raw beauty that makes up the west as we would like it to have been. I enjoyed the book but got a little put off by the discussion between the characters

I had read this a very long time ago, this seemed like a condensed version of the actual book. funny as time goes by, how you can read a book at one point in your life and really like it and later read it again and not find the same thrill. just saying.. it is still an okay book of fiction of the old WEst Days. as such.

Comes a tale from a master story-teller of the old West who died in 1939 but whose stories have inspired scores of Hollywood Movies. This one is set in the White Mountains of Arizona.

The American Revolution may have been fought over the issue of British Imperialism but as writers such as Howard Zinn will explain the result was simply the replacement of robber barons in Britain with homegrown entrepreneurs. The western expansion that was to become America’s Manifest Destiny was in part an attempt to escape this exploitation and regimentation. Families such as the Ingalls-Wilders moved many times as soon as civilization became too much for them. Others, such as the heroes of this tale took to the forest to escape the cabals of organized society.

Heroes have fought on behalf of damsels in distress in sagas as old as history. Sometimes the white knight actually wins the heart of a fair maiden.

The descriptive writing here evokes a time and place with loving detail. It is also a tale of greed and betrayal as an aging patriarch is seen as losing the hold he once had on his empire.

The central section of the novel becomes rather didactic with long lectures on animal and plant ecology, still relevant but tending to make the story drag. Who knew that Zane Grey was an environmentalist? The advice regarding wolves has worked to great effect since wolves have been re-introduced to Yellowstone not just for the ungulate population but for the forests and flowers as well.

To further place this story in time the Mexican Grey Wolf native to Arizona was extirpated around the turn of the 1900’s not to be re-introduced until 1998. The last Grizzly near Mt. Baldy was killed in 1939.

I had to slow down mentally to read this story, it was obviously written long before the age of short descriptions, long before the age of quick sound bites. There is a token plot, but most of the pleasure comes from the parts involving nature.

Milt Dane, the man of the forest, overhears a plot to kidnap a female, so someone else can take over her future ranch where her uncle is slowly dying. We are left to imagine what the kidnapping gang would do to her. Milt decides to get to her first. She is travelling with her younger sister, Milt takes them both to his forest camp until help arrives and the women go to their uncle's ranch, while Milt remains in the forest. The uncle finally dies, shooting does occur, and both girls get their happy ever after.

There are long passages about geography, storms, trees, their colours, growth patterns, animal behaviour, differences between nature and what we would call called civilized viewpoints. We meet the noble western man, willing to risk his life in a gun challenge and the cowardly boaster who shoots behind someones back.

I have read this book the first time as a teenager and have re-read it many times since then. I love the descriptions of the nature, the mountains, the desert, the horses etc.. I also found the story very captivating. the book came out later as "duane of the mountains" with basically just the name of Milt Dale changed. Milt, the male hero of the book, is not a gun-slinging cowboy, but a man who loves the solitude of the mountains, a life in the woods, shared only with his pets, a tame mountain lion and various other animals. When he meets Helen Rayner and her sister Bo, his whole life changes, and it takes him a while to understand what is going on in himself. I will certainly read it again, and I can recommend it to anybody who does not look for a western full of brutality. (well, there is some shooting and some people are killed, but it is described in a non-drastic way and it is just a necessary part of the story).

I hate to discourage anyone from buying any Zane Grey novel, but "Dorn of the Mountains" is the novel you should buy, not The Man of the Forest. Get the book Zane Grey wrote before the editors got a hold of it. Five Star/Gale/Cengage is doing a wonderful thing by bringing out these Zane Grey masterpieces as he wrote them, so we as Zane Grey fans can "see" the real Zane Grey. It's a battle every writer fights when he writes something and wants to get it published--compromise. Even the great ones faced this, even after they became great. In the Man of the Forest version the lead male character is Milt Dale; in the "new" book he is Milt Dorn. The reason for the change was this novel was first published in 1918 and angry German sentiment was running high because of the 1st World War. Also in this book Zane Grey begins to relate his ideas on ecology and the loss of the natural resources; as well as telling us a story about a "loner" who is uncertain about his own future. Yet, when Helen Rayner appears to be in "real" trouble he leaves his solitariness to defend and befriend her and her little sister who have come west to visit relatives, and to escape a past. There are some good characters and characterizations in this book that lend creedence to the research of location and personage as only Zane Grey could do it. I HIGHLY recommend the Dorn of the Mountain version; it is far superior to the "original", yet the original is still worth buying if you can't find or afford the other.

I hate to discourage anyone from buying any Zane Grey novel, but "Dorn of the Mountains" is the novel you should buy, not The Man of the Forest. Get the book Zane Grey wrote before the editors got a hold of it. Five Star/Gale/Cengage is doing a wonderful thing by bringing out these Zane Grey masterpieces as he wrote them, so we as Zane Grey fans can "see" the real Zane Grey. It's a battle every writer fights when he writes something and wants to get it published--compromise. Even the great ones faced this, even after they became great. In the Man of the Forest version the lead male character is Milt Dale; in the "new" book he is Milt Dorn. The reason for the change was this novel was first published in 1918 and angry German sentiment was running high because of the 1st World War. Also in this book Zane Grey begins to relate his ideas on ecology and the loss of the natural resources; as well as telling us a story about a "loner" who is uncertain about his own future. Yet, when Helen Rayner appears to be in "real" trouble he leaves his solitariness to defend and befriend her and her little sister who have come west to visit relatives, and to escape a past. There are some good characters and characterizations in this book that lend creedence to the research of location and personage as only Zane Grey could do it. I HIGHLY recommend the Dorn of the Mountain version; it is far superior to the "original", yet the original is still worth buying if you can't find or afford the other.

I first read this book when I was 12, and absolutely loved it. I was already a horse-riding maniac and adored the physical description of the West as Grey knew it. I thought the love story was also wonderful, there was suspense, and Grey, to me, was an amazing storyteller. I proceeded to read every one of his books, at the rate of about 2 per week. I have since re-read several of my faves, and decades later, this still ranks as one of the best. Unlike the other readers, I highly recommend it for a drowsy Saturday. And I love the price! Free, for my Kindle!

I hate to discourage anyone from buying any Zane Grey novel, but "Dorn of the Mountains" is the novel you should buy, not The Man of the Forest. Get the book Zane Grey wrote before the editors got a hold of it. Five Star/Gale/Cengage is doing a wonderful thing by bringing out these Zane Grey masterpieces as he wrote them, so we as Zane Grey fans can "see" the real Zane Grey. It's a battle every writer fights when he writes something and wants to get it published--compromise. Even the great ones faced this, even after they became great. In the Man of the Forest version the lead male character is Milt Dale; in the "new" book he is Milt Dorn. The reason for the change was this novel was first published in 1918 and angry German sentiment was running high because of the 1st World War. Also in this book Zane Grey begins to relate his ideas on ecology and the loss of the natural resources; as well as telling us a story about a "loner" who is uncertain about his own future. Yet, when Helen Rayner appears to be in "real" trouble he leaves his solitariness to defend and befriend her and her little sister who have come west to visit relatives, and to escape a past. There are some good characters and characterizations in this book that lend creedence to the research of location and personage as only Zane Grey could do it. I HIGHLY recommend the Dorn of the Mountain version; it is far superior to the "original", yet the original is still worth buying if you can't find or afford the other.

Grey - once a dentist (like Doc Holliday) did more to create and shape of view of the west than any other writer, and his remains - even till today - as one of the most popular. As the world moves to tweets and twats, Facebooks and drive-bys, one can only see the calling of the great outdoors, of the west, of adventure and real life.
One of Zane's most loved novels, (there were so many!), about a longer who comes to the aid of those in need - and what he is forced to do! One of the best and most compelling western novelists, Grey could spin a yarn, and tell a darn good story. If you long for those days, no matter your age, or if you are a city dweller or a country person, you will find excitement, peace, contentment and adventure with this book.

I read this book to my dad and sibilings and they LOVED IT! (so did I). Really a great western book for all ages. A couple parts are a little violent, but nothing really big. Desert Gold is another great book by Zane Gray!

I read this two years ago and decided to read it again - it is really very good. I love the characters and the old west dialog Zane Grey writes is fun. If you like a good tough hero and the old western women with running romance - you'll love it.

I am envious of Dale's life before he met Helen. I am also envious of his life at the end of the book.
There is a good honest justice of the heart that would be a welcome in this world today.
A good and simple way of understanding life and the world.

This book began well-I appreciated the beautifully descriptive language used in regards to the scenery. The characters were interesting and seemed ver likable as well. However one major flaw, probably due in part to the time period it was written in and the historical era referred to, it had very blatant racial stereoptypes. These included rude and racists labels, as well as stereotypes. Most of the villans were mexican, while all the heros seemed to be caucasian. I found this to be highly offensive, although not being of that race myself, and in particular the derogatory names used, and the discriptors as well, especially towards the end of the book. While it was not the main message of the book, it was a strong idea that ran throughout it.