Zane Grey Library, Volume 1 (Annotated)

By: Zane Grey, Raging Bull Publishing

Narrated by: William Mark Woelfle

This Raging Bull Publishing bundle contains four classic Western audiobooks by Zane Grey, including:

Betty Zane (1903)

Inspired by the life and adventures of his own great-great-grandmother, Betty Zane was Zane Grey's first novel, and it launched his career as a master writer of rousing frontier and Western adventures.

Betty Zane is the story of the events culminating in the last battle of the American Revolution, when 200 Redcoats from British-controlled Detroit along with 400 Shawnee Indians attacked the small, wood-palisaded Fort Henry on the Western frontier. The heroine of the battle - a young, spunky, and beautiful frontier girl - was Betty Zane.

Desert Gold (1913)

The story describes the recent uprising along the border and ends with the finding of the gold that two prospectors had willed to the girl who is the story's heroine.

Riders of the Purple Sage (1912)

Riders of the Purple Sage tells the story of Jane Withersteen and her battle to overcome her persecution by members of her church. Throughout most of the novel, she struggles with her "blindness" in seeing the evil nature of her church and its leaders, trying to keep both Venters and Lassiter from killing her adversaries, who are slowly ruining her.

The Border Legion (1916)

Jack Kells was a remorseless killer, head of a gang that ravaged the Southern border. He didn't think twice before he kidnapped pretty Joan Randle on a lonesome Idaho trail. His cold eyes filled her with fear, but her goodness made something happen deep within him. Bad as he was, he knew he had to keep Joan safe from desperadoes far worse than he.

Kells had a price on his head and on his heels. Now, loving this woman could cost him his life...or it could make him a hero in this wild, dangerous land.

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Man and his his quest for money, power, and love

a collection of very violent stories but seemingly authentic and captivating right till the end.

Made it through….

Ok, so in my previous review, I said there was no way I would make it through 40hrs of this. Well, I was wrong. Could be I’m just cheap and couldn’t bear the thought of not finishing what I’d paid for, but I did finish. The narrator did in fact prevent me from really immersing myself into the story, and wow are there some cringe-worthy moments—“poignant” became “poyg-nant” several times, “haughty” was “how-ty”, “interminable” was “inter-MEEN-able”, and perhaps most legendary of the gaffes was “Custer” becoming “custard.” Not even kidding. I began to wonder if the guy was doing this on purpose. Maybe he’s having a great big laugh reading this. But then the odd cadence and emphasis on awkward words of a phrase…it was altogether cumbersome and doddering. In any case, I did make it ALL the way through each book, albeit with reinterpreting the phrasing in my mind in the midst of the read. Unfortunately, Zane Grey’s wonderful prose languishes beneath an awkward narration, but it is still 40+hrs of great writing, wonderful characters, captivating landscape, and at times beautiful words that I will remember. It’s not ALL inedible; just spit out the seeds.

Woelfle woefully bad

Story was good. Not great but just good. William Mark Worfle was THE worst narrator I have ever heard and that made it very hard to finish thes four stories.

Does the narrator know English or The West?

The amount of commonly used words, that were mispronounced, was laughable. The most egregious boo-boo was the horse color “sorrel”. It is not pronounced sor-EL, it is SOR uhl. Don’t get me started on “chaps”.

the narration ever

the stories are amazing. After getting used to the clinical narration, the listen was not so bad. I wonder how the narrator understand the way people talk. His narration can dramatically the meaning of the sentence. It requires constant a adjustment to get the true meaning of the written sentence. I love the stories.

Horrible narrator

Worst, utterly worst narrator EVER. Skip this and try Zane Grey with someone else. You will glad that you did.

The ejaculating cultural insensitive writer

Listening to this book was the most disappointing thing I have ever heard. It is full of racist remarks and a lot of culturally insensitive descriptions. The writing style doesn't even make kindergarten level. A big disappointment.

Shame on Audible for Hiring this Narrator!

So how bad is William Mark Woelfle? I have smoke coming out my ears. This un-be-lie-va-bly bad narrator says "tacky-turn" for taciturn. Custer of the famous last stand becomes -- no, really! -- custard! The little word "a" which most of us pronounce "uh" is with Mr. Woelfle always a long a, i.e., "ay." The result sounds like a young child reading word by word. Did anyone ask how far this deep voice got in school? He quite ruined "colloquy." When he read that a character had been "mizzled" (misled), I had to write this review and stop listening. Volunteer readers do better over on Librivox!

Stinks

The narrator Stinks! I wished I could turn this book back in. It is absolutely terrible.