A classic of the genre - Rated 
If you are not an aficianado of the Western novel but would like to sample the genre, then you should try one or more of the three great classics; Jack Schaefer's "Shane", Owen Wister's "The Virginian" , and this novel by Zane Grey. Of the three, "Shane" has the most literary merit and is the only one with claims to being great literature. "The Virginian" is often regarded as the first true representative of the genre, establishing as it does many of the great archetypal characters and incidents of Western myth, and "Riders of the Purple Sage" remains the best-selling Western ever.
"Riders" has two very remarkable features. The first is the surprising complexity and mythic depth of the story. One of the facets is a Garden of Eden theme, with two of the characters isolated in a lush wilderness. This is so strikingly like the Emil Zola novel "La Faute de l'Abbe Mouret" (The Abbe Mouret's Sin) that one wonders if Grey had read and been inspired by it. Interwoven with this is an Oedipal theme. If all of this sounds a bit much for a cowboy yarn, I can only say that it really is all there.
The other remarkable thing about the book is its attitude toward the Mormon religion. The hero is an avowed "killer of Mormons". The LDS church is depicted as essentially brutal and tyrannical. This, I suppose, reflects a prejudice of the time, but I wonder how present-day members of that church react to this novel.
It has to be said that Grey is not a great writer and in particular, he cannot do dialogue. In fact, the dialogue in the first few pages is so appalling that I nearly gave up on the book there and then. However, I'm glad I stuck with it. It is such a fine and strange story and has such a wonderful sense of place. It will make you want to saddle a horse and ride off through the sagebrush.
The best of all Westerns? - Rated 
This is the only Western I've read, and it's a cracker. In a way it's the physical setting - the plains, the canyons, the rocks and, of course, the sage - that makes this story of hero, villain and distressed heroine come to life. Grey's style is distinctive - that is: quirky, dated and hard to take at first. But it has a rhythm that carries you along at a canter. A couple of things surprised me: first, the vivid scenes of violence and bloodshed (for a book that first appeared in 1912) and second, the strength of his characters - particularly his women. It's not just a shoot-em-up; there's a lot of social, sexual and psychological depth too. Is this the greatest novel of the American West? I think it might be.
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