The Baron Range

I've collected books by Jory Sherman for years but did not pay much attention to the series of books on the Barons until recently. What a pleasant surprise in reading. As far as I can tell there are at least six books in this series: Grass Kingdom, Baron War, Baron Honor, Baron's of Texas, The Baron Brand, and this one, The Baron Range. Quite a collection of books as well as characters, too. The Baron Range is a sprawling book of events and peoples with Martin Baron, wife Caroline, son Anson, and Juanito Salazar as the center of all activity. As Mickey Bone relates to the Lipan Apaches: ... I am not a Mexican, I am not a white man,..." and in this same vein the book deals with all peoples: Mexican, Texican, white, Apache, and in Salazar's case a man from Argentina. All these people are caught up in both Texan and frontier love, lore, and war. I use the word 'sprawling' because this book seems somehow a book in a series of books that could have been written and projected as a mini series for TV. The Baron family is embroiled in much internal strife with wife and husband arguing, son Anson in contention with his father. The family eventually ruptures with great price to be paid in both love and friendship. As most readers will find, this book holds the reader attention well causing one to want to continue turning pages. The writing is very smooth with generally small chapters. Both the events and the characters cause the reader to want to know more about them and their eventual outcomes. Not so much a 'western' as a novel of a large ranch and the various peoples drawn onto the million acre Baron range. Semper Fi.

I liked it. The story shows you what the early settlers in Texas had to face every day.