Grizzly Killer: The Making of a Mountain Man

By: Lane R Warenski

Narrated by: Chase Bradley

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Zach Connors and his pa left their Kentucky homestead in the summer of 1824 to see the Rocky Mountains, he didn't realize he would never see his childhood home again or that he would find love, friendship, fame, and a new home in this wild and harsh wilderness.

After a grizzly kills his pa, Zach struggles to survive a cold and brutal winter alone. After killing a rouge grizzly and fighting hostile Indians on his own, he becomes known as Grizzly Killer and is respected throughout the West.

Along with his dog, Jimbo, whom the Indians call the Great Medicine Dog, he finds Running Wolf, an injured Ute warrior, and together they fight off a hostile war party. They rescue two Shoshone sisters from the brutality of a French trapper and take them as wives. After Zach saves Running Wolf's beautiful sister, Shining Star, he is expected to take her as a second wife, but his Christian beliefs conflict with the Indian traditions, and he struggles within himself to accept the Indian ways.

Set in the rugged Uinta Mountains of Northern Utah, this is a story of survival against nature and hostile Indians and the clash of cultures between the Indians and mountain men that were the first to brave this uncharted wilderness, seeking their fortune from the pelts of the beaver.

©feb 11th, 2017 Wolfpack Publishing (P)2017 Wolfpack Publishing

Entertaining cool story

Very entertaining story. Well written , and well read. Has a very distinct diary style and perfectly reflects the feel of the Rocky Mointain fur trade era. Liked it a lot, and downloading book II now.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A Nice Flip Side of Louis L’Amour

This is a review of the Grizzly Killer series, and not of just this single novel (there are five books in the series, at this writing).
Louis L'Amour's (outstanding) westerns involved few interactions with Indians. Now comes this enjoyable series, which centers on a white man who surrounds himself with them. And where L'Amour's western stories are set post-Civil War, this tale is set decades earlier, before the tide of white settlers had begun to spoil life for the Indian.
What a nice pace! The (single) story glides along with its protagonist engaged with the surroundings and his friendships among the small cast of characters. Challenges come. They might be anything - critters; logistics; weather; romance; other people; whatever - and the subplots they generate are well drawn. The whole thing comes across as believable - except that his dog may be a little overdrawn. No matter; I can imagine having a dog like that!
Warenski doesn't shove political correctness down the reader's throat, the way some movies and novels do. Rather, he just lets his story flow. (Well... he kinda gets preachy in his fifth book, but only barely.)
Narrators: The first book has a good narrator. The second book's narrator has a delivery that I found distracting, but I got used to it. The last three books have a narrator with a transparent delivery that fits nicely.
This is good stuff; I sure hope Mr. Warenski keeps writing more!

To corny of a story line and not written well.

I usually enjoy books dated back in the fur trapper era and I tried to give this one a chance even after not liking it the first hour of listening, but It just grew worse as I listened on. there were a few unrealistic situations that would have played out much differently in real life. I also didn't like how it was written and the choice of words used, half the vocabulary of this book consists of the words "might" "right" and "figured" way to much and grew extremely repetitive. It also just felt like a book about a boy a dog and a mule playing cabin in the woods somewhere.

The luckiest man in the mountains!

Grizzly Killer is a wonderful story. I love this type of story especially when it is written as well and with such emotion as this one. Zach Connors, Grizzly Killer, finds himself alone in the Rocky Mountains after a bear killed his father. Zach was twenty years old and they had been trapping for the past year. Zach knew no other life so he stayed in the mountains after burying his father and continued to trap. It is here that the legend of Grizzly Killer begins. As Zach travels and traps he finds himself in the Uinta-Wasatch Mountains of Northern Utah; the land of the Ute Indians. The characters are so compelling; the story alive with descriptions of the wild and rugged West of the 1800’s when trappers flowed into the untamed country to trap beaver. As lawless and dangerous as this early country was I think I would have loved and appreciated that life. The world of the Indians was so simple and honorable; their existence and connection with the land so honest and harmonious. I am reminded of one of my favorite movies, Jeremiah Johnson. If you have never watched this mountain man tale, look for it and enjoy. There are five books in the series and I plan on savoring every one of them.

Very good book

I enjoyed this book very much.I want to thank the author for writing it. Write some more please.

Have read much better from this era

May I never read another book with the adjective MIGHTY ! Used Way to much.

Darn good western story!

Finally another western writer who can hold a story together, and stays true to historical content. The narrator was not bad, but could have used more emotion into the telling of the story.

Great book, great series

I really enjoyed this series. It is certainly, in many ways currently very politically incorrect. But, I have waited close to 40 years to find this book. One of my greatest pleasures as a young teenager was reading stories about the frontier, the mountain men, the long hunters, etc. This series has the one thing I always wanted from those old stories but never found. The “heroes” of those old stories were invariably Natty Bumppo type characters who were quick to live and to survive by learning from and emulating the native Americans’ ways. But, at the same time they always considered themselves superior and were always quick to point out their own “white Christian” superiority to the heathen red skins “nature.” In those old stories the Native American’s were never more than the hero’s “sidekick.” They were never equals. It was a joy to find none of that in this book. If you are looking for a good solid story of good guys and bad guys, strong heroes and beautiful heroines then this is a book I can certainly recommend.

Mountain Man Adventure!!!

Great story, truly an enjoyable experience. Gritty, informative, sounded like a true adventure. Thank You.

Entertaining, engrossin

This book has a simple, but very well told story. It is entertaining and always had my attention. The author's attention to detail made me feel like I was there.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful