Louis L. Amour\'s the Warriors Path

¶ … Warrior's Path" by Louis L'Amour

The Warrior's Path by Louis L'Amour tells the story of a family named the Sacketts that traveled in the "wilderness" along what is referred to as the "warrior's path." The warrior's path is an old warpath that is characterized as treacherous and dangerous. The Sacketts were strong men wandering through wild forests and high mountains in an attempt to find peace out of the chaotic savage wild lands.

The Sackett family encountered many difficulties living such a life, including attacks from bears and not so friendly Indian tribes. The book is a classic colonial tail that reveals some of the hardships that the early settlers had moving out into the western wilderness. Along the journey, the Sacketts are threatened with attack from neighboring Indian tribes. Many white men in the book were also violent and ruthless, one particular party kidnapped a settler's daughter. This sets the stage for the primary story line, a story of heroism and bravery. Diana Macklin is the kidnapped settlers daughter, and acts as the focal point for the frontier heroes in their journey down the old warpath.

One of the characters in the book stands out as a main character, Kin Sackett. He immediately takes a heroic stance, a stereotypical frontier "gentleman" and decides to risk his own life in order to do the right thing, save Diana Macklin from death at the hands of her captors.

Kin Sackett joined his brother Yance in a journey along the warrior's path to attempt a rescue of the kidnapped daughter. The Sacketts are represented in the book as men who don't mess around and take swift action when necessary to resolve issues. Yance and Kin as family are also representative of strongly bound friends and partners. The Warrior's Path is actually an old war trail that stretches from Chatanooga to Boston. Along the way the Sackett's discover that a group of white slavers kidnapped the girl as a way to increase tensions between white settlers and the Indians. In colonial times, such ruthless actions were not unheard of.

Kin and his brother Yance enlist the help of an Ashanti warrior, and eventually are able to rescue the girl and return her to her family. They then move on the Jamaica, where they have discovered that the white man's slave ring is operating from. Pirates and various slave masters are encountered along the way, but always the brave Kin Sackett and family prevail.

This story was a very pleasant read and very entertaining. The sense of adventure and drama really kept me interested. Kin Sackett is a great main character. He lived off of the land most of his life, and spent a great deal of time alone. He was a traditional hero-like character, venturing out into the wilderness to save a young girl from kidnappers. All the while he encountered many fears. The story begins by discussing his need to kill a "big fat bear" to feed himself. Kin remarks, "What I wanted was a big fat bear, for we are needing grease, and my ribs are showing." Such demonstrates the true potential risk of hunger for frontier travelers in early colonial times.