Review: The Mark of Zorro

The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Out of the night when the full moon is bright. 

Comes a horseman known as Zorro. 

This bold renegade carves a "Z" with his blade, 

a "Z" that stands for Zorro. 

Zorro the Fox so cunning and free. 

Zorro who makes the sign of the "Z".

I watched many episodes of the Zorro television show when I was young. I didn't watch every episode obviously but I enjoyed what I saw. I read some comics but I knew that they were based on a book so I had it in the collection. Now that I've read it I'm surprised by how different it was from the depictions that I've seen before. 

The book is actually far more serious then what is usually shown. Zorro actually does most of his work at gunpoint. We're use to seeing him flash the blade and in the end carve the Z into his foe. In the book he mostly points a gun at people and maybe uses the blade later but mostly to prove a point. The book reads episodically with short chapters. You can visualize everything that is happening as the author wrote the story as to leave very little to the imagination of whatever the seen is. And Senor Zorro wears a full covered mask and cowl to not have any opportunity to identify who he may be.  These changes present the story in a more serious light as Zorro fights against the oppression of the Comandante and cruel Governor. 

The book is a fast read if you get caught up in it. The only issue is the ending. The last two chapters undo the serious nature of what's come before it. It provides a happy ending but makes you wonder how could they continue with more books in this series after that ending. That being said the rest was fun to read. So, if you want to swash your buckle or buckle your swash there's plenty of that in this book up until the end but the ride does continue in later volumes.

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