The River of Kings

January 23, 2017
Brown’s (Fallen Land) second novel captures the essence of an enchanting place with a story combining adventure, family drama, and local history over the span of centuries. The book begins with brothers Hunter, a college student, and Lawton, a Navy SEAL, kayaking down the Altamaha River in Georgia to scatter their father’s ashes, as well as to answer some questions about his death. Chapters describing their modern-day outdoor adventure down the river alternate with scenes from their father’s life on the river and historical chapters set in the 1560s in the same area. At that time, French settlers claimed the land at the river’s mouth and established the first European fort in America, Fort Caroline, where they clashed with Native American tribes. The historical chapters focus on Jacques Le Moyne, a real-life artist who recorded the expedition, and include his actual drawings of the Native Americans they encountered and the settlers’ harrowing experiences. These captivating, detailed drawings enhance the historical account. Brown ties the three stories together with tales and sightings of an ancient river monster. Brown makes this nostalgic trip down the river a gorgeous ode to the Georgia coast. Agent: Christopher Rhodes, The Stuart Agency.

Starred review from January 15, 2017
Two brothers set out on Georgia's mystical Altamaha River, "a long, dark muscle in the earth," to float down to the seacoast, intent on scattering the ashes of their father, "a man of the river....A keeper of it."Lawton Loggins, a veteran SEAL warrior, and his younger brother, Hunter, a college student, are more similar than different: strong-willed, single-minded, hammered into their father's iron concept of manhood. Hiram Loggins, their father, was a U.S. Navy Vietnam swift boat sailor. A troubled, complex man who forever "felt the blackness lapping at him, hungry," Hiram took up tidewater fishing, but he was unlucky, twice losing shrimp boats, one while hauling in "square grouper" (marijuana bales dropped by smuggler's aircraft). Haunting Hiram's memory was a youthful incident involving a childhood friend. His sons know that friend as Uncle King, an eccentric failed priest-turned-environmental guerilla. Before the trip, the sons, Lawton especially, were skeptical that their father's death was an accident, but both are stunned when the truth is revealed, giving them knowledge that will redefine their memories and their futures. Expanding the Georgia lowland setting of this family saga is a narrative thread about the 1564 French settlement of Fort Caroline along the river. That struggle is detailed through the eyes of the expedition artist, Le Moyne, a man made real by a nuanced characterization. Contemporary drawings are reproduced. Thoroughly researched and expansively imagined, this portion of the novel is a tale of Utopia raped by greed, ineptness, arrogance, and deadly racism. Amid the deft descriptions of cypress swamps haunted by mythical beasts and poisoned by pollution, Taylor (Fallen Land, 2016) turns French fumbling, Hiram's rage, and the brothers' frustration into a common theme about humankind's struggle to understand its place in nature.A literary achievement: a complex, character-driven story that's powerful in concept and execution.

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October 1, 2017

The Altamaha River (sometimes known as the "Little Amazon") takes center stage in a novel that weaves in and out of multiple plotlines and time periods. Over five days, Hunter and Lawton Loggins kayak downriver to spread their father's ashes while looking for the truth behind his mysterious death. The young men's journey becomes intertwined with the story of their father, a river shrimper, and the historical figure Jacques le Moyne, an artist who traveled with French colonists in an attempt to settle northern Florida in the 16th century. The specter of a mythological water serpent rears its head in both the past and the present as Brown artfully blends historical fiction, realistic literature, and magical realism. Though some readers might consider the narrative slow going, the graceful prose is effective and will have teens questioning what is real and what lives only in the subconscious. Reproductions of le Moyne's art will spark discussion about historical perspective. VERDICT A strong choice for schools looking to beef up their literary fiction collections, especially for AP English or U.S. history courses.-Krystina Kelley, Belle Valley School, Belleville, IL

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2017
Georgia's Altamaha River, teaming with rare and dangerous species, runs through the heart of this sinewy, full-blooded follow-up to Brown's Fallen Land (2016). Brothers Lawton and Hunter Loggins, who grew up on the river in the shadow of their abusive father, must now navigate the treacherous waters to spread the ashes of the old man, Hiram, recently deceased under mysterious circumstances. The creatures that inhabit the river are often endangered, desperate, and violent, and Hiram was no exception. Prone to epic spells of bad luck, the Vietnam vet had his boat seized by the DEA and its replacement swept away in a violent storm. A third story line follows Jacques la Moyne, an artist aboard the French expedition in 1565 that founded Fort Caroline on the Georgia coast, and details battles with natives and Spanish conquistadors. There is enough adventure, mystery, and historical references in this polished, tightly controlled narrative to fill two novels, all richly and lovingly evoked in Brown's sure hands. For readers of Donald Ray Pollock and Larry Brown.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2016

After his gripping, gorgeously written debut, Fallen Land, winner of the Montana and Doris Betts fiction prizes, Brown returns with a novel about two brothers journeying down Georgia's fabled Altamaha River. The narrative blends the river's treasured present--which includes 1,000-year-old virgin cypresses and evidence of the oldest European fort in North America--with its intriguing past, as artist Jacques Le Moyne participates in a 1564 expedition meant to found a French settlement at the river's mouth but is instead ripped apart by bloody battles with conquistadores and native tribes.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2017

Brothers Lawton and Hunter Loggins kayak down the Altamaha River in southeast Georgia to take their father's ashes to the sea, a journey that holds terror of legendary river monsters, lurking alligators, and half-crazed men protecting their water shanties and meager territories. The brothers soon suspect that their father's death was not an accident, and when they follow their instincts into dead-end, shadowy waterways lined with prehistoric cypress and tupelo, they find the reason Hiram died. The hard, angry Hiram lashed out because of constant bad luck yet remained deeply respectful of the river, and both his dark, mysterious story and the boys' experiences are shadowed by the ghosts of history. In the 1560s, French explorers accompanied by the artist Jacques le Moyne built an encampment on the river and are seen here facing attacks by Native Americans and Spaniards, and near starvation. The entire narrative unfolds as a perilous, life-changing journey, richly illustrated with le Moyne's original sketches. VERDICT Drawing comparisons to James Dickey's Deliverance and Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, Brown's impressive second novel (after Fallen Land) is an intense, solidly written story of family loyalty, Southern traditions, and haunting historic landscapes, all bound up in the mythical powers of the Altamaha River. [See Prepub Alert, 9/12/16.]--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017

Brothers Lawton and Hunter Loggins kayak down the Altamaha River in southeast Georgia to take their father's ashes to the sea, a journey that holds terror of legendary river monsters, lurking alligators, and half-crazed men protecting their water shanties and meager territories. The brothers soon suspect that their father's death was not an accident, and when they follow their instincts into dead-end, shadowy waterways lined with prehistoric cypress and tupelo, they find the reason Hiram died. The hard, angry Hiram lashed out because of constant bad luck yet remained deeply respectful of the river, and both his dark, mysterious story and the boys' experiences are shadowed by the ghosts of history. In the 1560s, French explorers accompanied by the artist Jacques le Moyne built an encampment on the river and are seen here facing attacks by Native Americans and Spaniards, and near starvation. The entire narrative unfolds as a perilous, life-changing journey, richly illustrated with le Moyne's original sketches. VERDICT Drawing comparisons to James Dickey's Deliverance and Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, Brown's impressive second novel (after Fallen Land) is an intense, solidly written story of family loyalty, Southern traditions, and haunting historic landscapes, all bound up in the mythical powers of the Altamaha River. [See Prepub Alert, 9/12/16.]--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.