Almost a coming of age story and reconciliation between two brothers and their father this story hits a little close to home. It's the perfect mix of nostalgia, history and two brothers working through the problems of their past. Mix in a bit of adventure along a river to sea expedition as the brothers carry their father's ashes with them for one last trip down. Ended a little too soon for me, but in what was probably the perfect way for the story itself to end.

The River of Kings is a story about family. About love, about triumph, and about truth. It's a beautiful story, or rather, set of stories - there are three time periods covered in the book. If you've ever read Michener, Brown's writing reminds me quite a bit of his.

I read this one slowly, only a couple of chapters at a time. The writing is lyrical, but dense - I wanted to read because I enjoyed the style, but had a hard time staying engaged with the story for long periods of time. As often happens with books where the timeline shifts, I'd get engrossed in one story only to be moved to the next. And so on. It wasn't frustrating, exactly, but made it that much easier to put the book down.

Because of that, or perhaps because of my mood, I ended up listing this one as abandoned....even though I liked it. I simply don't have the dedication to offer The River of Kings at the moment. I may pick it up again. I do think it's a great book, just not at the right time for me.

Thank you for the review opportunity, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I've tried twice to get into this book and I just can't. I've made it as far as 28%, but the storyline just isn't grabbing my attention, so I'm going to set it aside and move on. Thanks again.

I'm totally at fault on this one. I didn't realize that this book was written by the same guy that wrote Fallen Land (another book that everyone else loved and I read wrong). I'm going to admit that maybe this author just is not for me now.


I will admit to liking this one the most of the two books.

Two brothers Hunter and Lawton are on a river trip to take their father's ashes to the place that he spent most of his time, the Altamaha River. Dad wasn't the best father to these boys, he smacked them around, cheated on their mother with a woman he was obsessed with, and was just an all around butt hole.

The story splits off in three branches: one with the boy's trip (best), another telling about their father's life on the river and then one that followed an artist in 1564 that completely bored me out of my mind and I totally admit to skimming those sections. (view spoiler)

I'm just not rating a book high when I skimmed parts of it even though some parts were really good. It is not who I am.

I also will say that the author does an amazing job of descriptions and bringing the story to life in your head. His writing is done in a way that you smell and see what he is talking about in that moment in a way that few authors have the gift to accomplish.

A couple of lines that I highlighted for some reason that escapes my old lady brain are:
The are cans of peaches and sausages and Spam. Along one wall a deep freezer freckled with rust, perfect for the storage of bodies, and along the other a fog-windowed cooler housing a range of Coca-Cola products, some of them with labels not seen in years. Next to this a screened trough for live bait.
And
"You're a real bad mother, ain't you? What you got under that counter, baggies of crystal and a sawed-down twelve?"
"Try me and find out."
"What happened to our daddy?"
"He was a son of a bitch, and he had him some son-of-a-bitch sons."
*These totally may get changed because I had an advance copy of this book but I hope not*

I'm done. I have no clue on this book. I didn't really have a great time with it but it has tons of four and five stars and I HAVE so been wrong before.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review

If ever there was a river that was so well described that I would not be caught dead in, it's got to be the Altamaha River, which felt more like a character in this book.

Hunter and Lawton travel down this river with their Father's ashes but in reality, they are out looking for the truth about their Father's death. They kayak the river, and you have Hunter a college student and Lawton a NAVY SEAL on leave- and as you read, you peel the layers of the lives of these two men and how the same River governed their Father's life and decisions. The story also takes you back to 1954, to the time an artist called Jacques Le Moyne, accompanied the expedition to found a French settlement. If you are into art, then the rough sketches in the book were a relief from the intense story and personality of the characters.

At some point, I felt like I was reading a History Course Text and wished that the part about the earlier expedition was scrapped off so I could stick to the experience of the brothers along this muddy river.
What I loved about this book was that it challenged my perception, I am Kenyan and I know strictly about our rivers and streams and how African Writers describe them as a source of life, therefore to have this book describe the river, made me look it up and now I know it's one of the major rivers in the US.

It delves into three generations all who have one thing in common- the River.

I found the format of this one a little bit jarring at times and sometimes it was difficult to keep things straight. The novel tells three stories, one set in 1565 and the other two detailing the life of one man, Hiram Loggins and the subsequent trip down the river his two sons make to scatter his ashes. I found the sons' journey the most compelling and must confess that my attention wandered occasionally when reading about the french settlers. The author has created a real atmosphere throughout all three tales and the description of place is to be commended as it really gave me a sense of the river and its denizens. Unfortunately, the plot just wasn't that strong for me.

The River of Kings is a story telling three different perspectives. In modern day, two brother - Hunter and Lawton - are going on an adventure down the Altamaha river to say a final goodbye to their father and spread his ashes. In 1564, French artist Le Moyne is sharing his life at Fort Caroline - an early French settlement in what would become the United States. And through it all, we also see chapters told from Hunter and Lawton's fathers point of view. Through it all, the reader is told of a strange monster believed to inhabit the river - the Altamaha-ha.

This is one of those kind of books where I did enjoy it but I don't have a whole load to say about it. I thought Taylor Brown's writing was very beautiful and descriptive and the way he wrote really brought the sights, sounds and smells of the river alive.

I really enjoyed the historical aspect of this book. I don't know a whole lot about the early days of the United States and thought it all rather fascinated. I was interested to see the intense rivalry between the French and Spanish, as well as the explorers need for the natives and the terrible way they often treated them even though they needed them to survive.

Lawton and Hunter were both interesting character and quite different to one another. I liked the bond they clearly had and the easy camaraderie they shared. I also loved the conversation they had at one point where Hunter expresses his concerns over his weight and tells Lawton about the guys in college who are extremely bulked up. It was brief but honest and refreshing and it was nice to see two 'manly' men talk about weight and looks like this.

There was a brief moment in this book that contained a scene of child sexual abuse. It was a bit graphic for me and really repulsed me - I hadn't really seen it coming and felt it very random. While I understood it was there to reinforce a bond two characters had, I just feel it could have been something different.

I made a major mistake in the review I posted on March 29th. I wrote that the author's name was Branch instead of Brown. Nearly unpardonable, but I was swept up in thinking about rivers and branches of rivers! I have corrected my review here and also on Goodreads. Sorry about that!

Taylor Brown’s debut novel, “Fallen Land” was remarkable, and with his second novel, “The River of Kings,” he proves he is no one-hit wonder. Brown expertly intertwines two stories separated by centuries, but joined by location. The first story involves a canoe trip down Georgia’s Altamaha River taken by brothers Lawton and Hunter Loggins to deliver their father’s ashes to the sea. While on that journey they also hope to discover the secrets of his mysterious death. The second story is set in the 1500’s and follows Jacques Le Moyne de Morgue, who accompanies a group of French explorers down the Altamaha and is tasked with mapping the area and recording the plants and animals living there. In both tales Brown strikingly describes the encounters the Loggins brothers and Le Moyne’s group have with dwellers along the river. In fact, the river itself becomes a main character and ties together those who journey and those who stay. There are so many reasons to read this fine work of literary fiction - for Brown’s effectiveness in combining two separate stories, separated by centuries; for the lyrical language and lush and evocative descriptions of the Altamaha; for the drama, adventure, and revelation of family secrets; and because it’s a damn good story. A further bonus included in the book are actual black-and-white reproductions of Le Moyne’s drawings. An unforgettable journey down the Altamaha River, and another splendid book by Taylor Brown.

My corrected review was posted on Goodreads 3/30/17.

River of Kings by Taylor Brown
I loved this period atmospheric historical fiction. I hope I can read more by this author who is very descriptive of the environmental period piece. The writing flowed seamlessly. The author is very talented in bringing to life on the page atmospheric characters and their lush landscapes. Highly recommended. 5 stars. I will buy a copy for everyone I know.

Thank you to Net 'Galley, Taylor Brown and St. Martin's Press

Based upon the reviews I'd read by trusted GR friends I expected to be more enraptured with the  The River of Kings by Taylor Brown than I was.   Not for one moment however was I disappointed with the writing.   There were many passages I had to re-read in awe of  the perfectly chosen words . 

Descriptive and evocative, it was easy to imagine myself there on the Altamaha river with brothers Hunter and Lawton.   Theirs was one of three story threads.   Together the brothers undertook a five day kayaking trip along the Altamaha river to scatter their fathers ashes.   As they paddled they chatted, disagreed and at times came to blows but it was clear these brothers shared an unbreakable love.    Lawton was fixated on uncovering what had really caused his fathers death and in so doing they got more than they bargained for.    The second story thread was that of Hiram, their father.   A hard man who had lived a rough and luckless life.   He had raised his boys to be tough and inspired in them a genuine love of the river.    He was a difficult character to like and yet there was something in his story that captivated me each time he returned.     The third strand of this story was set in the 1560's and provided a historical view of the first European settlement at Fort Caroline on the Altomaha river.    Le Moyne was the French artist who had been commissioned to capture the story of the colonisation and through him we learnt of the hardships experienced on the river in those earliest of days.

Although my interest piqued as the three story threads built toward action filled conclusions, in the early stages I found it's slow pace challenging.  In all honesty this wasnt the sort of book I would typically read.    Although its original appeal was the family element it was gritty and spoke to greed where I tend to gravitate towards goodness.   That said, it was one I'll remember for its impact and for the historical element.    3.5 stars from me.

Many thanks to the author, St Martins Press and Netgalley for this digital copy of The River of Kings in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks St. Martin's Press and netgalley for this ARC.

Two brothers as different as night and day take us on a journey of discovery we'll never forget .

A bit confusing in the beginning, going back and forth to different times/places but really enjoyed this book! I think it would make an excellent film. I probably make the brothers a little older as I found it hard to believe that the oldest had such military experience, being a ex military myself.

3.75★
In Taylor Brown’s sophomore novel the reader travels along on a fictional and perilous kayak journey down the real life river Altamaha in the USA state of Georgia. Combining history, myth, and the beauty of nature caught up in the stranglehold of man’s greed and pollution there will be no soft place to land except in the author’s lush prose. This is graphic and violent man-lit in the tradition of novels like Fourth of July Creek, Deliverance, and Bull Mountain. I’m always fascinated with dark and ugly tales like these told with such beautiful and seductive language. I’m also a sure fan when a great story can entertain and co-exist with a nod to environmental politics in the likes of Ron Rash or novels such as The Secret Wisdom of the Earth.

Brothers Lawton and Hunter are on a quest to discover the truth behind their father’s supposed accidental death and lay his ashes to rest. That knowledge will be complicated, difficult, and hard to take, just like the man Hiram Loggins was and will redefine their relationship. Hiram’s story will be one of three narrative strands as the story goes back and forth in the brother’s present, a father’s past, and then farther back to 1564 as French explorers arrive on their own expedition to establish a settlement in the new world while grappling with the natives and Spanish conquistadors among the virgin cypress. Surprisingly, for a lover of history like myself, that third and ancient narrative did not engage me and I found it distracting and unwelcome. Told on its own would have suited me better. That said, I would like to backtrack and pick up the author’s debut Fallen Land because he’s a fine writer and storyteller.

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

Taylor Brown has transported me to another place and time yet again. In Fallen Land, set in the final year of the Civil War, I journeyed beside Callum and Ava in their passage from war-torn lands to safety, as they journeyed from the Appalachians to the Georgia coast.

In The River of Kings he’s brought me back to another time and place once again through the voices of these men who called the banks of the Altamaha home.

As the story begins, brothers Hunter and Lawton Loggins, sons of Hiram, are journeying down the Altamaha River in two skiffs and tied to one of them is what remains of their father.

The spring rains charge down the dark swales of the Appalachian foothills, rumbling in wider and deeper confluence, birthing rivers that sliver for the sea.

The Altamaha was used once upon a time by riverboats as a main transportation route to the towns and Plantations founded along the river. These days there are fewer significant towns along its path, an area considered sparsely populated.

When Jacques Le Moyne de Morgue left Le Havre, France on 22 April 1564, aboard the Ysabeau, he was one of 300 colonists aboard three ships, most fleeing the sharp, murderous blades of the Catholics. Le Moyne was commissioned by the King as an artist to sketch this new land, the land the King called land the King called La Nouvelle France, and those that dwelled there. New France. After landing initially in the land of the Saturiwa, they journey slightly north in search of a river large enough for their ships, finding the Altamaha. It is then they spot a monstrously large Serpent, with skin like those giant lizards on the banks. But this, this one is the size of a cypress tree.

The Altamaha-ha. A legendary creature that continues to haunt the Altamaha river since the beginning of time, through the days of Hiram Loggins, the days or his sons Hunter, a college student, and Lawton, a Navy Seal. The Altamaha River and the Altamaha-ha both are so much a part of this story, almost as though they were characters - if additional, silent, characters in the narrative. As intrinsically woven into the tapestry of the soul of this place, these people, as the generations of people who came before them.

Hiram Loggins wasn’t a perfect father, or a perfect husband. His sons journey to return him to the place he loved, his final merging, becoming one with the soil and shadowy waters of the Altamaha River where it meets the sea, a returning to dwell forever in the place that formed him.

Conveyed in rich, gorgeous prose, Taylor Brown continues to create such stunning imagery; I could see this place, these people. Each character’s story individually shared, connected as though links in a preciously exquisite chain. Seemingly fluid in movement, breathtakingly lovely.

Recommended

Pub Date: 21 Mar 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press!

This is historical fiction that is truly well written and fascinating. Brown's writing brings to mind Paulette Jiles, both in his understanding of the historical milieu and the fineness of his writing. Juxtaposing the earliest French explorers on the coast of Georgia with the Shakespearean tragedy of a father and his two sons set in the latter part of the twentieth century and now, this book reaffirms man's bond with the land and themsimilarly elemental bonds between father and son. . Though all this may sound a bit high minded., the story really moves , and is suspenseful and profane. . Recommended.

3.5 Stars.

THE RIVER OF KINGS alternates three interesting and deadly tales of adventure. In one, we meet the Loggins' brothers who set out by kayak, along a river they know so well, to bury the ashes of their stern and sometimes brutish (but loved) father still questioning the circumstances of his death. The second story belongs to father Hiram himself and his tumultuous, secretive and cursed life as a fisherman; and in the third story, Taylor Brown takes us back to the year 1564 following painter Jacques Le Moyne as he travels along on a dangerous and bloody expedition to establish a French settlement.

While each story is filled with its own wonderfully descriptive challenges of life on and along the ancient Altamaha River in Georgia, I did have a bit of difficulty staying focused here and there requiring a few chapter re-reads along the way, and am left with the urge to revisit the 1564 narrative independent of the Loggins' story.

Overall, an entertaining journey, but FALLEN LAND retains first place as my favorite TB read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Hiram was a hard man, a tough man and he made the Altamaha River his home, knew every nook and cranny, every island and offshoot, yet his quest to make a living from the river, failed time and time again. He was a hard father, sometimes cruel, but he taught his two sons to love the river, taught them all he could, showed them all he could. When he is killed, said to be by a sturgeon strike, his two sons, Lawton, a navy seal and Hunter a college student undertake a journey by two skiffs to where the river meets the ocean and there scatter there father's ashes. Lawton though, thinks there is more to the story of his father's death and is determined to find the truth.

Three separate strands, the son's journey alternating with Hiram's life story on the river and the third, historically taken back to 1546 and the French's attempt to build and hold Fort Caroline, narrated by Le Moyne, an artist along on the journey to document this accomplishment.

I have a very visual memory, when I read I form pictures, like snapshots in my mind, this is how I remember or try to remember the books I read. The descriptions in this book are outstanding, one feels as if they were there, right along with the characters. A very character driven novel, an adventure story, a father, son story, an environmental story and very much a story of man vs. Nature. The river of course being one of the main characters, surviving, changing for hundreds of years. Well rounded, thought out characters, exquisite prose, often gritty but as you can see from my rating all three threads of this story pulled me in, because although a change in focus they all added to the mystique of the river and of man's quest to find their place and live within nature.

Reminded me a little of [book:To The Bright Edge of the World|27917957], the journey the men undertook in that story. Taylor Brown is an author who can definitely write, and write exceedingly well.

ARC from publisher.
Publishes March 21st from St. Martin's Press.

It's a story of the south, gritty, and the writing in many places is as beautifully descriptive as it was in Taylor Brown's first novel, Fallen Land. The descriptions here are so precisely beautiful that I felt as if I was on that river, the Altamaha in Georgia, with these two brothers in their kayaks as they travel with their father's ashes seeking the truth of his death . This is the first of several alternating narratives and takes place in the present as we introduced to Hunter Loggins who is in college and his older brother Lawton, a Navy Seal. It's clear that these brothers love each other in spite of their differences and fights along their journey. Their father, Hiram Loggins, hardened by his time in Vietnam, his life on the river trying to make a living is portrayed as heavy handed and verbally harsh to his sons, but yet they believed he loved them .

In another timeline, Hiram's earlier life is depicted and the story of his long obsession with a woman who is not his wife and his dealings on the river. There is a third narrative focusing on the very early history of this river and place in 1654 and capturing the story of the French expedition with a focus on Jaques LeMoyne. I had mixed feelings about this part of the story. It didn't hold my interest as I had hoped, and I found myself rushing through these sections to get back to the brothers and their intriguing adventure to discover their father's history and how he died . I can't quite give this 5 stars since the historical part just didn't grab me. Having said that, reading Taylor Brown's lovely prose and moving story of this family is worthy of 4 high stars . I definitely look forward to what this talented writer will give us in the future.
(Reading ebooks doesn't afford one the opportunity to look at the cover of book as often as when reading the actual book , but this cover is so gorgeous, I found myself going to it on Goodreads just to see it again.)
I received an advanced copy of this from St. Martin's Press through NetGally.

Lyrical, stunning odyssey set on a river I know well...the swampy, humid, stillness of the river that disguises danger & mystery is allegorical of the hearts of the men who set upon it. Brown's prose is spare yet descriptive of a land and river that hasn't changed, much like our human nature.

An ambitious, centuries-sprawling tale of discovery and death, expeditions and defeats, fathers and sons, brothers, a river that holds myth, monsters, murder and mystery. A story of snaking streams and stormy seas and the tragic lives, family ties, and lost loves of the men and boys who struggle to tame land and water. The history of a region that holds a millennium of Southern Gothic stories within its muddy banks and tribes. This is Flannery O'Connor meets David Mitchell, and a long read that is an adventure which doesn't pay off in ordinary ways, rich with prose as foreign yet specific as the renderings of the eras they travel. Sound like a lot going on? There is. Worthy of a read and your attention to the skill it takes to craft such a novel. B grade.