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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Good but, not great! I enjoyed the stories of the 3 different timelines but, the ending was fairly underwhelming.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Slavery, Torture, Murder, Colonisation, War
This was good, but I really preferred the modern story and struggled through the history.
A kingdom of cypress and tupelo, od water oak and river birch and black willow from which moccasins might hang like scaled question marks. Roads will cross the river only twice, and ancient swamps and sloughs and oxbows insulate its snaking path from the high ground of men, harboring beds and roosts of the rare and endangered.
The Little Amazon.
Their father was born on this river, in one of the shantyboats that float on the river like flood-borne houses. The place is downriver from here, a day's long paddle, and they plan to reach the house by dusk. They will overnight there, then push on for four more days, delivering their father's ashes to the river's mouth, a long last ride down the waters that birthed him.
The main narrative of The River of Kings follows brothers Hunter and Lawton Loggins as they kayak down Georgia's Altamaha River, following the somewhat mysterious death of their volatile, abusive father Hiram. The authorities have attributed his death to a sturgeon attack. (That's apparently a real thing with east coast species.) But the Altamaha is a wild river, with more than its share of illegal activities, and older brother Lawton, a Navy SEAL who bore the brunt of their father's temper and inherited some of it, suspects a more sinister explanation. Hunter, whose high school football injury pushed him down an academic path, is more interested in the history and mythology of the river.
Interspersed with the brothers' journey are glimpses of their father after he returned from Vietnam, the choices and misfortunes that made him even harder, and a dramatization (based on primary sources) of the first Europeans to travel up the Altamaha, an ill-fated French expedition in 1564. All three storylines fascinated me.
The Altamaha is a river of many kings: the original native kings who alternately allied with and fought against the European invaders, the redneck kings who run drugs and other illegal trade on the river, and a mysterious figure known as King Uncle, a childhood friend of Hiram's turned preacher turned wild man of the river. There's enough unknown in each plot to drive the story, and sufficiently lovely prose to make a very enjoyable read.
I'm shocked that fewer than 700 GR users have rated this one. Mr. Brown's most recent novel, [b:Gods of Howl Mountain|34964885|Gods of Howl Mountain|Taylor Brown|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494814260s/34964885.jpg|56239882], has received more notice, but I think I liked this one more. Seriously, read this. It's good.
The Little Amazon.
Their father was born on this river, in one of the shantyboats that float on the river like flood-borne houses. The place is downriver from here, a day's long paddle, and they plan to reach the house by dusk. They will overnight there, then push on for four more days, delivering their father's ashes to the river's mouth, a long last ride down the waters that birthed him.
The main narrative of The River of Kings follows brothers Hunter and Lawton Loggins as they kayak down Georgia's Altamaha River, following the somewhat mysterious death of their volatile, abusive father Hiram. The authorities have attributed his death to a sturgeon attack. (That's apparently a real thing with east coast species.) But the Altamaha is a wild river, with more than its share of illegal activities, and older brother Lawton, a Navy SEAL who bore the brunt of their father's temper and inherited some of it, suspects a more sinister explanation. Hunter, whose high school football injury pushed him down an academic path, is more interested in the history and mythology of the river.
Interspersed with the brothers' journey are glimpses of their father after he returned from Vietnam, the choices and misfortunes that made him even harder, and a dramatization (based on primary sources) of the first Europeans to travel up the Altamaha, an ill-fated French expedition in 1564. All three storylines fascinated me.
The Altamaha is a river of many kings: the original native kings who alternately allied with and fought against the European invaders, the redneck kings who run drugs and other illegal trade on the river, and a mysterious figure known as King Uncle, a childhood friend of Hiram's turned preacher turned wild man of the river. There's enough unknown in each plot to drive the story, and sufficiently lovely prose to make a very enjoyable read.
I'm shocked that fewer than 700 GR users have rated this one. Mr. Brown's most recent novel, [b:Gods of Howl Mountain|34964885|Gods of Howl Mountain|Taylor Brown|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1494814260s/34964885.jpg|56239882], has received more notice, but I think I liked this one more. Seriously, read this. It's good.
I enjoy historical fiction and adventure but this book was just not my cup of tea. Incredibly rough characters whom I really didn’t like at all. It’s very rare for me to not find something to like in a book. This is one of those rare instances.
I received this book as a giveaway through Goodreads, and a review was requested as part of the giveaway.
Three stories are told here. Hunter and his older brother Lawton are on a mission to kayak down the Altamaha River and deposit their late father's ashes. Observations of the primeval untouched parts of the river are interspersed with the trash of human habitation and the brothers' too tightly wrapped testosterone fueled interactions with each other and the people they meet. Their father Hiram's story from the 70's informs the modern day story and increases the reader's curiosity about how he actually died. In the third narrative, a French artist on the initial foray into New France in the 1500's commits the wonders of the river to paper as he chronicles an ill-fated expedition to the area.
A very readable book with lots of interesting characters, nature itself being one of them.
Three stories are told here. Hunter and his older brother Lawton are on a mission to kayak down the Altamaha River and deposit their late father's ashes. Observations of the primeval untouched parts of the river are interspersed with the trash of human habitation and the brothers' too tightly wrapped testosterone fueled interactions with each other and the people they meet. Their father Hiram's story from the 70's informs the modern day story and increases the reader's curiosity about how he actually died. In the third narrative, a French artist on the initial foray into New France in the 1500's commits the wonders of the river to paper as he chronicles an ill-fated expedition to the area.
A very readable book with lots of interesting characters, nature itself being one of them.
The River of Kings was an interesting book to dive into. Mostly because I'm not familiar with Georgia due to never being there. I'm pretty sure I have driven through the actual state to go somewhere else but that's about it.
So this book is all about The Altamaha River, which is located in Georgia and is rumored to have a monster living within it's waters. While diving into this book, you will notice that you get 3 timelines within the same family - A father, his two son's, and a European Artist name Jacques le Moyne.
Each POV brought a new piece to this adventurous and wild puzzle to me. I really enjoyed diving into the two brothers trying to figure out what happened to their dad. Then to jump into their dad's timeline and you see all the obstacles he faces throughout his own lifetime. It was insane. After that, Jacques is all about his own expedition that doesn't end on a happy note.
So, yeah, a lot happened throughout this book. My mind was kind of blown with what went down in certain timelines. It's probably why I enjoyed this book so much. A lot more than I thought I would. Definitely happy that I knocked off a book from my TBR and it was enjoyable.
So this book is all about The Altamaha River, which is located in Georgia and is rumored to have a monster living within it's waters. While diving into this book, you will notice that you get 3 timelines within the same family - A father, his two son's, and a European Artist name Jacques le Moyne.
Each POV brought a new piece to this adventurous and wild puzzle to me. I really enjoyed diving into the two brothers trying to figure out what happened to their dad. Then to jump into their dad's timeline and you see all the obstacles he faces throughout his own lifetime. It was insane. After that, Jacques is all about his own expedition that doesn't end on a happy note.
So, yeah, a lot happened throughout this book. My mind was kind of blown with what went down in certain timelines. It's probably why I enjoyed this book so much. A lot more than I thought I would. Definitely happy that I knocked off a book from my TBR and it was enjoyable.
Love the way the three different stories here as seamlessly interwoven. The very intimate story of the two brothers becomes something beautiful and mythic.
I'm totally at fault on this one. I didn't realize that this book was written by the same guy that wrote [b:Fallen Land|25632620|Fallen Land|Taylor Brown|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433011971s/25632620.jpg|45447074] (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.
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. (not judging anyone either..I'm a hateful heifer remember?)
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
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.
Spoiler
I have no clue how they ever tied into the story because I never saw it happen..just borrrring.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. (not judging anyone either..I'm a hateful heifer remember?)
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
Recommended by Jo. Read her review on the Cook Memorial Public Library's blog, Shelf Life: https://shelflife.cooklib.org/2017/09/01/weekend-read-the-river-of-kings-by-taylor-brown/
Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sriver%20of%20kings%20taylor__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sriver%20of%20kings%20taylor__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold