A review by leah_onderdonk
The River of Kings by Taylor Brown

3.0

I was hopeful for this novel. I was expecting a tale of adventure/grit lit, but it was mostly subdued. It teased that there would be dark revelations and excitement, but I felt like it missed the mark. The "dark secret" the boys discovered about the father and his death was not really that shocking as I had expected. There was also a rape scene, reminiscent of Deliverance (but not as graphic), that I felt like was added in for shock value. It did not seem to serve much of a purpose in the novel (perhaps it would have if the novel was developed further?), and it left me wondering why that scene was there. I was also not a fan of Le Moyne's chapters, as I also kind of felt like they didn't fit in that well. The prose was thoughtful, and I enjoyed the style of writing. I was interested in the son's and father's chapters, I just wish there had been a more dramatic and meaningful ending.