Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Fallen Land

Rate this book
Fallen Land is Taylor Brown's debut novel set in the final year of the Civil War, as a young couple on horseback flees a dangerous band of marauders who seek a bounty reward.

Callum, a seasoned horse thief at fifteen years old, came to America from his native Ireland as an orphan. Ava, her father and brother lost to the war, hides in her crumbling home until Callum determines to rescue her from the bands of hungry soldiers pillaging the land, leaving destruction in their wake. Ava and Callum have only each other in the world and their remarkable horse, Reiver, who carries them through the destruction that is the South. Pursued relentlessly by a murderous slave hunter, tracking dogs, and ruthless ex-partisan rangers, the couple race through a beautiful but ruined land, surviving on food they glean from abandoned farms and the occasional kindness of strangers. In the end, as they intersect with the scorching destruction of Sherman's March, the couple seek a safe haven where they can make a home and begin to rebuild their lives.

Dramatic and thrillingly written with an uncanny eye for glimpses of beauty in a ravaged landscape, Fallen Land is a love story at its core, and an unusually assured first novel by award-winning young author Taylor Brown.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 12, 2016

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Taylor Brown

11 books693 followers
Taylor Brown is the award-winning author of the novels Fallen Land (2016), The River of Kings (2017), Gods of Howl Mountain (2018), Pride of Eden (2020), Wingwalkers (2022), and Rednecks (2024), as well as a short story collection, In the Season of Blood and Gold (2014). He's a recipient of the Montana Prize in Fiction and his first three novels were all finalists for the Southern Book Prize. He lives in Savannah, Georgia, where he is the founder and editor-in-chief of BikeBound, one of the world's leading custom motorcycle publications. His website is taylorbrownfiction.com. You can follow him on Twitter (@taybrown), Instagram (@taylorbrown82) and Facebook (@Taylor.Brown.Fiction).

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
571 (25%)
4 stars
905 (41%)
3 stars
508 (23%)
2 stars
171 (7%)
1 star
50 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 424 reviews
Profile Image for karen.
4,012 reviews172k followers
June 26, 2018
this book takes place at the very end of the civil war*, where disorganized and factionless gangs of opportunistic men took advantage of the confusion and lawlessness of war's aftermath to settle scores and take for themselves whatever hadn't already been destroyed.

which is the kind of story i really dig - i love cormac mccarthy, i loved The Winter Family, i love stories about individuals pared down to the barest essentials, as free from morality or politeness as animals, surviving in a world unimpressed by man's "progress."

so i was a little apprehensive at the start of this novel, when the fifteen-year-old protagonist callum prevents the rape of a seventeen-year-old girl by one of his fellow marauders, killing him and losing the hearing in one of his ears for his troubles. there's a scene shortly thereafter when callum confronts the remaining men about the situation, and about what subsequently happened to the girl while callum was unconscious that reads like shame:

None of the men looked at him. They looked at the fire or their hands or their boots but not at him.

which shame has no place in the amoral landscape of the books i love, so i was concerned that this was going to be some pandering version of a western, where punches were pulled for the benefit of sentimental readers. i'm not someone who revels in descriptions of rape and murder, but i also don't want to be gentled into some sugarcoated mythology of wartime heroism where only bad guys got killed and no one was raped and all the animals lived forever.

thankfully, this turned out to not be the case, and while this book was never quite the nihilistic splatterland of The Winter Family, it was definitely intense. it was like a combination of The Fugitive and joe lansdale's The Thicket, as callum and ava are pursued by relentless trackers across a landscape still suffering the death throes of a war no one's noticed is over. the tension comes from men intent upon revenge or a payday for callum's capture, but also from the very basic concerns of your typical wilderness-survival story: cold, food, illness, injury, having supplies, losing supplies, knowing when to hide and knowing whom to trust.

the writing is nothing like mccarthy's economy of prose - the descriptions are lush and poetic, even when describing the desolation of the wilderness callum and ava are traveling through:

First light rose colorless over hills crumpled and creased into one another, a sheet enameled over a miscellany of untold items, of corpses and rock and whatever else gave the earth its shape.

and it's full of alliteration and consonance and assonance and all that literary stuff cowboy-types love.

Moonlight licked down through the dark fingerlings of the trees that tunneled their path, slinking like quicksilver along the ground.

the writing is beautiful, and brown is skilled at maintaining the energy of his story and knowing when to scissor down to end a chapter on a ka-POW note.

as far as characters go, i loved swinney the most, and i thought his brand of good intentions/shrugging helplessness was crucial as a contrast to the rest of the pretty clearly divided good/evil of the rest of the characters.

a pretty fantastic debut, and i'll be wanting to read more from him.


* or the war of northern aggression, if you prefer.

come to my blog!
Profile Image for Angela M .
1,378 reviews2,136 followers
November 21, 2015
Sometimes for me it's all about the writing . From the first sentence the precise language and the perfect descriptions defy you to see anything other than what Taylor Brown hopes for you to see. I read the first page three times and then reread some other paragraphs just because. I decided to read this slowly to savor it . It continued to be the writing that drew me in but then it also became this unbelievably gripping story about these characters that I fell in love with . Towards the end I couldn't read fast enough even though I still wanted to savor it. I just had to know.

Callum and Ava at 15 and 17 are orphans , children, who are pushed over the edge to adulthood by loss , by war, by murder, by hunger, by the times in which they live towards the end of the Civil War. They are brought together by the violent actions of unscrupulous men . They are pursued across the south by bounty hunters. They have to kill to keep from getting killed . Violent and graphic at times , there are some gruesome scenes. Even with those, it's a beautiful story of two lost souls trying to find a safe place. They make their way through woods and mountains , across streams, through a burning Atlanta , in hopes of reaching some of Callum's relatives along the coast of Georgia and a beautiful love story is told .

I wish I could list just a few of the many amazing passages I found here, but this is an advance copy and I'll abide by the publishers request not to quote from it but I hope you will take my word for how so very good the writing is . It's so good I wanted to read more so I just bought Taylor's debut collection, In the Season of Blood and Gold because I don't want to miss a word of what this talented writer has written .


Thanks to St . Martin's Press and NetGalley
Profile Image for Shelby *trains flying monkeys*.
1,716 reviews6,453 followers
December 28, 2015
I feel like it took forever to finish this book. It's completely written in beautiful language but I felt like that very language just tried too hard. I think Cold Mountain and some of Cormac McCarthy books are written in that same style so it may be that these types of books just aren't my genre. I'm including several passages from the book in this review to give an idea of the way it is written. I'm sure it will sell thousands and millions of copies because it completely bored me.

This one starts with a very young (around fifteen year old) Callum. He is riding with a group of soldiers after coming to America as a orphan, he had taken up being a horse thief to make his way and fell in with this group.
Then he finds Ava........
Palm Springs commercial photography

Ava has a nightmare time with that same group of soldiers and Callum leaves them to "save" Ava. He ends up with the two of them being hunted across the "fallen land." They are crossing the south during the last points of the Civil War, trying to get to one of the coastal cities where Callum remembers some relatives being.
Palm Springs commercial photography

Some smexy times happen:
Callum snorted through his runny nose. Then he turned his head and pinched the bridge of his nose and blew a thick tail of snot onto the trail.
"Careful your brains don't go missing," said Ava.


I'm poking fun there but there was never a connection with these two characters for me. There should have been because the book is mostly about them, but it's mostly just...
Get on the horse.
Ride the horse.
Be cold and hungry.
Get back on the horse.
It's cold and we are hungry.
There are a lot of these types of passages:
He listened closely for the rumor of hooves on the wind from the north. Listening so hard for danger seemed only to invite the hearing of it. There was the faintest thunder he may or may not have heard. He first thought it was coming downwind from the way they'd come, but the wind was swirling in the meadow and it could have come from the direction they were heading. Or it could be nothing.

So the book never connected for me. I did finish it because I was hoping for something to happen that would save the entire book. But nope. Boring times abound.
Palm Springs commercial photography

Callum slipped off the horse and walked to the edge of the road and sat. He stared, disbelieving, for a long time. He could hardly breathe, like the fire had sucked the air from the night. This was beyond hell, beyond any biblical image of torment. This was real, and it was happening as if it happened just for them.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review

Palm Springs commercial photography

Sandra's review here gives the book five stars, that goes to show that two readers can look at a book differently and that's fine. Not everyone loves the same things.
Profile Image for Diane S ☔.
4,901 reviews14.4k followers
November 20, 2015
Violence amidst great beauty. Two amazing young characters, Callum and Ava, and a wonderful trusty horse named Reiver. On the run from bounty hunters under the mistaken notion that Callum had killed their renegade Colonel. Nearing the end of the Civil War, there is much destruction, woods full of starving men, men who kill and steal for food, there is danger behind and ahead of them. From the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina they hope to make their way to the Georgian Coast, running into the devastation of the burning of Atlanta and the results of Sherman's march to the sea.

The writing, descriptions of the scenery are beautiful, the violence graphically depicted. One feels that they are right there, at that time, ruining from and to an unknown future with Callum and Ava. Survival is key, starvation and death a reality. Yet, amidst the destruction there are a few simple kindnesses from characters who are not in the story long but leave a big impression. I usually hate pat endings, but I so wanted them to have a happy one. Of course, I cannot tell you if they did, wouldn't be fair. This book is suspenseful, chillingly real, evoking strong feelings, a book that will stay with you long after books end.

ARC from publisher.
Profile Image for Karen.
674 reviews1,701 followers
July 21, 2019
Callum and Ava, 15 and 17 yrs old, are on the run towards the end of The Civil War ..there is a bounty on Callum’s head for a suspected murder while rescuing Ava from the hands of a band of marauders.
These were violent times and they faced such struggles to try and survive. What a story and journey!
I’m very surprised that this hasn’t been made into a movie yet!
Profile Image for Carol.
1,370 reviews2,307 followers
February 27, 2016
A brave young man (15), a savvy young girl (17), and a stately, fearless horse (Reiver) are on the run from a deadly, persevering one-armed man and his band of murderous cutthroats. With a price on his head during a time of upheaval as the Civil War nears its end, Callum and Eva trudge forward in hopes of reaching a place of solace to begin a peaceful life together.

Within the pages of Taylor Brown's FALLEN LAND he gives a graphically descriptive historic account of a violent and lawless time in an American war-ravished south.

Fine shocker of an ending.....Fine debut.

Profile Image for Elyse Walters.
4,010 reviews11.6k followers
December 6, 2015


I struggled with the style of writing. I was more in 'aw' about how some sentences were written - even how they sounded -than I was naturally able to feel
the depth of emotion from the pretty sentences I admired. I also needed a dictionary for which my paperwhite Kindle was a blessing- as some words were 'horse terms', that I wasn't familiar with.

The story itself was easy to follow, but often the lyrical descriptions seemed to clash -- in other words the style of writing just didn't feel cohesive with the plot. ( to me)

Basically, this novel wasn't the best fit.
I never read 'Cold Mountain', by Charles Frazier, either. I had seen the movie - and I didn't care for it. That might have been a clue of how much I'd care for this story.
Yet...I hope to one day read a 'story' ( historical fiction), during the Civil War era that I sincerely do enjoy reading. Another book which might work better - for me- is
"My Name Is Mary Sutter", by Robin Oliveria. It's about a young midwife who dreams
of becoming a surgeon....pursuing a medicine career against all odds.

Callum and Ava are likable, but I felt that both characters could have been developed more....( to have a deeper emotional connection with them).

There are other 'beautiful' reviews of this book-- *stunning* -- in fact. Other
people may be swept away with this novel ( many already are) I gave it by best effort-
My husband helped me visualize some of the scenes I struggled with...which did elevate my appreciation - but between 'having' to struggle as much as I did, and the divide I felt between the writing style and the story itself, overall, this was not my
favorite flavor tea.

Thank You to St. Martin's press, Netgalley, and Taylor Brown. I appreciate the opportunity you gave me to be an early reader. Wishing you all a Happy Holiday Season
Profile Image for Diane Barnes.
1,495 reviews447 followers
March 21, 2016
What a book! What a story! Ava and Callum, what a couple they turned out to be! Two kids on the run from bounty hunters during the last year of the Civil War. Enduring starvation, violence, freezing cold, and fear, never able to relax, but learning to love and protect each other.

This was a difficult book to read, not just because of the suspense built into the story itself, but because of the beauty of the writing. I was constantly torn between skimming the lines and turning the pages to keep up with the action, and needing to slow down to appreciate the dialogue, the almost archaic turns of phrase used in that time period, and the lyrical descriptions of the landscape, even when they depicted a torn and mutilated country. The burning of Atlanta, witnessed by Ava and Callum from a hilltop miles away, was a thing of beauty as portrayed by Taylor Brown. That's quite a feat.

I have seen some reviews and blurbs that compare this novel to "Cold Mountain". That's true inasmuch as it's also an odyssey, it's about the power of love, and the courage of people trying to survive in a world gone crazy. But there it stops; this novel is Brown's own take on his own story. I'm pretty sure I'll read it again, just to savor the language.

Oh, and what a horse!
Profile Image for Cheri.
2,033 reviews2,875 followers
February 13, 2016
Set in the last year of the Civil War, Taylor Brown’s “Fallen Land” begins with Callum. As the story unfolds, Callum is sent out with orders from the “Colonel” to their troop of horse thieves to find food for their men. While searching the closest home, he comes upon a young girl, Ava, and attempts to save her from the fate he foresees happening to her if she doesn’t hide.

Together Callum, his horse Reiver, and Ava make their way, sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot, from her family home in Virginia. They slowly make their way through the carnage and destruction brought by the war.

Despite their fears, despite a changing landscape and the dangers from man, animal and nature everywhere, with each day and each night its own new horror show, there is an ease to both Callum and Ava that allows their trust to grow as the miles and days go by. Slowly, naturally, sweetly they grow to be a team by choice.

Brown’s prose through “Fallen Land” is gorgeous, raw, perfection for the setting and the era. “Fallen Land” is a stunning debut novel.
Profile Image for Linda.
1,519 reviews1,585 followers
January 25, 2016
I received a copy of Fallen Land through Goodreads and St. Martin's Press. I wish to thank them for the opportunity.

Fallen Land is in the vein of Cold Mountain. To parallel a debut book with the likes of that stellar novel is quite the achievement for Taylor Brown. Fallen Land focuses on the devastation, the tragedies, the brutalities during the Civil War. Brown's writing brings the severely destructive human losses to the forefront. And his words take you there.

"No colors among the trees. No badges, no uniforms. He wanted to ask what peace might be gained if they hovered here longer in the mist, did not mount and ride. But they always did."

And the losses took an unforgiveable toll on the young. Callum, a fifteen year old with nary a whisker, has arrived from Ireland. He finds himself in the South and with an uncanny talent for stealing horses. This is an asset for the rag-tailed marauders he soon becomes part of. The profound goodness that is within Callum becomes apparent when he steps forward to protect a young abandoned girl in her cabin from the unsavory intentions of one of their own. Callum is wounded and Ava nurses him back against incredible odds.

Their bond is an unspeakable pact. Taylor interjects incident upon incident that takes Callum and Ava across the annihilated landscapes of the South. If they can only get to Georgia, they may be safe with some distant cousins of Callum's. The impact of this treacherous journey visits them time and time again. And the jewel that they find in their midst is the resilience of the beautiful horse, Reiver, who continues to give his all to his young master, Callum.

I found Fallen Land to be a novel of the heaviness of loss and the triumph of gain and, realistically, with an imbalance of both. Taylor Brown has the talent to paint with the broad strokes of the tragedies of the Civil War and then finetunes it with the specific actions of Callum and Ava. You'll find these characters having taken residence within your mind and heart long after.
Profile Image for Canadian Jen.
587 reviews2,104 followers
April 19, 2016
What would you do with a bounty on your head?
It's the end of the civil war. Man is corrupt from hunger and exhaustion. But it's not over yet. A boy tries to defend a girl from being raped. He gets concussed and dragged away. Now, he's on a mission to find her, to care for her and to take her away from the evil that now haunts this barren land.
The cost? Survival. A bounty on his head, they are hunted relentlessly.
Fallen Land is an epic story of love, loyalty and the twisted fate of humans and whom they become once war marches in. Callum, a chivalrous 15 year old, falls for 17 year old Ava. Together they journey to the south during the last year of the civil war fighting off bandits, fatigue, hunger, angry cavalry and a one armed bounty hunter.
Violent, gritty, powerfully descriptive writing, this is one intense 4★ story.
Profile Image for Lorna.
928 reviews686 followers
July 8, 2024
Fallen Land is the debut novel by Taylor Brown taking place in the ravaged landscape of the American South in the final year of the Civil War. Callum is an Irish immigrant and a seasoned horse thief at age fifteen, as well as a bounty on his head. Callum meets Ada, whose entire family has been lost to war. These two young people, essentially alone in the world, band together to make their way through the outlaw country of the Blue Ridge Mountains. With only each other, Callum and Ada make their way on their beautiful and remarkable horse, Reiver, as he carries them through all of the devastation and destruction left in General Sherman’s wake. The young couple is relentlessly pursued by a murderous bounty hunter as well as ruthless ex-Confederates, as they race through a beautiful but destroyed land. They are forced to pillage for food, as they fled for their lives. What they sought was a haven where they would be able to make a home and begin to rebuild their lives. This is a thrilling saga and a page-turner, incredibly well done for a debut novel with the descriptive and unforgettable prose. While I have read other later books by Taylor Brown, I am happy that I now have read this, his first book, too.

“They avoided the burned towns, mills, gin houses, planters’ factories when they could. They wanted to avoid the souls left wrecked in their wake. People desperate. Violent. But everywhere was destruction. Cotton, kind of the land, smoldered wherever they looked, in scorched fields and tumbled black barns and warehouses. It shrank as it burned, curling into itself like a spider might, the stacked bales collapsing into smoking heaps and mounds. Seeing all that, Callum knew it wasn’t just the will of the people that Sherman sought to break, like Ava said. It was the South’s ability to fund itself, to turn cotton into guns and cannons and shells, hardtack and haversacks, and men-at-arms.”
Profile Image for Lori  Keeton.
591 reviews173 followers
April 11, 2024
This debut novel takes readers on an epic journey with a teenage boy named Callum who is riding along with a group of Confederate raiders as a scout just at the very end of the Civil War. Known as a horse thief, Callum rescues Ava who was violated by the leader of his group, a fierce and unprincipled Colonel. These two are chased and searched for as they make their way south toward the Georgia coast where Callum’s only relatives he’s never met are supposed to live. Their trek reminded me of Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain but with instances of brute violence along the way and nothing reminiscent of the gentle romance of Frazier’s tale. The story is its own and Brown’s lyrical prose could be very mesmerizing even in the devastating occurrences.

The Colonel’s band plunder everything in their path including the farmhouse in which the men discover Ava living alone and barely surviving, her family members lost to the war. Callum’s act of chivalry toward Ava against one of his fellow marauders gets him injured and Ava in trouble. His anger prompts him to steal the Colonel’s horse, Reivers, and head back to help Ava.

You won’t believe the many instances of outwitting the two young people make their way through. They endure being pursued by bounty hunters with little rest, food, or shelter along the way. They encounter a ravaged south including the aftermath of Sherman’s march through Atlanta as it burned. There is a very cinematic quality to this story and it ramps up as Callum and Ava get closer to their final destination.
Profile Image for Laura.
864 reviews316 followers
February 19, 2016
I loved this book. I loved the descriptions and the intensity of the journey. Say it ain't so, but.....the writing reminded me of Cormac McCarthy and specifically the book, The Road. Wow, I think I will be thinking of this book for some time. Well done Taylor Brown. You know it's a good book when it takes all, and I mean all, my will power not to read the epilogue. So well written. The reader gets so many vivid descriptions from the book that I felt myself remembering my own experiences such as spending time in Western Carolina and the sands of St. Simons Island, GA, to even movie scenes from Quentin Tarantino's movie with the cigar cutter. Heck, I even got emotionally attached to the horse! What author can do that? I hated horseback riding lessons as a kid! Loved from page one. Move this one on up on your list, read it sooner than later.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
350 reviews444 followers
January 9, 2016
"They had long ago forsaken the war of newspapers for the one they carried everywhere with them, and which had no colors, no sides, and which could be fit neatly to any new opportunity that presented itself: ambush, pillage, torture." - Fallen Land, Taylor Brown

Taking place at the end of the Civil War, Taylor Brown's debut novel, Fallen Land, follows the story of Callum and Ava as they race across the South toward the home of Callum's distant relatives while being pursued by a band of nefarious men intent on punishing Callum for a crime he didn't commit. Along the way, Callum and Ava encounter a land and people devastated by the war.

"Wonder what future people will think," said Ava. "Finding all this. The trees all gone, all these irons dug up from the ground. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe."
"Nobody's like to forget this," said Callum. "Not soon, I reckon."
"I don't know," said Ava. "You'd be surprised what people'll forget."


Brown is an extraordinarily talented writer. Certain passages were so beautiful, and I loved the story line over all. However, there were times when I found my mind drifting. Other reviewers have said Brown was "trying too hard". I'll have to agree to an extent. And while I enjoyed the story, I would have loved to see more interaction between Callum and Ava and less descriptions of the landscape.

I vacillated between a 3 and 4 star rating for this one, but landed on a 4 because I have a soft spot for Civil War stories. I remain in awe of what our country went through, and how primitive the conditions were for those traveling through the South at the time. Callum and Ava's story sounds like it wouldn't have been out of place in the 1600's instead of the 1860's.

4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Profile Image for Sandra.
203 reviews103 followers
March 8, 2016
Brown writes beautiful, almost lyrical and very descriptive prose.
You cannot help but fall in love with Callum and Ava, their horse Reiver, and even the surroundings.

Set amid the war-ridden lands during the Civil War, Callum has a bounty put upon his head after rescuing Ava from a lesser fate. They flee, being hunted down. Everywhere they turn there is danger, destruction, starvation, and death. The only thing that keeps them together is their want to be together and survive. And they are only 15 and 17 year old.
He did not want to close his eyes. The world had drawn down on him, the sky tattooed with death. Spiraling, spiraling. Everywhere a corpse.

There were some graphic parts, and very moving parts. That lump in a throat feeling.
He knew the falling land was telling him something, and the message yearned in his throat to be spoken. But he would not speak it. Could not.

Taylor Brown, we've got a problem.
I can't keep my hands of you...eh, your books from now on.



word gems
catawampus: askew; awry
pluton: large body of intrusive igneous rock



Review copy supplied by publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a rating and/or review.
Profile Image for Andria Williams.
Author 3 books132 followers
August 19, 2015
What a book!! Better than 'Cold Mountain,' as good as Cormac McCarthy. An epic, gorgeous, thrilling, romantic story set during the final days of the Civil War.

As perfect a novel as I have read this year.

Callum, a young Irish immigrant, and Ava, orphan daughter of a doctor who perished in the war, flee Callum's pursuers (he's wrongly accused of a murder)across the charred and devastated landscape of post-Civil-War Atlanta and environs.

The writing is infallible, never faltering. The pace never slows and the story moves along effortlessly. There was never a place that I wished would speed up. At times, it's almost unbearably romantic. I am not a crier, BUT-- without giving any spoilers-- I was moved enough to wipe away tears around page 262.

There's no way I could recommend this novel enough: it's a work of art. Get out on the vanguard and read it now (or, if that's not possible, add it to your To-Read list), and you'll feel mighty good about yourself when it gets a whirlwind of attention and readership come January.

Profile Image for Lori Elliott.
827 reviews2,187 followers
January 7, 2016
I really wasn't sure I wanted to read this when I read the synopsis but I decided to give it a go based on the reviews I'd seen. I thought that it started off well enough but was really slow going about 3/4 of the way through. I almost put it aside but with so little left I thought I'd go ahead and finish it. I felt like this was a good novel that was trying to hard to be a brilliant one. The descriptions distracted me from the story. I didn't need to know what every leaf looked like and how every pebble sounded. I wanted more descriptions of Callum and Ava. I wanted more of them. Some of the encounters they had with people along their journey just felt weird and out of synch.I know a lot of people have and will like this but it just didn't work for me.
Profile Image for Doug H.
286 reviews
September 13, 2016
Is it safe to review this without getting hate mail yet?

Many of my respected GR friends gave this 5 stars, so don't take my word for it, but I 'm strugglng with even giving it 2 stars. I thought the characters were cardboard cutouts and I found the plot completely unrealistic and based entirely on convenient coincidences. Worst of all, I grew to hate the overblown, over-earnest, over-hyphenated Faulkner/McCarthy wannabe fake-literary language.
Profile Image for Chrissie.
2,811 reviews1,434 followers
January 5, 2020
Here is the story in a nutshell—we start with brutal, violent killings and the hero’s close death, rapidly followed by instantaneous, passionate love. Then rape, tussles and bloodshed in the dirt. Sprinkle in more violent deaths. Then the chase begins and continues and continues in a bleak landscape of more violence ….until the glorious end when all ends up .

Talk about predictable!

I do not revel in brutality and violence. To top off the true to life horrors of the Civil War is added a gang of horse thieves and a bounty being placed on our young and passionately in love hero’s head. Throw in a bottle and you begin to grasp the melodrama and cinematic tone of the novel. Oh yes, and of course, the two lovers are orphans to boot.

True to life, historically documented violence is OK by me, as long as it is not exaggerated nor graphically drawn—as it is here.

Furthermore, the love, which is supposed to be passionate, lacks sizzle. It’s tame. You don’t feel it. It’s flat, only lines in a book.

The chase goes on and on. Excitement is to mount. I was not excited, not in the least. If characters mean nothing to you, how can one get excited about what happens to them?

What else should I let off steam about?

The so-called lyrical writing is another aspect to mention. The lines, the prose in a book must match the plot, the content, the action that takes place. The two must mesh. They should not oppose or contradict one another, and this is exactly what happens here, in this book. Lyrical lines make the reader jump back in surprise because they do not fit the ghastly violence of the plot. This clash disturbed me immensely.

Furthermore, the dialog between characters does not mirror the language of the 1860s, the time of the Civil War when this is set.

I have one final criticism of the prose style—fancy words are used to say simple things. This felt completely wrong to me too. Plot, characters and prose style must fit each other. They do not do that here.

I find this book boring. There is absolutely nothing to think about. If you have read books about the Civil War before, you will find nothing new here.

Richard Poe narrates the audiobook. I had no trouble understanding what he said, but it drives me crazy how he makes his voice tremble and quaver. I do not like the narration, so the best I can do is give it two stars. It’s OK. It is not terrible.

Phew. I am so glad this book is over. I chose to read the book because I so want to find contemporary authors that shine. Yeah, yeah, I can name a few, but I want more. This book and this author have left me sorely disappointed. Many people praise this author and this book, but I don’t.
Profile Image for MomToKippy.
205 reviews108 followers
March 18, 2017
Oh my. I have to catch my breath. A trio on the run for their lives through the carnage of the Civil War. Callum, barely a man, you feel his light step, his chilled bones, the gnaw of starvation in his gut and his ever pervasive drive to endure. Ava, a young woman, hardened by cruelty yet soft with child, a will of steel, intelligent and unwavering. Reiver, a majestic steed, you can feel the rippling of his muscle beneath the gleaming black hide, his fathomless strength and soaring spirit. All three undaunted yet nearly destroyed by the relentless slaughter and near death at every turn. The raw beauty of the Blue Ridge in a riot of fall color shattered by death and destruction and war. The characters come to life, the scenery is spectacular, the prose is beautifully heart rendering at times and yet it is imperfect. So be it. I cried.
Profile Image for Dorie  - Cats&Books :) .
1,119 reviews3,646 followers
December 1, 2015
It has been a while since the writing in a book is just so, so wonderful, so pitch perfect, that I found myself reading sentences, heck whole pages, just to read the wonderful prose again. This is one beautifully written book. The attention to detail is astounding. The western Carolinas and east Georgia have suffered so much destruction, and the people are so hungry that it reads like it could be the landscape anywhere after a war.

We follow Callum, a young man of only 15, who has some skills at stealing horses and had fallen in with some unscrupulous men who are taking advantage of what is left after the Civil War and it’s soldiers have left the land. He decides to go it on his own and comes across Ava, a young woman left alone, her father and brother apparently killed in the war. When the gang of marauders comes across the farm house and Ava, the Colonel immediately takes Ava and “has his way with her”. Callum wants no part of this. After some time he returns to the farm house and rescues Ava and the two of them steal the Colonel’s horse and decide the safest place for them would be the South.
Having killed some of the men in the gang, and stolen the Colonel’s horse Callum is now on the run from the Colonel’s men who think that it was Callum who killed the Colonel.

Over many many miles Callum and the pregnant Ava try to stay ahead of their pursuers who continue to be on their tail no matter how many detours they make. The author describes an injury that Callum has succumbed to with knowledge about how an injury can become infected if not treated. In this as in all details he has obviously done his homework. The description of the mountains and the devastation of the towns is described in such a way that I could visualize it. The young couple’s relationship develops slowly into something more than friendship.

My only hesitation to give this book 5* is that, for me, it moved a little too slowly. I wanted the horse to gallop faster! It is a wonderful book and one that would be good for book clubs with lots to discuss.

Thank you to St. Martin’s press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this great book.
Profile Image for The Shayne-Train.
419 reviews100 followers
February 3, 2016
This book was beautifully-written, though a bit like really heavy cheesecake: delicious, but you can't really binge on it without feeling ill. It makes you slowly go through, reading in chunks, and afterwards you have to loosen your mind-belt and burp a few times and have a good think.

Set during the American Civil War (my second favorite civil war, just short of the Marvel Superhero Civil War), it follows a hard-on-his-luck lad on his journey for....just...goddamned survival. The country is ripping itself to bloody shreds all around him, and he's just trying not to get shot or starve to death.

There is violence, vileness, and redemption in this book. And the prose is so lovely.
Profile Image for Connie (on semi-hiatus) G.
1,975 reviews646 followers
April 6, 2016
In this fast-moving story set at the end of the Civil War a couple is persued by a group of bounty hunters. Fifteen-year-old Callum and seventeen-year-old Ava love and support each other as they try to outrun the outlaws. Meanwhile, violence is rampant and Sherman's army is leaving Georgia in flames. It's worth reading the book just for the fabulous horse! I was impressed with Taylor Brown's writing in his first novel.
Profile Image for Bonnie.
1,425 reviews1,089 followers
January 15, 2016
‘Outside the door, the world was taking shape out of the high-country mist. Blued timbers sprung of the fugitive reality of dawn, ghostlike, perfect hidings for ambushing men.’

Fallen Land tells the harrowing tale about two young people that manage to fall in love in the midst of the Civil War. Callum is riding in the company of a band of Confederates being led by a dangerous man; the Colonel. He is a man both loved and feared; described as “a man of great cruelty who nevertheless protected them, led them, eclipsed any guilt of theirs with his own. At his behest they had razed and butchered, no reason but hunger and the Colonel’s orders.” When they reach a house and Callum is the first to find a woman inside, his immediate instinct is to protect her and he kills a man to do just that. While wounded in the process, he wakes to find that while he protected her from the first man, he wasn’t there to protect her from the second. This knowledge spurs him to leave his troop and set off to find her again and ensure she’s okay. Callum is subsequently accused of murder and a bounty is put on him, forcing him and now Ava to flee from certain death.

‘…the bounty of the boy’s head was only of greater import, for men such as them have little place int he world that stood scorched and remnant before them.’ <.i>

The story is told primarily through Callum’s point of view, however, we are shown snippets through the eyes of the bounty hunters and their devotion to Callum’s death is ruthless. Fierce and relentless, these men have no qualms about tracking him down for the purposes of obtaining the money promised to them; even if it involves killing or maiming innocents that stand in their way of discovery. The duo are forced to endure tremendous hardship and any hope that they have of making out of this alive is seemingly improbable.

While I found the writing to be positively sumptuous, the story itself did follow a meandering pace and took me quite some time to finish. The violence is extreme, but fitting. The romance is lacking with no spark between the two to be seen, which you wouldn’t expect since Callum made some pretty life-changing decisions in order to protect this woman of mystery. I can understand his intentions to protect a woman, I just never quite understood exactly why he went to such extreme lengths to do so. Setting all that aside, this is still a notable debut that leaves me anticipating future works to come from this author. I will also be checking out his short story collection, In the Season of Blood and Gold, which is more Southern Gothic/Country Noir.

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Profile Image for Melissa Crytzer Fry.
377 reviews420 followers
June 26, 2016
If you appreciate a sense of place and lush descriptions of the natural world (and, in this case, its devastating destruction by men in battle), this slim-in-pages but big-in-heart novel is for you. I guarantee you won’t soon forget Taylor Brown’s debut. I was on the trail with main characters Callum and Ava. I felt the branches scratching my face, felt the rough earth beneath me, the heat of a majestic horse’s hide, the bone-numbing cold. I sensed the panic as the bounty hunter and his men drew nearer. I felt the beauty of the land, despite the disfigurement caused at the cruel hand of man.

What’s more – if you love strong female protagonists, I’m not sure you’ll find a tougher-than-nails gal as Ava. (Incidentally, I just saw The Free State of Jones this weekend – also Civil War era – and was reminded of just how steeled and incredible these women were!) Brown brings wonderful life to Ava and Callum. They are real, flawed, and caught in a period of history with devastating circumstances for both “sides,” their families, and even the lands upon which they fight. The land is a character in this book – deservingly so. Brown brings home this desolation and destruction with realistic and unapologetic, dark prose. I can still see the gaunt, shocked faces of people within the towns ransacked by Gen. Sherman’s men. I felt their desolation, their angular, malnourished cheeks poking holes in my own psyche.

An example of the destructive imagery: “He rode a farm road that skated south between cotton fields. They were unharvested. Empty. The first quarter mile of split-rail fencing that bordered the road had been cannibalized for fuel by the army. Here or there lone timber rails littered the shoulder of the road. Endless streaks scored the dirt where rails had been dragged by man or mule for burning. Buzzards were up against the climbing sun. He cut east toward them along a lane double-rutted form wagon traffic. Cotton fields ended; an orchard began. It was scorched.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this telling of another piece of the American Civil War. The language was poetic and evocative, sparking the senses at every turn. I devoured the last 20 or so pages, so invested was I in the story of Callum and Ava. And Reiver, the horse… Oh Reiver…. I fell in love with you! If you favor literary fiction, enjoy learning more about the Civil war, and are interested in a great love story—this is the book for you! I will definitely be picking up Brown’s upcoming THE RIVER OF KINGS, publishing in the spring of 2017.
Profile Image for Tom Mathews.
733 reviews
April 24, 2016
Aeschylus said that the first casualty in war is truth. In just about any war the politicians, the press and the other powers that be beat the drums and spout rhetoric aimed at making the people enthusiastic about the coming conflict. This can also be seen in books and movies. At the beginning of a war, they are likely to be inspirational and full of patriotic fervor. But when the war drags on longer than expected and casualties and costs mount, public enthusiasm fades and so does the hawkish sentiment seen in books and movies.

The Civil War has been over for 150 years yet Taylor Brown’s debut novel is still timely. Americans have been at war for going on fifteen years now, longer than at any time in our existence, and we have grown tired. We have seen the pride of a generation perish in distant lands for reasons we have come to question. Just as M*A*S*H used the Korean conflict to call into question our actions in Vietnam, Fallen Land, by Brown’s portrayal of a road trip through the wasteland created by Sherman’s march to the sea reminds us that the devastation of war is visited on more than just its soldiers.

Callum and Ava’s flight from bounty hunters is compelling tale that brings them and the reader into contact with many people whose lives have been disrupted or destroyed by war. I cannot recommend it too highly.

*The review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.

FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
Profile Image for Fred Shaw.
562 reviews46 followers
April 4, 2018
Fallen Land: A Novel by Taylor Brown

This my second novel by Taylor Brown I’ve read in as many weeks, and a big thank you to Jennifer Tar Heel Reader for recommending him. He is a superb story teller, but his writing is much more than a telling a tale. It is his ability to describe: characters, setting, temperature, odors on the air, stars at night and more that keeps me turning pages . The details are so exquisite that it makes me feel like I am there in the moment experiencing everything the characters are, to the point I don’t want the scene or the book for that matter, to end.

Fallen Land is about 2 young people who find each other during the horrors of the Civil War in America. Callum is a rebel calvary soldier who saves Ava from being raped by killing one of his brother soldiers. In the process he is shot and after he recovers, he finds out he really didn't spare Ava from much. The colonel and leader of the rebel guerrilla fighters, had his way with her. To make amends with Ava and get back at the colonel, Callum steals the colonel’s prize stallion and returns to her mountain home to be with her. The couple is found and then chased from the Carolina mountains to the Georgia coast where they stumble into Sherman and his army’s march to the sea. There are constant perils along the way, including frigid weather and drenching rain, starvation and highwaymen who will kill them to take the beautiful and priceless stallion, plus the rebel pursuers bearing down onto them.

The story is an historically accurate adventure, a romance and a story full of action. I highly recommend this novel, and the author is one to watch.
Profile Image for Ruthie.
653 reviews4 followers
November 13, 2015
Two orphaned teens and a noble horse flee bounty hunters, renegades, the desperate, the displaced, the hungry, and a terrible prophecy. Brilliant. As others have noted the writing and story are reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy: All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, The Road and yet in may ways this is a more powerful read. The writing is more poetic, the characters more likable. It was very hard to put this book down as I fell in love with the three (yes, 3 - I loved Reiver!) characters on the run.

In the bleak landscape of this war ravished part of the South there is danger and horror at every stop and yet there is kindness and dignity as well. This is the first time I have read such a moving and devastating accounting of what the region was like during this terrible war. It was hard not to imagine and cast the amazing movie this could be - but definitely read the book first!
Profile Image for Steph Post.
Author 12 books256 followers
January 14, 2016
A gorgeous literary achievement. Fans of Cormac McCarthy will have finally found an author who lives up to the raw-lyrical tradition of his work, at a level certainly on par with his McCarthy's early novels. Fallen Land is startling, breathtaking and weighty. Taylor Brown is a force to keep an eye on.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 424 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.