The enthralling new novel from the acclaimed author of Fallen Land, The River of Kings, and Gods of Howl Mountain Retired racehorse jockey and Vietnam veteran Anse Caulfield rescues exotic big cats, elephants, and other creatures for Little Eden, a wildlife sanctuary near the abandoned ruins of a failed development on the Georgia coast. But when Anse’s prized lion escapes, he becomes obsessed … escapes, he becomes obsessed with replacing her–even if the means of rescue aren’t exactly legal.
Anse is joined by Malaya, a former soldier who hunted rhino and elephant poachers in Africa; Lope, whose training in falconry taught him to pilot surveillance drones; and Tyler, a veterinarian who has found a place in Anse’s obsessive world.
From the rhino wars of Africa to the battle for the Baghdad Zoo, from the edges of the Okefenokee Swamp to a remote private island off the Georgia coast, Anse and his team battle an underworld of smugglers, gamblers, breeders, trophy hunters, and others who exploit exotic game.
Pride of Eden is Taylor Brown’s brilliant fever dream of a novel: set on the eroding edge of civilization, rooted in dramatic events linked not only with each character’s past, but to the prehistory of America, where great creatures roamed the continent and continue to inhabit our collective imagination.
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This book quite literally wore me out. It’s that emotionally draining as Taylor Brown took me into a world of animal cruelty and poachers with details that are not for the faint of heart. I’m not usually squeamish, but this one got to me so much that I had to set it down more than once for something lighthearted. Don’t misunderstand me. I didn’t lay it aside because it was a chore to get through, and I always had the intention of picking it back up, and I did. Taylor Brown is quite the gifted storyteller, and he certainly knows his stuff when it comes to drawing a reader in. So, it wasn’t that the story wasn’t good, it was just the heart-wrenching nature of it all. When I think about the people I might recommend this book to, I have to say the list is rather short, but it’s completely due to the graphic nature of what is done to the animals. But there is also beauty here with the people who go to great lengths to save them. So, I’ll say this – if you’re squeamish or can’t read about animal abuse of any kind even in fiction, then I’d skip this one, but I would recommend reading other books by this author because he surely knows his stuff.
I received a free ARC electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Taylor Brown, and St. Martin’s Press. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Taylor Brown should be on your ‘must-read’ list, too. He puts you there, in the story, as a participant with an investment in the outcome.
It is said by several sources that there are more tigers in private captivity in the state of Texas than are left in the wild in the rest of the world. Many species of big cats are going extinct right in front of our eyes. As are elephants, rhinos, chimps – thousands of bird species and many more critters – too many to count. Just because it’s legal to own exotics, doesn’t make it right. Hopefully, they will not have to tell that to the judge.
Wealthy ex-jockey and Vietnam veteran Anderson ‘Anse’ Caulfield owns an animal rescue called ‘Little Eden’ in coastal Georgia; Malaya is a former US Army vet with two Iraqi tours and a post-military stint in Africa hunting elephant and rhino traffickers; Recce Commando of South African Defence Force, Jaager de Vaal; an American fireman, Lope, who brings to the group falconry and drone maneuvers; and ‘Little Eden’ employee, Anse’s love interest, and veterinarian Tyler are doing everything in their power to add those abused and endangered exotic ‘pets’ to the circus and zoo retirees, abandoned or lost critters, who are already a part of Anse’s Little Eden.
This can only end badly… Right?
Pride of Eden is a gritty book inhabited by gritty characters. Anse Caulfield is a Vietnam vet and retired racehorse jockey. He is joined by Malaya, a discharged soldier who hunts poachers on an African wildlife preserved; Lope, a falcon-trainer who hunts surveillance drones; and Tyler, a female veterinarian and Anse’s lover. The writing here is at times beautiful and at times a bit over-the-top. Some areas seem almost jagged, but those areas increase the intensity of the four people, all somewhat loners and hanging onto the outer rim of humanity, who come together in a “pride” of their own. They rescue—often with less-than-legal methods—big cats, wolves, elephants, crocodiles, and other creatures and have established Little Eden, a wildlife sanctuary on the Georgia coast. Brown binds together prehistory (for example, saber-toothed cats and mammoths trapped in the La Brea tar pits) and present times to establish a human-animal interconnection and has these animals narrate parts of the story.
I am giving this novel 5 stars for its writing quality, historical background, and theme. Brown is such a skilled writer—often poetic as he describes the natural environment, and it’s amazing how much he knows about everything, especially the history of the places in his novels. Most writers would stop after physically describing the string of sea islands along the Intracoastal Waterway—something of course Brown does beautifully: “The beach was littered with fallen trees, gnarled and sun-bleached, like some prehistoric boneyard….” (256). But Brown also skillfully encapsulates the islands’ history: they “had been home to tribal chiefdoms and Spanish missions and colonial forts, to antebellum plantations and reclusive millionaires and communities of freed slaves.” (255-6). He gives this sort of history repeatedly in the novel, lending a mythic quality to the narrative. I was also impressed with the animal rights theme; the mistreatment and abuse of animals and birds of all types is dramatically portrayed. I have one qualification: my lack of personal connection with the characters who fight this abuse—Anse, the tough ex-jockey and war veteran, scarred mentally and physically; his lover Tyler, a blond Amazon; Malaya, tattooed strong Asian warrior woman; Horne, a wolfman. These characters were often (to me) somewhat like comic book superheroes; I’d have liked them to be more real. And I have to admit I wished for some romance somewhere. However, there are so many reasons to give the novel a five—hence my rating!
Taylor Brown’s Pride of Eden did not hold my attention., nor was it entertaining. There were several characters and their lives kept going back and forth from present-day to days past. Hard to keep up.