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[Forge, 1995.]

The Fallon Blood is the first of a family saga trilogy. Starting in 1765, it centers on Irishman Michael Fallon, a former member of the King of Prussia's Irish Hussars. On the run from the law after killing a British colonel, he escapes by sailing to South Carolina as an indentured servant.

The story is pretty typical fare. After arriving penniless in America, the wealthy merchant who purchased Fallon's indenture quickly sees that he is more than the average, poor, Irish peasant and soon promotes him to a key position in running the business, then helps him to set up his own business once his indenture is completed. He typically falls in love with the merchant's beautiful, but conniving daughter, Elizabeth, who is attracted by him, but sees him as beneath her. She betrays him for the first of many times, by marrying another man, Justin Fourrier, a one dimensional opportunistic scoundrel, while pregnant with Fallon's child. Fallon eventually ends up marrying Justin's sweet innocent sister, Gabrielle, whom he doesn't appreciate until it is too late.

Most of the prewar story is spent covering Fallon building up his personal empire, which involves getting to know most of the key people who will be prominent on both sides during the coming war. When war comes, he predictably takes the Whig side, while the Fourrier family just as predictably takes the Loyalist side. Because of his previous experience as a hussar, Fallon eventually ends up forming a unit called Fallon's Irish Legion, which essentially functions as Tarleton's opposite number. Justin Fourrier joins Tarleton's Legion, which lives up to every bad myth about it; raping, plundering, and pillaging their way across South Carolina.

Ban doesn't appear until page 361, and his character in this book goes way beyond Bloody Tarleton to "Ban the Psycho Rapist":

In the Jersies, Tarleton had made a reputation as a cavalry leader. It was said that the rebels there called him Benny. But he didn't seem like a Benny in South Carolina. He struck hard, and with complete ruthlessness, inflicting fearful casualties. And, except for William Washington, his opponents always lost. His name was hated among the rebels, and feared. He'd wanted Elizabeth to call him Ban, making his approach in the garden while Justin slept off their drinking. She'd almost fell into his trap. He was boyishly handsome, with a polished grace when he'd cared to use it. But she'd looked into his eyes when he tried to kiss her, and seen the tiny spark deep inside that told her why he wasn't repelled by Thompsonville. He reveled in pain and fear.

She'd torn away from him, but he'd been persistent. Oh, so persistent. And then she'd seen two of the farm girls Tarleton had used for his entertainment. No matter how decent they were before, after they acted like whipped curs. That was why she was on her way to the house in the city. (p.361)

Funny, but Elizabeth was married to a man who was exactly how Ban was purported to be in this book and she'd been with everything in breeches up until this point. Odd time for her to suddenly become picky.

Apparently the author had read the "killed all the men, lain with all the women" quote when researching this book, as the next passage seems to indicate:

He strode out of the house, a scowl fixed on his face, and met Tarleton coming up the walk. "So there you are, Justin. Get your men mounted. The fox is afoot; we must move fast if we're to run him to the ground."

"What? What fox?"

"Continental foxes, that's what I'm talking about. Those Virginia reinforcements have finally reached the province, or so a deserter tells me. Four hundred men under one Buford. Only, now they've discovered the true situation in South Carolina, they're trying to escape back to Virginia as fast as they can. It'll be saber practice. Come on!"

"I must stop off on the Santee. My wife--"

"Hell's teeth, man, we have to ride our bums off now to catch them before they're in North Carolina. We can't go to the Santee just because your cods are hot. Man shouldn't waste that on his wife, anyway. When this is done, you'll find some little rebel wench and split her up the middle. It's fighting now. Come along, then. Let's go." (p. 374)

One later chapter describes a path of destruction wrought by Tarleton's gleefully marauding dragoons. In the next segment, a woman who'd been traumatized when the dragoons had raided her plantation, tells of her ordeal to Gabrielle, who later comes seeking help for her injured husband.

"Tarleton said I was a rebel bitch, but he'd like to mount me, anyway. But Justin said I was his, because he knew me, and he'd picked the plantation. Finally Tarleton said I wasn't worth an argument. They gave me to a lieutenant of Tarleton's Legion. He took me aside and tore my clothes, but I hit him with a candlestick, and hit him and hit him. Then I ran out of the house, all the way to the woods. Some of the men laughed, but none tried to stop me until an officer ran out, yelling that I'd killed Lieutenant Owen. Tarleton kept shouting, 'Hoy, hoy hoy! Catch the vixen and every man jack of you can mount her till she can't twitch.' " (p.390)

One wonders how Ban ever managed to be so popular with the ladies if he'd actually been this crude and barbarous.

The book is more like a badly written romance, than a sweeping family saga, but it's one of those "so bad it's good" type of things. The author has written several science fiction novels, most notably the Wheel of Time series; hopefully they are better than this book.