This is another early reviewer book for me. The book is set in the western part of the southern states and its time period is the 1860's. This is apparently the fourth book in a four-part series, but I have not read the other three. Even though I didn't read the other three, I wasn't at a disadvantage. The story held together very well on its own. I love historical fiction, and I am particularly drawn to civil war era books, so this one certainly fit the bill. I liked the characters, both Union and Confederate soldiers, and some civilians planters and, of course, slaves. I found that Nagle didn't dwell overmuch on the plight of the slaves, even though it was always there in the background. He did write marvelous 19th century battle scenes though. The battles were all historical battles from that war. There are a lot of real historical people brought to life and these are intermixed with Nagle's main characters, who he says are all fictional. These battles were all fought in the far west and there were a lot of Texans fighting for confederacy. He tells his story unstintingly, with a mix of compassion and empathy. His descriptions of the battles and the soldiers' down times on the battle fields ring true. I really enjoyed this book and would like to thank the publisher for giving me the chance to read it. ( )

Red River by P.G. Nagle held my attention from the start - no mean feat considering I'm not a fan of historical fiction. Marie Hawkland's fright of the people she had considered her property was well handled. ( )

This book is drab, in a bad way! I couldn't get into it, I tried reading it more than a few times and wanted to fall asleep! Way too many colonels, majors, etc to keep track of and NOTHING happens. While it might be a great insight to this historical time period, I couldn't finish it. ( )

This book is probably historically accurate in its presentation of Slavery and conflict on the Red River during the American Civil War. It is well written, and well plotted. There are pertinent issues raised about slavery. It is not an amazing read, and in fact I'm not going to finish the book. Its presentation of the subject matter is suitable for kids as young as 10 or so, if they were interested. I'm not really interested. ( )

The story takes place towards the end of the American Civil war amongst the cotton plantations around the confluence of the Red River and the mighty Mississippi.

I must confess that I put this book aside after reading the first few chapters. I am usually a good judge of material that I choose to read in any genre and not being one to admit defeat; after reading a totally unrelated novel, I came back to the "Red River" and I am glad that I did as it slowly grew on me. Maybe I was not "in the mood" for it on my first attempt. I found the descriptions of the river steamers as used in these battles, especially in the latter chapters somewhat absorbing. Now don't get me wrong. This was not in my opinion, an earth shattering read. However, it did highlight the pro and anti slavery issues of the day and the absolute stupidity of a war between brothers and families. All in all a very educational Civil war drama.

Evennight Books via LibraryThing Early Reviewers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I gave the book three stars *** ( )