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Fallon #3
The Fallon Legacy
Writing as Reagan O'Neal, an author pens a long-awaited conclusion to his Fallon trilogy, in which James Fallon heeds the call of a wild land called Texas, where the land is harsh and threats from Mexico City cannot go unheeded.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published May 28, 1982
4 people are currently reading
450 people want to read
About the author
Robert Jordan
667 books17.4k followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr., under which he was best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also wrote under the names Reagan O'Neal and Jackson O'Reilly.
Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He served two tours in Vietnam (from 1968 to 1970) with the United States Army as a helicopter gunner. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with "V" and bronze oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm. After returning from Vietnam he attended The Citadel where he received an undergraduate degree in physics. After graduating he was employed by the United States Navy as a nuclear engineer. He began writing in 1977. He was a history buff and enjoyed hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool, and pipe collecting.
He described himself as a "High Church" Episcopalian and received communion more than once a week. He lived with his wife Harriet McDougal, who works as a book editor (currently with Tor Books; she was also Jordan's editor) in a house built in 1797.
Responding to queries on the similarity of some of the concepts in his Wheel of Time books with Freemasonry concepts, Jordan admitted that he was a Freemason. However, "like his father and grandfather," he preferred not to advertise, possibly because of the negative propaganda against Freemasonry. In his own words, "no man in this country should feel in danger because of his beliefs."
On March 23, 2006, Jordan disclosed in a statement that he had been diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis, and that with treatment, his median life expectancy was four years, though he said he intended to beat the statistics. He later posted on his Dragonmount blog to encourage his fans not to worry about him and that he intended to have a long and fully creative life.
He began chemotherapy treatment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in early April 2006. Jordan was enrolled in a study using the drug Revlimid just approved for multiple myeloma but not yet tested on primary amyloidosis.
Jordan died at approximately 2:45 p.m. EDT on September 16, 2007, and a funeral service was held for him on Wednesday, September 19, 2007. Jordan was cremated and his ashes buried in the churchyard of St. James Church in Goose Creek, outside Charleston.
Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr., under which he was best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also wrote under the names Reagan O'Neal and Jackson O'Reilly.
Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He served two tours in Vietnam (from 1968 to 1970) with the United States Army as a helicopter gunner. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with "V" and bronze oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm. After returning from Vietnam he attended The Citadel where he received an undergraduate degree in physics. After graduating he was employed by the United States Navy as a nuclear engineer. He began writing in 1977. He was a history buff and enjoyed hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool, and pipe collecting.
He described himself as a "High Church" Episcopalian and received communion more than once a week. He lived with his wife Harriet McDougal, who works as a book editor (currently with Tor Books; she was also Jordan's editor) in a house built in 1797.
Responding to queries on the similarity of some of the concepts in his Wheel of Time books with Freemasonry concepts, Jordan admitted that he was a Freemason. However, "like his father and grandfather," he preferred not to advertise, possibly because of the negative propaganda against Freemasonry. In his own words, "no man in this country should feel in danger because of his beliefs."
On March 23, 2006, Jordan disclosed in a statement that he had been diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis, and that with treatment, his median life expectancy was four years, though he said he intended to beat the statistics. He later posted on his Dragonmount blog to encourage his fans not to worry about him and that he intended to have a long and fully creative life.
He began chemotherapy treatment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in early April 2006. Jordan was enrolled in a study using the drug Revlimid just approved for multiple myeloma but not yet tested on primary amyloidosis.
Jordan died at approximately 2:45 p.m. EDT on September 16, 2007, and a funeral service was held for him on Wednesday, September 19, 2007. Jordan was cremated and his ashes buried in the churchyard of St. James Church in Goose Creek, outside Charleston.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 12, 2022
[2 stars=probably won't read again]
This was an inconclusive conclusion of a lackluster series. The Fallons end up at key points in American history, and this installment wanders through the time after the War of 1812 in South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, and Washington which is somewhat obscure. It is inconclusive because the issues of slavery aren't resolved and Texas is in limbo (it's 1833), yet the seeds being laid in this period of American history are enlightening, and Jordan tells them well.
The story wanders more than flows; individual pieces are interesting and well written, but the underlying plot is not compelling. It felt inconclusive because the resolution was more like a summary sheet on the last page or so, as if the author didn't have any pages left.
This was an inconclusive conclusion of a lackluster series. The Fallons end up at key points in American history, and this installment wanders through the time after the War of 1812 in South Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, and Washington which is somewhat obscure. It is inconclusive because the issues of slavery aren't resolved and Texas is in limbo (it's 1833), yet the seeds being laid in this period of American history are enlightening, and Jordan tells them well.
The story wanders more than flows; individual pieces are interesting and well written, but the underlying plot is not compelling. It felt inconclusive because the resolution was more like a summary sheet on the last page or so, as if the author didn't have any pages left.
February 20, 2026
About on par with the second book, at least until the abrupt ending.
December 31, 2016
In the Fallon Legacy, the story concentrates mostly on James Fallon, Robert Fallon's long lost son. The story takes you through James' adventures in the Texas frontier. Amidst much excitment and adventure, Robert Jordan is able to provide the reader with an extraordinary amount of history and culture from the Mexico/Texas region. The characters in this book are awesome. Some of the most loveable and hateable people I have ever read about. The Fourrier family continues to haunt the Fallons all the way up to the last chapter of the trilogy, but the Fallons are once again able to persevere, although with some heart-wrenching losses.
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While the adventure and romance of this novel were very entertaining and fun to read, the best thing about the book, and indeed the whole trilogy, is the fresh perspective that it provides on the history and the culture of America 200 years ago. Books like this help to preserve our heritage.
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While the adventure and romance of this novel were very entertaining and fun to read, the best thing about the book, and indeed the whole trilogy, is the fresh perspective that it provides on the history and the culture of America 200 years ago. Books like this help to preserve our heritage.
June 19, 2023
My least favorite of the trilogy, which focuses mostly on young James Fallon as he tries to forge his new life in the Texas Territory as the fight for independence against the Mexican Government ensues. The history around this time period in the late 1820s and early 1830s is interesting, but the new characters in this story were flat and the story line was too similar to the earlier novels. The author did a gallant job trying to tie the nullification process of South Carolina with what was happening in D.C. and the rest of the U.S., but overall many things were disconnected. This was my first real effort at historical fiction and not sure if this is a genre I will continue to pursue.
December 9, 2019
I really enjoyed this series as a whole, but I felt least invested in this particular volume. Not to say that I didn't enjoy it. I loved the historical tie-ins in this epic story and, pending the success of the forthcoming Wheel of Time, it may be something we see as a Netflix series in the future.
April 20, 2024
eponymous sentence:
p340: If you share this Fallon legacy, I ask you to temper it, as I have never been able to.
ocr:
p278: Austin wasn't a drinker--if anything he led an ascetic lire--but the saloons were the center of political talk in Nacogdoches, and if anything would draw Austin, it was politics.
It's not great, but it's readable.
p340: If you share this Fallon legacy, I ask you to temper it, as I have never been able to.
ocr:
p278: Austin wasn't a drinker--if anything he led an ascetic lire--but the saloons were the center of political talk in Nacogdoches, and if anything would draw Austin, it was politics.
It's not great, but it's readable.
Read
June 6, 2021I tried to be invested, I really did....ended up skimming this book before I even reached the halfway to halfway point: it was BORING.
Nothing more to say.
Nothing more to say.
May 15, 2014
A great historical and very American trilogy. It starts before the Revolution and ends about 30 years before the Civil War, which is a pity: I wonder what might have become of this saga if Jordan had continued it instead of starting to write that little thing called The Wheel of Time…
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March 2, 2019Before Robert Jordan embarked on his epic Wheel of Time series (Brandon Sanderson had to complete it because Jordan passed away), he wrote two things. First of all, he ghost-wrote many of the Conan the Barbarian books in the 70's and 80's. That's probably not a surprise to anyone. But, he also wrote a romantic saga of three generations of early Americans spanning the years between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. There is not a wizard, spell, demon, or mystical pattern to be found anywhere. In fact, Jordan originally published these books under the name Reagan O'Neal in an effort to appeal to a female audience. I doubt many romance lovers were fooled, because anyone who has read the Wheel of Time series knows, Jordan just can't stop world-building. In this case, it seems that the historical research he did was daunting. This final book in the trilogy (although it feels like he had more to write), includes so much history that when he tries to inject the occasional passionate love scene, it is extremely out of place. In book one, those scenes were awkward, but by book three, it was almost as if he wrote the book, and then went back and added the sex scenes. Clearly, these were not New York Times bestsellers, and Jordan did not go on to write romantic fiction. That said, although the "romance" does them more of a disservice than further the plot, these three books represent some outstandingly well-written historical fiction. I'm glad he failed and there was never a book #4, but there were/are some plot issues that remain unresolved. The end of book 3 is leading towards the Battle of the Alamo. I expected that to be the resolution of the trilogy, but instead, our characters (some of them), are left in Texas in 1833. Maybe Brandon Sanderson can write book 4? :)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews