I picked this book up because I wanted to sample Martin's writing without getting into the LONG A Song of Ice and Fire series and I was basically pleased. There were some things I loved, the main character Abner for example. You just don't come across many middle aged, fat, harry, warty, UGLY protagonists that often and I appreciated it. Plus, I just plain liked him.

There were also things I hated, the frequent use of the "N-word" being one of them. Now, I understand this is set largely in 1857, on the Mississippi River. Slavery was a reality and no, people of the time wouldn't have used polite language. I get it. But it's still nails-on-a-chalkboard for me to read and pulled me out of the narrative every-time, especially when the word was used in the narration in addition to dialogue I could blame on a character. Maybe it just wasn't needed quite so OFTEN.

The story itself was fairly straightforward, but took enough turns to keep things interesting. I did think it was bogged down with steamboat information, but I never quite reached boredom. There were also some interesting moral questions explored by the main characters, though this was only a small part of the book. It had a great ending though.

Al in all, I enjoyed the book well enough to trust the author with a longer series. I'll happily read more of Martin's work.