The Fallon Trilogy by Reagan O’Neil

The Fallon Trilogy is a historical fiction trilogy with romance written by fantasy writer James Oliver Rigney Jr. (better known as Robert Jordan) under the pen name Reagan O’Neal from 1980-1982. The three books are as follows: The Fallon Blood, The Fallon Pride and The Fallon Legacy.

The first book in Michael Fallon’s trilogy. The more common 1995 edition is a new reprint published by Tor Books under Forge to capitalize on the success of The Wheel of Times.

The Fallon Blood

In The Fallon Blood, during the run of cruel English rulers, 1760s Irishman Michael Fallon becomes a servant to Charleston, South Carolina merchant Thomas Carver, where his passion with Carver’s lustful daughter Elizabeth causes life-changing complications.
His father died at the Battle of Culloden. The threat of Irish strikers forced Michael and his mother both into hiding and into poverty. His mother sacrificed her health to feed Michael for three years when he died of malnutrition. Grogan “adopted” Michael and used him as child labor. Michael ran away at the age of 15, promising that none of his children would suffer the tragedy of poverty.
Sometime later, Michael became a soldier and was taught swordsmanship by Timothy Cavanaugh. He was in the army for seven whole years, after which he managed to own land in Ireland. Michael’s prospects looked fruitful until the day he accidentally killed an English colonel. Since the penalty for killing an Englishman was death, Michael had no choice but to flee Ireland to the American colonies, where he became a servant of Thomas Carver. It was “the most fatal moment of his life.” He immediately fell in love with Chisisto’s daughter, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth did not return Michael’s feelings until he dueled Justin Fourrier, a descendant of the Fourrier family. Even though Justin was covered in blood, his swordsman paled next to the easily defeated Michael. This started the hatred of Justin to Michael and in turn the desire of Elizabeth to Michael.
But Elizabeth’s desire was not love. She originally wanted to flirt with a related man to instill jealousy in Justin. She hoped that jealousy would turn Justin into a lover instead of a distant man who only cared about her legacy.

Elizabeth’s plans culminate in a night of seduction that will hopefully lead Michael to marry her. However, Michael wanted to “establish her as a queen, not a pauper.” Michael’s efforts to build a future left Elizabeth alone with the child. Afraid of embarrassing the child, she manipulated Justin into raping her so that he would give her her hand.

Michael buried himself on his Tir Alanin plantation to forget Elizabeth and started helping the American resistance for the same purpose. He became good friends with Justin’s brothers Louis and Henry, who then introduced him to his sister Gabrielle. Some time later, Fourrier leaked the news of Michael’s killing to an English colonel, and he was pretty close to rotting in prison. Saved by Gabrielle’s plan, they married.
The American Revolution separates Michael and Gabrielle for years, although they repair the damage by raising their family. 20 years pass and Michael is found with his son Jacob and daughter Catherine. Constantly on guard for Justin’s murders, Michael met his son Robert Fallon (by Elizabeth). His presence irritated the Fallon family, who hate Robert quite a bit because of his bastard status. Gabrielle took the first step towards that abyss when Fourrier’s killers set fire to Fallon’s house and then killed both Gabrielle and James.

The Fallon Pride

In The Fallon Pride, Michael Fallon’s son Robert Fallon lives at sea for years, fighting Barbary pirates and enduring the siege of Tripoli. He then returns to America with his Irish wife, Moira McConnell, and starts a business in Charleston, raising a somewhat troubled family.

On the eve of the revolution, the Fourrier family is forced out of the colonies, because their centuries-old power has no place in the new nation. Then Elizabeth accidentally reveals Robert’s true heritage. For all his hatred of the Fallon line, Justin spent years abusing Robert just to see the look on Elizabeth’s face. “She fought for food, clothing, education…” Years of spousal abuse built on Elizabeth’s will until her death. His last words to Robert were the name of his real father.

Robert escapes to the sea. During that time, he ventured around Charleston, but compulsively avoids his father because he doesn’t want to be a burden on the Fallon family. His luck runs out when his name is accidentally offered to Michael, who then confronts him. They try to reconcile with Michael’s family, although Gabrielle is angry and refuses to give Robert the benefit of the doubt. James takes it a step further, makes Robert sweat and warns him not to come back. A spoiled noble, Jacob considers him invincible due to his “noble” bloodline, and is therefore confused when the bastard is beaten.

At the end of Fallon Blood, Robert Henry kills Tyree to save his father and guides Michael through his grief over Gabrielle’s death by asking the size of the boat Robert wants to buy. This experiment works, putting Michael out of his misery and allowing Michael to move on with his life.

Sometime before Fallon Pride, Robert has a grudge against his half-sister Catherine. His father Roberto is buried in the arms of another woman, a French girl, Louise de Chardonnay. Despite the Stalker-like intentions of the powerful maritime tycoon Murad Reis, Roberto takes Louise as his mistress, who later gives birth to his first son, Jacob. Before they can marry, however, Roberto becomes a victim of Murad’s revenge and is transported to North Africa. For three years, Robert fights the Tripoli forces under Colonel Eaten, but returns to find his father dead and Louise married to Thomas Martin.

Drunk with both grief and alcohol, Robert gives in to his passion and makes love with Catherine. The incest continues for years until finally a child named Eduardo is born. The birth of Eduardo shatters Robert’s passion for Catherine. He forces his niece Charollette to protect her new brother and retreats to the sea.

Years have passed. Robert falls in love with an Irish girl, Moira McDonnell, and returns to America with his wife. Like his father before him, war is on the horizon, pulling Robert away from his family. After the war, Robert is content with the prospect of both restoring his family’s fortunes and raising a family.
Robert has a small role in the third episode, Fallon Legacy. There are two key points about him. First he takes another French mistress named Lucille Gautier. This only exacerbates the situation with his wife Moira, who is at war with Robert over letting his thugs into the household and protecting her bloodthirsty son Edward, who grew up to be a spoiled noble, much like his late half-uncle James. Robert breaks his protection on Edward’s behalf when Edward arranges for Lucien Fourrier’s son Edouard to kidnap and rape his half-sister Elizabeth.

Robert Fallon is a source of irony. His survival and the dangers he faces make him a close parallel to his father, with the same drive and determination. Jacob, on the other hand, grows up to be a nobleman who blindly believes in wealth through breeding. He lacks Michael’s stamina, so he targets James more toward his uncle Justin Fourrier than Michael Fallon.

The Fallon Legacy

Well past his prime, Robert now fights the battles of politics to save the country he loves from civil war. It is 1832, and the tariffs that protect northern industry are crippling the South. President Jackson thinks force is the answer to the South’s threats of secession. Robert must vgo for a final visit to Washington, as an appeal to Jackson and Congress to pass a compromise tariff before the country is torn apart.

Like his father and grandfather before him, James Fallon is a man of vision and iron will, determined to succeed. But where his forebears were men of the sea, he is a man of the land, the vast land of northern Mexico – a land called Texas. James sets out for Stephen Austin’s colony of Americans with dreams of a horse-breeding empire. The land is harsh enough, but he soon learns the Fallon past harbors deadly shadows – Cordelia Applegate and Gerard Fourrier. With political influence, hired pistoleros, and Comanches, they seek to destroy all Fallons.

If you’d like to read this intriguing series you can buy it here in a trilogy for kindle

The Fallon Trilogy is a historical fiction trilogy with romance written by fantasy writer James Oliver Rigney Jr. (better known as Robert Jordan) under the pen name Reagan O’Neal from 1980-1982. The three books are as follows: The Fallon Blood, The Fallon Pride and The Fallon Legacy. The first book in Michael Fallon’s trilogy. The…