It took 400 pages to get to the main plot, then had about 300 pages of good story, then had a few 'ARE YOU KIDDING ME?' moments where I was going to hurl the book out the window. I don't like tropes that are thrown in just for the sake of throwing them in. There were certainly a few that were not necessary at all. Lord John, as always, was outstanding. He remains my favorite character in this entire series. ( )

I feel like Jamie and Claire’s story keeps getting better the longer they’re together and the more shared history they have. Extra credit is the addition of Brianna and Roger’s story. I feel like I just read 3 novels instead of one. The Outlander saga is addicting. ( )

This was at least the 3rd time I have read this. The first two times before I started my recording on goodreads apparently. I am working up to the new book coming out in June 2014, so I am gonna have to slow down, otherwise I will be done too early and have to start all over again. Not that that would be such a hardship.... ( )

This was a great book. I Gave this book a 4 because I felt that it could have had more action. it was more about Roger and Brianna and their love story. I did like the love story between them but I felt like that whole Stephen Bonnet part of it could have been left out and that baby Jeremiah could have been found to be Roger's son. I am excited to see what happens to all of them after the wedding at Jocasta's house. ( )

Historical Fiction

Yawn. It was even painful to read the summary. Should have quit after #1 ( )

So very addicted to this series now. Love the evolution and bringing in the next generation. ( )

Maybe it was being busy with work or just the sheer volume... the first 1/2 was slower for me. The second half was a page turner! ( )

There is no amount of money someone could pay me to have a child. ( )

Another excellent time-travel story from Ms. Gabaldon. Fell in love with Jamie and Claire all over again, getting to know Roger and Brianna, and all of the trials and joy they go through. This series is definitely a keeper and one I will enjoy many times over the years. ( )

I wasn’t overly fond of this one. It was 500 pages of boredom, 300 pages of really good, and 200 pages of WTF? Some characters I ended up liking quite a bit, more than I did previously. Some rubbed me the wrong way and I found I could quite do without them. Trying not to be spoilery here. I’ll just say I can’t wait to see how all this plays out in season 4 of Outlander.

Things I liked:

Brianna going back to see her parents
Brianna’s encounter with Laoghaire
Brianna and Marsali being at first kind of jealous of each other, but then becoming friendly
LJG offering to be fake engaged to Brianna


Things I didn’t like:

Brianna - I was really praying she went back to her time. She intentionally uses Frank to hurt Jamie.
Claire’s attachment to Frank’s ring
What happened to Young Ian
Fergus being “absent” for most of this. We didn’t hear from him much.
( )

Another great book in this series. Just keeps getting better and better. ( )

Not a Bookclub book but on my own great series ( )

Drums of Autumn

I’m going to assume that people have read the previous books because if they haven’t, they’ll be getting some spoilers at how the last book ended.
Claire and Jamie have landed in America. They have a few gems that Jamie took from Geillis Duncan when Claire killed her after Geillis tried to kill Ian. Geillis turned out to be even more evil than I thought she could ever be. Even though Claire and Jamie have the jewels, it will be hard to sell them in this wild place. They give one stone to the people who helped them when they first shipwrecked on the shores of Georgia. In return, the family gave them horses, a wagon and supplies to travel north to find Jamie’s Aunt Jocasta Cameron in North Carolina.
This book starts out with a hanging. One of Jamie’s friends from Ardsmuir Prison was being hanged for theft. Jamie was there just to support his friend and to claim the body afterwards. They were also there to meet a ship so they could send Ian back to Scotland but the ship had already sailed so they would have to keep Ian with them until other arrangements could be made. Three prisoners were to be hanged but one prisoner, Stephen Bonnet, escaped while Jamie’s friend was being hanged.
The price to bury Jamie’s friend, Hayes, was too much so they snuck into the cemetery at night and dug a grave. They discovered Stephen Bonnet in the back of their wagon hiding from the soldiers. He talks them into sneaking him past the check points disguised as a dead body in a shroud. They then parted ways.
Claire and Jamie are invited to the Governor of North Carolina’s home for dinner where they are able to sell one of the jewels. The governor offers land to Jamie but Jamie knows there are ulterior motives for the offer. The governor says it is because they need settlers but Jamie thinks the governor will use the land against him later. He tells the governor that he will think on it.
They travel north but have to take a barge up the river to get to his aunts plantation. They send Duncan Innes over land but they take the river because it will be faster and safer…so they think. The boat is boarded by robbers. Their leader is Stephen Bonnet, the man who they helped escape. He robs them of their jewels and tries to take both of Claire’s rings but she puts them in her mouth to swallow them. She manages to swallow one but Bonnet grabs her face and squeezes so that one of the rings pops out of her mouth. She didn’t discover which one until Bonnet had left the boat and she threw up the other ring because it had become lodged in her throat. She still had Jamie’s ring. It was Frank’s ring that Bonnet had taken.
They make it to his Aunt Jocasta’s plantation. She is happy to see them and welcomes them with open arms. She is rich beyond belief and has many slaves. She is blind but gets around well and can even ride a horse. She wants Jamie to become her heir but Jamie knows that if he does, he will be stuck running the plantation under his aunt’s rule for another twenty to thirty years. He and Claire both do not agree with the owning of slaves and in the colony of North Carolina it is hard to free a slave. A council has to approve the freeing of a slave. After the slave is freed, the slave has to immediately leave the colony. The council would never approve freeing an entire plantation full of slaves.
Claire and Jamie decide to take the governor’s offer and find a piece of land north of his aunt’s plantation. He has Duncan Innes search for the remaining prisoners from Ardsmuir to help them settle the land but that will take a while. Meanwhile, Ian helps build a small cabin and some out buildings to hold a few animals.
They make friends with a few Tuscarora Indians from. Back then, Native Americans were called Indians so that is what I am going to use. Ian and his half-wolf dog, Rollo, hunt and visit the Indians often. He learns their language quickly too. There are other Indians around also who may not be so friendly but the Tuscarora have been very helpful. Claire becomes friends with their medicine woman.
Meanwhile in the 1960s, Brianna and Roger and dating. He asks her to marry him but she refuses because she wants to be sure before she marries him. She is afraid that she will end up like her mother who loved Frank Randall but then fell in love with Jamie and chose Jamie over Frank. Brianna and Roger agree that she will finish her degree before making a decision. Brianna wants to have sex but Roger won’t until they are married.
Roger finds a newspaper clipping of Claire and Jamie’s obituary. It says that they died in a house fire in the year 1776 on Fraser’s Ridge. He is afraid that if he tells Brianna about it, she will try to go through the stones to warn them but he believes the past cannot be changed because of how Claire and Jamie had tried to change the outcome of Culloden. He decides not to tell Brianna but she finds out anyway. Roger discovers that she had gone through the stones to warn them. By the time he is able to get through the stones, she is six weeks ahead of him.
Brianna rides to Lallybroch and meets her aunt, uncle, cousins and unfortunately, Laoghaire. She shows them the pearls that Jamie had given to her mother to prove who she is. They believe her but Laoghaire tries to take the pearls saying that they are hers since Jamie owes her. After Laoghaire says a lot of horrible things about her mother and father, Brianna stands up and tells Laoghaire just what she thinks of her and also tells everyone how Laoghaire tricked her mom into going to Geillis Duncan’s house when she knew Geillis was going to be arrested for being a witch. I was so glad that someone finally told on Laoghaire for trying to kill Claire. I have never understood why Claire never said anything about it.
Brianna takes a ship from Inverness to America. Her uncle and cousin insist on her having a maidservant so she ends up choosing a girl of about fourteen years old because she felt sorry for her situation. Elizabeth or Lizzie was about to be purchased by a man who would use her as a concubine so her father talked Brianna into purchasing her instead as and indentured servant. Her father promised to meet up with them some day in America. Brianna ended up taking care of Lizzie more than the other way around because Lizzie kept getting a fever. She’d get better but then get sick again. Brianna thought it was probably Malaria.
Roger wasn’t able to get enough old money together before he went through the stones so he had to work as a sailor to get to America. The captain just happened to be Stephen Bonnet. The passengers were crowded below deck and were let up twice a day for air. When some of them became ill with smallpox, the captain had them thrown overboard. One woman hid down with the cargo hold with a baby who had a mild rash. She was afraid if the crew saw his rash that they would think he had smallpox and throw him overboard. Roger helped her with water and food but Bonnet caught him. He flipped a coin to see if he would let the woman and child live. They lived but Roger learned how callous Bonnet was.
When Brianna landed in America, travel was slow because Lizzie kept getting sick. She heard that Jamie would be in Cross Creek for someone’s trial and was in a hurry to get there before he left but Lizzie kept getting sick. Roger and Brianna met up. Brianna and Roger argued because she was so shocked to see him but then they went outside and made up. In fact, they handfested which is a kind of marriage between two people for a year and a day. They then made love in some sort of barn or shed. Roger told Brianna about how certain jewels would help them get back through the stones and into their time safely. He told her that he knew where some jewels were and he was going to steal them. I figured that he was stealing them from Bonnet. She told Roger that she had to find her father quickly and told him about the obituary that she had found then she asked him how he knew that she was in America. She figured out that he had seen the notice and not told her. She took it as a betrayal and stormed off. He yelled to her that he would get the stones and then find her.
Lizzie, not knowing the relationship between Brianna and Roger and only seeing their fight, believed Roger to be a threat to Brianna. This impression was confirmed when Brianna came back to their room after being gone all night in a foul mood and then when Lizzie washed Brianna’s clothes and found semen and blood in them, she thought Roger had raped her.
Brianna found Jamie. I was so excited and happy for them. The trial was because Fergus had hit Lieutenant Murchison, a creep of a man who dislikes Jamie. Fergus hit him after the lieutenant had taken the horse and saddle from Fergus’ wife, Marceli while she and their baby were riding it. He said it was for taxes and made her walk but at the trial, Jamie proved that Lt. Murchison was trying to cheat them since Jamie owed no taxes and since Fergus lives on his land, he also does not owe any taxes.
Brianna and Jamie leave Lizzie at Jocasta’s plantation and ride to Fraser’s Ridge where Claire is. The reunion was really weird to me. I thought they would be more shocked but they weren’t. Brianna settles in and tells them that Roger is there and should be coming soon but she gives them Roger’s adopted name of Wakefield when he is going by MacKenzie. She also fails to mention that they are handfested.
Jamie and Claire notice that Brianna is pregnant. Claire talks to Brianna who tells her that she and Roger did have sex one night but the child isn’t his. Two days after she and Roger had sex, Stephen Bonnet raped her. She had met him on his ship after seeing her mom’s wedding ring on his little finger and he had let her see the inside which said, “to C from F” so she knew it was her mom’s ring. When she met him on his ship, he raped her. He had no clue who she was and didn’t even ask her name but when he was finished, he said she could have the ring for payment like she was a prostitute. After she had told her mom the story, Claire asked her how she knew the child was not Roger’s if the events had happened only two days apart. Brianna said that Roger had used the pull-out method. Claire told her there is a word for people who use that method of birth control, “parents”. Brianna still omitted the fact that she and Roger were handfested.
While Clare and Brianna was having this conversation, Lizzie and Ian had spotted Roger at the mill. He was calling himself MacKenzie and asking for Brianna and the Frasers. She and Ian ran and found Jamie and Lizzie told Jamie that she thinks he raped Brianna. When Roger came up the ridge, Jamie and Ian jumped him. Jamie beat him and for a while, I thought he may have killed him because the book was vague about what happened next.
When Roger still hadn’t showed up, Brianna started getting worried. Jamie suggested putting up notices in the small towns and asked for his description. Brianna decided to draw him and described him as she drew him. Jamie and Ian gave each other strange looks which Claire and Brianna caught. Brianna and Jamie fought. Jamie still not knowing that Stephen Bonnet had raped Brianna because she had told Claire not to tell him the person’s name, called Brianna a whore because she had slept with Roger and then said it was rape. When Claire finally showed him the ring and told him it was Stephen Bonnet that had raped him, Jamie was shocked but it was too late. He had already called Brianna names and she had called him names too and told him that Frank was a better father plus he had given Roger to the Iroquois.
They took Brianna to Jocasta’s while Jamie, Claire and Ian went to find Roger. Jamie and his tenants on Fraser’s ridge had been making whisky to supplement their income. The crops fed them but did not give them much income. They took their portion of the whiskey to trade to the Indians for Roger.
Jocasta was busy trying to find a husband for Brianna and since young women were hard to find in the colony, a lot of men were willing to overlook the fact that Brianna was pregnant. Claire, Jamie and Ian had been gone a long time and Brianna started to think something bad may have happened to them. She started thinking that she would have to marry someone lest she be ousted from society and called a whore. John Grey showed up and she learned that he was her father’s friend and then she caught him coming out of the slave’s quarter’s one night. She figured out that he was gay and tried to blackmail him. She figured if he is gay that they could marry and never have to have sex until he told her that he likes both women and men. He also told her that her father would kill him if he married her but he did offer her another proposition. They could pretend to be engaged and stall until her parents found Roger.
This book was long and a lot more happened than I can write. These people have interesting lives. I couldn’t imagine going back in time. I mean, I could imagine it and wouldn’t mind for maybe a week or so but I would miss modern conveniences like hot showers, cell phones, internet and electricity….oh and cars. Of course, the 1960’s didn’t have cell phone or internet so they wouldn’t miss that but hot water and electricity would be missed. But it is more than just the inconvenience of not having indoor plumbing and electricity, it is the travel time it took to get anywhere and the hostilities of the time. Where it would take us a few hours to go somewhere by car, it could take days or weeks by horse depending on the weather and terrain. English soldiers ruled over everything and when someone has absolute power, it gets abused. Also, there was the fact that white settlers were invading land and displacing indigenous tribes who were bound to strike out once in a while and did. It just seemed dangerous to live back then.
I’m off to read the next book. Okay, maybe I’m not off to anywhere because I really don’t have to move an inch to download and read the next book but it sounded good so I wrote it.

www.paranormalromanceslut.com ( )

Wow that was long. ( )

Jamie and Claire and comfortable with each other again. Now begins the blossoming story of Brianna Fraser and Roger MacKenzie. It was pins and needles for a time, but the book ends in strength.

Another thing to be noted is that it was revealed that Jamie's headstone was a ruse only to lead Claire to Jack Randall, but was about the fire in the newspaper? Only the future will tell. On to the next book, The Fiery Cross. ( )

Claire and Jamie are making a life in colonial America. Briana acts recklessly going back in time to meet Jamie. Roger goes after her. I found Briana annoying. Roger cares so much more for Briana than she does for him. I preferred it when they were in Scotland. ( )

I started this series when it first came out because I kept hearing how great it was. And while I did enjoy the first novel I enjoyed it less and less with each subsequent book. Reading these books has become more habit than anything else. I really have not enjoyed the last few books and this one was no exception. I sort of feel obliged at this point to see the story to its conclusion so it would be nice if it would finally conclude. ( )

Despite some boring bits in the beginning, it was another great book in the series. ( )

Book 4 of the Outlander series, and I'm still surprised at how much I'm enjoying the books.
This one has the all requisite breathless sex scenes aimed at some readership other than me, but continuies to have great writing, a plot to keep the reader engaged, and characters that are larger than life, but believable enough to win me over.
The sphere of action has moved from Scotland to the US, and the style is now more period-fiction than historic-fiction. I personally miss the Scottish connection, but I'm still enjoying the ride.
The time travel element plays a more significant part in this plot, which suits my preferences. There are lots of implausabilities, but you can't write time travel without them.
The book was long - 1300 pages or so (1700 on my e-reader). I need to take a rest break from Gabaldon and Outlander, but I'm pretty sure I'll be back for more. ( )

"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"

A marvellous read. I like the books more than the TV version of this story, and I think this is the best book yet.

If you've read the first three volumes you need to read this one, and if you haven't you should believe the hype and go check out the first book now.

"like a Clydesdale stallion in a field of frogs" ( )

Outlander saga of Jamie and Claire Fraser and their friends/family continues, this time pre-revolutionary period in North Carolina. Historical fiction mixed with fantasy/romance. ( )

I think I read all of these in a rush around 1999 or 2000 when "The Fiery Cross" was written. As per usual, the first book was the best of them. ( )

This book has Brianna and Roger researching and then finding a way into the past, Jamie and Claire in North Carolina. I liked Aunt Jocasta with her abilities being blind. Interesting how her characters reappear such as Willie (Jamie's son) and Lord Grey (helping with pirate Bonnet) and Ian (goofy kid then so helpful with Indian issues). The descriptions of the NC mountain and the start of their home, and the survival methods needed when living in such primitive times made this story.

Loved this overview of story:

Jamie, Claire, Ian and Fergus have set up their new home in the American colonies. Life is tough but the love between Jamie and Claire grows more each day.

Their daughter Brianna is living in the 20th century in America and visits her boyfriend Roger in UK. Both Bree and Roger have been investigating more about the history surrounding Jamie Fraser. Roger finds a clipping from a newspaper talking about the death of Jamie and Claire. He decides to keep the information from Bree but he doesn't know that Bree is also searching her family history and has decided she had to go through the stones and find her mother and father.

Brianna set's out to find her family. She makes her way to Lallybroch and meets her Aunt and Uncle and cousins. They provide information to send Bree on her way to find her parents but what she doesn't know is that Roger has followed her to America and is searching for her. He finally finds her and they finally seal their relation with handbonding and they make love. Roger leaves her to find gems that could provide them with a way home and Bree is raped.

Brianna finally finds her dad and reunites with her mother. During this 1070 page book there are some great side stories about these characters and I love that we get to see some characters from previous stories.

Some of my fav side stories include Lord John bringing Jamie's son William to Fraser Ridge to spend time with Jamie and he William falls into the privy with the help of Ian....accidentally. I was snickering on the bus when reading it. The part where Jamie and Ian meet Roger in the forest on his way to meet Bree. The typical over protective father kicks in. My heart broke when Ian decided to stay with the Mohawks to save the lives of Claire, Jamie and Roger. I must say this part of the story upset me. I love Ian and I'm really hoping we get to see him in future stories. ( )

More on Chill and read

Looks like I’m reading one of the “Outlander” series books every month or so lately! Not bad, given their length! “Drums of Autumn” is the fourth installment in the series and it all feels blare to me. Where one book finishes and where the next one starts! But I will try to make sure that events of this book alone are part of this review. So here it goes!

The Frasers are now in the New World and they try to make a life there. They find their own kinsmen and make new friends. But Jamie Fraser is a man of honor, so he won’t take his aunt’s offering on her estate. He will not take over the old woman’s property, ruling over a number of Scots and a number slaves. He would never put Claire through something as awful as this. Jamie has Fergus with him, as well as his nephew Ian so he will try to find as many more men as he can, men he fought with in Culloden or elsewhere, meh who are still alive and are in America. And he will ask them to join him and live all together in the land he has acquired. He may not have his children with him, but he is glad for the people he has around him.

Brianna is supposed to be safe in the US. Her feelings for Roger and Roger’s feelings for her, persuaded Claire that she’d be fine without her. She would have Roger and Jo Abernathy to look after her. And this is true, until one day, Bree finds something hidden in the historical information from the States’ past, that will send her in a journey back in time, in search of her parents. She needs to make sure that at least her beloved mother stays safe. She also has a curiosity of James Fraser, but she doesn’t know the man yet.

This fourth book is giving parts of Brianna’s and Roger’s present and huge parts of time spent back in the 18th century. We get a bit of man on the moon experience and a bit of savages in the dessert as well in the same book. Gabaldon is trying to show the big difference between the two eras. The past and the future that her time travelers experience. It doesn’t always work great, but still, it’s a beautiful story.

Jamie is such a jealous person in this book. He is jealous over Clair, over Brianna, over anything taht feels close to his heart. He hates Frank, we know that already from previous installments, but in this book he really demonstrates that hatred. Claire is pretty much herself, not taking much into account when there is someone in need and also, being so constantly and overpowering in love with that stubborn Scottish man, that she doesn’t want to spent one more hour away from him, if she can avoid it.

Overall, it is a lovely love story of familiar characters, showing in the best possible way tips of the past and how these affect the characters’ life. An, by all means, I will continue with the series! ( )