Rating: 
Summary: Riveting, suspenseful, intriguing, and so darned addictive
Review: I obviously have not had the opportunity to read Diana Gabaldon's newest book, but am eagerly awaiting its release. I have read the 3 others in the series and loved everyone of them. As to any complaints about the great gap between release dates, I can only say that I understand the amount of time and effort it takes to create great fiction. I'm sure it will be worth the wait. As a recent graduate of history, with a great love for Scottish history, Galbaldon's books invite readers, who otherwise would never pick up a history book, to visit a time that is filled with so much color, tragedy, and romance. I commend Gabaldon on her attention to great detail...it is the HISTORIC DETAIL along with beautiful writing that has made me a true addict of this series
Rating:
Summary: Great book taking much too long to become available
Review: The parts of the book that I have read from the internet are brilliant, just as the rest of the series has been. The major complaint of myself, and the network of people to whom I have recommended the series, is the long time between books in the series in Australia.
How is it that the peices on the net are date 1994 & 1995?
The story is interested and well written, and although those lacking imagination, may question the travelling through stones, the story itself is riveting.
Rating:
Summary: So...what happens next?!
Review: Wow...after coming to the end of Drums of Autumn, all I could think was, "There's got to be more!" Glad to hear that The Fiery Cross will be coming out, even if we have to wait awhile. The fourth book in the series is more thought-provoking than the other three, but it still makes for a really good time! I loved the beginning romance between Brianna and Roger - hopefully this will be just as passionate and exciting as Jamie and Claire's. This book is really more about the Fraser family and how mothers, fathers, and their children relate to eachother. There's still enough adventure and romance to satisfy, though. These books have quickly joined the ranks of my all-time favorites, and I believe they will someday become classics of historical fiction. I'm only left to wonder...what will happen to Jamie and Claire? Will they survive, and how will the newspaper article be explained? I guess we'll have to wait for the next book. It will be interesting to see what Diana Gabaldon does with the Frasers' role in the American Revolution. Can't wait to find out!
Rating:
Summary: The Frasers Build A New Life In America - Outstanding Drama!
Review: "Drums Of Autumn" is the fourth book in Diana Gabaldon's extraordinary "Outlander" series. It amazes me that Ms. Gabaldon has been able to continue to delight readers with her consistently good writing, excellent plots, superb characters and meticulous historic research for thousands of pages and four novels. "Drums Of Autumn" most certainly will not disappoint fans of the series. If you have not read the three preceding novels, I strongly urge you to do so before beginning this book. "Drums of Autumn" may be able to stand as a novel in its own right, but I think it would be too confusing to enjoy it thoroughly without having read the historic and personal drama that Ms. Gabaldon details so well in her previous books. To label the "Outlander" series as merely historical romance fiction would be to do it a terrible injustice. This is an epic historical romance, yes...and so much more. The relationship between Claire and Jamie is one of the most caring and intimate I have ever encountered - in fiction or real life. This is a couple who are solidly committed to a life together for better or worse. Theirs is a love that truly transcends the boundaries of time.More than twenty years before this novel begins, Claire Beauchamps Randall, vacationing in post WWII Scotland, stepped through the ancient stone circle known as Craigh na Dun - and was suddenly sucked back in time to 1743 and war-torn Scotland. It was here that she met and married her own true love, highlander James Fraser. Before the tragic battle of Culloden Moor she was forced to return to the 20th century to protect herself and her unborn daughter, abandoning Jamie in the process. Two decades later Claire made the journey back through the stones to reunite with James in the 18th century, leaving their grown daughter, Brianna, behind. James and Claire both agreed that there was no possibility to build a life for themselves in Scotland. The clans had been forced to disband, the people were starving and living in abject poverty, most of the men were dead, crippled, imprisoned and or jobless as a result of the doomed Jacobite uprising. The Frasers along with a few friends and James' nephew, Ian, cross the Atlantic and make their way to North Carolina where Jamie's aunt has a plantation. At the same parallel time, 20th century Brianna and her beloved Scottish boyfriend Roger discover some terrifying information about Claire's and Jamie's fate. Brianna is determined to reach her parents somehow and warn them of coming events, hoping to change the future. The inevitability of these events and the frustration and inability to change the future continue to be strong themes. This is a phenomenal novel! Ms. Gabaldon details frontier life in beautiful 18th century North Carolina so clearly and accurately that one literally feels swept back in time. Claire and James have grown tremendously as characters, as have the love and intimacy between them. I have never experienced a couple as unique as these two in modern fiction. New characters are introduced, as well as a marvelously vile villain, and in typical Gabaldon style, these new folks are portrayed with realism, complexity and humor as are many of the old favorites. This is also Brianna's story. She finally meets her father in "Drums Of Autumn" and becomes a woman with a woman's responsibilities. The books in this series are among my favorites novels, not just because the plots are so fascinating that I am unable to stop reading once I begin...although this is true. The characters are so palpably real that the reader actually bonds with them, at least with Jamie and Claire, in a way that is most unusual and very moving. We follow their lives and observe them as they grow as human beings, experience joy, suffer, and just interact with each other on a day to day basis, as well as in the midst of high adventure. We watch as they make history and as history tears away at them. I cannot recommend this book and series highly enough.
JANA
Rating: 
Summary: good book
Review: i would have given it four and a half stars but you cant do that. i dont think it merits five stars but i wouldnt call it a four star book either.
Diana Gabaldon begins to pull together all the floating strings in The Drums Of Autumn and she does an excelent job. She brings in a new romance, quite nicely, and has it play out much better then Jamie and Claire. it doesnt go rancid. She brings in a new charecter with Jamie's nephew Ian, who one gets to know in this book; she doesnt send Ian on the predictable route and instead creats quite a good charecter. She also brings in and developes Lord John Grey, who is a complex and interesting charecter. Again, the plot is good, being complex and not all that predictable, her writing style, though not deep, is definately hooking and beleivable. The one thing that gets very old is Jamie and Claire. They were great in the first book, they actually argued and acted like two people in a relationship but in this book it's all cotton candy between the two of them. Diana Gabaldon creates a possible fantacey or hers, in the relationship between Jamie and Claire and it stops working. Every body gets older and well it does not mean that they get any less beautiful it is doubtful that, unless she got implants, her boobies are as firm and round as they were when she was 27. I seriously doubt that her hair looks like Autumn and i find their relationship more and more sickening: no relationship is that perfect, it would get boring.
on the whole though, it was a good book, possibly my favorite from the Outlander series.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read, but not up to Gabaldon's usual standard.
Review: Swept away by her delightful first novel, Voyageur,I lost several weeks of my life devouring thesecond and third in Gabaldon's series. I lost further time to Drums of Autumn, the latest (but alas not greatest) installment. Gabaldon is a highly gifted writer, able to present a marvellously deep and textured world. Unfortunately, this book lacks the depth and rich layering of the previous novels. For this, I must indict Gabaldon's editors. What is here is vintage "Jamie and Claire", but the narrative seems rushed, breathless; hardly more than an outline. The introduction of Brianna and Roger is perfect, but their story is given short shrift, and one longs for more detail, more exploration. Ditto for brief vignettes depicting the plight of native Americans, Jesuit priests, early American society, and pirates, politics,and sociology of the era. Dear Diana, don't let them let you get away with that again!
Rating:
Summary: Inconsistent
Review: This book has its truly good parts, but quite a bit of it is boring. A big disappointment after the previous books. It's almost as if the two main characters are now together and settled, so the author does not know what to do with them. (Why fairy tales say simply `They lived happily ever after' - What's more boring than two beautiful people gleefully changing diapers?)
Rating:
Summary: Inconsistent
Review: I liked this much better than Voyager and even Dragonfly, but not as much as Outlander. This one I felt was good because it gave Jamie and Claire a bit of a break and let them settle into their life together. I can see where Gabaldon has matured some in her writing, especially in her descriptions of setting and some of the ghostly stories she tells. However, I found some of the characters were just inconsistent and about as flat as cardboard - while others remain heartwarmingly real (Jamie, Claire, Ian, Fergus, etc.) Brianna was just completely annoying and I didn't care for her or "get" her at all! It is quite clear the author herself didn't have a very good grasp of this character. Also, since Brianna was stupid enough to walk onto a lecherous man's ship alone (duh!) along with numerous other aspects of general stupidity and immaturity in her character - I couldn't really feel much sympathy for the girl. I say she should give the grandchild over to Jamie and Claire and just step right back through those stones and disappear from this series! As to Roger, I feel indifferent to his character. I would rather have Ian around. Another inconsistency I felt - the dialogue and relationship between Lord John and Brianna was a just a little too "pat." It just didn't seem to hold much weight and seemed stilted. I can't believe Lord John would reveal so much to Jamie's clearly immature daughter (and especially that after she threatened blackmail???). The interesting thing about this book was the fact that I actually LIKED Stephen Bonnet's character. Now, I didn't like the things he DID, I just thought he was well written and sometimes he put a smile on my face with the things he said. I could just visualize him so well. There should have been much more of him in this book, he was one of the best ones! I think he could be redeemable (UNLIKE Jack Randall, in my opinion!). The only thing holding me to this series of books is the relationship between Jamie and Claire. It is wonderful to see them maturing and still loving each other the way they do. Jamie is just awesome (for the most part)!
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: Truly beyond expectation and Diana has raised the bar of what you can expect from her! She is a true artist. Love, adventure, history, family, loyalty, betrayal......and the greatest of these is love. Men really love this series. It speaks to men and women alike. You feel like you are actually a part of the lives of Jamie and Claire!
Rating:
Summary: Much More than Romance
Review: I love these romance books more than any other because of the time travel, action, and historical information. Diana writes so vividly that I even felt as though I was in Scotland or later in early America. First of all, make sure that you read the first book, Outlander, and make sure to read the books in order. If you like even the first two books, then you will continue to enjoy the rest of the series and look forward to each one. I have heard some people complain about Drums of Autumn, but I found it as enthralling as the rest. The book may look long, but you won't be able to put it down.
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