Rating: 
Summary: Not as bad as people are saying
Review: I've read some of the customer reviews for this book and I do not share the profound disappointment some people have. A friend introduced me to the series at the beginning of the summer as a nighttime distraction to worrying about the bar exam. What a distraction it was! Almost too much, I hope I passed. The series was very exciting and romantic. After I took the test I devoured the next two in the series. When I came to this book, I must admit it took me longer to get into it. I think after the first 200 pages I put it down for two weeks. But once I started reading it again, I began to appreciate the Gabaldon's detailed discription of pre-revolutionary life. It got me very interested in finding out more about the Scottish immigrants in North Carolina, particularly since I have a few ancestors from the backwoods of North Carolina. (Sidenote: If anyone is interested in learning more about Appalachian culture and its Scottish/English roots Songcatcher is an excellent movie.) I really appreciated the Gabaldon's humorous approach to 18th century domestic life. I even have grown to like both Brianna and Rodger. I agree with some reviews that some of the plot threads (the murder mystery, the night groper) could have been either eliminated or explained better. However, I still found this book enjoyable and I was sorry when I reached the last page. Now bring on the revolution!
Rating: 
Summary: The Fiery Cross
Review: I Just finished this book and am still enthralled with Jamie and Claire Frazer and their children. I have read the entire series cover to cover and hope she will write a 6th installment. The character are timeless and she gives them life. She is so descriptive you feel you are there. I hope she continues with this thrilling saga.
Rating:
Summary: entertaining, but slow
Review: Claire and Jamie are like my family, I feel I know them so well! So, everytime they were in this book, I really relished it! I did enjoy the book, and had fun reading it, but, it did seem long winded at times. Sometimes I put it down for awhile before picking it up again. Did have some problems reading parts of it, because it seemed to go on and on without anything really happening. Almost felt like I was reading someones elses day to day journal of their life. A few exciting times intermixed with day to day routine. Also, didn't understand or care about what was being explained. For example, the teaching of the genes to Roger, and why it was necessary to even have it in the book. I did love some of the new characters though. The cat I found myself laughing outloud, and the charm is still there as in the other books. Even that awful hog at the end of the book, I really felt like I could see it! But, for some reason, I just cannot seem to get into Brianna and Rodger. I am hoping that something will happen and they will have to go back to their own time (maybe to save Jemmy from Stephen Bonet). Overall, too much of other people in this book and details, and not enough centering on Claire and Jaime, and the rarely seen, Stephen Bonet. Sometimes the long winded descriptions of surroundings and other goings on, etc, made it hard for me to want to pick up the book and read it all the way through. I was given the book at Christmas and just finished it in September. I felt like, ok! Let's get on with the action now, and the mystery of the others. I kept reading hoping that something exciting would happen. Here is hoping the next book will be an action packed one like the others have been!
Rating:
Summary: Even heros need to be mortal ....
Review: In colonial America just prior to the revolutionary war, this story revolves around Jamie and Clare's daughter and her family, bringing them all together as a group. The decision is whether Brianna and Roger should remain in the 18th century and can their infant son make the perilous journey back through the "time warp" to the 20th century ... The dangers and discomforts of 18th century living are brought home in vivid detail. The fifth in the Jamie and Clare saga, I still found the character studies strong and the adventure exciting, but this book didn't hold the same thrill for me that her first two brought to the table. Its still worth reading, and although the aging main characters are still compelling, their larger-than-life existence is getting more difficult to buy into.
Rating:
Summary: As engrossing as the rest
Review: I had to add my 2 cents here, because after reading some of these reviews, I wasn't too excited about reading the Fiery Cross. I've just read all five books in the Outlander series back to back. I ADORED all of the characters from start to finish. I have to admit, that if you weren't already in love with everyone in the series, that you might not be so engrossed in the Fiery Cross. But I was in love with the characters, and I read the Fiery Cross with the same intensity as the other four books. With the exception that I read this book a tad slower because I knew it was the last one, and I wanted to stay with Claire and Jamie and Brianna and Roger LONGER! I miss them already!
Rating:
Summary: Not her best work
Review: This is not her best and I think I figured out why. In "Outlander" there was the tension of Frank in the 20th century. Claire loved him and resisted falling for Jamie. Her actions in 1742 affected those in 1946. She wanted to go back to her time and then she didn't want to but had to. This tension kept the book moving. In "Dragonfly" the tension was the pull of Claire from the 20th century back to the 1740s as well as the fill-in we got of the remainder of the story up to her trip back to 1946. We, the readers wanted her to get back with Jamie. This really worked. You knew Claire and Jamie loved each other but that inter-century pull was always coming between them. It kept the story and their relationship exciting. As the story progressed, the 20th vs. 18th century tension began to wane and the story lost steam. Claire decided to stay permanently but there was the question and pull of Brianna. But, when Brianna showed up, the story started to fall flat. Especially when it turned out that Brianna and Roger stuck around in the "Cross." Their characters are a little two dimensional and don't jump off the page the way many others do. I don't know why. Maybe it's because the story IS Jamie and Claire and that is all I want to see. At any rate when the pull of Jamie vs the pull of Claire's life here ceased, the story got a little boring. I am not saying that there are not any bright or humorous spots but I am not turning the pages as quickly as I do with the earlier books--even upon re-reading them!
Rating: 
Summary: did anyone like this book? there is a good reason if not!!!
Review: ...I love historical fiction and all the better that it was over 1000 pages. But after struggling through 250 pages of descriptions of a what people were wearing, of a woman flipping her hair every 10 pages and descriptions of 3 different sorts of rain where no one seems to get wet I decide that this is some sort of woman's book about the hinting scents of love and has a storyline with as much action as watching a puddle dry up...
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: My first inclinations on reading this book were wonderful. It takes a skilled storyteller to walk a reader through a protagonist's day, moment by moment, and maintain interest. The minutae in the first chapters were great. But where was the plot? I stopped midway through the book and set it aside. A month later I tried again from the beginning, thinking perhaps I'd lost some thread that would impel the story forward. Again I stopped as the story lagged. The interminable letters wore down my patience to translate the formal language of letters into something that mattered to me. There was no cohesion to the events, no central reason for moving on. It is a real pity. The author has proved over and over that her storytelling skills are topnotch. This book has become a chore, though, and I have enough chores in my life already. I will not buy the next. If it reviews better I will borrow it to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Just as good as the rest in the series.
Review: I was just as engrossed in this book as in the rest of her books. Her descriptions are very colorful and put you right at the place. I was disappointed that this book doesn't get to the Revolution, but this way I know there will be another book to follow.
Rating:
Summary: Still a gripping read
Review: I have to agree, I didn't find this book as exciting or enticing as the first 4 novels. But as usual I couldn't put it down. I just had to know what happened next. I never read more than one book by an author where all of the books kept me captivated and distracted from everything else in my life except to read what happened to Jamie and Claire. For instance Dreamcatcher by S. King, just was not that great. But he has other great books - the Stand, Dark Tower series for instance. These, even tho I'm 32, happen to be the first "romance" novels I've ever read. So that's even saying more for them.
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