Rating: 
Summary: Daily Life in Early America...
Review: As such a huge fan of Diana Gabaldon's earlier books, I too was disappointed by the Fiery Cross. I do care about Claire and Jamie, and Roger and Brianna, but there was much that could have been done in this book that wasn't even touched until the last 100 pages or so. So much of the book was about the daily struggles of life in early America that I found myself skimming page after page to get to the "good parts" which were too few and far between. Also largely missing was elements of the supernatural -- didn't the old Indian woman speak of Claire's increase in healing powers? This would've been an interesting story line to set up for the finale. There were some enjoyable stories and character development - Philip Wylie, Aunt Jocasta's tale (which was rushed in at the end). Overall, I found myself just wishing for more substance and less detail of daily life...and I agree with other reviewers that I am so over Stephen Bonnet - just (get rid of) him, please! I miss John Grey terribly as well...Oh well, there's always the next book.
Rating: 
Summary: Very enjoyable
Review: OK, so I have read through the other reviews and can see some basis for the complaints, but honestly I enjoyed Fiery Cross a lot. I'm an addict of this series (well, I ordered the book in May for the October delivery date) and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Once it arrived I read as much as I could, anxious to find out what is happening next but sad because the pages were flying by and the end was coming too soon. There are several "page turner" moments in this book where I couldn't believe what was happening and had to find out the outcome. I'd recommend the book and can't wait for the next one!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Editor, please!
Review: Having been a huge fan of the first two books of this series, I am sad to find that the ongoing adventures of Jamie and Claire have become torturous reading. The Fiery Cross is ploddingly slow and once again peopled with extraneous characters. Have Diana Gabaldon's editors gone on siesta? The reader is subjected to almost 150 pages of crushing detail at Auntie Jocasta's wedding (and how many times will we be subjected to Jamie running his finger down the nape of Claire's neck?) A far cry from the early books, this one is not worth the money. If you're into characters continually dashing into the woods for a quickie or a recipe for Claire's homemade Penicillan then, by all means, this is the book for you. If not, and you feel compelled to finish the entire saga, visit your local library. I just have one question. Diana, are you ever going to wrap up this story and write something else???
Rating:
Summary: Dud, Dud, Dud, Dud!!
Review: This has got to be one of the most boring books I have ever read. I can't believe that Diana Gabaldon wrote this. It is nothing like her past books. This one is completely predictable and lacks intrigue and imagination. Even the "revelation" scenes are so boring that you'll find yourself asking "That's it?" The book can be summarized in 5 sentences and that's being generous. I had absolutely no desire to slog through all 976 pages of this, but I did. Her other books were ones that I could not put down. I finished The Drums of Autumn in two days. I read the first three books all at once in about 5 days. It took me 10 days to finish this one. It is just not interesting. The story is disjointed and jerky. There is no continuity from one scene to the next. It is VERY repetitive. If subsequent books are like this one, I'll never pick up a Diana Gabaldon book again.
Rating: 
Summary: I'll re-read Outlander, thanks
Review: I gave up many precious hours of sleep reading Outlander, DIA, Voyager and Drums. I cried. I laughed. I named my rabbits Claire, Jamie, Roger and Bree. Unfortunately, so far the Fiery Cross is failing to keep me awake - in fact, the first 150 pages or so have put me to sleep like nothing since my Accounting textbooks. I've put it away and decided to read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets first - more exciting and no poopie diapers.
Rating:
Summary: Why , oh why?
Review: I must say I was most disappointed with this installment in the series. I agree with most of the other reviews and feel that this is just a filler until the next one comes out. Hopefully it won't take another 5 years. I didn't mind the more tranquil pace of this book; however, I did mind that many questions were left hanging. I felt a bit cheated as well. I read the book in about 3 days (I did have to continue with my real life too...LOL). Although, it was mostly due to my desire to find something interesting. The tedious first 300 pages or so could have been chopped. Otherwise, it is a fine read to get a dose of Jamie and Claire...I just wish there was more of them!
Rating:
Summary: Is she being paid by the word?
Review: Even though I've lost interest in this saga since they landed in North Carolina, I have been looking forward to this installment, even pre-purchased in hardcover, a mistake I will not repeat. I'm on the verge of asking for my money back. Save for the last few pages, this is one read that consistently put me to sleep.
The entire first 'book' is much too much. Where is her Editor? It felt as though Ms. Gabaldon invested huge amounts of time & effort into the research & the Editor decided to allow all of it to stand. Grave error... I was sorely tempted to dig up my blue pencil & go after this one. Pages & pages of redundant detail should have been deleted, and the story line tightened up considerably. As other reviewers have stated, I'm completely bored with the Brianna/Roger couple; for a student of history, Roger seems completely out of his element, slow on the uptake, not to mention his lack of any physical grace or strength -- by now any dolt worth his salt would have stopped stumbling about into bad situations. As for all the nursing -- Diana may look back on all that with hazy nostalgia, but I sure don't. Wean that kid & get on with life.
The last few chapters were more in the feel of the first books, but after the first 900+ pages, I felt like she decided she had to get something to the publisher & rushed through them. That's where the story was ... and if she picks up there & gets an editor with some GUTS, the next installment should be interesting. But I will wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting for something to happen
Review: I love the story of Jamie and Claire, and I eagerly anticipated Fiery Cross. However, I kept waiting for something to happen. Things really got going the last 150 pages or so, and from visiting websites devoted to Diana Gabaldon's books, I understand that this book was so long she had to split it into two. So there will be two more books, not one.
It's almost like she ended Drums of Autumn too early, and since it was too soon for the Revolutionary War, she had to fill time. I am rereading her early books again, just because I love the story, but I think most people could skip this one and go straight to book 6.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment!
Review: Wow! Diane Gabaldon must have been getting intense pressure to publish to allow The Fiery Cross out of her hands.
I am a big fan of this series. The first three books in the Outlander series were some of the best adventure/romance I had ever read. They were true to the drivers of romance and adventure but in an unconventional way. They are smart books that keep you reading far into the night. I had the feeling when i was reading Drums of Autumn, the last book in the series before The Fiery Cross, that Diane should wrap it up. It was still entertaining, but the two couple were now settled down. Sorry, romances get less interesting then, no matter what you do. I thought Diane should give us one more book and finish it off. The time travel themes, the Scottish independence themes seemed to be heading somewhere and I was curious where they would go. I thought we might end up with Jamie in the 1960's and I thought that would be entertaining.
However the Fiery Cross seems to go nowhere. It is slow moving, the characters seem annoying (never thought that would be possible). The conflicts are whinny personal likes and dislikes or not explained (who are the regulators and why should we care if Jamie fights them?). Is it really likely that younger men would be making passes at married Claire at fifty plus? And that Jamie still has a full head of red hair at 40 even though he spent 10 years in a 1700's prison (I don't care how many vitamen C filled thistles he ate--again, not bloody likely).It could be the ending makes up for it. Unfortunately, I never got that far. At about page 500 I decided to bag it.
Rating:
Summary: Still Going!
Review: I agree with the other reviewers that Gabaldon's books look very long and it sometimes feel like climbing Mt. Everest just to open another one. But the only book of the five I found overlong (with a couple hundred pages worth cutting in the beginning) was "Voyager"--and then, BOOM, right in the middle I found people not seen since the first book and I was back to turning every page as quickly as I could. And it was *so* clear that the last one wasn't the end, with so many loose strings left to tie, that I've been awaiting this one, whatever length.
I also have no problem with the idea that it is a presentation of history--of early life in (pre-)America--because history so often comes to life more clearly in the daily lives of people than in dry history books that cite dates and conclusions with no details on the way people actually lived or the different forces at work, the varying opinions, that led to what we memorize in school. (I will never forget memorizing the date of the "Diet of Worms" at an early age--with no idea of what it was about, but full knowledge of the improbable name: that summarizes to me how history was taught. And that WWI was caused by one assassination, with no preceding difficulties?)
Gabaldon has already covered very well the different Scots and foreign opinions about Bonnie Prince Charlie and Culloden, whereas history books simply (incorrectly) record Culloden in a sentence as a loss of unified Scotland to the British.
In this book she shows some of the mounting resistance to the crown of England while covering those not interested in the crown or resistance, people not much affected until they're drawn into militias: the very different views, which in fact marked the American Revolution we now learn as a de facto unanimous revolution of the people in general, which it was not; nor did the Founding Fathers agree on much after the revolution when trying to develop a new form of government. ;-)
But that's kind of a side point, in response to another review. I am personally fascinated by the details of average citizens' lives, from what one did before toilet paper and diapers (and a postal service, let alone email) to the state of medicine at that time, seen through the eyes of a woman who learned medicine in a different age.
This eagerly awaited book did not let me down. While "Dragonfly in Amber" probably remains my favorite of the series, the only book I thought seemed "short of steam" was "Voyager"--and that one recovered its steam before the end.
Anyone who has read the Sassenach Chronicles this far can't stop now!
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