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Summary: I'm in love with Jamie all over again
Review: I laughed, I cried, and fell in love with Jamie, again (just when I thought I was over him). I just hope Diana doesn't take so long with the next book!!
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Summary: For this I waited 4+ years???
Review: There are already 37 reviews of this book on this site and they seem to be equally divided into those who love this book and those who, like me, find it disappointing. Ditto on all of the comments of other reviewers about boring references to breast-feeding, Jamie's "molten tresses" etc. - doesn't bear repeating. But what a shame that an author with Gabaldon's eye for detail and the ability to mingle history and fiction should bollix this up in book 5. The dashing Highland hero is not so dashing when he's 49 and eeking out a living in rural North Carolina. And I am tired of Claire furrowing her brow and worrying about all the American history she "just doesn't know." It doesn't parse. Part of what made Gabaldon's earlier books so fascinating was the Scottish setting - please, Diana, if you *must* write book 6, can you take us back to Scotland!?!? As my Scottish friends would say, "if it isnae Scottish, it's..." well, nevermind. This isn't Scottish, that's for certain.
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Summary: Impeccable research
Review: Diana Gabaldon is a researcher and scholar as well as being an entertaining author. Her descriptions of life in Western NC, the ecology and the subsistence lifestyle are "right on". And apparently she has a working knowledge of Native American tribes and their lifestyles in the area at the time. Her combined knowledge and literary style make this book irresistable to those of us who love the notion of stepping away from our current times and exploring other universes. I, as a practicing archeolgist and an environmental scientist, find her work, as I said, impeccable.
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Summary: A storyteller without a story
Review: I was at the opening of the bookstore on November 6th, clutching Fiery Cross to my chest like it was gold.Gold turned to silver, silver to copper by the time I was half way through the book. After following Jaime and Claire through ten years worth of books, I was sadly disappointed with The Fiery Cross. Odd themes would be presented and not explained. The _real_ action of the time period summed up in small paragraphs and ghastly correspondence while uninteresting descriptions of life on the Ridge took up pages and pages. There are only so many descriptions of a chilly night that one can read. No one can fault Diana Gabaldon's ability to write, she has a command of her characters that is rare and wonderful - but where was the story? Two seperate weddings took up almost half the entire novel, bringing to mind a new title for the book, "Much Ado about Absolutely Nothing Interesting." This is a must read for OUtlandish fans, but only as a bridge to wait for something real to happen in the next novel.
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Summary: Jamie turns 50!
Review: This book is wondrous! I have been a great fan of the series since "Outlander," but I felt that book 4 was a little strained and far inferior to the first three entries. I'm delighted to report that book 5 is back on course, with a superb story and the finest writing that she's done. The 976 pages fly by! The best read of the year.
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Summary: what a sad disappointment
Review: These books have meant so much to me, I have re-read each of them many, many times and I was the first at the bookstore to get this next installment. What's gone wrong? It seems as though all the energy has gone out of Ms. Gabaldon's storytelling. Certainly her details are still wonderfully exact but my sense is ... and I hate to say this, but I must... that she takes some kind of strange joy in writing really long books and she wanted to make space to write another one in the series. Otherwise she could well have handled the revolution in this one, and then there really would have been a plot. I had to fight to make myself keep on reading, and even then I skipped a great deal. Far too much detail and no plot worth talking about.
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Summary: I tried to read slowly...
Review: It seems like I have waited forever for the Fiery Cross to hit the bookstore shelf. Yes, it was very good no, not as good as Outlander but hey still very worth the read. Thank you Diana for 6 evenings of very pleasant reading. Time spent with Claire and Jamie has always been time well spent. Now to reclaim the messy house and tackle the laundry. I could have read for another 1000 pages. Escape literature... is there any other kind?
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Summary: Big Disappointment!
Review: Let me start by saying Outlander is one of my all-time favorite books and I've read it several times. However, I doubt I will ever pick up The Fiery Cross again. What a huge disappointment! The book is full of meaningless scenes and characters, and, quite frankly, all of Claire's medical adventures have become a crashing bore. Brianna and Roger and their baby are obnoxious and Stephen Bonnet is certainly not as villainous as Black Jack Randall, Dougal Mackenzie or even Geillis Duncan. I can't help thinking how much more interesting the American Revolution portions of this novel would have been if they had settled in New England instead of North Carolina. Jamie could've continued with his printing trade and it certainly would've made for more plot options and an overall more entertaining story. Instead we are stuck in North Carolina and even Claire admits to not knowing what part that colony played in the Revolution! I also have a problem with the mixing of veiwpoint and the inclusion of countless letters and diary entries. It's not effective and the story would flow much better if it kept strictly to Claire's narration of events. In short, a book desperately in need of editing and a good dose of adventure.
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Summary: The Fiery Cross
Review: I believe that Diana did an excellent job!!! I have read some of the previous reviews and it seems like some readers were disappointed that it wasn't a true romance. The Fiery Cross is a book of "Life", with everyday situations involved for this time frame. I really loved this book and didn't want it to end! I recommend this book for anyone!! Thank you so much for making my life more enjoyable with your writing.
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Summary: Enjoyable, but not memorable
Review: Like many others, I waited very expectantly to receive "The Fiery Cross." Unlike many others, I did not expect it to be the whiz-bang read that was "Outlander" or "Voyager." I just hoped it would be better than "Drums of Autumn." It is--but not by much. Sure, there's some pre-Revolutionary stirrings as the dashing Jamie Fraser is called upon to form a local militia against potential uprisings in the colony of North Carolina, and the evil Stephen Bonnet, who raped Jamie and Claire's daughter Brianna in "Drums of Autumn" and may be the father of Brianna's son Jemmy, makes a dastardly appearance. That about does it for the excitement in the book. The Gathering which ended "Drums" literally takes up the first 300 pages of "Cross." Gabaldon loves minutiae, particularly that dealing with anything medical, and a less devoted fan may find their eyes crossing with boredom when she has Claire giving medical treatment to seemingly everyone in the colony! The one character that really comes to life in "Cross" is Roger (Wakefield) McKenzie, who loses a lot of the boorish bluster he displayed in "Drums" and becomes ... well, a good man. Brianna, surprisingly, is nearly shoved to the background, and much too much attention is showered on Jemmy, who aside from his cute sayings and noises does nothing to move the story along. Jamie and Claire are still good characters, although I must agree with some of my fellow reviewers that the constant reminders of Jamie's hair color and the size of Claire's breasts and bottom aren't really necessary. Gabaldon writes well enough so that the minutiae is readable, but I found myself skipping ahead quite a bit--she could have easily cut 400 pages of the book without losing any of the story, in my opinion. "The Fiery Cross" is without a doubt a "set-up" book--not much happens, but hints are given that the next book will have much more action. Hope will once again spring eternal ...
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