Rating: 
Summary: All Prose - No Plot
Review: What a disappointment! I loved the first 4 books in this series so much, I've read them all at least 3 times and will eventually read them again just for fun. The excitement, adventure and plot twists were topped only by the detailed historical data. While The Fiery Cross had plenty of historical data (although this book seemed to be really hung up on how things smell), it offered absolutely nothing in the form of excitement and adventure, or even plot for that matter. Diana is a wonderful writer, but her talents were completely wasted on this novel. Perhaps it's time to put Jamie and Claire to rest.
Rating: 
Summary: Fiery Crossing I would call a very mixed blessing.
Review: It was wonderful to finally get to move on with Claire & Jamie. Sadly, it moved slowly, cumbersomely and not far enough. After 200+ pages they were still at the clan gathering. Anecdotal incidents did little to advance one of the most romantic relationships I've ever enjoyed reading about. The further development of their unique love story got lost in the mundane. The jumping from one unfinished subject to another, toward the end of the book, was especially distracting. I never noticed that technique in the earlier books. A book I anxiously waited years for, ended up partially read on my nightstand, while I read other books. It was still a good book, just not on the same level as the first three. I have most loved the interaction between Claire & Jamie, and I look forward to the ending of the story, hoping Diana can finish with the flourish she did in her first books. Also, there is so much she could do with Roger & Brianna. Her series is still my very favorite, and I hope she will continue writing even after the Frasers are done.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Yet-The Fiery Cross
Review: I am still savoring this latest book in Diana Gabaldon's fantastic voyage through time and history. She hooked me with her first book about Claire and Jamie-her characters are real and you care about them, two qualities in a story that I crave. I also like her playful way with dialogue, and the fun of interjecting references to the 20th century in the conversations of Claire, Roger, and Bree. Clever also how Claire enfolds 20th century medical training and knowledge into the time she inhabits in the 1700s. I only allow myself a little bit each evening, so the almost 1000 pages will last. It's a like a little bite of chocolate, if there is such a thing! I had just been to the area of North Carolina she writes about, so am familiar with the time of the Regulators, prior to the Revolutionary War. I hope Diana Gabaldon just keeps on writing. She is the best in this genre.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and ridiculous
Review: I was very tempted to take a red pen to the pages and send the book back with a note requesting a refund, but lucky me, I borrowed it. I enjoyed the four other books and after plodding through this tome found that nothing had really happened of any merit. Diana Gabaldon has played on her past successes to produce this disjointed, uninspired piece of "work". I will say the book was entertaining, just not in the manner I think it was intended. I wadded through breast feeding, dirty diapers and pustulent wounds to see what the characters might be doing and it seems all they were interested in was rutting like animals in heat. I think the word I'm looking for here is...plot. By the time I had finished reading this "piece of work", I didn't like the characters and really didn't care what they were doing. I was sorry I had wasted my time and angry at myself for not having seen it coming. .... I think it's time to put this story to rest and move on.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: As with the other Gabaldon fans, I could not wait to get her latest book. I had re-read the others in preparation, and boy was I disappointed! Diapers and breastfeeding--page after page after page! I enjoyed her writing style--as always, and I like all the characters, so it was nice to visit them again. But, I just don't see the point of this novel. I truly hope the editing improves, or I will have to say good-bye to Diana. I've seen this problem with other authors--at some point the editors just stop doing their job, resting on the laurels of a "sure bet bestseller". What a shame!
Rating: 
Summary: Not like Outlander, but a maturing saga
Review: If you read Fiery Cross expecting another Outlander, you are bound to be disappointed. I was - AT FIRST. I was looking for the same swashbuckling, pirating, witch-burning, sexually charged romp through the Highland history of Scotland with Jamie and Claire. As I began reading, however, I realized that what was developing was a maturing author and a maturing storyline. This book is a continuation of a saga - the life stories of Jamie and Claire Fraser and their offspring. In book five, set in the backdrop of palatial back country North Carolina shortly before the Revolution, we find our beloved friends are finally getting a chance to have some peace in lives that have been torn by war, time-travel, prison, rape, and other sordid misadventures. We also become more intimately aquainted with Bree and Roger, Claire and Jamie's daughter and son-in-law, as they assume a larger roll. This is the future generation, that will allow the saga to continue, and hopefully allow Ms. Gabaldon to someday unravel the time-travel mysteries that bring us full into the present day again. As the book unfolded, I began to notice a growing sense of peace. It was then that I became aware that it was only through allowing her characters to settle down, that she could create the mellow glow that marks this book as a turning point in the saga, and a softening with the age of the characters. Ms. Gabaldon also gives her readers a chance to morn the loss of the magical Highland setting when she shares how Jamie felt when promted to dance a sword dance at Hogmanay, "He knew...that the old ways had changed, were changing. This was a new world, and the sword dance would never again be danced in earnest, seeking omen and favor from the ancient gods of war and blood." The mark of a gifted writer, is not only in the story she can weave and the characters she creates, but also the words she chooses to tell the story. Nearly anyone can write a report of an event. But in the hands of a master wordsmith we hear passages with subtle nuances like this one where Claire is reflecting on her marriages while gazing from the loft into the newly fallen midnight snow, "Adultery. Fornication. Betrayal. Dishonor. The words dropped softly in my mind, like the clumps of falling snow, leaving small dark pits, shadows in moonlight." Like fine wine, this is a book to be savored, reading and re-reading phrases for their richness and mellow undertones. There's much in this book of ghosts, and of sprit; of loss, and hope; of longing, and peace. No, this book is not like Outlander. Perhaps it's Ms. Gabaldon's own words as Claire realizes she cannot be the mother to a foundling child, that best sum up the repletion that is Fiery Cross, "A child was a tempatation of the flesh, as well as of the spirit; I knew the bliss of that unbounded oneness, as I knew the bittersweet joy of seeing that oneness fade as the child learned itself and stood alone. But I had crossed some subtle line. Whether it was that I was born myself with some secret quota embodied in my flesh, or only that I knew my sole allegieance must be given elsewhere now... I knew. As a mother, I had the lightness now of effort complete, honor satisfied. Mission accomplished." Bravo Ms. Gabaldon!
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the others, but well worth reading
Review: I've been looking forward to this book for a long time, but after reading the reviews, I decided to check it out of the library first. It seems the people who have given it negative reviews must be reading a different book or gave up too soon. From the reviews I was expecting the first 200 pages to be extremely dull and they weren't. It did move a bit slow, but it wasn't bad. I am about 600 pages into it and I find myself enjoying it almost as much as the first four. I don't think it's quite as good as the others, but it easily earns 4 stars. I'm about to order it so my husband will stop taking the library's copy away from me. I think The Fiery Cross is a very good book and I'm already looking forward to the next in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely disappointing
Review: After reading Ms. Gabaldon's previous four novels, steeped in rich Scottish history, with the intrigue of Jamie and Clair, this book was a complete waste. I bought it two months ago and just now am completing the last 30 pages. After much anticipated waiting, I am extremely disappointed. It simply does not hold the readers attention. The characters are stagnant, the book is too long [by about 800 pages], and there is little historical value. I do hope Ms. Gabalon gets back on track, it would be a shame for this saga to simply fade away.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it!!!
Review: After reading a lot of reviews I was getting worried that it wouldn't be as good as the previous books in the series but I should have known Diana wouldn't let me down. Yes, some of the first couple of hundred pages were a little boring and maybe could have been eliminated but overall I thought it was wonderful. When I finished it I wanted more. Jamie and Claire are the best and I really do look forward to the next and last of the series.
Rating:
Summary: true 18th century life, with additional action
Review: While Gabaldon did take years to write this novel, she has not lost any of her spark. Other reviews have bashed her inclusion of daily baby and femine details, and I am horrified to think how many people have such problems reading about female sexuality and daily life for a woman with children in the 18th century (it's historically acurate, not romanticised). The characters are presented as real people, with real lives, and that includes the "dirty" little details that everyone seems to have tired of. Gabaldon devotes a great deal of time to her history that serves as a backdrop to the story, which is almost flawless. A true die-hard Gabaldon reader will love this novel, and while a couple of the characters may need some work, there is no question that Gabaldon's newest work is hard to put down. I couldn't put down the novel until I finished it, and I can't wait for the next. For all those others who find the novel too long, too detailed, and boring, perhaps you should read a romance novel that focuses only upon underdeveloped and idiotic characters that would be more on your level.
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