Rating: 
Summary: In A Word: Realistic
Review: First let me say that this book still reaks of Gabaldon's high quality storytelling. She doesn't strike me as the type of author to not give 100% of her best and after reading every book in the series I've come to trust her vision for her books. Each book in this series has it's own indivduality.Yes this book was a lazy read about real life parenthood, husband and wife relationships, and the every day existence of life. Every once in a while something exciting happened. Many books end, "and they lived happily ever after". We're most likely reading Jamie's and Claire's happily ever after. Action packed, no--boring as hell, no. Unless you have Jamie and Claire burnout; I don't understand how you could feel cheated by another high quality read by Gabaldon.
Rating: 
Summary: THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE
Review: A wonderful series. Diana Gabaldon provides us with a world
and characters that are incredibly real and well-worth becoming attached to. A historical romance extraordinaire. All of that said, "The Fiery Cross" is too long and leaves out too much. Too many pages spent on minutae that could have been spent moving the characters along to 1776. What the editors doing? I can understand the author being so caught up with her characters that she fails to recognize that sometimes there is too much of a good thing and the plot needs to proceed. But I cannot understand why the editors haven't convinced Ms. Gabaldon that
some of the 976 pages is simply superfluous. Am I looking forward
to the next book in this series -- absolutely. But I am hoping it will be more like "Outlander" and "Voyageur" and less like this book.
Rating: 
Summary: It was worth all the waiting!
Review: For those of us who patiently or impatiently wait for the newest novel, we cannot be anything but in awe of Ms. Gabaldon.
This series has been like an obsession with me, and it's hard to find it's equivalent to read while suffering the long dry periods between books. "The Fiery Cross" was another wonderful chapter in the lives of these very special characters. I will always keep these books to loan out and re-read over and over again. Perhaps someday, Diana will explain Jamie's ghost appearing to Frank Randall in the first book, "Outlander". Until then I patiently await the next one.......
Rating: 
Summary: Fiery Cross / A Miss
Review: I was disappointed in how much substance this book had in relations to her previous books in the series. I felt that there were about 120 pages of worthy reading. The other pages were redundencies. I felt that the Briana character could have been developed more. The author did point out that she was a good shooter and therefore a good hunter. It was interesting when she was trying to teach Roger how to shoot. I also liked the fact that she did not hesitate when it came to shooting Bonnet. I tired of Briana breast feeding. Come on Diana, give Roger and Briana so common excitement and let Jamie and Claire spend a little time baby-sitting the grandkid. It's also about time for someone to go through the stones and check on what history they are changing or Claire should take Jamie to the future. I don't want to know that someone else has come through the stones unless it is a colony of people that Claire, Roger and/or Brianna know! THIS BOOK IS NOT A PAGE TURNER.
Rating:
Summary: Not sure I'm going to finish this book
Review: After years of anticipation, I am finding that I will have to force myself to finish this book. I am currently on page
423 - all of the territory covered by these pages could have (should have) been covered in about 1/4 of that amount. There is no plot to move along, and we are losing Jamie and Claire, who have been reduced to bit players, pale shadows of their former selves. Others who are reading the book keep telling me it gets better - I'm still waiting. Unless there is a significant improvement in the story line over the next 100 pages, I will probably move on to another book.
Rating: 
Summary: mostly breasts, brianna, and boredom
Review: I quote Dorothy Parker - this is not a book to be taken lightly, it should be thrown with great force. May I start by saying that I really wanted to like this book. Outlander was a terrific book, Dragonfly and Voyager were very good, sadly, Drums of Autumn was disappointing. I remained in great hope that The Fiery Cross would make up for Drums' failings. The Fiery Cross does suceed in one respect - it makes Drums look not so bad in comparison. The Fiery Cross is the most boring, tedious, pointless, plotless, compendium of crap. Diana Gabaldon was running out of steam with Drums - now her entire teakettle seems to have burned out! This book, which I thought was to be a continuation of the great romantic story of Jamie and Claire, was in fact, kidnapped by the story of: whiny reproductive Brianna and her mammary emissions, overly fully fleshed out descriptions of Jemmy's diapers, and the increasingly pointless Roger's not being able to scratch his buttocks with a handful of fishhooks (so to speak). Somewhere in the "last but also least" part of the book is the tepid maturing of the (formerly) great romance - Jamie and Claire. Theirein lies the main problem with this book. The two characters that the reader cares about are..well...stagnant. All the other characters seem to eddy round Jamie and Claire like so much detritus (and who cares about these other characters anyhow?). Jamie and Claire however, are just stuck in a mind numbing and pointless existence in the middle of nowhere doing not very much. After all the epic struggles they have gone through to be together, they finally got their wish, and THIS is all they are doing with it? Their love affair seemed a lot more interesting when there was some challenge to it... Some suggestions to Diana (we can but hope she will read these reviews, sorry, Diana, but you just have to know!) for future improvements:
* start telling Jamie and Claire's story again. Brianna is BORING!
* kill off the irritating gnat Stephen Bonnett (nowhere near as good a villain as Black Jack Randall),
* quit making up endless filler about Jamie's aunt and numerous other minor characters ad infinitum, (they don't drive the non-existent plot, they tend to appear and disappear in 10 pages, and were boring when they WERE being discussed)
* stop the drivel about Brianna and Roger (since when did they become the main characters anyhow?)
* try to have a plot instead of a collection of snippets that were threaded loosely together (at best)
* give up on the idea that Jamie smelling of "effluvium of diaper" renders him appealing, much less descriptions of his hair and beard going gray, and his aches and pains! In spite of saying all of this, I still love the main characters, and have a lot of respect for the first three books. I remain hopefull that the last one will return to the quality of the first three. The Fiery Cross, however, was a great disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Thank You Diana Gabaldon !
Review: I have read all of the existing reviews and I agree with a lot of the glowing reviews as well as the negative reviews. This novel is much different in its pace, and the awesome originality that made Outlander such a wonderful treasure is not there. (I believe that we all enjoy the first person narrative much more, because WE are all able to be Claire from beginning to end.) The previous reviews stating that this novel is a quiltwork of short stories threaded together would be very accurate. However, I was very glad to be able to visit with the characters again and ESCAPE to something new and entertaining! I must admit that the "repetitive" passages of breastfeeding & flowing molten tresses, or large bottoms must have not bothered me to the same degree as some readers?!?! (Perhaps it is because my husband frequently refers to my own "delicate" tush.) And yes... there are plenty of original, "God, don't I wish" / Jamie ;)sex scenes, but also lots of reading in between without! So, if you are interested in how daily life was lived by these endearing characters, and you want to read all new material about Jamie & Claire's life and have some questions answered and some new ones pop up, then you will really enjoy this book. Some reasons I enjoyed all aspects of this novel; I liked Roger much more(everyone needs to remember that Claire has put herself in some pretty precarious situations as well!), I loved anything & everything about Jamie; I thought there were dramatic & original
scenes that reminded me why I love DG's writing; I enjoyed the threading together of the Gathering, The Fiery Cross, and the extreme importance of family and their daily triumphs and tribulations. If you are hoping for the "Oh, My God" Wonderful of the first three books, you may indeed be disappointed. But again, it was worth the wait (for me) to have the new, endearing quotes (Jamie), scenes, and stories. Thank you, Diana Gabaldon, for all of your hard work ... and for Claire & Jamie, because in the end, that's what this is all about!
Rating:
Summary: More Exciting Highlander Adventure!
Review: Fast paced, exciting adventure with the Frazers! Roger and Brianna joined at last, while Stephen Bonnet remains at large in person and imagaination. Rumblings of war and traitors hanging in the glen. Find out what happened to Ian, Fergus and Marsali and a host of new interesting characters. Always suspense that makes you anxious to turn the page and find out what happens next! Lots of twists and turns and some surprises. As always, a great read and never long enough!!
Rating:
Summary: No Narrative Drive
Review: It's hard to know where to begin, to enumerate the disappointments of this book. It's much easier to criticize a book than it is to create one, and I normally don't approve of that tactic at all. I admire anyone who has the vision, the imagination, and the courage to create such entrancing worlds as fans have come to love, with Gabaldon's earlier books. If I have trouble with some of the elements of a story itself, I can live with that. Having said that, though: What is the unspoken contract between an author and her readers? Up until now, readers of the Outlander series have gotten a coherent story in each book, something which satisfies when you finish it. The Fiery Cross, in contrast, goes on for more than 800 pages without giving me much desire to pick up the book again. (I did so only because I trusted the author to give me good moments, which she did, and because my book group will want to discuss it.) Then, it goes into frenetic action that is supposed to function to create drama. In the last hundred pages or so, it sets up more questions and mysteries to go along with the unsolved ones already there, and then ends. How manipulative is that? Save your money; check it out from the library. The thing is carelessly written. There are numerous scenes that needed a follow-up; they're left hanging. There are countless details that don't fit with what was said only a few pages before. They might be considered petty; but Gabaldon's writing resides in the details, so they ought to be consistent. It seems like a transition book. If it was intended that way, it needed to be even more carefully crafted. I don't care whether it was done in the composing, the rewriting or the editing -- the latter two should have gotten a lot more attention -- but it should have been done sometime. Every book should hold a shape and be able to stand on its own. At the end of The Fiery Cross, Roger and Brianna have been transformed from the people they were, with their own loves, interests, and priorities ... into the people that Jamie and Claire want them to be. That ... Right now, though, I really don't care. I may just invent my own scenarios for how the characters live out the rest of their lives.
Rating:
Summary: Building up to the Grand Finale
Review: I agree with a lot of the negative reviews that this particular installation moves slowly and doesn't have the hot romance as the previous books. Unlike the people that were disappointed because of this, I loved the book. Love changes as people grow older. So, while Jamie and Claire's love may not be as physical as it was when the characters are younger, it grows stronger in different ways, and we need to understand that this doesn't mean love is done with. Love may exist as companionship, as well. (maybe this is why there are so many divorces in america!) The author does an excellent job of providing more details on Bree, Roger, and Jemmy. I would have liked to have heard more on Young Ian, Jamie's son, and Lord Grey. I view this book as, for example, similar to the movie--Back to the Future 2. It may not have had any earth shattering events in itself, but it is clear that it is providing the foundation for the grand finale. I hope there is not such a long wait until book 6 as there was for book 5.
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