You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
I’m so glad I read this. It was finally terrible enough that I was able to walk away from the ABSOLUTE TRAIN WRECK that is this series.
re-read for 2nd time in 2015 - while i'm living near where it occurs.
I think I need to just not read the first half of these from now on since there seems to be no editor involved whatsoever with these books. At this point I’m fairly tired of Claire and Jamie, particularly with Jamie and how perfect he is - he is a soldier, a printer, a (treasonous) writer, a leader, he can (spoiler alert... although of COURSE this would happen) fight a bear with his bare hands, he even knows how to knit! I get it: he’s great. There were some weird points in this book in particular that didn’t track with me, like Claire was raised by an archaeologist and also had a medical background but doesn’t know Latin?? She doesn’t get bored living in the wilderness?? (and then it turns out that she’s been attending to folks in the neighboring villages and such and we’ve just been stuck w only her and Jamie instead of meeting more personalities). I did like seeing Brianna and Roger so much more involved and probably would’ve just liked this to be told from one of their views; forget the weird narrator perspective change every five chapters!
I look forward to the show but I am glad to be done with this one!
I look forward to the show but I am glad to be done with this one!
Holy fudge, I finished this book.
Listen, Diana knows how to write. Very, very well and very, very detailed.
Listen, Diana knows how to write. Very, very well and very, very detailed.
This was slower than I expected it to be, and a great deal more domestic, but I did still find it increasingly captivating after I got through the slower bits. I didn't really understand the last few chapters - I felt they were unnecessary, and honestly I had trouble recalling names of people who weren't in the immediate character list. It wasn't all that boring though, which was good; I really cared about the characters, and was brought to tears by Brianna and Jamie. I hope that the next book fills in some plot holes and generally picks up a bit more. There's only 4 years left until the fateful day in the newspaper! Make them count!
The entire Outlander series is amazing historical fiction/sci fi, with intensely awkward erotica shoehorned in.
This one was my least favorite so far of the series but I am still enjoying the series enough that I am sticking with 5 stars for it. It is becoming a little more adventure than sex and romance and both in my reading escapism and IRL, I much prefer sex/romance to adventure-LMAO. Lots of changes in POV in this book....I think the sections from Claire's POV work the best and some of the changes are a bit awkward. I wish we got a little more into the head of the different characters the way we do with Claire. Anyhow, this one is definitely more of the same of what the first 3 books have been about but for me, that is a good thing...
This review contains spoilers and bitchy complaints.
Along with the other books in this series, *Drums of Autumn* deserves a high rating because of the quality of the writing. Despite all the issues I have with this book (and with the series overall), I can't deny how good Gabaldon is at this. This series is art. I mean that.
That said, here comes a mountain of criticism.
1) Okay, let's start with the rape. Not just one rape. Multiple rapes. Happen to like a character in this series? Spoilers: he/she gets raped. The amount of rape you have to slog through in this series is ABSURD. It's exhausting.
2) I don't like the worldview that gets passed along in this book. While reading, you get the sense that the author holds dear certain ideas... many of which I personally find abhorrent. Not sure how to put that into words, it's just a feeling (a STRONG one).
3) This point is related to the point above: Claire says/believes a lot of things that piss me off. When saying goodbye to her daughter for what she thinks will be the final time, her last piece of advice is *don't get fat!* And when her daughter is giving birth, she says something along the lines of, *I hope it's a boy, not a girl, given how ugly that face is!* I get that these lines are supposed to be funny- but they aren't actually funny. Words like those, coming from a woman, to another woman... are just sad. Tell me again why I'm supposed to *like* Claire?
4) There seems to be a weird obsession in this series with gay men. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I am concerned about some of the ideas being communicated here. Some stuff is trope-y, other stuff approaches homophobia, some stuff just makes me feel weird and I'm not sure why. Wish I was better at explaining this point. It's just a feeling.
5) Speaking of feelings. Not sure how I feel about Claire's thoughts on slavery. There seems to be a lot of *as long as I personally don't own slaves, I'm morally in the clear.* Claire is all for trying to change history when the mood strikes her (like, trying to reverse the fortunes of Jamie's people in Scotland). It doesn't seem to occur to her to try and alter the history of slavery (like, maybe trying to speed up the events that lead to emancipation?) But then again, I'm not sure how I would feel about reading a story about a time-traveling white woman freeing black people from slavery ("white savior" trope is a dead horse, let's be honest). Overall, the whole colonial section of this series is hard to read. If someone were to pitch a story like this to me, I would tell them to not bother to write it, just because of how uncomfortable and not-my-place it is to even go there.
All that said, wow. Diana Gabaldon writes with grace. It's beautiful, and the characters are so vivid and wonderful. Going to dive into the next book in this series very soon.
P.S. check out the STARZ adaptation of this series. I think it's well done, and the actor that plays Jamie Fraser is so, so, so sexy. And let's be honest... isn't he why we're reading this?
Along with the other books in this series, *Drums of Autumn* deserves a high rating because of the quality of the writing. Despite all the issues I have with this book (and with the series overall), I can't deny how good Gabaldon is at this. This series is art. I mean that.
That said, here comes a mountain of criticism.
1) Okay, let's start with the rape. Not just one rape. Multiple rapes. Happen to like a character in this series? Spoilers: he/she gets raped. The amount of rape you have to slog through in this series is ABSURD. It's exhausting.
2) I don't like the worldview that gets passed along in this book. While reading, you get the sense that the author holds dear certain ideas... many of which I personally find abhorrent. Not sure how to put that into words, it's just a feeling (a STRONG one).
3) This point is related to the point above: Claire says/believes a lot of things that piss me off. When saying goodbye to her daughter for what she thinks will be the final time, her last piece of advice is *don't get fat!* And when her daughter is giving birth, she says something along the lines of, *I hope it's a boy, not a girl, given how ugly that face is!* I get that these lines are supposed to be funny- but they aren't actually funny. Words like those, coming from a woman, to another woman... are just sad. Tell me again why I'm supposed to *like* Claire?
4) There seems to be a weird obsession in this series with gay men. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I am concerned about some of the ideas being communicated here. Some stuff is trope-y, other stuff approaches homophobia, some stuff just makes me feel weird and I'm not sure why. Wish I was better at explaining this point. It's just a feeling.
5) Speaking of feelings. Not sure how I feel about Claire's thoughts on slavery. There seems to be a lot of *as long as I personally don't own slaves, I'm morally in the clear.* Claire is all for trying to change history when the mood strikes her (like, trying to reverse the fortunes of Jamie's people in Scotland). It doesn't seem to occur to her to try and alter the history of slavery (like, maybe trying to speed up the events that lead to emancipation?) But then again, I'm not sure how I would feel about reading a story about a time-traveling white woman freeing black people from slavery ("white savior" trope is a dead horse, let's be honest). Overall, the whole colonial section of this series is hard to read. If someone were to pitch a story like this to me, I would tell them to not bother to write it, just because of how uncomfortable and not-my-place it is to even go there.
All that said, wow. Diana Gabaldon writes with grace. It's beautiful, and the characters are so vivid and wonderful. Going to dive into the next book in this series very soon.
P.S. check out the STARZ adaptation of this series. I think it's well done, and the actor that plays Jamie Fraser is so, so, so sexy. And let's be honest... isn't he why we're reading this?
In this one the gang goes "Little House on the Prairie" (Well, they're not on the prairie, but they're roughing it in the New World). I also loved pioneer stories as a kid, so I loved this aspect of the book. I also really enjoy getting to know Brianna and Roger better...at times I liked them much more than Claire and Jamie, though Roger was not so likeable at the end. The ridiculousness of this series is getting a bit far-fetched though, and I'm generally someone who is quite good at suspension of disbelief.
Sometimes I wonder why the series goes in the direction it does but I really like the new Bree/Roger dynamic.