Reviews

Seven Stones to Stand or Fall: A Collection of Outlander Short Stories by Diana Gabaldon

linzthebookworm's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed the stories in Seven Stones to Stand or Fall. My favorites were Virgins, A Fugitive Green, and The Space Between. I now need an entire series dedicated to Hal and Minnie.

For my full review check out: https://linzthebookworm.blogspot.com/2023/05/book-review-seven-stones-to-stand-or-fall-by-diana-gabaldon.html

funnyonion's review

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

dancinrio's review against another edition

4.0

This was a library book due back very soon and so I only read the two new, previously unpublished stories having read the others when they had been released before.

Fugitive Green was excellent. Minnie has long been a favourite peripheral character of mine and it was great to get her back story. It was everything one hopes for from Gabaldon, great pace, intrigue, laugh out loud funny, peril, name dropping, strong characters - fabulous.

I found Beseiged a little disappointing. It was very short and correspondingly lacking in depth. While it was a joy to spend a bit more time with Lord John and Tom Byrd I wanted more. I did enjoy the happy coincidence that while reading this the Outlander tv series had also reached the West Indies though.

analiciasteinke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

gabmc's review against another edition

3.0

This is a really fun collection of short stories/novellas in the Outlander universe. I had previously read a few so the ones that were new to me were "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows", "A Fugitive Green" and "Besieged". "A Leaf" is about the mystery of Roger MacKenzie's parents. Roger was orphaned during WWII and then adopted by his great uncle Reginald Wakefield, the Revered Claire and Frank Randall meet on their second honeymoon. It seems that maybe Roger's dad might have gone through some standing stones .... "A Fugitive Green" is set in 1744 and is about the life that Hal Grey's wife, Minnie, led, before she married Hal. And she had quite an interesting life, partly as a spy of sorts, partly as a private detective, and partly as a procurer and seller of specialty books. "Besieged" is set in Jamaica and Cuba in 1762 and centres around an accidental adventure had by Lord John Grey (love that character!) who had to rescue his mother from Cuba. Now it's time for me to return to the main "Outlander" stories!

elimoo10's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

kslucher's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-paced

3.5

ayami's review against another edition

3.0

The only reason I gave this collection 3 stars is the excellent short story 'A Fugitive Green'. Loved Minnie and Hal. The rest was pretty boring and shows that Gabaldon is really best at writing massive novels -with shorter pieces she simply doesn't know what to cut out and what to keep.

mdodson's review against another edition

3.0

This book took forever to read. Some of the stories are just not my thing, which was surprising to me since I’ve enjoyed the Outlander series. What I will say is that I would rather Diana write an entire side series about Minnie rather than Lord John. Minnie is complex and makes interesting choices. Diana’s female characters are always so much more dynamic than her male characters.

specialkay11's review against another edition

Collection of short stories will pick up when next story is in line.