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mdabernig 's review for:
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
by Diana Gabaldon
I loved this - after the drag that was Fiery Cross, the series needed a book like this and in fact I would have given it 5 stars had it not been for a few small things that I just felt wasn't necessary for the book to have.
It was long, it was wordy and Gabaldon could definitely do with a better editor, but despite the usual flaws, this felt like the best balanced book since Outlander. Finally it was all about Jamie and Claire - in fact the part of the book that cost it the fifth star for me occurred when they were separated again or Brianna was the central focus. Brianna was, in fairness, much better in this book that she's been previously and I actually really liked her here - but her plot just felt...easy. And unnecessary - I know the Bonet story had to be sorted, but at the same time, considering what happened to Claire earlier in the book, I felt like the Brianna plot was unnecessary in this book.
Claire...I loved Claire in this book and tbh, my reluctance to read this was in part because I knew what happened to her in this. I have mentioned in the past my annoyance at the author using that particular plot device over and over and over again, but in this case, I felt it worked and it didn't feel gratuitous...it was just sad, and I adored the way it was resolved and the image of Jamie, Roger, Ian and Fergus saving her like that was very easy to imagine. It was very well done.
Less well done was a stupid subplot involving random characters I don't care about and the ridiculousness of it...but nothing is perfect, and the flaws in this are easy to forgive. I hope I find the flaws in the next book that I know about as easy to forgive, but knowing what is coming, I somehow doubt it.
There were some touching moments in this book - Ian's backstory was heartbreaking and Fergus' anguish equally so. I love them and although I'm sure we'll still see a lot of Roger and Brianna, I won't lie and say I'm not happy about the idea that with them gone we can finally concentrate on those two even more.
All in all, for me this was the best book since the first one.
It was long, it was wordy and Gabaldon could definitely do with a better editor, but despite the usual flaws, this felt like the best balanced book since Outlander. Finally it was all about Jamie and Claire - in fact the part of the book that cost it the fifth star for me occurred when they were separated again or Brianna was the central focus. Brianna was, in fairness, much better in this book that she's been previously and I actually really liked her here - but her plot just felt...easy. And unnecessary - I know the Bonet story had to be sorted, but at the same time, considering what happened to Claire earlier in the book, I felt like the Brianna plot was unnecessary in this book.
Claire...I loved Claire in this book and tbh, my reluctance to read this was in part because I knew what happened to her in this. I have mentioned in the past my annoyance at the author using that particular plot device over and over and over again, but in this case, I felt it worked and it didn't feel gratuitous...it was just sad, and I adored the way it was resolved and the image of Jamie, Roger, Ian and Fergus saving her like that was very easy to imagine. It was very well done.
Less well done was a stupid subplot involving random characters I don't care about and the ridiculousness of it...but nothing is perfect, and the flaws in this are easy to forgive. I hope I find the flaws in the next book that I know about as easy to forgive, but knowing what is coming, I somehow doubt it.
There were some touching moments in this book - Ian's backstory was heartbreaking and Fergus' anguish equally so. I love them and although I'm sure we'll still see a lot of Roger and Brianna, I won't lie and say I'm not happy about the idea that with them gone we can finally concentrate on those two even more.
All in all, for me this was the best book since the first one.