A review by melodier93
The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

4.0

(3.5 stars) The same thing that makes Diana Gabaldon's writing so compelling - long conversations and digressions, descriptions of daily life, labyrinthine plots and huge casts of characters to keep track of - are also what can make it so maddening. This is hardly a page turner. There are days in this novel that stretch over hundreds of pages, filled with Claire dealing with minor medical emergencies, Jamie discussing local politics with various men I can't keep straight, endless babies and diapers and milk-filled breasts, and various descriptions of body odor, horniness, and other carnal experiences. This novel certainly has its moments of breathtaking beauty and profundity - there's a scene about aging between Jamie and Claire that will linger with me for a long time - along with some truly exciting and profound moments. It's also, frequently, extremely funny and charming - the book sparkles most in its discussion about science and technology between Jamie and Claire, and there are moments so delightful that I had to read them aloud to my partner. It also, of course, contains the same problematic things that Diana Gabaldon is always doing - frustrating treatment of Black and Indigenous people, a glorification of heterosexual masculinity that gets me eye-rolling, the continued existence and angst of Roger (my least favorite character). This is a great book to spend a lazy afternoon with if you're there for the experience itself and not the destination - I spent many lovely hours with it over the last year, most pleasantly at a cabin in the mountains sitting next to the fire. But if you're reading to get anywhere quickly, you'll be continually disappointed. I am Outlander trash - was from the moment I started watching the TV show four years ago, and probably will be for years to come - but it will be a little while before I have the energy and the endurance to pick up the next one, if it means more of the same long-windedness - and the mixed horror and beauty - that marked this one.