A review by yarrowkat
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

4.0

excellent follow up in the Outlander Series. the only major flaw is the complete and total lack of *conclusiveness* in the "ending." she is clearly banking on everybody buying the next book, and therefore doesn't bother to even pretend to wrap up 4/5 of the plot strands, which are simply left hanging. an exercise for the reader's imagination for the next three years until another one comes out. i'm sure i'll pick up the next one then, but really, Diana, you shouldn't have. what a cheap way to end a book.

on the other hand, Ian's character development is wonderful, and many of the new characters are likewise completely awesome (Denny & Rachel, for instance). the shift in focus from Jaime & Claire to a combination of them, John & William, Ian, Brianna & Roger is probably going to allow Gabaldon to actually conclude the series at some point (they really do have to die eventually). but then, this book only got through two calendar years (in 814 pages), so you know, she could keep milking it for a while. They're slowing down convincingly, though, which helps.

overall, well worth reading, and worth the wait. but if you're not in a hurry, you might as well wait for the next one, because there's nothing about this one that says "finished" in any sense.