The Outlander universe is a lovely ocean to drown in, and these bite-size Lord John Grey stories are oh so lovely.

In this prequel of VOYAGER, Lord John has been called to Jamaica to help advise and defend the governor from a suspected uprising. He is quickly up to his eyeballs in beautiful scenery, beautiful men, and some not-so-beautiful midnight shrieking, incompetent guards, and decaying zombie flesh. Gabaldon tries to capture the racial complexity of Jamaica and its slave trade, but is limited by both the book's very short length and her POV character (a white British man at the top of society). I think I enjoyed this book more because I had more a background understanding of Caribbean life at the time, from reading other fantastic novels like Isabel Allende's ISLAND BENEATH THE SEA or Marlon James' THE BOOK OF NIGHT WOMEN. Gabaldon's piece is only a snapshot of a complicated, tragic reality.

Though this book was enjoyable, it lost a star from me because of the abrupt ending and the fact that Lord John did not get to kiss his new zombie boyfriend and I am DISAPPOINTED. I signed up for a gay old time and I only got half of it. Overall though, hearing Lord John's story made me even more eager to read VOYAGER, which I will promptly do.