I waited awhile before reviewing this book because while I enjoyed the writing I was really upset at the sudden and abrupt ending. I do know it is a series but you would hope that at almost 900 pages there would be at least a resolution to the story arc that was started in this volume but I do not feel that way. I can appreciate and will admit that Gabaldon has a wonderful way with words and she is very talented and she certainly knows how to weave a story. But I felt like there were a few branches of stories planted here that were never fully developed and I don't know if they are resolved in the later books. It honestly feels like her publicist was like “You need to wrap it up and submit it” and she just ended there. I also feel like once the marriage happened there was a lot of unnecessary couplings -- it's not so much a matter of Claire technically being married in the future and I love my romance novels and have read quite a few with all the sex scenes, but even I had a few moments where I was like "Again?!?!"

Also (and while the Women's Studies minor in me may want to cringe at this) Claire's actions and decisions left me baffled. She was sharp enough to realize she was popped in the past and how women were perceived there but not sharp enough to adjust her attitude and her approach and decisions in some things. My desire to survive supersedes my desire to “burn my bra” as it were so I found myself getting annoyed with Claire over her inflexibility on that especially in the situations where people almost got hurt behind her. So having to deal with that annoyance of the character was a bit draining as well.

Again Gabaldon is a talented writer I do not discredit that and if she has a standalone book (I honestly do not know if she does) I may pick it up in the future. I am not feeling particularly moved to continue on in the Outlander series, certainly not at this moment if ever though. I am glad I read it since I had heard such good things about it and I agree with all of those. I just felt it was too long, it dragged unnecessarily in some spots, and the ending came too quickly.