Oh, I’m tempted to give this one 4 stars… I might just. Eventually…maybe…

When I open the pages of these books (or begin the audiobook) I know it’s going to take at least 25h to finish. 25h of leaving what I’m doing and where I’m at—apart from menial think-less tasks—and going back in time and far from place to live another life.

But I want that life to be full of adventure and intrigue, thwarted love and impossible love, an historical backdrop that piques my interest and sets my heart racing, and wild and fantastic characters that pain me, make me laugh, claw at my emotion, bring me joy…

I’m not much interested in the goings-on of the American Revolution. The snippets of it that come between these pages are offered up as setting to serve the progress of relationships we’ve invested in over the thousands of pages we’ve read in the lives of Jamie & Claire and their family. It’s a family saga that keeps on going as long as there’s life in their bones, blood in their veins. We’ve come to expect there will always be more story. Some of the story moves us more than other bits, and some of it we don’t really care much about—I realise that varies for readers, but it always comes back to Jamie & Claire, and that’s the story that really draws us all in. We always want more of that. Just maybe not so much of it during this particular dragging sort-of-war.

This story lulled a little in the middle, and for fair bouts that nearly exceeded my tolerance. Too bad for that. However, we ended on an exciting adventurous note as expected. Many things are tied up satisfactorily, while other things smash wide open at the end, rousing continued interest and lifting hopes it doesn’t take a decade for the next book to be written and published.

We who are reading beyond the initial intriguing Outlander novel, committing to even read 900+ pages each in novels #5-#9 in a series like this, must love these stories and adore the continued saga. You wouldn’t read if you didn’t, so she’s writing for die-hard fans at this stage. We all admit the first 3 (maybe 4) books were the best, but perhaps we can’t all identify why. I suggest that there’s something to be said for the power of setting; we were in Scotland, France, and the West Indies for the most part in the first 4 books, in an era of great historical interest, turmoil and action—and there was room for beautifully complex characters like Geillis, Dougal, Murtagh, Master Raymond, and even King Louis XV and Charles Stewart—whereas in these last number of additions we’ve been stuck waiting for something (anything) to happen in America and rotating between the same old stories of waning (even some lacklustre) characters (apart from J&C, it must be said) for far too long. As I said, I’m not much interested in the American Revolution, and the setting of North Carolina, while it might be a constant source of delight to some, leaves me shrugging and unimpressed. Meh. As I said, that’s personal, but setting is huge for me—take me back to Scotland, please!

I was delighted with all the insight on eco/zoo-ology and other science-y bits present in these pages, but I’m the reader waiting for more inclusion of 18th CE marine biology…waiting…it’s gotta happen sometime soon…