Another installment in the series of 'chronicles' of the Fraser family. For me, it was a well-paced, exciting and entertaining part that follows the classic spirit of 'we have a peaceful life for a moment and then comes the storm'. In terms of content and description (perhaps due to translation), it is better and more engaging than 'The Fiery Cross'. Definitely satisfaction. And a must for fans :-)

The story continues to unfold the adventures and challenges of the Fraser family. The author skillfully weaves together different plotlines, keeping the readers on the edge of their seats. The characters are vividly portrayed, and their emotions and relationships are explored in depth. The historical background adds authenticity and richness to the narrative. Whether it's the political turmoil, the social customs, or the natural landscapes, everything is described in detail, making the readers feel as if they are part of that era.

If you are a fan of the Outlander series, you will definitely love this book. It will take you on a thrilling journey through time and space, and让 you experience the love, passion, and adventure of the Fraser family. Even if you are not familiar with the series, you can still enjoy this book as a standalone historical romance. So, don't miss out on this wonderful read!

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Finally, I reached the end of this long volume!
Although they didn't re-emphasize the theme of the revolution (well, a little bit they did), I liked the twists that the story took, as well as the ending and the epilogues.
Let's see what comes next.
By the way, I'm amazed that I'm still reading such an extensive saga (I never could start one for fear of not completing it), but well, things happen.

As I delved deeper into this tome, I found myself increasingly engaged. The characters' development was quite remarkable. They evolved and changed in ways that kept me on the edge of my seat. The author's writing style was also captivating, making it easy for me to lose myself in the story.
Despite the length, I never felt bored or impatient. Each chapter brought new surprises and revelations. The final few chapters were especially intense, leading up to a satisfying conclusion.
Now that I've finished this volume, I'm excited to see where the story will go in the next one. I have high expectations and can't wait to continue this literary journey.

**"A Disappointing Read"**

"All I want, is for you to love me. Not because of what I can do or what I look like, or because I love you, just because I am".

Let's see, I don't understand the people who give five stars to this book. I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. I'm the biggest fan of Outlander, but I must admit that this book and the previous one are the most mundane account of a boring life that I've been able to come across. Yes, at the beginning of this volume, traumatic things happen, but once that passes, we are faced with a thousand pages of a routine that is not interesting to read.

Regarding Jamie, Claire, Brianna, and Roger, the fact that the supposed fire that will end some of them will happen very soon weighs on them, and also, they are on the verge of the American Revolution. But no, Diana Gabaldon decides to dedicate 200 pages to that and 1,200 more to seeing how they go from one house to another, how they rotate the crops, how they deal with the people of Fraser’s Ridge, etc. My goodness, it's just so boring.

Everyone tells me that the next book is crazy and I hope so because, truly, I think this saga declined a great deal when Jamie and Claire left Scotland. I hope they come back at some point.

I breathed a sigh of relief by the end of the book.

I had stopped reading the series after Book 5, which I completed in 2002. However, I became addicted to the TV series. Once the show reached the point where I had left off in the books, I made the decision to continue reading.

Regrettably, I wish I hadn't. The books were overly verbose, filled with excessive and unnecessary details, and failed to hold my interest. It was an okay escapist read, but it felt like more of the same.

I've decided that I'll simply continue enjoying the TV show and forget about the books. It's not often that I say this, but in this case, I am certain.

In contrast to the book, I thought I would keep my review short and sweet.

Overall, while the TV series has its merits, the books didn't live up to my expectations. I'll stick with the visual adaptation and leave the written word behind.

Maybe others will have a different experience with the books, but for me, the TV show is the better option.

Ten Weeks and 58 Audio Hours later,

A Breath of Snow and Ashes is Done.

This has been book number Six in the Outlander Series, and I truly adored listening to it.

It feels as if an old friend has just departed after a long and cherished visit.

I'm well aware that I won't be getting to the next audio until January of 2025 or 2026.

Speaking of Audio, I was one and done after the first book.

However, thanks to my friend Melissa, the Outlander Fan Extraordinaire, she convinced me to listen to the rest on Audio.

After Dragonfly In Amber, I simply couldn't quit if I wanted to.

I'm totally hooked.

Now I'm desperate to know how it all plays out.

Book six ends with the family split between the past and the future.

It's highly unlikely I can wait until 2026.

But the mystery of both the murder and the fire has been resolved.

Lizzie is safely and rather bizarrely married, and Roger and Fergus have new career purposes.

So the focus is shifting to the American Revolution.

To the varying sides of the war, and squarely on the relationship between Lord John Grey, Jamie, and Claire, and on the issue of Jamie and his son William (unbeknownst to him), who believes Lord John Grey to be his father.

This war has them on opposing sides, facing one another, after his daughter and family/grandchildren are lost to him back to the 20th century.

Claire and Jamie are left without his children.

And then his son shows up, squarely on the other side of the war.

Case in point, the audio gave a teaser of Book Seven and it was all about William and his arrival to Wilmington and his relationship with Lord John Grey, and a brief and haunting encounter with his sister Breanna, before she traveled forward in time.

This is where our next story begins.

But not for me for a while.

It took me a handful of years to get to book six.

But book five ended perfectly.

This one has a leading edge.

Could be early 2025 after all.

Will keep you posted.

Audiobook
The narrator, Davina Porter, is as kick-ass as usual!

However, this audiobook is REALLY long, clocking in at 57 hours and 46 minutes.

Out of the first 6 books that I've listened to back to back (a total of 274 hours and 41 minutes of audio), this one probably made me the most emotional. It's all running together, but in a great way.

I can't express enough how much I'm enjoying this series and how every title is truly worth an Audible credit!

This audiobook had me laughing, getting mad, feeling sad, crying, sobbing, squealing with delight, and cheering!

The storyline towards the end with the Buggs felt a little "Scooby Doo" to me. You know the kind where there's a big mystery and in the end, they catch the bad guy, pull off the mask, and find out it was the kindly old caretaker or bus driver. But this wasn't enough to turn me off the series.

I made the mistake of reading the blurb for book 8 while listening to this one, and it freaked me out. I wish I hadn't. These books are meant to be experienced without knowing what's coming.

I think listening to them makes it more like a film playing in my head, which adds to the enjoyment. It takes a lot longer than reading, but it also enhances the experience.

Love, love, love it!!!!

GREAT READ!!!!

Re-read 2024
This book is truly a whirlwind of events. It's the penultimate one before the series gets swept up in the turmoil of the American Revolution and a whole lot of time traveling.

To recap (SPOILERS):

✔ A significant portion of the novel is set at Fraser's Ridge, with occasional visits to River Run.

✔ Richard Brown continues to be a major annoyance for Jamie.

✔ Major MacDonald irritates both Claire and wee Adso (the cat).

✔ Jamie becomes an Indian agent and has interactions with the Cherokee, who ask for his help.

✔ Mrs Bug takes matters into her own hands.

✔ Tom Christie, his son Allan, and daughter Malva cause a great deal of drama on the ridge. Jamie and Claire, as usual, find themselves in the middle of it all.

I clearly was not in top form when I read this book. That's probably the only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. I managed to ruin this book for myself. So, while this review itself may not help, I hope it will assist in making sure no one else makes the same mistake I did. I absolutely LOVED "Outlander" (the first book in this series). Then I really messed up. I was so excited to have read the book that I looked around to see if there was a second book. I then read "A Breath of Snow and Ashes". I was completely confused in the beginning and it took awhile to figure out how the books linked. Only after I was DONE (arggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh - still kicking myself years later). Anyway, only after I was DONE with the "ashes" book did I realize I had just SKIPPED from BOOK ONE to BOOK SIX!!!!!!!! I was so angry because I KNOW for a FACT that I would have LOVED book two but now I figure why bother because I know how it all turns out. ACK! I feel cheated by my own stupidity. Don't make my mistake. Read them in this order (but check me because as you can see, I already messed up once):

1. Outlander - FANTASTIC!

2. Dragonfly In Amber

3. Voyager

4. Drums in Autumn

5. The Fiery Cross

6. Breath of Snow and Ashes

Grrr. Almost wish I hadn't just written this review. I haven't thought about this DUMB move in months.

This book delves into the adventures of the extended Fraser-McKenzie clan from 1772 to 1776, and boy, do you experience every single one of them.

I picked up this book in late August 2015 and just finished it last week. For those of you as mathematically challenged as I am, that's nine months. I could have grown a whole baby in that time. If I were a cat, maybe dozens of babies. A rabbit...at least a hundred. (If I were an elephant, I'd still be pregnant.)

According to Goodreads, it took me eighteen days to read Outlander, four days to read Dragonfly in Amber (side note: Holy crap! How did I do that?), eleven days to read Voyager, seven days to read Drums of Autumn, and only nine days to read what felt like the interminably long The Fiery Cross. And really, I was on track to finish this one in a reasonable (for this series) amount of time. I read the first 54% in six days. And then I put it down and just...never picked it back up again. That was on September 2nd. I made a token effort on December 7th; read about six pages. Then put it back down again and didn't pick it back up again until March 1st.

That's not good! I shouldn't have been able to do that. I should have been eager to see what happened next. But I wasn't. Nothing felt urgent at all. And I'll admit, this book is so much better than the previous one. There's actual thematic relevance across storylines. Things are moving forward (albeit glacially). And even though I have some issues with the repeated cycle of violence against these characters, at least while reading this one, it was always interesting. (Not so in Fiery Cross.)

The problem is there's just too much of it.

In case you were wondering whether it's possible to have too much of a good thing, this book is proof that you can.

1,439 pages. ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE PAGES.

I know that part of the appeal of these books is their length, and I like long books! The length of the series and each individual book really allows you to spend time with these characters and immerse yourself in their world. But this one (and the last one) just go too far. 1,000 - 1,100 pages would have been okay and manageable. Easily 400 pages of this behemoth could have been cut. Sure, we would have lost some cute scenes, but were they really necessary? Especially when the alternative is that your book is so bloated it loses track of its own plot.

And really, couldn't we also have cut out entirely that plot with Claire getting kidnapped (and raped)? Was that necessary? Especially since she's put into peril at the end of the book as well. And yet again we have Brianna being rescued from Stephen Bonnet in an extended sequence that we've already seen before. At least this time he's gone for good. (But again, I was so ready for him to be gone, I couldn't even fully appreciate how good that scene was at the end between him and Brianna.)

It's like when you say you're using a belt and suspenders to indicate that you're maybe doing something not necessary. Gabaldon is a belt and suspenders writer. She doesn't just use one, she uses both, and then on top of that, she also sews her pants to her shirt JUST IN CASE. And maybe also brings along an extra pair of pants in her purse.

At least most of the scenes in this one weren't mind-numbing as well as repetitive and somewhat unnecessary. I'd rather read about Lizzie accidentally getting knocked up by the Beardsley twins and then marrying both of them, that tiny little bigamist, than read about ghost bears, Brianna's engorged breasts, and the state of Jemmy's diapers.

But really, I think the main problem here is that Gabaldon was trying to bridge the years between Brianna finding her family and marrying Roger at the end of Drums of Autumn, and the coming American Revolution, and it took her two books to do it when she should have done it in one. Nothing interesting happens politically in that time that couldn't have been covered in one book. For two books it's been: THE REVOLUTION IS COMING THINGS ARE HAPPENING. But nothing *actually* happens until the end of this book.

All the books have had backbones except these two. Outlander had Jamie and Claire meeting in 1740s Scotland, and Claire's journey to decide to stay in the past. Dragonfly had them trying to stop the Rising in France and learning to be a married couple. Voyager was them finding their way back to each other after so long apart, and Brianna learning the truth and coming to terms with her family's past. And Drums of Autumn had all those threads coming together, so that they're finally all settled together on Fraser's Ridge in North Carolina. Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow and Ashes was basically, “Hey the Revolution is coming! No, really it is! We promise! Just bear with me a sec!” "Oh, and also, life in these times was dangerous and men will rape you." And meanwhile, all the characters were mostly stuck in one place for two VERY long books (more if you count all the time on Fraser's Ridge in Drums of Autumn). It was claustrophobic, and she would have done better skipping those years or fast forwarding through them, I think, rather than wading through them. Domestic bliss is nice for the characters, not so nice for readers. And neither is manufactured drama (which after a while, all that repetitive peril starts to feel like).

Anyway, I've heard the next two books are pretty good, and the Revolution HAS started. There are emotional conflicts involved for all the Frasers, now that Jamie's son is on the other side, and the McKenzies are back in the future.

It might be a while before I actually dive in, though. I'm not a masochist.

**Original Article**: The cat is sitting on the mat. It is a black cat. The mat is red.

**Expanded Article**:

The cute little cat is peacefully sitting on the soft mat.

It is a beautiful black cat with shiny fur that seems to absorb all the light around it.

The mat on which it is sitting is a vibrant shade of red, adding a pop of color to the otherwise simple scene.

The cat's eyes are wide open, looking around curiously as if observing the world from its cozy spot on the mat.

It might be thinking about its next adventure or simply enjoying the warmth and comfort of the mat.

To be continued...

If I could, I would definitely give this audio book a resounding 6 stars. I adored every single aspect of it.

As is always the case, the narrator, Davina Porter, is simply amazing. I am still in a state of disbelief that one person can flawlessly produce so many different voices and accents. This particular book is, without a doubt, my favorite in the series thus far.

The writing in this installment felt more sharply focused, and all the events seemed to be intricately connected, which was not the situation in some of the other Outlander books. There were countless twists and turns that kept me perpetually on the edge of my seat.

It was truly interesting to witness the characters mature and change, especially Ian, Briana, and Roger. Just like in previous books, I thoroughly enjoyed the humor that was sprinkled throughout, but this time around, I also found myself shedding a few tears.

The experiences that the characters were going through made me develop deeper feelings for them. I have never read or listened to other books on the American revolution, so I am completely fascinated by the historical element within the story.

I wholeheartedly recommend that you listen to this series rather than read it, as it offers one of the very best audible experiences available.

The book seemed very long to me, but at the same time, I enjoyed it very much. Diana Gabaldon never ceases to delight me with those rich and (apparently) naturally constructed plots and misfortunes. The fact that, in the end, all the loose ends that have been unraveling since the beginning of this extremely long book are tied up is something that I absolutely loved, and that, I'm sure, I will continue to love in the rest of the books that I have left to read in this saga.

Jamie and Claire... Well, they are my favorite fictional couple, without a doubt. As I have already commented, I'm not a fervent reader of romance, but what those two characters have is something very special, a "je ne sais quoi" that traps me from beginning to end. Jamie, so brave and full of vigor, sometimes I'm afraid that things will end very badly for him. And Claire, with all her medical knowledge, always gives me a little confidence.

I couldn't give it less than 5 stars.

Although I have enjoyed it, this book has left me quite exhausted. So I won't start the next one (Echos of the Past) very soon.