It began in Scotland, at an ancient stone circle. There, a doorway, open to a select few, leads into the past—or the grave. Claire Randall survived the extraordinary passage, not once but twice. Her first trip swept her into the arms of Jamie Fraser, an eighteenth-century Scot whose love for her became legend—a tale of tragic passion that ended with her return to the present to bear his child. Her second journey, two decades later, brought them together again in frontier America. But Claire had left someone behind in the twentieth century. Their daughter, Brianna….

I appreciate this for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that after seven books, I have a bit of Claire-fatigue. I don’t dislike Claire, exactly…but I don’t like her a lot either, at this point. She’s hard for me to warm up to as a reader, because she doesn’t show very much vulnerability and at times she seems a little too pleased with herself. I feel bad saying this, in part because it feels vaguely anti-feminist (I think to some degree I am indicting her for not being feminine enough, for being so darn capable and in charge) and in part because it just feels wrong to say that I don’t really like the heroine of what is one of my favorite series of all time. But there you have it. Readers have been waiting with bated breath for the seventh volume in bestselling author Diana Gabaldon’s epic Outlander saga — a masterpiece of historical fiction featuring Jamie and Claire, from one of the genre’s most popular and beloved authors. Do we really need another lesson in human disease, anatomy & physiology ? Haven’t I seen Claire stitch up Jamie before ? Ok so this time she’s severing a full digit & trying to leave him w/ a working hand. I don’t think my poor fragile heart can take any more abuse than this. How many more lives does Jamie have left ? Have mercy.The Frasers can only be thankful that their daughter Brianna and her family are safe in twentieth-century Scotland. Or not. In fact, Brianna is searching for her own son, who was kidnapped by a man determined to learn her family’s secrets. Her husband, Roger, has ventured into the past in search of the missing boy . . . never suspecting that the object of his quest has not left the present. Now, with Roger out of the way, the kidnapper can focus on his true target: Brianna herself.

The book is yet another installment of Gabaldon's tale featuring characters so many have come to care about. Sadly, each new book since the first increasingly consists of mere fragments of a story, with a whole bunch of uninteresting filler in between actual events. I don't know about most others, but the reason I read fiction is for entertainment. When the lives of fictional characters are as dull (or duller!) than my actual day, it's not what I call entertaining. Here's an example: how many times do we need to be told the 2 or 3 different things Jamie SMELLS like? Really. Or how about this: "...his long, straight nose..." how many times have you heard that one? C'mon, be honest. 50 or 60 times at least, if you've listened to all of these books. D.G. introduced me to the extreme novel...and I love them now because you get so involved with the characters. It wasn't developed at all (especially in comparison to the rest of the book). For instance, the development took place to protect a family member. What was the family member's reaction? How did he feel about it? Did he try to stop it? The emotional fallout for all parties would have been enormous. No, to the best of my knowledge, you needed me urgently the moment I saw you and I haven’t had reason to think you’ve got any more self-sufficient since."

An Echo in the Bone

Gone, which I personally think is a beautiful title. Gabaldon plans to write ten books in total for the Outlander book series. It’s not really a spoiler because he’s long been a widower. He was married to the sister of Geneva (I forget the sister’s name – Isabel, maybe?); Geneva was the spoiled young woman who basically forced Jamie to sleep with her when he was a groom (after he was released from prison after Culloden). Because Geneva died in childbirth, the child (supposedly the issue of Geneva’s elderly husband but really Jamie’s) was raised by Isobel, and then by Isobel and John when they married.

I’ll probably have to read/listen to everything again before the next one to refresh my memory though. My chief criticism of An Echo in the Bone has to do with a development late in the book that I thoroughly disapproved of. I don’t want to spoil it, but I will say that it did not feel true to the characters, and instead felt as if it were a cheap manipulation of those characters for the purpose of creating conflict. Though it did not change my opinion of the book that much over all, I kind of dread having to deal with the consequences of this development in the next book. As to the late development, my disappointment was more toward how it was handled rather than what happened. (Though I wasn’t thrilled by the development either.) I started listening to this series four years ago and listened to them all in sequence (along with the Lord John Grey books--and a lot other books in between). I just recently finished "Echo," so I guess I timed it right. I can't imagine how frustrating it's been for fans of the series who read "Echo" when it came out to have had all those cliffhangers hanging all this time. You've probably re-read the book in anticipation of the new one; it's certainly a good idea to do so. When Willie met Jamie. If that’s all there is to it, I don’t think it’s worth waiting for. It’s supposed to build up like a crescendo ‘till the moment of truth hits him in the face. It got swallowed up by the impending troops. I expected a so much more electrifying reunion.I believe she tried to inspire in us the fear of father vs son on the battlefield....but it came across as so much of a history lesson that the drama we crave got buried. I was very bored with the amount of time spent developing battles.... There were so many other things brought to the story in the end that could have been fleshed out during the meat of the story. We were hurried thru so much of the stuff that D.G. normally makes us see and feel deeply. With this book the series is become the modern "Goosebumps" of adult fiction, and Gabaldon firmly established as a formula fiction writer. No doubt all of these story lines will get resolved in the next installment, yet the frustration did not take away from this reviewer's overall enjoyment of the novel. In breaking down this monumental story, I find it falls more or less into four character groups: Another epic book in the Outlander series. It's very long and took me weeks to read but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mainly based in the 1770's in America where Jamie and Clare have joined the American continental army to fight the British for independence. The author describes the battle scenes very well and I had never considered a war could be fought with good manners and etiquette although I am sure this was not always the case. That’s too bad. Did you like it less than ABOSAA? Or was it just sort of the cumulative effect of these last two books that has turned you off?

Dennis Scott was a creative Jamaican poet, born in Kingston,Jamaica, on the 16th of December 1939. He died in 1991. Marsali Fraser - Laoghaire's daughter, Jamie's stepdaughter and daughter-in-law, and Claire's daughter-in-law. First appears in Voyager. Married to Fergus and mother to Germain, Joan, Félicite, and Henri-Christian.

Customer reviews

One personal pet peeve...In an interview about Echo, D.G. promised that she would reveal why Jamie could dream the future, how/why he saw Claire in the future, and resolve the Jamie GHOST from Outlander....where he stares up at Claire and Frank's room BEFORE Claire falls thru time. Nope. Not in this book. Echo is the reason I have broken up with Gabaldon. So disappointed. The spark that was there in the first 5 books or so of this series is now gone. I’m glad to see that it’s not just me re the espionage subplot. I thought maybe I was missing something! It did occur to me that it related to business in the Lord John books, and I just don’t think it’s fair to throw it in this book without context or explanation. Tom Christie - A former inmate of Ardsmuir Prison. Malva's and Allan's father. In love with Claire. Arrives at the Ridge at the end of Fiery Cross.