The Fiery Cross (Outlander)
by Diana Gabaldon
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Book Summary Information
Author: Diana GabaldonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-08-30
ISBN: 0440221668
Number of pages: 1472
Publisher: Dell
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780440221661
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Fiery Cross (Outlander)
Book Review: Like a Glucose Tolerance Test, Only Recommended for Absolute Die-Hard Fans
Summary: 2 Stars
A glucose tolerance test is a test given to a pregnant woman in order to determine whether or not she has gestational diabetes. The test is administered by forcing the poor pregnant woman to drink a, beyond human portion, of a glucose drink, something that tastes like a sugared soft-drink. Then glucose levels of the blood are measured at different intervals after the glucose has been metabolized by the body. It's not the substance as much as the quantity of the sweet tasting drink that is so difficult to stomach and that it has to be consumed after fasting for eight or more hours. It's making me a little queasy remembering it...
Anyway, that's what this book reminded me of.
I understand that letting Diana Gabaldon run wild without a heavy handed editor worked like magic in the past but there's always an exception to a rule and this would have to be it.
I loved, Loved, LOVED the first four books in this series and I have given them as gifts to one of my best friends, my mother and my mother in law. I thought they were fabulous, I can't say enough good things about them.
I'm having a hard time thinking of something good to say about this book, I do however have plenty of criticism. My dilemma is where to start...and then, when to stop, I think I could go on and on.
First, let me say that there is absolutely no reason for this book to be 979 pages long, almost nothing happens. There is no unifying thread of story that draws the reader along in this story, there are a few interesting mysteries but they happen somewhat suddenly and then are resolved rather quickly. There are two exceptions that will obviously be continued in the next book.
I loved these characters going into this book. I read in The Outlandish Companion that Diana Gabaldon, when asked how she keeps all the details of her characters straight, said that they are like real people to her and she wouldn't forget things about someone she knew. Well, I think she must be suffering from some form of long term memory loss because she forgot plenty.
A few things that were huge, beyond forgiving in my opinion: that Duncan has only one arm, that Jamie is left handed. I couldn't understand how those two things could ever be forgotten. There is a scene where she describes Duncan being carried to bed by Jamie and Major MacDonald 'limp arms about their shoulders'. There's another place where she describes Jamie's injured right hand and how it makes writing difficult for him, he's been left handed in the previous four books and he is again at the end of this book but somehow he's using his right hand to write in the middle of the book? There were so many other details that were inconsistent but I'm not going to try to list them all here.
I also thought that Gabaldon really victimized Roger, to the point of annoyance. I thought she completely changed Brianna's character and failed to develop or reveal the character of any of the rest of the family. Fergus seemed an after thought, Lizzie and Marsali as well.
And the preoccupation with all things scatological was over the top and the phrase 'comically blank' used to describe someone's facial expressions was used so often it almost became a catch phrase. And just one more thing I have to get off my chest. There is a scene where Jamie and another man have an altercation and the man calls Jamie a c*** (the c-word). Let me say that I am not offended by the c-word but that the use of it in this situation was just completely incongruous and gave a false ring to the entire scene.
I was so disappointed by this book that I'm not sure I will read the next one...
As a reader and fan of the Outlander and the first four books in the series I'd really like to know "What the heck happened?"
PS.
If you are interested in joining me on good reads come check it out, It's a great site for serious book lovers where we can share our opinions and see what friends are reading. It's w three times dot GoodReads dot com.
Summary of The Fiery Cross (Outlander)
Crossing the boundaries of genre with its unrivalled storytelling, Diana Gabaldon?s new novel is a gift both to her millions of loyal fans and to the lucky readers who have yet to discover her.In the ten years since her extraordinary debut novel, Outlander, was published, beloved author Diana Gabaldon has entertained scores of readers with her heart-stirring stories and remarkable characters. The four volumes of her bestselling saga, featuring eighteenth-century Scotsman James Fraser and his twentieth-century, time-travelling wife, Claire Randall, boasts nearly 5 million copies in the U.S.
The story of Outlander begins just after the Second World War, when a British field nurse named Claire Randall walks through a cleft stone in the Scottish highlands and is transported back some two hundred years to 1743.
Here, now, is The Fiery Cross, the eagerly awaited fifth volume in this remarkable, award-winning series of historical novels. The year is 1771, and war is approaching. Jamie Fraser?s wife has told him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy?a time-traveller?s certain knowledge. To break his oath to the Crown will brand him a traitor; to keep it is certain doom. Jamie Fraser stands in the shadow of the fiery cross?a standard that leads nowhere but to the bloody brink of war.
The fiery cross, once used to summon Highland clans to war, now beckons readers to take up Diana Gabaldon's fifth installment in the Outlander series featuring the time-traveling Frasers. Historical fiction fans who have waited four long years since the publication of Drums of Autumn will thrill to Gabaldon's trademark detail and sensuality, both displayed liberally throughout the nearly 1,000 pages of The Fiery Cross. In this pre-Revolutionary War period, Claire Fraser and her husband, Jamie, have crossed oceans and centuries to build a life together in the bucolic beauty of North Carolina. But tensions both ancient and recent threaten not only Claire and James, but their daughter, Brianna, her new husband, Roger, and their infant son, Jemmy, as well as members of their clan. Gabaldon delivers on what she does best: poignant storylines, empathetic characters, meticulous detail, and searing passion. Savor every carefully chosen word, readers; it may be a long time until the next installment! --Alison Trinkle
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