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The Fiery Cross (Outlander) Mass Market Paperback – August 30, 2005

by Diana Gabaldon (Author)

4.6 42,515 ratings

Book 5 of 9: Outlander

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The fifth book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series.

“A grand adventure written on a canvas that probes the heart, weighs the soul and measures the human spirit across [centuries].”—CNN

The year is 1771, and war is coming. Jamie Fraser’s wife tells him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy—a time-traveler’s certain knowledge.

Born in the year of Our Lord 1918, Claire Randall served England as a nurse on the battlefields of World War II, and in the aftermath of peace found fresh conflicts when she walked through a cleftstone on the Scottish Highlands and found herself an outlander, an English lady in a place where no lady should be, in a time—1743—when the only English in Scotland were the officers and men of King George’s army.

Now wife, mother, and surgeon, Claire is still an outlander, out of place, and out of time, but now, by choice, linked by love to her only anchor—Jamie Fraser. Her unique view of the future has brought him both danger and deliverance in the past; her knowledge of the oncoming revolution is a flickering torch that may light his way through the perilous years ahead—or ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes.

Book 5 of 9

Outlander
Print length

1443 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Dell
Publication date

August 30, 2005
Dimensions

4.15 x 2.2 x 6.85 inches
ISBN-10

9780440221661
ISBN-13

978-0440221661
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Popular Highlights in this book

What are popular highlights?

“To see the years touch ye gives me joy, Sassenach,” he whispered, “—for it means that ye live.”
Highlighted by 3,042 Kindle readers
“The past is gone—the future is not come. And we are here together, you and I.”
Highlighted by 2,302 Kindle readers
He was not afraid to die with her, by fire or any other way—only to live without her.
Highlighted by 1,709 Kindle readers

From the Publisher

CNN says, “A grand adventure written on a canvas that probes the heart.”


	OUTLANDER, 20th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION	EXILE	OUTLANDER COMPANION	The Outlandish Companion Volume Two	THE OFFICIAL OUTLANDER COLORING BOOK	SEVEN STONES TO STAND OR FALL

Customer Reviews	980	2,821	2,571	1,785	1,180	11,488
Price	$26.33	$15.81	$24.38	$20.06	$11.79	$12.99
	This special edition features an original essay, a new map, and more.	This Outlander graphic novel gives readers a fresh look at the events from Jamie Fraser’s point of view, gorgeously rendered by artist Hoang Nguyen.	Perfect for readers of the bestselling Outlander novels. This compendium covers the first four novels and divulges insider accounts of the making of the Starz original show.	This exciting second volume, covering books 5-8 in the Outlander series, is bursting with generous commentary and juicy insider details.	This spectacular adult coloring book features forty-five all-new illustrations!	A magnificent collection of Outlander short fiction—including two never-before-published novellas—featuring Jamie Fraser, Lord John Grey, Master Raymond, and many more, from Diana Gabaldon

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Addictive in the extreme.”—Toronto Star

“A word-of-mouth cult success and a publishing phenomenon.”—Kitchener-Waterloo Record

“Leaving out the history, the time-travel and fantastical subplots, the wit and irony, battles and heroes and villains, what will keep loyal readers and attract new is this fine portrait of two immensely admirable and interesting characters.” —London Free Press

From the Inside Flap

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.

"From the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

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.

"From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Diana Gabaldon is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the wildly popular Outlander novels—Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes (for which she won a Quill Award and the Corine International Book Prize), An Echo in the Bone, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, and Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone—as well as the related Lord John Grey books, Lord John and the Private Matter, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, Lord John and the Hand of Devils, and The Scottish Prisoner; a collection of novellas, Seven Stones to Stand or Fall; three works of nonfiction, “I Give You My Body . . .” and The Outlandish Companion, Volumes 1 and 2; the Outlander graphic novel The Exile; and The Official Outlander Coloring Book. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Happy the Bride the Sun Shines On

Mount Helicon
The Royal Colony of North Carolina
November, 1770

I woke to the patter of rain on canvas, with the feel of my first husband's kiss on my lips. I blinked, disoriented, and by reflex put my fingers to my mouth. To keep the feeling, or to hide it? I wondered, even as I did so.

Jamie stirred and murmured in his sleep next to me, his movement rousing a fresh wave of scent from the cedar branches under our bottom quilt. Perhaps the ghost's passing had disturbed him. I frowned at the empty air outside our lean-to.

Go away, Frank, I thought sternly.

It was still dark outside, but the mist that rose from the damp earth was a pearly gray; dawn wasn't far off. Nothing stirred, inside or out, but I had the distinct sense of an ironic amusement that lay on my skin like the lightest of touches.

Shouldn't I come to see her married?

I couldn't tell whether the words had formed themselves in my thoughts, or whether they - and that kiss — were merely the product of my own subconscious. I had fallen asleep with my mind still busy with wedding preparations; little wonder that I should wake from dreams of weddings. And wedding nights.

I smoothed the rumpled muslin of my shift, uneasily aware that it was rucked up around my waist and that my skin was flushed with more than sleep. I didn't remember anything concrete about the dream that had wakened me; only a confused jumble of image and sensation. I thought perhaps that was a good thing.

I turned over on the rustling branches, nudging close to Jamie. He was warm and smelled pleasantly of woodsmoke and whisky, with a faint tang of sleepy maleness under it, like the deep note of a lingering chord. I stretched myself, very slowly, arching my back so that my pelvis nudged his hip. If he were sound asleep or disinclined, the gesture was slight enough to pass unnoticed; if he were not...

He wasn't. He smiled faintly, eyes still closed, and a big hand ran slowly down my back, settling with a firm grip on my bottom.

"Mmm?" he said. "Hmmmm." He sighed, and relaxed back into sleep, holding on.

I nestled close, reassured. The immediate physicality of Jamie was more than enough to banish the touch of lingering dreams. And Frank — if that was Frank — was right, so far as that went. I was sure that if such a thing were possible, Bree would want both her fathers at her wedding.

I was wide awake now, but much too comfortable to move. It was raining outside; a light rain, but the air was cold and damp enough to make the cozy nest of quilts more inviting than the distant prospect of hot coffee. Particularly since the getting of coffee would involve a trip to the stream for water, making up the campfire — oh, God, the wood would be damp, even if the fire hadn't gone completely out — grinding the coffee in a stone quern and brewing it, while wet leaves blew round my ankles and drips from overhanging tree branches slithered down my neck.

Shivering at the thought, I pulled the top quilt up over my bare shoulder and instead resumed the mental catalogue of preparations with which I had fallen asleep.

Food, drink ... luckily I needn't trouble about that. Jamie's aunt Jocasta would deal with the arrangements; or rather, her black butler, Ulysses, would. Wedding guests — no difficulties there. We were in the middle of the largest Gathering of Scottish Highlanders in the Colonies, and food and drink were being provided. Engraved invitations would not be necessary.

Bree would have a new dress, at least; Jocasta's gift as well. Dark blue wool — silk was both too expensive and too impractical for life in the backwoods. It was a far cry from the white satin and orange blossom I had once envisioned her wearing to be married in — but then, this was scarcely the marriage anyone might have imagined in the 1960s.

I wondered what Frank might have thought of Brianna's husband. He likely would have approved; Roger was a historian — or once had been — like Frank himself. He was intelligent and humorous, a talented musician and a gentle man, thoroughly devoted to Brianna and little Jemmy.

Which is very admirable indeed, I thought in the direction of the mist, under the circumstances.

You admit that, do you? The words formed in my inner ear as though he had spoken them, ironic, mocking both himself and me.

Jamie frowned and tightened his grasp on my buttock, making small whuffling noises in his sleep.

You know I do, I said silently. I always did, and you know it, so just bugger off, will you?!

I turned my back firmly on the outer air and laid my head on Jamie's shoulder, seeking refuge in the feel of the soft, crumpled linen of his shirt.

I rather thought Jamie was less inclined than I — or perhaps Frank — to give Roger credit for accepting Jemmy as his own. To Jamie, it was a simple matter of obligation; an honorable man could not do otherwise. And I knew he had his doubts as to Roger's ability to support and protect a family in the Carolina wilderness. Roger was tall, well-built, and capable — but "bonnet, belt, and swordie" were the stuff of songs to Roger; to Jamie, they were the tools of his trade.

The hand on my bottom squeezed suddenly, and I started.

"Sassenach," Jamie said drowsily, "you're squirming like a toadling in a wee lad's fist. D'ye need to get up and go to the privy?"

"Oh, you're awake," I said, feeling mildly foolish.

"I am now," he said. The hand fell away, and he stretched, groaning. His bare feet popped out at the far end of the quilt, long toes spread wide.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Och, dinna fash yourself," he assured me. He cleared his throat and rubbed a hand through the ruddy waves of his loosened hair, blinking. "I was dreaming like a fiend; I always do when I sleep cold." He lifted his head and peered down across the quilt, wiggling his exposed toes with disfavor. "Why did I not sleep wi' my stockings on?"

"Really? What were you dreaming about?" I asked, with a small stab of uneasiness. I rather hoped he hadn't been dreaming the same sort of thing I had.

"Horses," he said, to my immediate relief. I laughed.

"What sort of fiendish dreams could you be having about horses?"

"Oh, God, it was terrible." He rubbed his eyes with both fists and shook his head, trying to clear the dream from his mind. "All to do wi' the Irish kings. Ye ken what MacKenzie was sayin' about it, at the fire last night?"

"Irish ki — oh!" I remembered, and laughed again at the recollection. "Yes, I do."

Roger, flushed with the triumph of his new engagement, had regaled the company around the fireside the night before with songs, poems, and entertaining historical anecdotes — one of which concerned the rites with which the ancient Irish kings were said to have been crowned. One of these involved the successful candidate copulating with a white mare before the assembled multitudes, presumably to prove his virility — though I thought it would be a better proof of the gentleman's sangfroid, myself.

"I was in charge o' the horse," Jamie informed me. "And everything went wrong. The man was too short, and I had to find something for him to stand on. I found a rock, but I couldna lift it. Then a stool, but the leg came off in my hand. Then I tried to pile up bricks to make a platform, but they crumbled to sand. Finally they said it was all right, they would just cut the legs off the mare, and I was trying to stop them doing that, and the man who would be king was jerkin' at his breeks and complaining that his fly buttons wouldna come loose, and then someone noticed that it was a black mare, and that wouldna do at all."

I snorted, muffling my laughter in a fold of his shirt for fear of wakening someone camped near us.

"Is that when you woke up?"

"No. For some reason, I was verra much affronted at that. I said it would do, in fact the black was a much better horse, for everyone knows that white horses have weak een, and I said the offspring would be blind. And they said no, no, the black was ill luck, and I was insisting it was not, and..." He stopped, clearing his throat.

"And?"

He shrugged and glanced sideways at me, a faint flush creeping up his neck.

"Aye, well. I said it would do fine, I'd show them. And I had just grasped the mare's rump to stop her moving, and was getting ready to ... ah ... make myself king of Ireland. That's when I woke."

I snorted and wheezed, and felt his side vibrate with his own suppressed laughter.

"Oh, now I'm really sorry to have wakened you!" I wiped my eyes on the corner of the quilt. "I'm sure it was a great loss to the Irish. Though I do wonder how the queens of Ireland felt about that particular ceremony," I added as an afterthought.

"I canna think the ladies would suffer even slightly by comparison," Jamie assured me. "Though I have heard of men who prefer —"

"I wasn't thinking of that," I said. "It was more the hygienic implications, if you see what I mean. Putting the cart before the horse is one thing, but putting the horse before the queen..."

"The — oh, aye." He was flushed with amusement, but his skin darkened further at that. "Say what ye may about the Irish, Sassenach, but I do believe they wash now and then. And under the circumstances, the king might possibly even have found a bit of soap useful, in ... in..."

"In medias res?" I suggested. "Surely not. I mean, after all, a horse is quite large, relatively speaking..."

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0440221668
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dell (August 30, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1443 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780440221661
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0440221661
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.29 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.15 x 2.2 x 6.85 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #264,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #853 in Time Travel Romances
- #2,021 in Historical Fantasy (Books)
- #7,196 in Romantic Fantasy (Books)

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4.6 42,515 ratings

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Diana Gabaldon

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Diana Gabaldon is the internationally bestselling author of many historical novels including Cross Stitch, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow Ashes. She lives with her family in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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Customers say

Customers find the book brilliant, brilliant, and wonderful to follow. They describe the story as fantastic, captivating, and complex. Readers praise the writing quality as extremely detailed, realistic, and legible. They say the characters are well-developed and believable. They also describe the romance as engaging, passionate, and complete. Reader appreciate the wonderful and important information about time and basic human nature. However, some find the pacing slow.

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Readability Story quality Writing quality Character development Romance Insight Length Pacing

1,448 customers mention "Readability"1,371 positive77 negative

Customers find the book brilliant, emotional, and instructive. They say it's wonderful to follow the novels as they take us through the years. Readers also mention the last few hundred pages are fantastic and there are several wonderful surprises. Overall, they say the entire series has gotten them hooked.

"...The descriptive detail and narration are so strong, exact and perfect that one cannot help be emotionally invested in little time...." Read more

"...I’m completely enraptured. The books are so much better: more nuanced, more historically accurate, more relevant. Read them!" Read more

"...The last few hundred pages were fantastic and there were several wonderful surprises and a visit from a certain character I was not expecting at ALL...." Read more

"Book number five was awesome!! I love how this makes me go back to earlier books to reread the meeting of Jamie and Claire...." Read more

1,250 customers mention "Story quality"1,103 positive147 negative

Customers find the story fantastic, captivating, and exciting. They also describe the book as complex, full of mystery and intrigue. Readers also say the author is inventive, witty, clever, and masterful at interweaving.

"...The story is so captivating and consuming that I find that I begin to slow my reading down as I see the end looming in sight, hating to let Jamie..." Read more

"...I’m completely enraptured. The books are so much better: more nuanced, more historically accurate, more relevant. Read them!" Read more

"...The last few hundred pages were fantastic and there were several wonderful surprises and a visit from a certain character I was not expecting at ALL...." Read more

"...They are a complex tale full of an entire cast of well-developed characters. I have been on the discussion boards that center around this series...." Read more

630 customers mention "Writing quality"485 positive145 negative

Customers find the writing quality of the book excellent. They say the author is one of the finest writers that ever lived. Readers appreciate the richness and breadth of the language that creates vivid descriptions. They also appreciate the incredible attention to details.

"...The descriptive detail and narration are so strong, exact and perfect that one cannot help be emotionally invested in little time...." Read more

"...North Carolina (and many places in between), you will follow a brilliantly-written, gripping saga and you will be a part of a world you won't want..." Read more

"...They read realistically and beautifully. Her powers of description are on par with Stephen King...." Read more

"...No particular reason, I just had a real hard time getting through it. Same with this season in the show though...." Read more

357 customers mention "Character development"333 positive24 negative

Customers find the characters well-developed and believable. They also say the book is thrilling and the characters are portrayed as extremely intelligent.

"...The absolute best! Yes, the stories are long but each character is carefully considered and the scenic details imperative to the emotion of the era..." Read more

"...They are a complex tale full of an entire cast of well-developed characters. I have been on the discussion boards that center around this series...." Read more

"...The characters are so full of life and so well developed that it is easy to fall into their lives through the pages of this novel...." Read more

"...Her stories are believable and engaging, her characters very well developed and believable, and I recommend this series to everyone...." Read more

210 customers mention "Romance"187 positive23 negative

Customers find the romance in the book replete, grand, and engaging. They say the relationship is passionate, adventurous, and funny. Readers also mention the book has refreshing moments of calm and levity.

"...the tale of well-developed, multifaceted characters, exploring their personal growth, interactions and relationships with one another, their people..." Read more

"...good, right, secure, comfortable and very enjoyable, humorous and passionate, she has the ability to strip it all away and leave you in anguish and..." Read more

"...quot;The Fiery Cross" is all about character growth, interpersonal relationships, survival in the wilderness, and the mature love of a middle-..." Read more

"...The story line is fabulous, weaving fantasy, relationships, and several love stories in with breathtakingly beautiful geography and realistic history..." Read more

115 customers mention "Insight"110 positive5 negative

Customers find the book's insight wonderful and important. They appreciate the detailed research, amazing analyses of basic human nature, and its adaptation process to new environments. Readers also mention the story is intellectually stimulating, filled with thoughtfulness, and relevant. They also appreciate the author's knowledge of history and facts.

"...are so much better: more nuanced, more historically accurate, more relevant. Read them!" Read more

"...takes us by the hand through the American colonies and makes it all come to life. Well done." Read more

"...so the fictional characters in a non-fictional scenario are very well researched...." Read more

"...(it is descriptive and well developed)..." Read more

157 customers mention "Length"59 positive98 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the length of the book. Some mention it's long and profound, while others say it'll take a long time to get through it.

"...The book was long, very long and I did not mind that, the books can be twice as long because I love spending time with Claire and Jamie...." Read more

"...with crippling intensity with all of its emotional structure and profound dimension...." Read more

"...I think my biggest complaint is they’re just so long, purposefully drawn out or no; she could cut each book in half..." Read more

"...They're just so darned LONG.Take this one, for example...." Read more

273 customers mention "Pacing"49 positive224 negative

Customers find the book a bit slow and dragging. They say it takes a while to read and there is an inordinate amount of time spent on details. Readers also mention the book is a long read.

"...But man, this one was slow going and really hard to get through. I do not care less about any of the random people or their situations...." Read more

"...I was going to give this book four stars because the pace did slow significantly in a few places, but in considering the Herculean effort of the..." Read more

"...My major problem was it was dragging, like the author was tired with coming up with the stories and Jamie seemed tired, almost not himself...." Read more

"...It was the longest 200 pages of my life and where absolutely nothing happened...." Read more

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Tbascoebuzz

He is a man...that is no small thing to be........

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

This fifth installment of this fabulous epic "OUTLANDER" adventure has always been less adventurous than the previous 4 books. All the books hold so much adventure and detailed historical information...but this installment is more of a stepping stone of information to the next book. It lays a foundation of forming of the Militia and the coming Revolution.

It's now 1770 and this installment begins with Jamie, Claire, Brianna and Roger Mac attending the annual Gathering of the Clans. A time of reunion of Clans who make hundreds of separate camps...cooking over open fires - - women laboring to maintain a family's clothes, health and appetites from the limited provisions of saddle bags and pack mules. It's a time of matchmaking, marrying, baptizing, meeting new people, hearing new talk/gossip, and of challenging Scottish games. I found the historical information of the Clan Gathering fascinating. Still, it basically details "a day in the life of" the Frasers while at this Gathering. Jamie is well known and highly regarded for his wisdom as well as his history. His presence is absolute among Clan members. Clair is renowned for her healing abilities.

Jamie has always been a Warrior and a soldier most of his life with a mind of an educated gentleman and a soul of a barbarian. Now he's approaching his mid-40's...good sense has tempered his fighting passion. He's set on carving out a new life for Claire on Fraser's Ridge, North Carolina. Claire is content to go where Jamie leads. Her happiness IS Jamie and nothing more. Yet she knows the Revolution will occur less than 8 years in their future. Facing another war is a frightening thought.

This fifth book of the OUTLANDER saga could actually stand on its own....but WHY would you not want to read this fabulous epic from it's beginning?!? IMHO, it's best to start at the beginning with Outlander - - if for nothing else than to fully appreciate and understand the devoted, passionate relationship between Jamie and Claire....and to thoroughly KNOW them.

Ms. Gabaldon ALWAYS discloses and informs the reader of facts, events and experiences of Jamie and Claire, then walks away from those events and experiences. And then, somewhere in later episodes, she brings that moment back ....somewhere in the series. And "Fiery Cross" follows this line of dropping information upon the reader, only to make it reappear later in the book. It's like little informative or mysterious puzzle pieces that she plops down in our laps and walks away, closing the chapter. And leaves the reader thinking, "WOW!" ....and then somewhere later in the same book, (or subsequent books), that information or event is brought back to our mind/attention. And the reader is soundly blown away!

This is the third time I've read this Epic 7 book Outlander Saga through the many years but it's the first time I've taken time to give a review. Like all the other 5★ rave reviews, I can never put this story down once I begin...errands are curtailed, housework goes to pot and laundry piles up. It holds me completely captive with crippling intensity with all of its emotional structure and profound dimension. The story is so captivating and consuming that I find that I begin to slow my reading down as I see the end looming in sight, hating to let Jamie and Claire go. It never fails...BECAUSE THESE CHARACTERS ARE REAL.. DANG IT!

When I read this fantastic Saga, I'm transported to Scotland, or France, or the Colonies of America! I mean......I'M THERE! I'm experiencing the deplorable living conditions...smelling the stink of the slops thrown out the windows. I'm walking the cobblestones and seeing the people...seeing all the immigrants in their different cultural garb. The descriptive detail and narration are so strong, exact and perfect that one cannot help be emotionally invested in little time. I am transported into another world and time...and I am reluctant to return. I am thoroughly ensconced into the story...it's close to impossible to put these books down to even run to the bathroom...for to put them down for any trivial purpose is to return to the 21st century and that I just hate to do. I begin to go through withdrawals as soon as I begin to close the book and set it down.

Diana Gabaldon is...simply put... brilliant! The absolute best! Yes, the stories are long but each character is carefully considered and the scenic details imperative to the emotion of the era...and the events that are chosen to be included are necessary to have the story told well. IMHO, the story isn't long enough.

If you will allow the time, and give the effort to patiently absorb the detailed narration, you will be blessed and rewarded with the most emotional, captivating Saga ever to hold in your hands.

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Amazon Customer

The Outlander Series is Amazing

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2024

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I started watching the show more than five years ago. Then I went to online forums and got interested in the differences between the show and the books. Then I decided I might as well read the books. I’m completely enraptured. The books are so much better: more nuanced, more historically accurate, more relevant. Read them!

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S. Patterson

Don't give up on this one!

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2015

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I picked this book up last year and gave up before I even got through The Gathering, the first section of the book in which it literally takes hundreds of pages for ONE day to pass. Yet, as always, Jaime and Claire were nagging me and I needed to know what happened next in their story. I guess that's what happens when you've invested so much time (and thousands of pages) in characters. So, I picked it up again and gave it another shot and once I got through the first hundred pages, I found myself settling comfortably back into the lives of these characters I've come to connect with so much.

As far as the series go, The Fiery Cross was the weakest so far. There are a lot of mundane happenings here, yet there's just enough action and excitement sprinkled without to keep you reading. There were times in which I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, and other times I was ready to be done reading after only a chapter or two. As other reviewers have already pointed out, this book is much more centered on day to day life at Fraser's Ridge, and not much happens there.

Yet I kept up with this book and soldiered on through the boring stuff, and I'm so glad I did. The last few hundred pages were fantastic and there were several wonderful surprises and a visit from a certain character I was not expecting at ALL. Not to mention the revelations brought forth by the appearance of a mysterious journal. The payoff was definitely worth it.

I could've given this 3 stars as it was quite a challenging reading experience for me, yet I can't really say anything bad about it. The historical detail is as rich as ever. Diana Gabaldon deeply understands the world her characters live in, and I truly appreciate that. I get so immersed in these books and this world and feel a part of it when I'm reading. That's what wonderful writing does, and it's an absolute joy to experience it as a reader. So yes, this one was tough to get through, but it was necessary. I think Jaime and Claire deserved a break after the craziness in the first 4 books, and I can't say I really hated getting a peek into a different aspect of their lives together. By the end, I was also a lot more invested in Bree and Roger and even Jemmy. Although I can't say I loved his baby babble. :)

To anyone else finding it difficult to get through this book -- don't give up. The end makes everything worth it and I'm excited to begin book 6. I think there will be tears when I get to the end of this series!

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Lonnie Jones

wow

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2024

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Book number five was awesome!! I love how this makes me go back to earlier books to reread the meeting of Jamie and Claire. Going back to the traveling parts just to rewatch in my mind’s eye.

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Ginette Moreau

Must read in order

Reviewed in Canada on March 1, 2024

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Fantastic books, can't put them down, wish there where more, the TV series is true to these books

Annlar

Brilliant writing, I love the characters.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2023

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A triumph! So much action and variety in this book. I watched the early series on uk TV, but the books are so much better, much as I enjoyed the TV series, the books give so much more, we're told their thoughts and scenes described in such detail you feel you are there with the characters. I'm sure that at some point I will read the whole series of Outlander books again.
I lost my husband just before the series was 1st on uk TV, it gave me a safe place to escape my grief, now and again it comes back to haunt me, but the Outlander characters are there to fill that empty space. The writings are so descriptive and clear, I can see the characters, places and events on every page, Diana Gabaldon is an amazing writer, I love her writing and have come to love her characters, I simply can't get enough!

Brit Luijckx

Geweldig

Reviewed in the Netherlands on November 27, 2021

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Het boek is fantastisch.

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Esperanza Alejandra Retes

Apasionante y entretenida

Reviewed in Mexico on March 14, 2019

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He visto las 4 temporadas de esta novela en series para televisiòn y no podìa esperar a que continuara la temporada 5 hasta Noviembre 2019. Es una historia muy apasionante y ya querìa saber saber lo que va a suceder en la temporada 5.

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Fiery Cross

Reviewed in Brazil on November 7, 2018

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Considero Diana Gabaldon uma escritora genial. Seus livro não somente sabem prender o leitor no que trata dos personagens como também insere grande dose de conhecimento histórico, cultural e dos costumes dos locais onde o enredo se desenrola. Acho que além de entretenimento os livros dela contém grande dose de ensinamentos e esclarecimentos sobre a história .

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