Review of The Fiery Cross, book 5 of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
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Synopsis
The Fiery Cross opens at the clan gathering at Mount Helicon. Over the course of a day, nearly everything possible happens: Jamie find lots of new tenants, Claire heals a bunch of people, and Brianna and Roger get married (but not before the priest is kidnapped). Back at Fraser’s Ridge, Jamie summons the men to join a militia company and sets out to gather more recruits, leaving Brianna manage the new settlers.
Jamie’s aunt Jocasta is finally set to marry Duncan Innes (not having been able to marry at the clan gathering because the catholic priest was kidnapped). On the day, the family has to deal with a murdered slave, regulators and loyalists, sexual frustration, and the appearance of Stephen Bonnet.
Jamie’s militia company is called into the War of the Regulation. Unfortunately, Roger has an incident which robs him of his voice and very nearly his life. This brings Jamie and Roger together, as does a snake-bite and hunting down Stephen Bonnet.
Review
Apparently the publishers announced the release date for The Fiery Cross before Diana finished writing it. As such, she didn’t have as much time to edit the draft as she would have liked. It shows. Some of the scenes seem really drawn out and others are not necessary to the story.
The main story arc is unclear. There seems to be several themes and story-lines that were woven together throughout the book, but there isn’t any one overarching story line. This made the book a bit difficult to stick with.
It was largely focused on the characters’ day-to-day life (as opposed to pushing the story forward). Almost nothing happens, things get a bit repetitious (constant references to Brianna’s breasts, Jemmy’s diapers, etc.). This focus made me wonder how I would cope with living in the 18th century (I like to think not too badly, if I could take my mother).
However, some individual scenes were fantastic. They were the kind of scenes that I go back and read again after I’ve finished. I really loved the parts where Claire was explaining 20th century science and medicine to Jamie.
The surfaces of both lungs were black and grainy; Betty was in her forties, and had lived all her life with open wood fires.
“Anything nasty that you breathe in and don’t cough up again – tobacco, smoke, soot, smog, what-have-you – gradually gets shoved out between the lung tissue and the pleura,” I explained, lifting a bit of the thin, half-transparent pleural membrane with the tip of my scalpel. “But the body can’t get rid of it altogether, so it just stays there. A child’s lung would be a nice clean pink?”
“Do mine look like that?” Jamie stifled a small, reflexive cough. “And what is smog?”
“The air in cities like Edinburgh, where you get smoke mixing with fog off the water.” I spoke abstractedly, grunting slightly as I pulled the ribs back, peering into the shadow cavity. “Yours likely aren’t so bad, since you’ve lived out of doors or in unheated places so much. Clean lungs are one compensation to living without fire.”
This book really starts to show American history. I found this boring and skipped through some more history-y bits. To be fair, I don’t know much American history, and I have even less interest in it; I haven’t ever been to America and it holds absolutely no attraction for me (I don’t know why, it just doesn’t). Maybe it would appeal more to Americans.
I felt really bad for Roger. In this book, he shines in his own story rather than just being a player in Claire and Brianna’s stories. While bad things have happened to him before, bad things continue to happen but I felt worse about them, maybe because I cared about him more.
I enjoyed the development in Jamie and Claire’s relationship. They’ve mellowed slightly and settled into a relatively regular life, but there’s still passion between them. I made my way through these books so quickly that I had barely gotten used to Jamie and Claire being parents, and now they’re grandparents. It took some adjustment (they’re not young anymore).
Conclusion
Have you read this book? What did you think? Do you agree with what I’ve said about it? Let me know in the comments.
If you haven’t, it can be bought at Book Depository (they have free international shipping!).
