Tag Archives: Diana Gabaldon

March 23, 2013 · 6:00 am

The Space Between by Diana Gabaldon

 

Diana Gabaldon

 

Okay, let’s be honest – this review is only going to interest you if you’re an Outlander fan. Which you SHOULD be, because the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is probably one of the greatest things ever written in the history of the universe.

The Space Between is a novella / short story that was recently published in an anthology The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination. I’m not a big one for short stories or anthologies, so I borrowed this book from the library just to read Gabaldon’s story. It’s also featured in A Trail of Fire (a book of four Outlander and Lord John related short stories), which hasn’t been released in the US yet but is available in the UK.

Anyways, The Space Between is about Michael Murray escorting Joan MacKenzie to Paris, where she plans to join a convent. This is taking place at the same time as the end of An Echo in the Bone, so you should probably only read it if you’re up-to-date on the Outlander series. Michael is grieving for his dead wife and another family member, and Joan is trying to escape some things she doesn’t understand. Events take place, which I can’t mention here (it’s surprising how many spoilers are in an 82-page story), but it DEFINITELY gives a lot of food for thought. I’m wondering now if we’ll see more of Michael and Joan’s stories in book #8 (hopefully to be out late this year) and if so, how much events there will affect Jamie and Claire’s main storyline. Just a hint - Master Raymond appears in this story. I find Raymond SOOOOO intriguing, so this was very exciting. I now have a million questions, but that’s to be expected from such a little teaser.

 Man I love this series.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

 

 

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December 17, 2012 · 5:10 pm

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

So many pretty covers... except for the green slime one.

So many pretty covers… except for the green slime one.

 

REMEMBER, THIS IS THE 7TH BOOK! IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST 6 THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. YOU KNOW, YOU SHOULD REALLY GO READ THE REST OF THE SERIES AND THEN COME BACK HERE, KAY?

 

Alright, I’m finally done re-reading the Outlander series! Since I spread it out over the last 2 years, I feel like it was a nice and relaxing. Now all I have to do is wait for the 8th book to come out, hopefully sometime next fall!

I’ve only read An Echo in the Bone once before (I’ve read all of the others in the series like 3 or 4 times at least), so I was really excited to see if my opinion of it has changed. And it has! But in case you’re interested, here’s the link to the review from the last time I read it, about 3 years ago. I was actually kind of nice in that review, because I remember being pretty angry about it. I was actually tempted to THROW the book at one point – but I didn’t of course, because it was a big beautiful hardcover.

ANYWAYS. A Breath of Snow and Ashes ended with Jamie & Claire’s house on Fraser’s Ridge burning down, them planning on going to Scotland to get Jamie’s printing press, and Brianna, Roger, and their kids head back to the present. Lots of upheaval, and right on the brink of the Revolutionary War.

A whole lot of stuff happens in this book, because there are four storylines. This really irritated me back when I first read the book. I love these books because I love Jamie and Claire, and it sucked that there was so much time dedicated to Roger/Brianna, Young Ian, and William/Lord John. Having re-read it, and at a much more leisurely pace than last time, it didn’t bug me quite as much. I think maybe I could have done without so many William/Lord John chapters, but I have a better appreciation for them now and their role in the overall story.

So, stuff that happens… well, Young Ian is finally healing after the disaster of his marriage to Emily, and that made me happy. He’s SUCH an awesome character, I really wish that Diana Gabaldon would write a whole series just for him. Or at least a novella. Jamie and Claire go through hell trying to make it across the sea to Scotland, including two major Revolutionary War battles (Ticonderoga and Saratoga). William is getting his first taste of being a soldier, and Lord John is of course working on some kind of political mystery that involves Fergus.

I liked this book a lot better than last time. I took time to appreciate the writing and just enjoy being with the characters again. These are the only books in which I actually MISS the characters when I’m not reading the books. They’re just so real. I’m already looking forward to my next big re-read in another year or two.

That being said, I have two main issues with this book:

1. That it ends on SO many cliffhangers. Diana doesn’t usually do that - all of the other books end on a solid note, with you looking forward to the next book but things more or less wrapped up for the moment. This one literally ends in the middle of a ton of action, confusion, and a ton of stuff happening. It feels… sloppy.

2. This is a big spoiler, but it’s the thing I dislike most in this book. Highlight if you want to read it… Claire heads back to America from Scotland, and Jamie follows later. Except Claire hears that the ship he was on went down and there were no survivors, so she thinks he’s dead. Soooo… she marries Lord John to protect herself and Fergus and his family, which I can understand. But… then her and Lord John sleep together, out of grief or whatever. WHAT. THE. FUCK. This whole situation makes no sense – Claire’s not stupid, she knows that in this day and age plans change and that even though that the ship he was SUPPOSED to be on, it doesn’t mean that he actually was on it. I guess it just bothers me that she so blindly accepts that he died, and she doesn’t even attempt to find out for sure. And then to go and sleep with Lord John, one of his good friends… just what the hell. This was totally unnecessary. UGH.

 

So yeah. I still have some complaints, but overall this book wasn’t as bad as I remember it being. With the exception of how rushed the ending was and that other thing that happens, I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait for Written in My Own Heart’s Blood to come out! I’m sure it’ll be the highlight of 2013.

 

Sarah Says: 4 stars

 

 

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November 6, 2012 · 10:34 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Things I Love

Good morning ya’ll! So first thing’s first – if you live in the US, hopefully you’re registered to vote and if you are – get out there and vote! Don’t forget, and don’t be so lazy that you decide not to go. It’s important!

Anyhoo, so today’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and The Bookish) is a freebie! So, I’m just going to list some of the bookish things / stuff that makes me happy inside.

1. Claire’s ring – I have this replica of Claire’s ring (from the Outlander series) – the honeyman got it for me for our first Christmas together :-) It’s my absolute favorite piece of jewelry. And the website that it comes from, The Author’s Attic, makes a lot of jewelry for fans of Diana Gabaldon, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and more.

2. Bookstores – I loooove going into bookstores. Sadly there’s really only one left in my town, but I would go there every day if I could. And whenever people with e-readers mention how e-readers are great because you can just buy a book on the couch instead of having to drive to the bookstore, I’m so confused. Going to the bookstore to buy a book is one of the best things ever!

3. Pinterest – Not specifically bookish itself, but it’s enabled me to hoard bookish pictures, ideas, and quotes like nobody’s business (plus some reviews here and there, which I really need to get better at updating).

5. The library embosser my sister Heather got me for Christmas last year! It’s SO AWESOME to be able to emboss the inside pages of my favorite books :-) Can you tell that Heather is like a gift-giving genius???

6. Twitter - Again, not inherently bookish. But it enables you to chat with your favorite authors! And book bloggers!

7. Readalongs and readathons – These are two big things in the book blogging world, and they’re everything that I love about our community- there’s such a sense of camaraderie during readathons, as we all struggle to stay awake while we read together and join in on challenges, etc. And readalongs are SO awesome for reading books you normally might not have read otherwise, while getting to chat about it every week with AMAZING people!

9. Any bookish GIF. Cause they’re fun!

 

9. This shirt – I actually just bought this at Target, either to sleep in or to work out in. Yay Seuss!

10. MY books – Obviously. I could literally sit in my spare room with the futon and four big bookshelves all day and be totally happy.

~Sarah

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September 18, 2012 · 4:39 pm

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

Even though I own 3 copies of this book, I don’t have that pretty UK cover yet… sigh.

 

Yayyyy, another Outlander review! REMEMBER, THIS IS THE 6TH BOOK! IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST 5 THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. AND REALLY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE? GO READ THESE BOOKS!

And, in case you’re interested here are my reviews for the first five books:

Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross

 

So. At the end of The Fiery Cross, stuff was happening. The Frasers were settling down on the Ridge, and there was basically a lot of set-up waiting for the American Revolution to get closer. A Breath of Snow and Ashes starts off pretty much the same, with about 3 years to go until the start of the American Revolution. There are worrisome murders happening throughout the countryside… houses burned down and families being hung. Roger and Brianna have decided to stay, even though they know war is coming. Roger finally decides what he wants to do, as a calling or career. Brianna keeps making and building stuff, usually at the risk of something blowing up. We learn what happened to Young Ian when he was away and why he came back. Claire and Jamie have a really rough time of things in this book – not relationship troubles, but tragedy definitely strikes. There’s plots, intrigue, murder, deception, romance, and action abound in this one.

I flew through this in about a week. Of course, it’s a re-read, but still. That’s impressive for a 950-ish page trade paperback. I forgot how much I like this one. SO much good stuff happens. It rarely gets dull – there’s always something happening. And there are a couple big mysteries in this one, and happily I forgot how they ended up so when I re-read it, it was a surprise :-) Also, I like Brianna a lot more in this book than in the others. She’s so inventive, and the times she did get a little rage-y it was understandable.

And of course, I just love love love Jamie and Claire. I teared up at a couple parts. And, (not that this really spoils anything) the book ends with basically the start of the war. I think that makes me treasure this book a little more… I like seeing the Frasers at home and whatnot, and knowing that they’re about to be thrown into the chaos of war and battles makes me appreciate the more domestic scenes in this book.

I really want to go ahead and re-read #7, An Echo in the Bone now. I’m trying to make myself wait until November, because the 8th book won’t be out until early 2013 (I HOPE) and I want it to stay fresh in my mind before the new release. But since I’ve only read AEITB once before, I’m really, really looking forward to the re-read – even if I remember it being my least favorite.

 

Sarah Says: 5 stars :-)

 

 

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April 25, 2012 · 9:41 am

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

The Fiery Cross covers

Hey guys! So I’ve been very slowly re-reading the Outlander series since 2011, and now it’s time to review book #5, The Fiery Cross. SO REMEMBER THIS WILL BE ALL SPOILER-Y IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS. IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT SORT OF THING THEN PLEASE, READ ON.

Also, here are my reviews for the first four books:

Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn

At the end of Drums of Autumn, everything was pretty hunky-dory. The Frasers are happily setting up their settlement known as Fraser’s Ridge. Brianna had the baby (Jemmy) and Roger gets rescued and decides to stay in the past, even though the baby might not be his, and they agree to get married. Jamie and Claire know that the American Revolution is coming and that they’re likely going to get swept up in it. The book ends with them all at The Gathering, that annual get-together of just about every Scot in the New World.

The Fiery Cross is probably the slowest-paced of all of the books, and it’s the first one in the series that doesn’t make me tear up at some point. That being said, it’s still a great book – you get to see a lot of Jamie and Claire being all domestic and that makes me happy. Also, there’s still a lot of action. There’s both attempted and actual murder, there’s battle, there’s tragedy, there’s romance, etc. Brianna and Roger are trying to get used to married life and get over the scars that Stephen Bonnett left. Roger has to deal with a serious injury that makes him question his purpose. Jamie and Claire are getting new tenants to settle down and are preparing for the revolution coming, only about 3 years away. There’s weddings, gold, snake bites, bears, ghosts, and a favorite character makes a welcome return.

Also, this book has one of my favorite quotes in the series:

“When the day shall come, that we do part,” he said softly, and turned to look at me, “if my last words are not ‘I love you’ – ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.”

Awww. So even though the plot is a little slower than the other books, this is still a fantastic book and a great addition to the series. It also sets up a lot of important events to come in book #6, A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

 

Sarah Says: 5 stars

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March 5, 2012 · 12:10 pm

February IMM vlog

* Note to self… stop slouching….

Hey guys, here’s my IMM for February! And the books that I blab about in order…

  • The Tattooed Duke by Maya Rodale
  • How to Live on Mars by Robert Zubrin
  • A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire
  • The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
  • A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
  • Outlander by Diana Gabaldon – SIGNED, 20th Anniversary Edition!

So that’s it! Hopefully I’ll remember to do March’s IMM on time, lol…

~Sarah

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February 26, 2012 · 2:30 am

Sarah Sunday!

Hi there ya’ll…

Sarah update: So, as some of you may know my birthday is tomorrow! Yup, Monday, I will be the big 2-5! Woo-hoo! I love birthdays, and I’m looking forward to having a nice, relaxing one this year. I have Monday through Wednesday off this week, so I should have lots of downtime.

Anyways, my sister’s birthday was last Monday, so this week we went out for our annual birthday dinner together. For the past few years we’ve gone out sometime around our birthdays, just the two of us, and we order drinks, food, desserts, etc. It’s SO MUCH FUN. And Heather totally WINS at birthday presents, because what she got me is AMAZING!!!

OH YES!!!! The 20th Anniversary edition of Outlander, signed by Diana Gabaldon herself, to me! Holy crap, it was totally unexpected and definitely the best birthday present. I mean, it’s not even my birthday yet, but what could top that??? And Heather also made me a bookmark to go with the book, with a charm that says “je suis prest” – Jamie’s clan motto.

And so then, when I tweeted about how awesome this gift was, THIS happened:

Can you believe it??? Diana herself TWEETED Happy Birthday to me!!! She is amazing. Seriously, signing up for Twitter is the best thing I’ve ever done online.

Okay, so enough gushing. But that was awesome. Ummm oh yeah, and the rest of the week before that happened, lol. I was super busy all week long, including taking a trip 1.5 hrs away to see my sister Amanda and baby L. It was a fun day, and I wish I could have stayed longer. Especially because at one point all three of up fell asleep and took a nap, lol. You can tell we’re family.

As for the work drama that’s been happening, it seems to be settled. The co-worker that’s been out because his car was messed up in an accident says he bought a new car and that he’ll be back to work on Monday. YAY! Which means I won’t have to deal with more crappy hours. I DO have to work 16 hours today, but whatever. Because it’s such a long day, I’m thinking about doing my own little readathon today. And I’ll be home early enough to catch up on last week’s episode of The Walking Dead before the new one comes on.

Also, we’ve decided not to move, so we’re re-signing our lease on Tuesday. This has been a long, super hectic month, but it looks like things are finally settling down. No move, work at my main job has settled, and I’ve decided that by this time next month I will quit at Second Job. March should be a much more enjoyable month.

Bookish update: Well, besides the Outlander-wonderfulness? I finished two books this week - Good Omens, and a re-read of The Other Boleyn Girl. Like I said above, I’m going to try to read A LOT at work today. But how successful that is really depends on how good the books are, because if I start to get bored or tired I’ll probably just watch more Charmed. I couldn’t really think of much that I wanted for my bday, so I gave the honeyman a list of books I’ve been wanting and I’m excited to see if he gets them or not.

Also, I found this quiz over on Wildly Read and it was super fun- Name the Titles Based on Their Covers. I got 22 out of 24 – I’m awesome! How many can you get?

Also, I’m sure many of you heard the Big News – J.K. Rowling is writing an adult novel. I’m not posting a link because really, all the news sites say the same thing. I’m absolutely looking forward to it – she’s a fantastic author, and I can’t imagine that her next novel won’t be fabulous. I heard some people say that she won’t be able make the transition from YA to adult fiction, but I think she proved with the Harry Potter series that she can absolutely handle serious topics and adult emotions – and above all, it just has to be a good story with good writing and I’m sure she’ll be able to deliver there. Can’t wait to learn more about it!

OK that’s it for me folks! Going to try to come up with a plan for my reading today.

L at 7 months now! What a cute, funny, little face :)

~Sarah

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November 22, 2011 · 8:25 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’d Have At My Thanksgiving Dinner

Good morning guys and gals (mostly gals), it’s Tuesday! Yay! I’m excited because my sis and baby nephew are spending the night tonight, but it’s also an exciting day because it’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Authors I Want at My Thanksgiving Dinner.

 

 

1. Christopher Moore – Because he wrote Lamb, and A Dirty Job, and so many other novels that make me laugh my ass off. And I am thankful for those. And I am sure he would be hysterical in person as well.

 

2. Diana Gabaldon - Because I will forever be grateful that she brought the Outlander series into the world. And so I can hound her for information about future books.

 

 

3. N.K. Jemisin - I loooooove her Inheritance trilogy (AKA The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms  / 100K trilogy). And I think she would be fun and snarky and interesting. And I think she’d be fun to get into political / social discussions with.

 

4. Matthew Norman – I REALLY enjoyed Domestic Violets. However, there were a couple of things I didn’t like about it, so I’d like to invite him so that I can hound him about any other novels he has in progress and make sure he doesn’t make the same mistakes. (I’m so rude.) Also, he seems pro-Obama in the book. Yay!

 

5. Emily Bronte – Because I love Wuthering Heights, and so I can quiz her about the rest of her family. I really wanna know if Charlotte Bronte was the crazy super-bitch I suspect she was.

 

 

6. George R.R. Martin – Because I want to ask him how in the bloody hell he keeps track of the HUGE number of characters and crazy plots in the A Song of Fire and Ice series. Which I love for it’s epicness.

7. Libba Bray – Okay, actually before I meet Libba I need to read more of her books, because I’ve only read Beauty Queens and thought it was AWESOME. And she seems like the kind of weird person I’d get along with. Plus, look at her glasses! I would try to steal her glasses, those are cute. And to ask her if she goes by “Libba” because that way, her name kinda looks like “library”. Yes, these are the thoughts that I think.

 

8. Patrick Rothfuss - Because he’s PATRICK F-IN ROTHFUSS. I need insider info on the rest of the Kingkiller Chronicles! And he has to being baby Oot with him to dinner – normally I wouldn’t allow children, but his blog posts about his son are just so cute.

 

9. Paullina Simons – Ya’ll know how much I love The Bronze Horseman and Tatiana & Alexander. But the last book in the trilogy, The Summer Garden, was AWFUL. And I need to beg her to re-write it. I realize that’s a crappy reason, but it’s that serious.

 

10. Jane Austen – Because the invite list wouldn’t be complete without her! I have so many questions for her – like which of her novels was her favorite, and how does she feel about the Brontes, and what does she think of the skanky-ness and general impropriety of this generation?

 And of course I’d hit up each of these authors for their autographs in my copies of their books, because ya know… I’d HAVE to.

And there are a bunch of other authors I’d want to include – Jesse Petersen, Philippa Gregory, Mercedes Lackey, Anne Bronte, and yeah, it wouldn’t be just a “dinner”, it’d be a damn banquet!

Okay folks, that’s all I got. What are your author picks? OH, and go vote in my December poll on the right-hand side!

~Sarah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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October 10, 2011 · 10:48 am

Twitter, you are the best.

So yesterday after finishing short story A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows (see previous post for review) by Diana Gabaldon, I tweeted about how amazing I thought it was. And got THIS as a reply:

Yup, Diana herself tweeted back to me! I still hope to meet her in R.L. someday, but for now this is totally awesome. Thank you Twitter for giving me the chance to “speak” to my favorite author ever!

Okay, done gushing now.

~Sarah

*Also a note – Busy Phillips from Cougar Town tweeted back to me once too. I LOVE TWITTER.

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· 6:00 am

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon

So, Songs of Love and Death is an anthology that came out almost a year ago and I finally received a copy of it from Paperbackswap. I’ve been wanting this book just to read one little 40-page novella in it – A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon because it’s Outlander-related. So I’m sorry, but if you haven’t read the Outlander series this really isn’t going to interest you. For the very few readers I have that like the series as much as I do – enjoy! (But keep in mind, there may be a couple spoilers here cause it’s only 40 pages long…)

So this is the star-crossed love story of Roger Wakefield’s (AKA Roger MacKenzie’s) parents, Jerry and Marjorie MacKenzie. Jerry as we already knew was an air pilot. In this short story, he’s training for a special mission when something goes terribly awry and he ends up near a circle of standing stones. Now he’s stuck in what he thinks must be the past and is trying desperately to find a way home, when he runs into two strangers…

So I’m not going to ruin the ending for you, but this was a really good, sad story about Roger’s parents. You can see certain characteristics in Jerry that we’re familiar with in Roger. We also get a glimpse of Frank Randall (Claire’s first husband) and learn a little about what he did in the war. There is also a BIG GIANT HINT of something that is likely to occur in the 8th book (which I believe will be called Written in My Own Heart’s Blood) and ohmygod I can’t wait until it comes out. Sadly though it’ll be at least another two years.

Reading this and enjoying it so much has made me realize that I really need to find and collect ALL of the anthologies that Diana includes short Outlander-related stories in. And there are a ton, but they’re usually worth reading.

Outlander fans, as long as you’re caught up on the series then I highly recommend find a copy of this anthology and reading the novella.

Other readers – I may browse through the rest of this anthology, and if I read any of the other novellas I’ll post reviews for those too.

Sarah Says: 5 stars! And that’s a lot for such a short story :-)

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