3 out of 5 stars
I waffled between 3 and 4 stars on this one. Really, it was good -- I always love the detail Gabaldon puts into the history, medicine, botany, and, in this case, what it's like to be shot in the gut and then have someone fish around in your liver to get the bullet out without the benefit of antibiotics or anesthesia (not pleasant, it turns out).
I didn't really enjoy all the militia and army encampment stuff; I found it frustrating that they were so mired in all the tedious politics of that time. I know, I know...it's our country's history, blah blah blah. It's just not my favorite topic, and this volume is very heavy on the details of battle and army-camp life.
The minutia of Gabaldon's research in general, though, doesn't really bother me like it seems to bother some readers, and it's great fun to be back in Claire and Jaimie's (and Lord John's) lives again; they feel like old friends. But this is one long-ass book -- like I had trouble holding it up in bed or on the exercise bike. (On the plus side, my arms are buff now...). And, as with some of the more recent books in the series, #8 seems to be lacking in editing as well. There are several story lines running amok, and, as with #7, it was like reading several unrelated books at once. So that's kind of annoying. Even though each story line was interesting, they tended to wander way off course on rambling tangents, so then it was just kind of jarring to get thrust back to a prior story line from several chapters ago, all the while trying to keep track of the growing cast of characters. Which was another issue, at least for me: who the hell are some of these people? It had been so long since #7, I kind of forgot where we left of and who was who -- and be ready, because #8 jumps right in where #7 left off as if no time had passed at all. ALL that said, I still enjoyed the adventure, the colorful characters and Claire's humor, spunk and wonderful voice as part-time narrator.
If you're a fan of the series, you really can't stop now, can you?! Warm up those biceps and give this a go. You might not be wowed, but I don't think you'll be sorry.
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