Drums of Autumn

There are those books that you read once, enjoy, are glad for the distraction provided from one’s everyday life, and then put on your shelf to gather dust, or donate to the “give one take one” shelf at work. Then there are those books that you read, sneak moments to read whenever you can, put on your shelf, take off your shelf to read again, and again. These are the books that you guiltily refuse to loan to friends for fear of not having access to them when you want to crack the cover next. Yet, you emphatically encourage anyone you meet to quickly read this marvelous, epic tale. The books from Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series fall into this latter category.

Drums of Autumn finally brings the Fraser’s into the American show more Colonies. As someone who lives in North Carolina, and is married to a red-haired descendant of those European Immigrants to the North Carolina “highlands,” I love how these novels, from “Drums of Autumn” on, provide a glimpse of what life was like for my husband’s ancestors. At the same time, I find the characters to be intensely relatable with their motivations, fears, hopes, frustrations, and moments of pure joy. Gabaldon has a gift for imparting true family dynamics into her story, and making the reader feel as though she or he is member of that family, or at least a fly on the wall.

This installment has the same level of adventure and angst as its predecessors with less of the supernatural found in “Voyager.” However, adding two additional “travelers” from the 20th century allows the reader to more deeply explore the differences and similarities between the two times. Also, in the relationship between Bree and Roger Gabaldon explores some of the layers of love and brokenness that can enter into a relationship in a way that allows the reader to connect deeply to the characters.

You will not regret joining the Fraser family on their journey into the new world. show less

This book was my last straw with outlander. I have only kept reading thus far because of Brianna, Roger, and Ian. This book totally ruined everything for me. The character assassination of Roger is criminal. He goes from being this sweet, nerdy, adorable guy to being a misogynistic, lust-crazed idiot. The way he acts when he proposes to her is horrible. What is it with this author and the rape-y vibes? “I could have had you on your back several times this summer”. Ew. She did the same with LJG to Jamie and it’s gross. Things just keep going downhill from there. Brianna doesn’t tell Roger what she has planned, so he doesn’t know that she wants him to stay in the present for her. The whole entire plot could have been solved with show more a simple conversation instead of them acting like idiots. Then she goes into the past. Roger shows up. They get handfasted and have sex a bunch of times. Then immediately get into another fight. She goes off and gets raped. Finds Jamie. He immediately welcomes her in like it’s nothing major. Brings her back to the homestead. She ends up pregnant and doesn’t know if it’s Roger’s or the rapist. So she’s stuck in the past now and can’t go back so she has to be content being a pioneer woman and popping out babies. Meanwhile they think Roger is her rapist because they don’t bother to even ask his first name and sell him to Indians where he is tormented and enslaved. They eventually get him back at the cost of trading him for Young Ian. I’m sorry but Ian deserved so much better than what he got and I’m so mad about it. When they eventually get Roger back, all he cares about is having sex with Brianna and jealous that the baby may not be his. The things he thinks and says about the baby are disgusting. His whole personality revolves around being mad that Brianna isn’t having sex with him and wanting to get her pregnant with his baby because somehow that will make their situation better?? He’s completely horrible and I’m sad that I kept reading for him. Brianna is also so stupid because she goes to hunt down her rapist and wants him to know that he’s having a baby because they’re supposed to kill him and she wants him to know there’s something left of him. What rape victim does that?? I’ll tell you: nobody. That’s who. That was the stupidest plot I’ve ever seen in my life. Jamie is awful in this book as well. I know he thought Roger raped Brianna but to sell someone to a life of slavery and torment without even clearing things up when he himself has been in prison and lived as a slave?? I had lost what little respect I had for him after that. This whole series has just went to crap and I can’t read anymore. I have no interest in reading about frontier life and washing baby diapers in the creek and stuff. show less

Book on CD performed by Davina Porter

NOTE - If you have *not* read the previous books in this series, there will be spoilers ahead.

Book number four in the bestselling Outlander series, has Jamie and Claire making their home in the colonies, in the mountains of North Carolina to be exact. Meanwhile, back in 1969-70, Brianna and Roger have found additional information about the fate of the Frasers that leads them to some rash actions.

I just love this series. It is nothing like my favorite genre (which is literary fiction), but Gabaldon writes compelling stories with characters I care about. Even the ones I hate (Brianna) keep me interested and engaged. The action is non-stop, and the sex scenes are pretty good – at least those between show more consenting adults.

I was pretty happy with the way she dealt with the Native Americans in this installment. For the most part they are portrayed as having a complex culture and given respect for their ways. Claire even specifically seeks the counsel of the local Native Medicine Woman and learns a trick or two (Side note: Current medical professionals are actually using maggots to debride wounds in hospitals once again … and also leeches …).

I’m certain one or more of the supporting characters will make another appearance in later books … but if that’s the case, keep that info to yourself. I want to discover this saga all on my own.

Davina Porter is spot-on perfectly fabulous as the narrator of the audio book. She has a gift for voices and accents and is easily able to differentiate the many characters. My only quibble is her voice for Brianna; yes, she was raised by two Brits, but she was born and raised in the USA and should *not* have a British accent. She should sound American. show less

Book 4 of the Outlander series, and I'm still surprised at how much I'm enjoying the books.
This one has the all requisite breathless sex scenes aimed at some readership other than me, but continuies to have great writing, a plot to keep the reader engaged, and characters that are larger than life, but believable enough to win me over.
The sphere of action has moved from Scotland to the US, and the style is now more period-fiction than historic-fiction. I personally miss the Scottish connection, but I'm still enjoying the ride.
The time travel element plays a more significant part in this plot, which suits my preferences. There are lots of implausabilities, but you can't write time travel without them.
The book was long - 1300 pages or so show more (1700 on my e-reader). I need to take a rest break from Gabaldon and Outlander, but I'm pretty sure I'll be back for more. show less

These books drive me CRAZY and yet I CAN'T STOP READING THEM. I have friends who have read the entire Twilight series, and while let's give Gabaldon credit for being a much better writer than Meyer, it's in a lot of ways the same hypnotic trainwreck: an impossibly perfect author proxy heroine with no personality save the smugness that comes with knowing she is impossibly perfect, a universally desired hero whose preference for the heroine over everyone else he has ever met, male or female, all of whom want him, is yet more proof of her impossible perfection, and a large amount of page space devoted to said hero and heroine discussing her perfection and calling these discussions love. AND I CAN'T LOOK AWAY.

Anyhoo, so in this book our show more scene has moved to 1767 America. Remember how incredibly (and inexplicably, given her 1960's origin) racist our heroine is? Well, let's put her among Native Americans! What could possibly go wrong? Nothing, unless you have a problem with the word "savages", used an awful lot. Interestingly, the eighteenth-century characters tend to call them "Indians"; it is our heroine who pulls out the "red savages" tag. Also she makes fun of how they smell. In return, they recognize her as a more magical shaman than any of their own race (no, seriously, she somehow develops mystical Native American-based powers; this is not a reference to her medical training) and respect her enormously, and in one case a Native American spirit comes to rescue her. When she needs rescue because she decided to shelter from a lightning storm under a tree. Hoo boy.

Meanwhile, in the twentieth century, our heroine's daughter has fallen in love with a dude who subscribes to the same idea of love as her father, i.e., This Love is Fated Therefore I Get to Yell at You a Lot. When we first met this guy a couple books back he was kind of nerdy and sweet and I liked him, but the second he fell in love Gabaldon turned him into her standard romantic lead and now he's bossy and sex-crazed. And boring. The daughter is no prize herself: her version of gaydar consists of, "This guy doesn't want to sleep with me, and there is no possible explanation for that beyond homosexuality." Apparently self-satisfaction is hereditary.

At least the enormous wolf-like dog makes it through, which I feared would not be the case. And given that I read with my own enormous wolf-like dog curled up at my feet, there would have been hell to pay if Rollo had not made it. show less

I received an ARC of this book through the Goodreads giveaway program.

Ten times better than Book 3 (Voyager) but still suffering from many of the same problems. Again, this book is twice as long as it needs to be. The author enjoys describing the environment, but then the same descriptions end up repeated so often they lose all impact. Ditto for descriptions of characters (Jamie, Claire, all of them), where these repetitions turn the characters into caricatures. Much of the magic between Jamie and Claire in missing, and there's no other passion to replace it (seventeen year-old Ian's passion for everything New World is cute but has racist undertones that really kill the cuteness).

The plot hinges on so many coincidences and "acts of show more God" (Deus ex Machina) that it's hard to care about what happens -- you know that there will always be some character from the past or some random relic in Claire's possession that will turn the tide and save the day.

There are many unconvincing protestations from Claire and B. about how slavery is wrong -- unconvincing because their ations show that they don't see black slaves as humans beings, but they are interested in white, European indentured folks (in helping them and in finding out who they are as individuals and as human beings). And somehow the different Native American characters end up at the bottom of the ladder with very dehumanizing "noble savage" depictions (this is what kills anything .

As I said, this book is much, much better than Book3; in fact you can skip Book3 and still follow everything in this book just fine. If you've already read Book3 and found it hard to finish, then you will find this book equally tedious; I advise readers to skip the first half and read the second half of Book4. You will still be plowing through repetitions, characters who have become flat, crazy coincidences, and passionless rote sex scenes, but at least you will be reading 500 pages fewer and still have the satisfaction of the HFN ending.

~bint show less

"Drums of Autumn" is the 4th book of the "Outlander" 8-book series… and the best so far.

Covering 3 years from 1767 to 1770- or in real time from 1968 through 1970- Jamie and Claire find themselves in their usual dramatic adventures while Brianna and Roger have their own calamities and issues to deal with. There’s more time travel, Indian scenes, ocean voyages, life on the plantation, and primitive living in the wilds of North Carolina. This book takes the reader into the unsettled untamed land outside the colonies- essentially Mohawk controlled territory. But even when Claire and Jamie are at home doing domestic chores and are settled into their everyday routine, life it is never dull. At one point they were at a loss of what to do show more about “the snake in the privy, the pig (a mean old sow) in the pantry, and the Indian (convalescing with contagious measles) in the corncrib.” Claire’s reputation as a healer draws people from near and far to deal with cuts and bruises, broken bones, baby births, malaria and measles.... everything from herbal healing to major surgery.

Scottish superstition becomes intermingled with Indian myths, ghosts and visions, dreams, and the magic of gems. Amongst the friendly Indians, Claire becomes known as the “White Raven”.

A few new characters enter the stage and a few older ones depart. The plot is exciting, interesting and unpredictable. More than once I gasped in surprise and said aloud, “No way!” Some times in horror, sometimes in joy. There are laugh-out-loud moments and several sentimental, tear-jerking scenes.

Sadly, I have also come to the realization that our hero Jamie is human after all... not the perfect super-hero, do no wrong, macho- but sensitive- ideal man of every woman’s dreams. He has a ferocious temper, makes mistakes, and is stubborn as hell. And that definitely has severe consequences for everyone close to him.

Gabaldon has several strong points in her story telling. She obviously did an immense amount of research into Scottish and Indian lore and she has exceptional knowledge of biology and ecology. She is a wonderful storyteller with a boundless imagination, strong character development, and her ability to write natural dialogue brings the characters to life and lends a sense of reality to even the most absurd scenes. The plot line is still intriguing enough to inspire me to start Book 5 of the series- "The Fiery Cross". show less