I have just finished reading the latest book in the series.

Anyone else stunned at all the loose ends she left?

I know that there are always tantalising bits to lead into the next book but this is ridiculous.

She has Jem travelling on a train in a pitch black tunnel. Roger and Willian Buccleigh have or have not gone throught the stones. Brianna is being kidnapped by Rob Cameron or isn't she- who knows

Claire has just seen Jenny at the bottom of the stairs and Jamie and Lord John are doing what?

The only thing sort of settled is Ian and Rachel

I am rather disgusted. It is like she ( Diana G) just got up one morning and suddenly decided to stop writing.

She is here for a talk in the next month and I almost feel like going just to ask her what she was thinking.
Considering it takes up to 4 years till she writes the next installment I think that ending was too harsh and loose

I agree totally! And it took her so long to build up the momentum anyway!!! I really struggled for most of the first half - if it hadn't been a Claire and Jamie book I would have given up on it!

To have all these threads just come to an abrupt stop at the end - I presume she's got a lot of the next book already written.

I too would love to see her next month! I read that she's at the Windsor in Melbourne, I wonder what else she's doing in Melbourne?

I was also a bit surprised at Jenny's outburst and anger at Claire about not wanting to heal Ian. I thought she had more understanding of Claire than that.

I just love what Young Ian's character has developed into. Bit of a mini Jamie with a Mohawk edge!! hehe

I wish she'd realise we don't really NEED all these cliff hangers to read the next book.

My favourite part was Brianna giving up on wearing knickers now she's returned.

For a long time I wondered if Rob Cameron was a traveller too - but that was just too bizarre with William Buccleigh... and Randall's son making a brief appearance too (although I didn't quite 'get' that - I'll read it again in a few weeks.)

Well I'm glad I thoroughly spoiled myself here and elsewhere . I'm seriously considering not reading this until the next book is out.

Sarita! Silly Woman!
I tried to make the title and description clear !

Nooooooooo! I'm serious that I am pleased to know what is going to happen before I read it. I wanted to know if she actually advanced the plot in a meaningful way before I read it so I was reading for spoilers.

I'll wait for the next book. It won't be hard as I ceased to have a lot of emotional investment in the series after it jumped the shark for me.

Your header was perfectly clear .

Ooh What was your "jump the shark" moment?

I am having issues with the ages- especially in this book.

Anyone remembers how old Claire was when she went through the stones originally?

26/27 from memory

Haven't read the new one yet. But I keep thinking back to that dream Jamie had where he described talking on the phone ...

Well Claire is in her late 40's by now so yeah that age thing is an issue for me.

The entire Fiery Cross was a jump the shark for me. I just wanted some resolution and some movement of the plot and that entirely too long book didn't deliver.

Oh Sarita she is way past her 40's then.

She spent a couple of years at least in the 1700s till she got pregnant. Brianna was born in the present and they didn't return for 18 years.

William is 18 and was bon when Claire was away.

So that should have made Claire about 49 when she returned. Brianna is now about 30 years old so Claire has to be at least 60 years old.

There is no way D.Gabaldon can keep the books going too long based on these ages.

Yikes, you're onto something then.

So why why why for the love of god the Lord John business?

I was trying to figure that out too. jamie had supposedly only been dead less than a month and neither her or Lord John could go without?
yet Jamie spent over 10 years abstinent when she went back?

I have got to stop reading this thread!

Off to buy the book today.

puggle shoo! Out of this thread! Unless you're warped like me.

Why is Claire's hooha so magical that Lord John would turn for her?

It was implied that he was really bonking Jamie as was she- they were both imagining it was Jamie. For Lord John Claires reaction would give him a feeling of how Jamie made love and for Claire... well a d*ck was d*ck!

Yuckyuck yuck yuck YUCK!

And YUCK.

Yes, I found it Yuck and Yuck and double Yuck as well!!!

I did love Jamies answer to Lord John admitting relations to Claire - WHY????!!

Mmphm is all I have to say at this point! Just finished it and I can't bear the loose ends, far far too much going on really IMO.
Agree it took a long time to get going - so didn't care about William's misadventures, too much war detail (dragged out waaaaay too long) and not nearly enough resolution.
What about Fergus' mysterious heritage? Surely Roger et al cannot survive another trip through the stones? Could Rob Cameron be related to Geilis Duncan? And what about the Randall- Isaacs guy? And Claire is now a bigamist! Aaaaarrrrggghhhhh.......

I also get the whole age discussion - Jamie must be slowing down for sure!! Wonderful though he is he's not superhuman! Oh and Rollo too, must be getting on...

Although I love that (fingers crossed ) Young Ian will now be happy, I really like him but am gutted that 'old' Ian was killed off, so sad.

Generally I liked it but also feel the 'damn, now have to wait ages to find out what happens' and the 'when will it end?' - surely one can only be kidnapped, shipwrecked or almost killed so many times. Oh well, its only another 3 years to wait

I finished it today, and it was an effort! Draged on way too long and I agree that there are just too many things left hanging. The other books at least there was some sort of resolution but with enough tipbits for the next book. As was said it feels like she just stoped writing.

The age thing bothered me through out this book. I would have guessed at Claire being in her 60's now and even though Jamie is younger a life lived the way he has would have taken its toll. There was only a bit of a mention of the fact that they were feeling their bodies aging and even that felt like an afterthought.

Whoa I didn't even realise it was out yet

And I call myself a fan... I'll have to re-read the last one again before I start the new one, I can't remember a thing about it, it's been aaaaages.

at the lord John and Claire references I accidently read whilst skimming this thread. Yowzers.

Kristie x

Another one who struggled to even get started with the bok. Took me to over half way to actually enjoy parts of it.

I too am wondering about the ageing process! LOL!

Didn't like the ending, gosh it was abrupt. Not sure what could be in the next book, that would need a whole book to cover!

I certainly prefer the earlier books.

Kirsten

I thought the first half of the book wasn't too bad, but it seemed like the second half she was rushing to finish to meet a deadline - way too many loose ends and skipping around all over the place.

OK, I've read it now.

It sure did wrap up in a hurry and leave a lot of questions hanging in the air.

The thing that gave me the giggles was the fact that the name I have already earmarked for a third daughter if ever I should have one will now also be connected to a character in this series as my first two daughter's names are (Claire; and Lauren's middle name is Janet). All purely coincidental too!

Hi ladies,

Agree with you all. How frustrating! I am going to see DG in Sydney in a few weeks, so it will be interesting to see if others feel the same too! I'll post back if there is anything interesting to report...

Boobaloob

I am a massive fan of this series but am feeling disappointed in EitB........so much war detail, Lord John and William. This stuff is boring, boring BORING to me.

and no where near enough Jamie, Claire and Brianna (and family)

Never, ever have i skipped passages of writing like i am in this book! Which seems almost sacrilege with these novels!

I have loved every other Cross stitch book but this one is doing my head in already and am only at page 250.

What a disappointment so far

Today was the book signing morning tea with DG in Perth. None of the questions you girls have asked was asked and I didnt see this thread until tonight. She was very interesting tho. Explaining her journey to Jamie and Claire and a few titbits bout a pre-CrossStitch/outlander book. I had a good time, got my pic taken with the lady and my booked signed. I'm happy.

I have finally finished reading this.

Totally agree, it sad but I can't stop thinking about why DG would have done this???? I don't feel the same way about Claire now at all


It was so so slow to start off with, then all of a sudden in the last 20 pages, things just got out of control, I almost felt dizzy lol.

I wonder if she realises that we the readers don't need all this fantastic whoo ha to happen to Jamie and Claire we just want to read about them doing normal things he he. I actually liked all of the stuff about Fergus. As for the entire book just about being a Lord John novel, bluuurk and boring. I honestly don't care about LJ, and William, I am glad he finally found out though. I think those who said she must have a lot of the next book written already must be right, as she must have a deal for that many books and she was having trouble thinking of things for this one, hence all of the Lord John and William stuff.

Phew. I just want to know what has happened to them all!! I want to know how Claire and Jamie die. I am feeling quite dissapointed by a book I was so excited to read

Lisa

I finished my copy the other day and i was sad to put it down again - always a good sign!

It was very slow and hard to get into but i enjoyed the last half of the book. I too loved seeing Ian's character develop. Not so keen on the William and Lord John bits.

Totally agree with the comments about the Lord John and Claire part - the Claire i have in my head would NEVER ever have done that.

Finally caught up with you all (y'all? youse?) - started Cross Stitch at Christmas and just finished EitB. It was a hard slog some of the time!

I agree, young Ian has many of the qualities of Jamie that his own children do not. He's a great character. William on the hand wasn't very likable, although I think now that he knows 'who he really is' he will change and become deeper somehow. Brianna isn't all that likable either, but Roger is so sweet and fallible - can't help liking him, and worrying for his welfare. I'm sure Jem will be OK, but what's this telepathy thing he and Mandy have going??? A new twist to their 'powers'. I didn't mind the Claire/LJ thing - it was kind of interesting, though it did seem a bit hasty!

The LJ/Percy/trois fleches thing was a bit above my head - what exactly went on with him and Baron Amandine during his French visit, and Ben Franklin too?

I found the Randall connection increasingly interesting, as Randall-Isaacs is a spy, like Frank many generations later (was in MI6) - must be a family profession. I also recall there was some suggestion that his uncle (Black Jack Randall - on paper, his father) may have been spying for the Duke. And the letter Brianna found where Frank was trying to warn her about 'what she is' - I'm sure we'll hear more of that! He obviously knew more than he let on.

Also I think Fergus/Marsali will prove to be Claire's ancestors (the Beauchamp connection).

Hi Sprungli!

I also seem to be over 1/2 year behind on this one than everyone else earlier in the thread as I only just finished reading on Tuesday.

Re Claire and Jamie's ages - I can get that they are still quite active because they live in an age where you had to be. Jamie, I am guessing, is around 50 and there are plenty of 50 year old men who are strong enough and fit enough to do all the things he is doing. What I'm struggling with is how much sex they're still having. Do women of Claire's age really have that much sex? Do people who have been together that long really have that much sex? Maybe I'm a little naive and it does happen but I'm not sure I need to read about it anymore.

It sure was slow to start but dizzyingly fast at the end. Was this on purpose or was she, as per PP, racing towards a deadline? Or maybe her sales have dropped from the last book to this one compared to sales of the earlier ones so thought she'd try to hook us all in. Argh, who knows. My biggest problem wiht a cliffhanger (or should I say cliffhangers) like that is the fact that it's not like we get the next installment any time soon so it's kind of a waste to built it up quite that much. I sure do hope that she has a good whack of the next book written to offset that some. That being said, maybe it was a business decision on her part as I found there was so much referred to in these books that I had simply forgotten from the earlier ones and so no sooner had I finished reading then I jumped on the book depository website and bought the earlier books so I could start from scratch and also so I could fill in the next couple of years with some more of Claire and Jamie while I wait. I'd initially borrowed the earlier 5 books from a friend so she has now gotten some $$$ out of me for those.

Anyway, I'm gonna stop here just in case there's not many people looking at this anymore given I was so far behind the times in starting and finishing this book.

Hi ecb!

Ditto on the sex thing - they really do seem to be at it all the time... I too am sick of hearing about it. LOL.

I think it might have been the deadline that caused the abrupt ending. She knows she has a loyal fan base by now - she doesn't need to rope us in with cliff-hangers, so why do it? Seems cruel! But I'm sure it's not intended.

Cheers

I'm only on the second book.

Please tell me Lord John isn't Jonathon Randall???

He definitely is not!