Barbara L.B. Storey

I have been faithfully reading the Outlander series for several years, and while I stil think Diana Gabaldon is a GREAT storyteller, I have to admit, I'm getting a bit weary of how the series is being dragged out. For one thing, I've lost count of how many times Claire and Jamie have been in peril on the sea and escaped, been in a war and emerged relatively unscathed . . . and so on. They are both exceptional characters, yes, but no one has this kind of survival luck. It is just beginning to feel like she is dragging the story out to keep on writing about all the other characters she has brought into this epic, and, in my opinion, the story is beginning to wear a bit thin. I know a new book is in the offing, and I wonder if it's the last, or if she's going to continue on.

The main thing that has caused my interest to wane, though, is Gabaldon's fascination with minor characters, especially Lord John Grey. I could not possibly care less about this character, find him boring and annoying in terms, but the author is apparently besotted with him, because she's even given him his own series of books (four of them, including The Scottish Prisoner). I bought the first one, because it was her writing, but haven't bothered with the middle two, and only bought The Scottish Prisoner because it seemed to promise at least a fairly substantial amount of Jamie. I really, really wish she would go back to spending a bit more time on Jamie and Claire, Brianna and Roger, and their children as the MAJOR focus of the story.

I can't possibly review all the points of an 800+ page book, but as I said above, Gabaldon is a great storyteller, and I did enjoy it, just not as much as I'd hoped. And the last 50 pages or so seemed a little rushed, as if she was in a hurry to finish.

We shall see what the next installment of this saga brings.