by
4.38 of 5 stars
Eagerly anticipated by her legions of fans, this sixth novel in Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling Outlander saga is a masterpiece of historical fiction fro read full description

reviews

Mar 08, 2013
Trudi rated it: 3 of 5 stars
The paperback edition of what is the sixth book in the Outlander series is over 1500 pages long and sorry to say, I did not hang on every word. Who could? There's so damn many of them! Talk about bloated. Diana Gabaldon's editor must love her a lot, or is just too nice for the business. "Kill your darlings" -- remember that timeless piece of advice from Mark Twain?

I love Jamie and Claire (not so much Roger and Brianna) and have been hooked since Outlander, but the series is floundering, and has More...
14 comments like (29 people liked it)
Mar 21, 2013
*Poke* *Poke* *Poke*

"AAAAHHHHHH!! What the?.....who the?....where the?"
"When the?"

"Stephanie wake up! It's Claire Fraser. What are you doing here? And should you be driving that contraption? You smell like a brewery!!"

"Oh Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!....whaa....I'm not *hicup* a-saxtly sure how I ended up here. Oh look..hee...hee... I'm sitting on the time mower.....Kemper ish going to be sooo pissed at me, but what else is new?....haaaaaaaa!" *slowly sides off time mower in heap*

“Claire, what ha More...
50 comments like (25 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2009
Korynn rated it: 3 of 5 stars
This book is only for people who enjoy the characters and the America they inhabit. It is a series of incidents following familiar themes of kidnapping and rescue, disaster and salvation, sickness and carefully recaptured health, accusation and jail. Secrets are discovered and shared, there's sex scenes and a rape scene as another Fraser family member takes their improbable turn again as victim (what are the chances that three members of a family would be raped, one twice?)Finally,a decision is More...
1 comment like (8 people liked it)
Oct 18, 2012
**4.5 stars**

This book, this series, is a total love fest. You would have to love it to come this far in the series...and be dedicated to reading these long books. I'm always apprehensive to start one but when I do, I'm totally swept away and then I'm sooo sad when I'm finished!

As with all books in this series, DG packs an enormous amount of "happenings" into them and I actually had to take notes. But I'm not sure that I can really talk about them without spoiling something. Suffice it to say th More...
15 comments like (11 people liked it)
Dec 23, 2007
Jen rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I clearly was not in top form when I read this book and that's probably the only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. I managed to ruin this book for myself so, while this review itself may not help, I hope it will assist in making sure no one else makes the same mistake I did: I absolutely LOVED "Outlander" (the first book in this series) ... Then I really messed up. I was so excited to have read the book that I looked around to see if there was a second book. I then read "A Breath of More...
13 comments like (11 people liked it)
Oct 18, 2007
LJ rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Breath of Snow and Ashes - Ex
Gabaldon, Diana - 6th in series
The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest.

With chaos brewing, the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But from his wife Jamie knows that three years hence the shot heard round the world will More...
3 comments like (6 people liked it)
Nov 20, 2009
Lori rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I just have fallen completely in love with this series -- I bought them all in paperback, passed them on to a friend, and just bought them all in hardback, because I know I'll be reading them again. I finished this one last night, and joined a Yahoo group for folks who love these books, and was ECSTATIC to find out there are more coming! I thought this was the end! Unfortunately, I have to wait until the end of 2008 for the next one, but reading all of these in one fell swoop made me feel like I More...
2 comments like (4 people liked it)
Feb 09, 2008
To quote a dear friend of mine, Diana is back on track with this one!

The 6th in the Outlander series started off a bit slow for me, but I was able to get sucked in once again. There is lots of romance and lots of drama on Fraser's Ridge as Jamie, Claire, family, and friends prepare themselves for the upcoming Revolutionary War.

And damn Diana for making me like Brianna after me being so annoyed with her in Fiery Cross. I am impressed when writers can turn your opinion around regarding characters. More...
6 comments like (7 people liked it)
Feb 19, 2013
Erica rated it: 5 of 5 stars
"But-oh God! Did she tell ye how it happened?" -Jamie Fraser

"Yes. I'll tell you the gory details later." -Claire Fraser


That little snippet of dialogue pretty much sums up this entire book. IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME! I admit that I really was starting to lose interest in this series after The Fiery Cross because it was just so boring, but this one really made up for it in SPADES. Oh, the drama! The scandal! The gossip! The sex scenes were better! The dialogue and jokes were better! At times, I felt More...
7 comments like (4 people liked it)
Aug 31, 2008
Deanna rated it: 4 of 5 stars
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here
5 comments like (4 people liked it)
Jan 30, 2011
Kelly rated it: 5 of 5 stars
So Melanie and I want to start a discussion about the Outlander books and my sister Melissa said to just start a review on my books and it would be sent to my friends who could then all comment and start a discussion that we can all see. Is that the longest sentence ever?

Melissa has read my personal emails from Melanie, but Lisa hasn't so just jump in because where I start here might seem random. Too bad we don't all live close so we could do lunch, although it might take a lot longer to discuss More...
10 comments like (2 people liked it)
Jan 18, 2009
I grew bored when the action translated from Europe and especially from the highlands of Scotland to the Colonies. The book takes place in an area I know very well and I was able to visualize the scenery easily since I have actually been to many of the places mentioned. Maybe that is why I was bored.

It is extremely rare for me to not finish reading a book once I get started, however, I simply could not force myself to read the last third of this one. I feel guilty.
1 comment like (3 people liked it)
Jun 22, 2010
Shelli rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Wow....what a book! This was a long one to be sure. But, happily for me, back on par with Outlander and Voyager! After really loving the series through #3, the 4th and 5th books were somewhat disappointing for me. Both of them were way too long and I actually was bored in parts. The story left Scotland and Europe and came to the American colonies. The story started out ok but then got monotonous for me. I also didn't like what happened to some of the characters and felt some of them had very lit More...
5 comments like (4 people liked it)
Jan 15, 2009
Denise rated it: 4 of 5 stars
this book was written in typical gabaldon fashion...one outrageous (albeit entertaining) incident after another. some of the big questions i had going in to the book (such as, the article about the fire killing jamie and claire, jemmy's paternity and will anyone travel back to the 1960's) were a tad anticlimatic. i won't get in to that as i don't want to give away any spoilers. but let's just say i was a little surprised (and let down) at the way some of the events turned out. overall, i am a hu More...
0 comments like (4 people liked it)
Sep 16, 2012
Mitzi rated it: 5 of 5 stars
This is 6th book in Jamie and Claire series.

The war is beginning to heat up. There are ruffians in the mountains looting.

Jamie has a whiskey malt shed and while Claire is there she is set upon my outlaws and kidnapped. The rape scene in this intense. And the rescue scene too.

Mulva, a tenant farmer's daughter becomes Claire's apprentice but look out, she is evil.

Claire and Mulva's father contract a horrible disease and nearly die and then Mulva accusses Jamie of being the father of her unborn c More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Feb 13, 2009
Tasha rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I am in mourning, I miss my fictional family that I have turned to for the past month. I will miss not hearing about their daily events, adventures, mishaps, joys and sorrows. That being said, this book didn't not give me the closure that I hoped to get and I am in desperate need of another book. Great story, loved it but I really expected it to take me through the American Revolution and it didn't. It built up to it and then it ends!! UGH!!
3 comments like (1 person liked it)
Jan 07, 2009
Mandy rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Well, well! Sooo many different things happened in this book. When I finished and thought back to what went on in the beginning, it seemed like years had passed! Hold up, that's probably because they did. It could have been split up into two (or three) decent novels! I loved it, and and it rivals "Voyager" for my favorite in the series. There was honestly never a dull moment, or a chapter I had to force myself through in this entire book. I'm only disappointed that I have to wait 8 whole months More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Oct 24, 2008
Cassy rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Wow, so much happened in this book, it was amazing! There were so many elements of the story that we tied up in this book. In the beginning when I found out these books would take us to the year 1800 I was really nervous about Jamie and Claire growing old...I thought they would lose their magic and intensity.....OH how I was wrong!! I have really enjoyed watching their characters mature and grow, it has been amazing to read! The whole book was enthralling and intense! Truly an addictive addition More...
0 comments like (2 people liked it)
Feb 26, 2010
Holly rated it: 2 of 5 stars
So I slogged through all 6000 some-odd pages of this and I truly hate myself because I actually want to read the next one when (if?) it comes out. I think the next story she set up is more interesting.

I guess I understand the appeal of these books. She tells a "ripping yarn" even though it takes her waaaaaaaaaaay too long to get there. Her characters are memorable. She has interesting details (albeit far too many of them.)

Far from great writing, but it's a good page turner and I must say I had More...
2 comments like (2 people liked it)
Nov 19, 2008
Tina rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Really, really good.
0 comments like (3 people liked it)
Mar 24, 2009
I really enjoyed this series and I thought the writing got better with each book. I was thinking about giving this book (and one or two of the earlier ones) 5 stars, but I couldn't because of two things: one, Gabaldon should've had better editors (or done some of her own) because her Quaker characters seem embarrassingly and unbelievably ignorant of how to use 2nd person singular. The "Thee can"s were driving me batty. "Thou canst"! "Thou canst"!

The other drawback was that character integrity an More...
Apr 09, 2013
Why, why, why? Why do I keep doing this to myself? At what point does a rational adult say to herself, "Reader, you've done enough with syphilis, pirate kidnappings and bizarro things perpetrated by inbred feebs from the hills? Just read something else!"

I think if I knew why I keep doing this to myself, I would also be able to subsist on kale and sprouted grains and not answer the siren song of Halloween candy and things neon with fake powdered cheese.

This book took me six months of insomnia on More...
Feb 15, 2013
Bev rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Oh my god...there is only one more book left in the Outlander Series. Whatever will I do? I "read" these as audio books (love you, Davina Porter!!), so it takes a long time to get through an >1400 page book covering the story of the time-traveling Frasier family, Claire, immigrant from the 20th century to 18th century Scotland, where she meets and falls in love with Jamie Frasier, conceives a child, returns to the 20th century, has the baby, returns 18 or so years later and has now taken up p More...
0 comments like (1 person liked it)
Feb 07, 2013
Al rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Eagerly anticipated by her legions of fans, this sixth novel in Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling Outlander saga is a masterpiece of historical fiction from one of the most popular authors of our time.

Since the initial publication of Outlander fifteen years ago, Diana Gabaldon’s New York Times bestselling saga has won the hearts of readers the world over — and sold more than twelve million books. Now, A Breath of Snow and Ashes continues the extraordinary story of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser

More...
Jun 19, 2012
Diane rated it: 3 of 5 stars
My brother recommended Diana Gabaldon so I was surprised to find this is a series that involves time travel. I nearly didn't read it, but it is hard to give up reading a book when the main characters are all McKenzies and Frasers (we are also Mckenzies and Frasers). I did enjoy the intentional anachronisms of having a mid-twentieth century woman physician in late eighteenth century America. This device gave me a better picture of day to day life in colonial times. I also loved the setting of Nor More...
May 18, 2012
Anita rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Diana Gabaldon has written and continues to write a time travel/historical romance/epic that is so well researched as to make it impossible to put down. I've read/listened to all the books, each one a tome, up through the most current, An Echo in the Bone, and I'm anxiously awaiting the next release.

Gabaldon says that the research requires that it take about three years for her to write a book in the series and have published. These days she has also spun off the "Lord John" series. I read one More...
May 15, 2012
Gail rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Also published as CROSSTICH. I was scepticle as this story start - time travel is not a genre I enjoy. But it was so highly spoken about by a total stranger who didnt even know I was there that I had to give it a chance. And what a pay off. These must be some of the strongest characters I have met in a book - or maybe the time I have spent reading all the books in the series total smore than the time I have spent with most friends?? And would I go back 200 years to marry Jamie Fraser? Never, I w More...
Mar 23, 2012
elaynne rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Downloaded from audible.com
Narrated by Davina Porter

I was surprised I hadn't already added this book to my "to read" list because I usually always read entire series before moving on to other books. In the case of this series (The Outlander Series), I didn't interject any other books until I'd started this one, whereupon I completed two books of the Alchemyst series because they were short (in comparison) and I needed a week break.

I have to admit that even though I whinge a bit about the heaving More...
Feb 16, 2012
Jessica rated it: 3 of 5 stars
The trick to reading these books is to really concentrate on reading them- I made a point to read a little each day, which at least kept my interest going. I am starting to get a little fed up with the characters... pretty much the only ones I like are Roger and Jamie at this point, and Roger is sort of iffy. I get it, he has a scar from almost getting hanged in the last book. You don't need to remind me every time he appears! I read the last book! I know he has it! Also, Brianna annoys the crap More...
Oct 29, 2011
Colleen rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Dang. I'm trying to pace myself, re-reading this series (all 6,000 pages of it) before BOOK #7 arrives in the fall, heralded by a fanfare of trumpets and doves and rose petals.... BUT I'M READING TOO FAST. This is book six, and I'm done with it. And it's only May.
Liked it. It's better than #4, way better than #2, not as good as #3 or, of course, my beloved #1. Loads of stuff happens in this one, too, it's not all soggy diapers and Roger getting beaten up by a) Jamie, b) Indians, c) insane, jeal More...