Echo in the Bone

I have the latest Diana Gabaldon book, An Echo in the Bone . All 800+ pages of it. Not her longest but certainly up there. No wonder it takes her 3 years to write a book! As I said before, I've read her since the first one, Outlander, was published. I started this already, and am disappointed it has so much of characters I don't care about!
But I won't add in spoilers here, I'll dutifully finish it (probably by tomorrow night lol) and then judge.
Alas, I'll have to take a break from reading...