CityGal

THE FIERY CROSS

readers
01. CityGal
02. sourburst

do NOT discuss future books here

Set against the War of the Regulation in North Carolina (the first tax-payer’s rebellion in the American colonies, and a precursor to the full-blown Revolution), the story deals with Jamie Fraser’s efforts to protect his family, build a community on Fraser’s Ridge, and keep his land–this last requiring him to walk a delicate tight-rope between the pressing urgency of the rebellion and the increasingly unsteady but still dangerously powerful government. In these efforts, he’s mostly aided–and occasionally hindered–by his wife Claire, who has become the conjure-woman for the Ridge, *his daughter Brianna, whose 20th-century inventiveness may possibly kill them all, and his new son-in-law, Roger MacKenzie, which whom he has a rather wary relationship, owing to his having at one point sold Roger to the Iroquois (under the misapprehension that Roger had raped his daughter, but still…), and to Roger’s sense of inferiority, comparing his own budding skills at swordcraft, farming, and leadership with the man he refers to privately as “The Great Scot."

It’s a story about loyalty—in which people find what’s most important to them, and just how far they’ll go to protect it.


Published: November 6, 2001
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Followed: A Breath of Snow and Ashes

sourburst

Please add me

CityGal

Yep, added. Welcome!

CityGal

Updated OP

kategrinstead

Heaven help me, but I started this last night. I read 1/3 of the first chapter and promptly fell asleep (not because it was boring but because I was really tired!).

Anyway ... I'll try to post in here from time to time as I move through it.

CityGal

Look forward to your post.

Reminder that feel free to discuss any prior book, event or character is allowed in this thread, too.

CityGal

Here is a nice review I discovered. The rest of the article is at the link as it may be too spoilerish for those currently reading.

Quote:

Desert Isle Keeper Review Grade: A Sensuality: Hot When The Fiery Cross arrived in the mail, I knew it already had a leg up on the competition. I can't remember another time when I have been so excited just to open a package and hold a book. I had another book to finish the day it came, so I kept giving it fond, longing looks whenever it caught my eye. A week and 979 pages later, I'm still casting fond glances in its direction, although my fingers have not quite recovered from bearing its massive weight. If you're a longstanding Gabaldon fan, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. All her books are huge tomes, and it takes her years to write them, so in between we must wait. As I read The Fiery Cross, I started to think that might not be such a bad thing. The pleasure of reading a wonderful book is sometimes all the greater when the reader spends so much time anticipating its appearance. I discovered Gabaldon shortly after I got online, when she'd only written the first three books. I had no special interest in either time travel or Scottish romances, but people raved about her in reverent tones, so I figured I'd give Outlander a try. About one hundred pages in, I finally put it down - so I could race to the bookstore and buy the next two books. My husband vividly recalls the following weeks, since I spent them with my nose in the books, annoyed when I had to deal with "real life." With Drums of Autumn and now The Fiery Cross, my attitude was somewhat different, because I knew this fix would have to last me awhile. I enjoyed immersing myself in this book, but I also didn't mind rejoining real life now and then and stretching out my reading time. I waited five years to read this book; I wanted to take my time and enjoy it. (more...)

More at link: ALL ABOUT ROMANCE (novels) reviews The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

kategrinstead

I think I just finished chapter 9? And it'll be a spell before I keep reading, not because I don't like it (I really do!) but because I'm waiting for an actual copy from the library at the same time work's ramping up to end the year ...

I actually really like the linearity of this one, with the continued focus on Bree/Roger. There's a lot of good, new family dynamics that were introduced with their showing up in Drums of Autumn, and that helps propel the story forward. I'm sure the story will bridge time again at some point, but I'm enjoying how straightforward it is for now.

Have you read all of the books, CityGal?

kategrinstead

OH. MY. WORD.

Poor Roger.

CityGal

I started this one, but don't believe I finished it.

Honestly, I read them over a decade ago. So I remember the big story points - who dies in which book, who unexpectedly shows up in which book (), but I don't remember the little details. So little vague details stump me or are completely lost unless someone jogs my memory (didn't even remember the shoes in the last book???).

I'm going to reread over the Christmas break as I'll have lots more free time since I need to shlep around less.

But I like reading your post as it refreshes my memory.






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kategrinstead

I have ten chapters left and I keep waiting for the whole story to crash down around me ...

CityGal

Diane always finds a way to give us the unexpected and the bottom drops.

Buckle up! Let us know how it's going and then come back here to holler.

kategrinstead

Not quite as dramatic an ending as some of the other books, but I was certainly surprised that Bree and Roger decided not to travel back through the stones -- even though they know now that Jemmy can go, too. I assume they go back at some point ...

The biggest shock for me was everything that happened with Doctor Rawlings and Jocasta. Not quite what I expected at all. The revelation of the other time traveler was interesting, for sure, but I kind of anticipated that would be the vein Gabaldon would take with that story.

All in all, I really am enjoying the later books but they are so loooong.

sourburst

AMEN to that

kategrinstead

Watching Heather read through this one has been highly entertaining!