The Fiery Cross

This fifth book in the super popular Outlander series was my least favourite when I read it many years ago. In fact, I swore to never, ever read it again. Verbosity, thy name is Gabaldon.

Well, never say never.

Trying to hold fast to my promise, I had planned to find a detailed synopsis of this book so I could continue rereading the series. But a good synopsis was hard to find, so I borrowed a digital audiobook from my public library and listened to this massive tome. In its 55.5 hours of run time, Gabaldon spends hours and HOURS on descriptions of flora, fauna and superfluous details and story lines - including mundane descriptions of two days of a Scottish clan gathering. This is time I will never get back. 

I'm happy to report that listening to it was a more enjoyable experience, but I still feel like Gabaldon think she gets paid by the word. In the grand scheme of things, not a lot happens in this book unless you include a lot of unnecessary story lines of day-to-day life. These constant divergences into banal moments convolute what could be a much more succinct plot and results in this series toggling between entertaining and frustrating for me. 

I give credit to Gabaldon for her massive amounts of research, but this audiobook was still a bit of a slog to get through. I am ever so grateful that I can increase the speed of digital audiobooks and I am happy to be on the other side of this massive book so I can continue with the series and read the later books that I've owned for years but still have to catch up on.

My Rating: a generous 3 stars

Author: Diana Gabaldon

Genre: Historical Fiction, Time Travel

Series: #5 in the Outlander series

Type and Source: eAudiobook from public library

Publisher: Recorded Books

First Published: November 3, 2001

Run Time: 55 hours, 30 minutes

Narrator: Davina Porter

Book Description from GoodReads: The year is 1771, and war is coming. Jamie Fraser’s wife tells him so. Little as he wishes to, he must believe it, for hers is a gift of dreadful prophecy—a time-traveler’s certain knowledge. Claire’s unique view of the future has brought him both danger and deliverance in the past; her knowledge of the oncoming revolution is a flickering torch that may light his way through the perilous years ahead—or ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes.