Britton Hammett-McCurry

I cannot emphasize how bad this book is. The characters are so disjointed and removed from their previous motivations that it felt like someone entirely different wrote this novel. There are scores of errors and plot-holes throughout, and as someone who has read the series over and over with so much enthusiasm for the author's words, it felt like a slap in the face to have waited so many years for this poor excuse of a book. Nothing happens. Nothing is resolved. Major, major plot pieces are brushed over and then totally forgotten in two pages. Characters, with knowledge of impeding battles and danger, just nonchalantly travel across the country in the middle of a war. What's worse is we are expected to believe Jamie and Claire willingly send their family members towards that danger for no real reason. I thought we were supposed to learn about Claire's powers and her link to that magic as a healer, but that scene was so confusing and pointless, and then never discussed by Jamie and Claire again that it felt like we will never know what we've been yearning to know about our heroine for decades. I think sadly this is another example of a very talented writer being tainted and corrupted by Hollywood. They've butchered her characters and storyline on screen, and as long as the money continues to pour in DG seems fine to let it happen. I had hoped it wouldn't affect her writing, but it definitely did. This novel reads more like one of the terrible screenplays from season 4, rather than the epic and talented novels of Gabaldon's past.