The Fiery Cross

Summary (from the publisher): The year is 1771. The American War of Independence is fast approaching. And it seems that Jamie Fraser and his wife, Claire, and their beloved family are fated to be in the thick of things once again.

Review: This is the fifth MASSIVE installment in the Outlander series. I loveee these books. They're all around 1,000 pages but they're so worth it. After all those pages, the characters feel like old friends. For those of you not familiar with the Outlander books, they're hard to classify. They're a mix of fantasy, historical fiction, medical, and romance all tied up in one glorious series. The first novel is about Claire, who in 1945 travels back through time to the 1600s and meets her Scot, Jamie Fraser. Now, in the fifth novel, Jamie and Claire are living in pre-Revolutionary War North Carolina with their daughter Brianna and her husband and son, plus a whole host of other characters. Claire is a doctor, so this novel features numerous patients and medical incidents. All of Gabaldon's characters, particularly Jamie and Roger, are especially prone to near death experiences so Claire's medical expertise constantly comes in handy. The setting was intriguing for me in this novel because many locations that I'm personally familiar with were mentioned including Hillsborough, Greensboro, and Roanoke.

I love Claire and Jamie's story; I don't feel as quite in awe of Roger and Brianna. Basically, Jamie Fraser has ruined my chances of ever finding a suitable man. He is everything a man should be and more. And fortunately for me, I have two more Outlander books to read in the series and Gabaldon is currently writing the 8th book. These are not high literature, but they are dangerously addicting and highly entertaining. I wish I could find more books that captured my attention in the same way the Outlander books do. Please make a movie or TV series based on Outlander!

Stars: 4