I think this was the most melancholic book of the series. The story is more intimate because they are in North America re-building their lives. It is full of sweet moments, reflections, losses but also joy. It was a delight to feel and understand the struggles of the characters and realize that they are only growing, becoming better and wiser.
I went into this knowing only that it would be a ride. At some point early on I spoiled myself by accident and found out that Brianna and Roger were going to be joining Claire and Jamie so I even though I didn't know what the book was about, I found myself waiting to get there. I spent a lot of this book wondering exactly what the book was about. What I think was the main plot didn't get started until at least 500 pages in, which is tiring for a reader like me who only has a modicum of patience to begin with. So while I enjoyed this, I also kind of struggled with it, because I couldn't see the plot, I couldn't see the book making any forward progress, the characters weren't working towards an obvious denouement . Also, because it was so long, some of the …
I went into this knowing only that it would be a ride. At some point early on I spoiled myself by accident and found out that Brianna and Roger were going to be joining Claire and Jamie so I even though I didn't know what the book was about, I found myself waiting to get there. I spent a lot of this book wondering exactly what the book was about. What I think was the main plot didn't get started until at least 500 pages in, which is tiring for a reader like me who only has a modicum of patience to begin with. So while I enjoyed this, I also kind of struggled with it, because I couldn't see the plot, I couldn't see the book making any forward progress, the characters weren't working towards an obvious denouement . Also, because it was so long, some of the easter eggs DG planted were completely missed by me. I totally missed that Bannon was the captain of Roger's ship. I also missed the bit about Baby Jemmy. Thank god other people are closer readers than I am, and have talked about this series extensively!
Oh, and about Brianna: The plot line about the baby was really hard for me because I knew the minute she agreed to go to Bannon's cabin she was going to get raped. What else could possibly have happened? I'm not slut-shaming her but I am moron-shaming her. I mean, that would have been a bad idea in 1970, so why she didn't think it was a bad idea in 1770, I'll never know. So sympathizing with her was difficult. I also think Roger is a moron for thinking he could just go steal something from a pirate and be a-okay, "no worries, I'll be back in 20 minutes". I actually, think he's a moron for chasing after her to begin with but I suppose there'd be no story if he hadn't.