Lassies of Lallybroch part 2.....SPOILERS

[Drywhitethanks]

Because we can't wait until next year for season 3. Highbrow discussion of Jamie's knees, hair and anything else Outlander

I think I need to pick up and start reading the books again. I think I started the one after the firey cross, we were getting into the civil war stuff...I kind of gave up! I just wanted them to stay on Frasers ridge and run away from the pig forever! Once we get into heavy winded politics (that sounds too much like it's copied from Wikipedia) I get a bit bogged down.

It would appear I'm 2/3 of the way through A breath of snow and ashes. No idea whats going on. Will have to go back to something I remember.

To date Drums of Autumn has been my favourite.

I read them on my kindle, which means they kind of run into each other and I forget which is which. Claire has a pretty tough time in a Breath of Snow and Ashes iirc.

The war stuff does get quite confusing, I think that's because it's quite a few battles and scuffles over time and not very clear cut.

also I keep on forgetting which side is which, and which colours they wear (I'm assuming that would be more obvious for American readers).

I've found though, that if I go back to it all, the various battles/the LJ and William stuff do become a bit clearer, if all a bit "padding for the sake of writing a Big Book"

Yy it's as if she says, "um, only 700 pages there, what can I put in to make it 1000" oh yes, a gatheting that goes on for 1/4 of the book. Wet clouts anyone?

I read on google play books, had to go in and see where I was. In my mind C & J don't get any older anyway as we go through the books, so maybe that's why they can get away with not ageing them on screen.

Now Gellis. Is she going to be in a fat suit? She's described in detail in the books as being very gross and fat. I'm guessing not. Same for Loughire I expect. Can't make them old and grim and fat and not age the others. I think the screen writers are better than that.

I just wanted them to stay on Frasers ridge and run away from the pig forever!

Me too. I love the sarky references to the demonic pig.

An Echo in Bone was rubbish. Downloaded it last week and I'm still disappointed, thought it was going to get me through to next Monday. About 500 pages of setting up a story which first of all wasn't about J&C and secondly could have been summed up in a paragraph.

I think Geilis may have a comedy wart on her nose like a witch

Is she definitely in it? Do we not see her being dragged away to the pyre? Then I suppose Roger has to be born

at comedy wart!

Is that all the stuff in the Great Dismal swamp with William, Ian and the Hunters GreatWhites?

Dismal being the key word!

Interesting discussions which make me realise that I tell anyone who'd listen how much I luuuurrveeee Outlander and yet I seem to have skimmed/forgotten 90% of it ! Perhaps that's the secret to loving the books? I seem to remember the gathering as not too bad.

I guess if I were to sum it up I would say that DG has created one truly memorable and unique character (Jamie) and built a compelling universe around him. Scotland and the uprising add a an element of romanticism and heroism, and she is clever in weaving salient historical episodes through a largely predictable hist romance. The time travel stuff is bonkers and her whole mythology and universe building never quite work out. I think she's good at evoking a sense of time and space - I could almost smell Frasers Ridge while I was reading!

No one would read the later books as standalone, though, would they?

No one would read the later books as standalone, though, would they?

I have always wondered that myself. Because DG frequently explains things as if you are a new reader. But surely no one would have a clue what was going on if they read the 4th or 5th book first?

No one would read the later books as standalone, though, would they

No 😒

Book 4 would’ve been the perfect ending for me, but DG just can’t seem to say goodbye to those characters. Cba to google, but has DG ever written about anything outside the Outlander universe?

Ok, I KNOW time travel is all bollocks, but there has to be rules, yes?
So the basic rule is, Claire goes back from 1945 to 1743 so 202 years.
The 2 time lines run parallel at the same speed so when she returns to the 20th century after, I guess 2 and half years, Frank and everyone has also passed 2 and a half years.
Ditto when she returns to Jamie. It's 20 years for Claire, and 20 years for Jamie too.
Then in later books, Brianna and Roger both travel back in search of Claire, and they both do the same time jump. Which is great as otherwise they'd miss each other.

BUT...
Geillis passes through the stones in 1968, and is already well established when Claire meets her. According to the outlander Wiki (God, I'm sad!) she arrives in 1733 so a jump back of 235 years.
How do the stones know how far back or forward to send you?

I keep going onto Amazon and reading reviews of book 5. I haven't bought it yet - very mixed reviews, saying the first 200 pages are a bit boring tough. Then it gets better. Is that a fair description? I'm really not keen on the B&R story. How much is C&J? And also, do they ever go back to Scotland, and if so, which book? I really want to be back in the Highlands

Isn't there a whole thing about using stones and thinking about someone? So Claire got home the first time because she thought about Frank and then in Voyager Jamie.

Bree was thinking about Claire and Roger almost failed initially because he wasn't using a stone and thinking about Bree at the same time.
As Bree was annoyed with him because he was her passage back. Hense he went in search of the stones.

So I guess Gellis was thinking about someone or something specifically along with all her stones and flaming husband.

Its all a bit tenuous. Are we supposed to assume Clare was thinking about Jack Randall the first time as she appeared when he was there?

BreakfastatS isn't it to do with focusing on a person the other end? I can't remember if Geillis did that? Presumably Claire was thinking of Frank's ancestors when she went?

Snap! Crossposted

Dunlurking, great minds think alike.

Your post was much more succinct though.

You're too kind Toni I didn't mention Roger and Bree though so you win with better backup of your point

I haven't bought it yet - very mixed reviews, saying the first 200 pages are a bit boring tough. Then it gets better. Is that a fair description?

I guess but I don’t know as I haven’t got past those first 200 pages. It’s like it’s actually playing out in real time. So imagine someone you don’t like very much describing a not very exciting wedding reception for example, full of people you don’t know and have never met. And they feel like they have to tell you every single detail about their bodily functions, what they were wearing, what they were feeling plus what everyone else was wearing, might be feeling etc in excruciating detail.

That, my friend, is The Gathering

Courtney that doesn't exactly sell it to me either. Thanks for the feedback. The trouble is I've been buying them all on kindle, so much harder to dip into bits and chose what to skip

Sorry

Gabaldon’s advice to someone on Twitter who was struggling with Book 5 was to skip 10 pages, see if it interested them, if not, skip another 10 pages and repeat.

Even she thought she’d gone overboard with the dreaded Gathering.

I'll stick up for the first two hundred pages and the Gathering It's quite light hearted at times and I like the confession scene. The rest of the book is good too.

I'm sure my Kindle copy was only £4.99 or something so I didn't feel ripped off.

I quite enjoyed the gathering but that is a painfully accurate description Courtney

Thank you for your explanations of how they travel through the stones to the right place