Book Review - A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

When you know war is coming, how do you prepare for it? 

Cover for D. Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes

A Breath of Snow and Ashes
(#6 in series)

In the hills of the Carolinas, on the southeastern coast of the USA, spring was only beginning when a desolate sight met the eyes of Claire and Jamie Fraser. A burning homestead. . .and it wasn't the only one. A friend reports the carnage to Jamie and the Frasers go to investigate. They find half-burned bodies, whole families murdered and hanged, and some poisoned. The settlers are being killed by roving gangs of men who are the forefront of the coming war. Like carrion-eating birds, they judge and execute those who don't agree with them. The marauders blame the Indian camps, some of whom had taken to fighting back as they try to protect their own against these same roving gangs of men.

Tensions are running high when Jamie is offered the position of Indian Agent, a liaison between the British and Native tribes. The British are gathering their supporters about them as they try to determine where and when the trouble will come. Jamie accepts the Indian Agent position with misgivings. One of his first meetings reveals that the Indians want guns, they fear any treaties will be broken if the white man goes to war.  

Both the British and the Regulators (who consider themselves patriots of this new country) are wondering where James Fraser's allegiances lie. Then, an incident at the Fraser mash shed occurs and Claire is snatched as a hostage. She suffers much before Jamie locates the camp. This is a pivotal point in the story.

Incident follows incident, and Claire is regarded with suspicion after she makes a bad medical decision. Some consider her a healer, others thinks she's a witch. Her daughter, who has time-travelled back to find her mother, is kidnapped by a pirate. The Frasers and Roger, Brianna's husband to be, pursue the man responsible in order to find their daughter.

This novel reads at a faster pace, with constant action. The war machine of the British colonial empire is coming. Gabaldon weaves the history details into the narrative, as she shows the anguish and horror which helped birth a nation. The settlers are defending their own land. The British redcoats are defending the Empire. The Indians just want to survive. Recommended for anyone who likes Gabaldon's writing and for fans of the American colonial times. I enjoy Gabaldon's writing style, and the characters that populate her novels. There will be more reviews of her work for this series, once I acquire them. 

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Are you a Gabaldon fan? Have you watched the Outlander series on tv? Do you like historical based fiction books? 


Please leave a comment to let me know you were here and I'll reply. Thanks for stopping by! Next up will be reviews about a couple of Agatha's mysteries (Poirot) and one review of a book about Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy. Hope you'll come back for those.

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For my other reviews of Gabaldon's work:

Drums of Autumn (#4)

Voyager (#3)

Dragonfly in Amber (#2)

The Fiery Cross (#5)

Outlander (#1)

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Diana Gabaldon's Dragonfly in Amber, A Review

If you could travel through a portal in time 200 years in the past, would you? If you left a beloved spouse behind, would that change your mind?

In the library belonging to a deceased clergyman scholar and his adopted son Roger, Claire Randall delves into historical records of her current time to find out what occurred after the battle at Culloden, fought in 1745 in Scotland. In Dragonfly in Amber, the story of her journey back in time unfolds after Claire has been back in her own time twenty years. She wants to tell her adult daughter about her real father. Roger's connection with that time in the past must also be explained.

Roger and Brianna listen as Claire tells how she arrived in 1745 from 1945 and why and how she came back. What she is burning to know - did Jamie Fraser, a man from that time, survive the battle which decimated Scottish clans? In the past from whence Claire came twenty years before, political turmoil gripped Europe, with the Bourbons, the Stuarts, and other nobles all plotting in Scotland, France, England, Spain, and Italy. From Scotland to France and back again, loyalties shifted and royal favour depended on whom you were backing.

Jamie and Claire establish a business in France, intent on keeping an eye on the Scottish royalty in exile there. They manage to get close to certain royal circles, but the game keeps changing. The intrigues of the French court under Louis XIV, and the pompous and tedious daily rituals of being 'at court' start to weigh on the Scottish visitors. 

A duel ensues after Jamie discovers a secret of the hated English officer from Outlander, Jonathan Randall and challenges his nemesis. Dueling is against the law, landing Jamie in the notorious Bastille prison, where only a royal pardon will release the prisoner. Once Jamie is released, he and Claire are given safe passage back to Scotland where preparations for a battle in support of 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' is gathering momentum.

Following on the heels of Outlander, this novel continues to explore the Jacobite uprisings. I recommend this book if you like historical fiction seasoned with time travel, romance, historical battles, duelling, attempted murder and blackmail. . .I enjoyed Dragonfly in Amber and its story nested within a story approach.

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Are you a Diana Gabaldon fan? Have you read Dragonfly in Amber? Would you like to time travel? To what time period?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here and I'll respond.  Thanks for stopping by! I'm currently working on something for Halloween, via a challenge hosted by Denise and Yolanda at WEP ...Write Edit and Publish. . .. check out the link, you might be interested.

Reviews Coming Up: 
I'm going to be reviewing two totally different books for this blog soon: Hemingway's 'For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Anne Rice's 'Don't Look Back'. 

Currently reading: 
French Quarter Nocturne (R. Yeomans) and Sacré Bleu (Christopher Moore).

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OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon - A Review

Time travel may not occur the way you imagine. . .

Beware of stone circles and places where witches like to dance. . .

Catapulted two hundred years into the past with no warning and no idea of where you are when you get there. . .here is a story of adventure, history, love and danger.


OUTLANDER, A Novel

When Claire and Frank Randall visit the Highlands in Scotland, she doesn't imagine she'll end up time-tripping to the 1700s without so much as a fare thee well. In the postwar forties of the 20th Century, a nurse who has seen the injured from the fields of a world war battle suddenly finds herself in the midst of an 18th century skirmish, meeting an rogue ancestor of her husband.

Not far into this new era, Claire discovers a man who will form part of her destiny. This man, known as Jamie Fraser to his familiars, follows a path of his own in a Scotland known for its harsh times and it's even more harsh forms of government. His interaction and crossing of fates with the ancestor of Claire's 'future' husband form a thread that weaves its way through this story. Along the way are excessive punishment, greed, familial killing, witchery, and a wonderful overlapping of history, tied and secured with a love story that will warm your heart. Claire becomes a home and field surgeon and herbalist to cope and to secure her place in the times in which she finds herself. Even that can be dangerous, keeping in mind the simplistic notions about medicine that many a common man held in the 1700s.

At first I found Claire a bit annoying in her refusal to accept where she was but came to appreciate her stamina after a few more chapters. Gabaldon tells the story in her usual deft manner, retaining the attractive aura that surrounds Claire's companion, Jamie, chosen by Fate, the proper laird of his own property but exiled for political reasons.I like the character of Jamie better than Claire, as she seems to do many ill-advised things in the beginning, but due to her herbal lore, I do come to admire her. She gets her come-uppance in several ways, and she does eventually realize what a gift she has been given.  I recommend this book if you like your stories to be the kind that crosses many genres, are full of historical research and hard to put down.

Future Review to Come:

I am not reading the books in chronological order, and have begun The Fiery Cross, as I was lucky enough to get a couple of her books at a library sale.  I'm also finishing Roland Yeomans' novel, The Stars Bleed at Midnight. It's another novel meant to be savored.

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Are you a fan of Gabaldon's writing? Have you read Outlander?

Please leave a comment to let me know you've been here, and I'll respond. I've been tending to family issues and have been a bit scarce.  I am posting when I can. I also wish all of you a Happy Holiday! Enjoy the family time!

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Outlander, a New York Times Bestselling novel, published by Doubleday in Canada, Seal Books, 2001.

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