An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
The seventh volume of the Outlander series:
Jamie Fraser is an eighteenth-century Highlander, an ex-Jacobite traitor, and a reluctant rebel in the American Revolution. His wife, Claire, is a surgeon from the twentieth century. With one foot in America and one foot in Scotland, Jamie and Claire must navigate the revolution, meeting famous historical figures along the way, and fighting to survive.
Meanwhile, in the safety of the twentieth century, their daughter Brianna and her husband Roger experience the unfolding drama of her parents past through Claire's letters. But the letter may contain something that will threaten their comfort and safety and propel them once again into the intrigues of the past.
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Oh, how high my hopes were for this book. I think that’s maybe why the crash felt so hard. If you’ve been around the blog for a while you’ll know already that my relationship with the Outlander series has been tumultuous at best. The first book swept me off my feet, the second frustrated me but still kept me hooked, the third and fourth were fun adventures, the fifth bored me to tears (so much so that I took a 2 year hiatus from reading anything by Diana Gabaldon), and the sixth has become my favourite book in the entire series. A Breath of Snow and Ashes (reviewed here) was just the thing I needed to fall in love with the Frasers once more. I loved it from start to finish. I think because of how great the sixth book was, the seventh felt so disappointing. It’s like the characters were frozen in time. There was definitely plot but not enough characterization. We spent more time focused on the events of the American Revolution than we did on the actual characters for a very good chunk of the book.
The book was definitely a filler book as there were lots of small set up scenes scattered throughout the first 1/4 of the book making it a very long read. However, the plot definitely picked up halfway through and the last bit was great! Going back to Scotland was so emotional, the story of Bree and Roger’s time at Lallybroch was mysterious and thrilling, and Ian’s own quest kept me on the edge of my seat, all of this stuff reminded me of the parts of Outlander that I loved. But it was only 1/4 of the book! The rest of it was explaining battles I didn’t care about, from POVs I didn’t care about (William and John’s perspectives were unnecessary in my opinion). Diana was so focused on properly describing history and introducing new people that she left her main characters on the back burner. Jamie seemed very out of character, most of his scenes were very bland and he seemed to care more about other people's opinions than the safety of his own family. Claire seemed overly judgemental about everything including other women appearances! I was actually very put off by how shallow she was coming off in this book and it disappointed me greatly as Claire has always been described as such an open-minded woman and here she is bringing down anyone who doesn't look as good as her in their old age. All these "small" irritants really but a damper on the whole experience for me.
However frustrated I was about the lack of characterization for Jamie and Claire and the plot fillers, there were some things I loved about this book the reminds me why I keep coming back to this series. Brianna and Roger continued to develop in their characterization and their relationship. They’re struggling to adjust to life away from their family and in a world they’ve long since forgotten. Roger struggles with his religion, Bree struggles to fit in at her new job, and both of them struggle to move on from their grief over the separation from her parents. Their kids are growing and mysterious things are happening around the highlands that bring Bree and Roger into a very unwanted spotlight which in turn brings them some unexpected visitors. I loved their storyline. Both Roger and Bree continue to be such deep and ever-changing characters that I can never bore of reading about them. Ian’s love story was heartwarming and I'm glad his point of view was included. It’s nice to finally get a glimpse into his own personal story instead of just hearing about it through other characters. He’s such a complex character that has been through so much and I hope this continues on in the next book. The ending 8 chapters of this book were pretty exciting as well and reminiscent of what we love about this series and our precious Frasers. I have great expectations for the next book because this one left a lot of open-ended questions that will be exciting to see the resolution of in the next volume.
Even though I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the other ones in the series, I can’t deny Diana has a way with words. From the first paragraph, I’m sucked out of reality and displaced into a world not my own. It’s almost like magic the way she can weave words around you to transport you so quickly into the story you’re reading.
This one was unfortunately only 3 stars for me because I had higher expectations for the plot, I wasn’t that interested in 600 pages of battles, and I wished we had more of Jamie and Claire, there were so many points of view that we got shifted away from them more than usual and it didn’t leave much room for any character development. It was definitely a filler novel. However, Diana’s way with words still kept me interested and it was far from a boring read. I'm excited to see what the next book has in store as this one left room for so much excitement.