A Breath Of Snow And Ashes (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
The first book had me completely absorbed in the little details and fascinating plot, the second book made me angry by the huge jump in time and then made me happy, while the third book continued to hold my interest. The fourth book was a little slow. The fifth book made me wish for all that time spent listening back again because really, however many pages an author should devote to homesteading, Ms. Gabaldon surpassed it at least ten-fold. The sixth book frustrated me with its plodding story, with its hyper-attention to detail, and with the continued and inexplicable use of multiple narrators. This does nothing but prolong the agony. If the last two books have been less-than-ideal and even somewhat of a waste of time, why did I continue the series and move on to A Breath of Snow and Ashes? I wish I knew.The writing sucks. It is not a well-written series at all, repetitive and worthy of many an eye roll or snort of disbelief. Ms. Gabaldon uses the same phrases, descriptions, and dialogue all the time. While continuity is important, the repetition becomes old very quickly. This is on top of the fact that the entire series is just one big, very bad soap opera – the kind where the villain suffers forty different ways to die but always survives to torment his victims. Stephen Bonnet is the eighteenth-century Stefano. One can practically predict which major character is slated for his or her turn at mortal peril because it happens to them all with such frequency. Yet, I keep listening, yelling at the characters for their stupidity and getting anxious on their behalf even though I know they all survive for at least two more books. I was sucked into the Outlander world, and I can’t seem to get out.In the beginning of the series, the sex scenes were so unusual in a romance novel because they were actually vital to the story. Through their most intimate moments, readers learned more about Clare and Jamie, their vulnerabilities and their sensitivities. It was never a sex scene purely for titillation but a method by which the characters developed and grew. The same can no longer be said about any of the sex scenes within these later novels. First of all, there is nothing more to learn about Jamie or Clare. Readers have been with them for years now, and their characters are fairly set in their development. Then, there is the ick factor. Both are approaching 60 years of age, and while I appreciate that their love life is healthy and frequent, it is not necessarily something about which I want to read. Jamie’s comments about Clare’s body have him turning into a lecherous old man, and that is just wrong. Then there is the physical descriptions themselves. While Jamie is clearly an ass man given his many lascivious (and slightly disturbing) comments about the state of Clare’s derrière, I’m beginning to think Ms. Gabaldon is a breast woman herself. There is way too much attention and description devoted to all females’ breasts. Dresses cling to them, sweat trickles between them, they are fondled, kissed, and cupped, they leak milk, and babies release them with audible noises. If there is a woman in any given scene, Ms. Gabaldon will inevitably mention something about that woman’s breasts. Frankly, it’s annoying and disappointing.Then there is the issue with Jamie and Clare’s daughter and son-in-law. I hate Bree and Roger. There. I said it. Bree is one of the most spoiled, stupid girls in print. Roger was great, if a bit weak and unmanly in comparison to Jamie, until he married Bree. With that one act, he became thoroughly uninteresting and superlative. As for Bree, she is just now thinking of the dangers of going back in time 200 years to the Revolutionary War – after the war has started. For someone who is supposed to have such a brilliant mind, she completely lacks in common sense as well as empathy. The scenes told from either of their points of view are just agonizing, as Roger spends most of his time thinking about Bree and Bree spends most of her time worrying about how certain events are going to affect her. Their sex scenes are not in the least bit erotic or even very romantic. Very rarely do they contribute something to the overarching plot, and most of the time, their presence causes more complications than solutions. It goes without saying that their removal from the story would also eliminate a good number of pages in this very bloated series.The problem is that at an average audiobook length of 50+ hours, I have spent way too much time devoted to Jamie and Clare to quit the series now. I may not be quite as vested in their survival as I once was, but I would like to solve the mystery of how they die. I would like closure. Ms. Gabaldon has not yet written her stories to provide closure, and so I am stuck in this world of time travelers. I will continue with the series onto book 7 and eventually book 8 when it is released next year. Perhaps by then, Ms. Gabaldon will have made it possible for me to say good-bye. Until then, there will be more yelling and eye-rolling and general frustration at the slow pacing, repetitive syntax, unnecessary narrative shifts, and completely unnecessary sex scenes. It is most definitely the book world’s version of a daytime soap opera.
*Poke* *Poke* *Poke*"AAAAHHHHHH!! What the?.....who the?....where the?""When the?""Stephanie wake up! It's Claire Fraser. What are you doing here? And should you be driving that contraption? You smell like a brewery!!""Oh Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!....whaa....I'm not *hicup* a-saxtly sure how I ended up here. Oh look..hee...hee... I'm sitting on the time mower.....Kemper ish going to be sooo pissed at me, but what else is new?....haaaaaaaa!" *slowly sides off time mower in heap* “Claire, what happened to her?” “Jamie....do you remember Stephanie? She’s another time traveler like me, but she’s from somewhere in the 2010’s.”The corner of Jamie’s mouth twitched in a wry smile, “Aye, I do. I’d say that lassie is drunk!” he rubbed his knuckle on his long straight nose. Holding my hand up “That’s because I am....very, very drunk. Ya see, I read another book *hic* in the series that has been written about your lives, A Breath of Snow and Ashes. Don’t ask me how this is poshsible, I don’t know, but it’s most likely something to do with you messing about with time. Anyhow, just for funnzies I decided to make a drinking game out of the book, whenever you said “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ” I took a shot of whiskey since you all drink the stuff like water and I thought whatzz good fer the goose is good for the gander.......Haaaaaa.......weeee!“Why would you do that? Not a wise move if you asked me, I say that ALL the time.” Said Claire. “I KNOW! That was the point......Well, I didn’t ask you Claire because I don’t think you make the wisest choice with the whiskey yourself! By the way, who the hell do you think you are judging me about my alcohol consumption? Around here it’s the answer for everything. Pregnant? Drink some whiskey. Just vomited from being sedated with homemade ether? Drink some whiskey. Been gang raped? Drink some whiskey....okay that one makes sense. Whatever is going on the answer is “drink more whiskey!!” One has to admire that. It’s a damn good thing that I didn’t pick the words ‘wry, knuckle, or rubbed’ or I would be in an alcoholic coma or worse, dead.”Jamie looked at me and narrowed his cat eyes “If our lives and the words the lady who writes these books uses bothers ya so much, why do ya keep reading them?” The corner of his mouth twitched in a wry smile and he rubbed his long straight nose with his knuckle......again.“That’s an excellent question Jamie and I don’t have a good answer for you other then that I can’t quit you.....either of you.” *sigh*“Awe Stephanie, that’s so sweet I could cry. I think we need to drink to that!” said Claire. “Suuure…..what’s a little more whiskey gonna hurt at this point?” Said I. Jamie pours us all a dram of whiskey, says something in Gallic, and we all drink it down in one swallow. He then rubs his long straight nose with his knuckle and smiles wryly. “One thing I can say in the positive about the authors’, Diana Gabaldon, word choices is that she never ever uses the words ‘throbbing’ and ‘member’ together, and with all the sex scenes in all of these books that’s saying something.” *Blushes* “She writes about…..mm hmm? What happens at night between me....and my wife?” asks Jamie. “Oh sure…between the two of you, and between Roger and Brianna, between any two people who may cross paths, I’m pretty sure that’s why so many people read the books.” I said.“She’s also obsessed with describing hair. Seriously how many times must we hear about hair? I know everything there is to know about everybody’s hair in the history of ever. Yours Jamie is always a fire and Claire, you constantly have escaping curls.” I said “but I guess that’s better than the last book, The Fiery Cross, where Diana was obsessed with describing every detail about every dirty diaper, or clout as you call them, that adorable little angelic Gem produced. Forget about the obsession with lactating breasts…..and sex with, around, and about lactating breasts…..and the sticky aftermath. I couldn’t even come back and talk to you about it, any review I tried to write just came out dirty, and not always in a good way.”“That sounds disgusting.” Said Claire. “At times it was” I said.“Well, I better get this thing back to its owner before he misses it. I’m not scared of the guy, he likes to pretend he’s evil and all by wearing fake felt mustaches….but he doesn’t fool me.” I said, and then set the time mower for home instead of Kansas; if Kemper wants his time mower back he’ll just have to come to Ohio and get it.“Haahaa ha…..Mwa ha ha……MWAHAHAHHAHAHAAAAA!!!”I did enjoy this book more than the previous one. It's a 3.5. There was a new time traveler from her time that enter the story and I was disappointed with how the author handled this character. There was a potential there for something really interesting and she decided to make the character boring instead. But overall it was entertaining.
What do You think about A Breath Of Snow And Ashes (2006)?
The mind boggles at just how much history Gabaldon has written into this novel. While the Outlander series may seem to some as an over-written tome for Jamie Fraser hysterics, the dearth of American history enfolded is quite amazing. I have much admiration for the author. A hearty 4.5★
—B the BookAddict
“We’re here because I loved you, more than the life that was mine. Because I believed you loved me the same way.”DG played with my emotions masterfully. I loved it and I hated it. I laughed and I cried. It was perfection!To read my reviews of previous books, click on pic: . . . .
—Lucia
"But-oh God! Did she tell ye how it happened?" -Jamie Fraser"Yes. I'll tell you the gory details later." -Claire FraserThat little snippet of dialogue pretty much sums up this entire book. IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME! I admit that I really was starting to lose interest in this series after The Fiery Cross because it was just so boring, but this one really made up for it in SPADES. Oh, the drama! The scandal! The gossip! The sex scenes were better! The dialogue and jokes were better! At times, I felt like I was watching a Saturday Night Live sketch. At other times, I teared up at how touching the interaction of the Fraser/MacKenzie family is and how much they stuck together. And there was a lot of action scenes...and a lot of the story was told from the differing POVs of Claire, Jamie, Bree and Roger. It wasn't JUST The Diary of Claire Fraser...today, I planted lettuce, tomorrow I will clean my surgery, etc. It was really great and there are so many things that you never see coming. So many times in this book I was like, OMG did that just happen!? And it was REALLY cool to read the beginning of the Revolutionary War from the perspective of people who had only read about it in history books. I don't know. This one is my favorite after Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, no question. I haven't been so wrapped up and engrossed in the world of Jamie and Claire since I read Voyager. And I am shocked because I had heard that book 6 was really really long and slow and boring, but damn if I didn't tear through it in less than four days. I couldn't even put it down for a break! Written so well...humorous and touching dialogue...have I mentioned the drama? It was like watching the Jerry Springer show in Diana Gabaldon's words set against the Revolutionary War time in North Carolina. I cried...oh, I cried! And I laughed so hard at times. Just look at my tags on this book and you can see how poor Jamie would be so scandalized by what was happening on his Ridge!I. Loved. It. If you are iffy about continuing on with the series after the slow pace of Drums of Autumn and The Fiery Cross, just do what I did...chalk up The Fiery Cross to this: (view spoiler)[Claire and Jamie obviously were on a downcycle, Brianna couldn't think about anything without letting down her milk, and well, if I were almost hanged, I'd probably be in a pissy mood like Roger was too. No wonder no one was having any sex or any fun or making any jokes. (hide spoiler)]
—Erica
