Book Review – The Fiery Cross

20 Jun 2025 1 Comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I have finished another book in the Outlander series, by Diana Gabaldon. The Fiery Cross is the fifth book in the series (paid links), and you can find my reviews of the earlier books in the series below:

  • #1 – Outlander (review here / purchase link here)
  • #2 – Dragonfly in Amber (review here / purchase link here)
  • #3 – Voyager (review here / purchase link here)
  • #4 – Drums of Autumn (review here / purchase link here)
I listened to the audiobook edition of this.

Here is the blurb:

The year is 1771. Claire Randall is still an outlander, out of place and out of time. But now she is linked by love to her only anchor: Jamie Fraser. They have crossed oceans and centuries to build a life together in North Carolina. But tensions, both ancient and recent, threaten members of their clan.

Knowing that his wife has the gift of prophecy, James must believe Claire, though he would prefer not to. Claire has shared a dreadful truth: there will, without a doubt, be a war. Her knowledge of the oncoming revolution is a flickering torch that may light his way through perilous years ahead – or ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes.

This fifth book in the series took me a lot longer to listen to than the previous volumes. I think that my audiobook brain became fatigued and I had to take a break to “read” some other novels before I could finish this one. It’s not that this wasn’t still an enjoyable book. The beginning felt like it was developing a lot of the underlying character relationships and politics for a payoff later in the series.

The American Revolution is still a few years away at the time of this book, and Claire and Jamie have settled in to a more routine life as settlers at Fraser’s Ridge. I felt like the problems that they encountered in this book were not as large as in the earlier books, so the tension was lower overall.

The historical details are still wonderful. I remember in particular how Claire thinks to herself about the maggots that she uses to help treat one of Jamie’s wounds. She has to make sure that these are not the New World screwworm, because this species will eat live tissue as well as dead. This particular insect has been in the news lately because in modern times it has been eliminated from North and Central America, with a few incursions that are closely monitored. It is these small details that creates a realistic vision of the world that these characters inhabit.

I did enjoy getting to see more of the quiet conversations that let some of the less developed character relationships grow. Like in earlier books, the author also tosses in a few short passages where the characters contemplate the nature of time travel and the core question of whether it is possible to change events and impact the future. The reader is left guessing about this question, but I like to see that the characters question this.

I’m going to start book #6, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, soon, although maybe not until July (paid link). I have made it a little further through season 1 of the show, and will be watching more in the upcoming weeks.

What is the longest book series you have read? What keeps you reading and what makes you lose interest? Let me know in the comments.

You can find more of my book reviews here.

Book Review – Recursion

22 Mar 2025 1 Comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , ,

I read Recursion by Blake Crouch last month for a book club discussion (paid link). I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of the author’s other books in the past and you can see my reviews of those below:

  • Dark Matter – review here; link to purchase here
  • Upgrade – review here; link to purchase here
I read the paperback edition.

Here is the blurb:

Memory makes reality.

That’s what NYC cop Barry Sutton is learning, as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.

That’s what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious memories. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.

As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face to face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds, but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.

But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?

At once a relentless pageturner and an intricate science-fiction puzzlebox about time, identity, and memory, Recursion is a thriller as only Blake Crouch could imagine it—and his most ambitious, mind-boggling, irresistible work to date.

This book follows the point-of-view of the two characters in the blurb above and starts off as a linear story. However, it turns into something much more complicated and convoluted as the truth of Helena’s memory-based research and technology becomes more clear.

Without wanting to give too much away, the story features a villain who is a rather over-the-top billionaire, questions about who should be able to make decisions about the use of dangerous technology, and time travel of a sort.

I enjoyed this book and I think of Blake Crouch’s novels and sci-fi thrillers because they draw me in with their quick pacing. The downside of this is that I tend to read them so fast that I don’t see the plot holes that I suspect are there, given the complex nature of the story. While this book brought up intriguing questions about who should use an advanced technology and why, I also read so quickly that I didn’t think these issues through as much as I might have liked. This did give my book club plenty of room for discussion, but part of me still wishes I had read this more slowly.

The characters in this book were well-drawn enough for me, given the fast pace of the story. They all have their own tragic memories and backstory that drive their actions. This book also uses those moments that provoke shared generational trauma, such as the Challenger disaster, together with more personal stories to convey the power of memory.

I did enjoy the ending of the novel, and felt that it drew everything together in a satisfying way. Some of the scenes toward the end become quite graphic and gruesome though, so approach this book carefully if that is something you’d rather not read.

Have you read any books by Blake Crouch? Which was your favorite? I think I still liked Dark Matter the best of those I’ve read. Let’s discuss in the comments!

Find more of my book reviews here.

Book Review – Drums of Autumn

30 Oct 2024 2 Comments

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I have finished another book in the Outlander series, by Diana Gabaldon. Drums of Autumn is the fourth book in the series (paid links), and you can find my reviews of the earlier books in the series below:

I listened to the audiobook edition.

Here is the blurb:

What if you knew someone you loved was going to die? What if you thought you could save them? How much would you risk to try?

Claire Randall has gone to find Jamie Fraser, the man she loved more than life, and has left half her heart behind with their daughter, Brianna. Claire gave up Jamie to save Brianna, and now Bree has sent her mother back to the Scottish warrior who was willing to give his life to save them both. But a chilling discovery in the pages of history suggests that Jamie and Claire’s story doesn’t have a happy ending.

Brianna dares a terrifying leap into the unknown in search of her mother and the father she has never met, risking her own future to try to change history . . . and to save their lives. But as Brianna plunges into an uncharted wilderness, a heartbreaking encounter may strand her forever in the past . . . or root her in the place she should be, where her heart and soul belong.

I thought that this installment of the series took longer to get started, but ultimately brought the characters together in new and more complicated ways. This book also added more time spend in different viewpoints, with Brianna and Roger becoming more involved in the central plot. Thankfully, the trans-Atlantic journeys in this volume went by in fewer pages than that in the previous book.

Many of the problems that the characters encounter could have been easily solved if they had been more open about talking to each other. Unfortunately, certain assumptions are made that nearly lead to catastrophe. But without circumstances like that, we wouldn’t find conflict and tension in stories, which would make them a lot less interesting to read.

In the third book, Voyager, and again in this one, the characters speculate on the nature of their time travel. This aspect of the series starts out as a completely mysterious occurrence, but as they try to figure out how to intentionally travel through time, I have to wonder how this will play out in future books.

I just started the next book, The Fiery Cross, so I’ll be back with a review on that one in 6 to 8 weeks (paid link)!

Have you read any of the Outlander books? Have you watched the show? I just saw the first episode of the first season last week (for the second time). Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.

Book Review – Voyager

22 Aug 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I’m still making progress reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. This review is for Voyager, book #3 (paid links), and you can find my reviews of the earlier books in the series here:

I listened to the audiobook edition.

Here is the blurb:

Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her… and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.

Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her…the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland… and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite or forever doom her timeless love.

This series has certainly not followed my expectations in terms of the timeline and structure of the storytelling. This book starts off following Claire after she has returned to her present timeline and lived there for 20 years, raising her daughter. With Jamie left behind in the 1700s, the book details their separate lives. But with several more books ahead in this story, of course they must somehow reunite.

This book also brings the story to the New World, as the characters seek to rescue young Ian, Jamie’s nephew. The identity of who has kidnapped him and which other characters they meet makes this book resonate with the earlier volumes.

One part that dragged for me was the trans-Atlantic journey. While the author takes steps to fill this time with events, there is only so much to do on board a sailing ship. Overall, I enjoyed this installment a lot and I’m curious to see where the series goes next.

Have you read any of the Outlander books? How far along should I be before I start to watch the television series? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.

Book Review – Dragonfly in Amber

15 Apr 2024 2 Comments

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I did manage to finish the second book in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon last week, Dragonfly in Amber. Hopefully this means that I’m on the way out of my March reading slump (paid links). This was also the audiobook version, narrated by Davina Porter.

You can find my review of book 1, Outlander, at this link.

I listened to the audiobook edition of this.

Here is the blurb:

From the author of Outlander… a magnificent epic that once again sweeps us back in time to the drama and passion of 18th-century Scotland…

For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland’s majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones …about a love that transcends the boundaries of time …and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his ….

Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire’s spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart …in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising …and in a desperate fight to save both the child and the man she loves….

The beginning of this book was not what I expected and introduced more time travel complications to the overarching storyline. It also framed the theme of this book – can the past be changed if one has foreknowledge of their outcome? Or is one helpless, pinned in place like the titular dragonfly? I won’t answer that question because you’ll have to read the book to find out.

This volume takes Claire and Jaime to France for most of the book. There, they use family connections and a little spycraft to try to stop the eventual uprising of the Scots against England that Claire knows is doomed to failure.

Claire and Jaime’s relationship evolves as they are faced with new challenges. I have to wonder how many different ways the author can pull them apart, have them question their love, and then have them reunite and reconcile. So far I don’t think she’s had a similar situation between them come up twice, but there are a lot of books to go.

The same narrator gave voice to this book, and I really like her portrayal of the characters. I wish that the books included a glossary or dramatis personae because sometimes I get the more minor Scots confused.

I don’t want to give any specific spoilers here, but I think that the ending of this volume was stronger than book 1. It provides enough resolution, but also sets up more mystery and tension about what happens next. I have already started the next book, Voyagers, which is almost 44 hours long, so look for my review of that one in about 6 weeks (paid link).

Have you read any of the Outlander books? How do the first two books compare to you? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my book reviews here.

Book Review – Outlander

13 Feb 2024 8 Comments

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I have been meaning to read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon for many years, but it is daunting to start such a long series and I kept putting it off. My mother has read the whole thing (more than once) and I think she’s going to disown me if I don’t read it, so that was the final impetus for starting it. The first book is simply titled Outlander (paid links). I listened to the audiobook edition, narrated by Davina Porter.

The series has also inspired a show, and I’ve actually watched part of the first season. So going into this first book, I already had an idea of how the opening would go. Read on to see what I thought of the whole book.

I listened to the audiobook edition.

Here is the blurb:

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord…1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

I was surprised at how closely the beginning of the book followed what I already knew from the show. Of course, there are more details in the book, and this is certainly not a short novel. My own knowledge of English and Scottish history isn’t great at all, but I felt like I could follow along with the politics and intrigues. The author gives just enough historical knowledge to provide context for the story without becoming overwhelming.

The interplay between Jaime and Claire was interesting–the cultural differences between their two times cause a good amount of conflict. Claire is opinionated and headstrong while Jaime is a product of his time and tries to treat Claire accordingly. Their romance was well done though, moving from an arranged marriage to a place of mutual respect and then love. I’m curious to see how the author will keep their relationship fresh with at least nine more books left to go.

The narrator for the audiobook does a great job–both with the accents and with giving each character a distinctive voice.

My only criticism is that I felt that the ending of their time in Scotland was unsatisfying. Without giving too many specifics away, I wish that the final events of Jaime’s escape didn’t happen off-screen, only to have Claire hear about what happened later, particularly because I thought that it was weird for cows to be used in such a way.

I’m going to continue on with the series and am hoping to get through one book per month. Look for my review of book 2, Dragonfly in Amber, in March (paid link)!

Are you a fan of the Outlander books or the show? How far along in the books should I be before I start the show again? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.

Book Review – Medusa’s Web

09 Feb 2024 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I’m going to spend at least one of my posts each week catching up on my backlog of book reviews for things I read last year. This is one of those posts.

Medusa’s Web is the first book by Tim Powers that I’ve read. I came across this author when I heard him speak as a guest-of-honor at a local science fiction convention several years ago (paid links). This was also a selection for one of my book clubs. I listened to the audiobook edition of this, narrated by Chris Sorenson. Read on below to see what I thought.

I listened to the audiobook edition of this book.

Here is the blurb:

In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins, the malicious wheelchair-bound Claimayne and his sister, Ariel, do not welcome Scott and Madeline’s return to the childhood home they once shared.

While Scott desperately wants to go back to their shabby South-of-Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this haunted “House of Usher in the Hollywood Hills” that is a conduit for the supernatural. Decorated by bits salvaged from old hotels and movie sets, Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back to the golden days of Rudolph Valentino and the silent film stars.

A collection of hypnotic eight-limbed abstract images inked on paper allows the Maddens to briefly fragment and flatten time—to transport themselves into the past and future in visions that are both puzzling and terrifying. Though their cousins know little about these ancient “spiders” which provoke unpredictable temporal dislocations, Ariel and Claimayne have been using for years—an addiction that has brought Claimayne to the brink of selfish destruction.

As Madeline falls more completely under Caveat’s spell, Scott discovers that to protect her, he must use the perilous spiders himself. But will he unravel the mystery of the Madden family’s past and finally free them. . . or be pulled deeper into their deadly web?

This is a novel that I would categorize as horror or gothic fiction, and this isn’t a genre I typically enjoy. However, being part of a book club pushes me out of my comfort zone and gets me to read novels that I wouldn’t otherwise consider. However, this book ended up being a disappointment to me.

I didn’t like any of the characters in this story. Scott and his sister didn’t do anything terrible, but I never cared about what happened to them. The “spider” images functioned like a hallucinogenic drug but also let the user’s awareness travel into someone else’s body, I think. This was confusing and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who and when everything occurred.

This book does use a time travel aspect and that was interesting to me. However, it touched on film history and Hollywood references that I didn’t understand, so I suspect that I missed some of the author’s intent. In the end, I probably wasn’t the right audience for this book, but I’d consider reading something else (non-horror) by this author.

Have you read anything by Tim Powers? What other books by him would you recommend? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.

Book Review – The Quantum Curators and the Faberge Egg

29 Nov 2023 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , ,

This is another book that was suggested for one of my book clubs and it sounded intriguing. The Quantum Curators and the Faberge Egg by Eva St. John is the first book by this author that I have read. It is also the first book (of five) in The Quantum Curators series (paid links).

I read this as an e-book.

Here is the blurb:

When a priceless Fabergé egg comes to light everyone is after it. Neith Salah is a quantum curator. It’s her mission to get the egg; she doesn’t know what it looks like, or where it is, but she knows it’s not on her earth.

Julius Strathclyde lives on a parallel earth. He’s a Cambridge professor and an archivist; he loves tea, research and a quiet life. It’s a pity then, that he’s the only person alive who knows where the egg is.

She has guns and attitude, he has a fountain pen. Together they are going to have to race against time to save the egg, before a hidden enemy gets there first.

This book was the start of a series, but could be read as a stand-alone novel because it does wrap up the main events of the Faberge egg plot by the end. Not every detail is resolved though which leaves something for the next book to presumably explore. I did enjoy this book, but I’m not sure if I’ll read the rest of the series. I didn’t identify with the characters enough to put this on my must-read-more list.

The story is mainly set on our Earth, but the characters that are seeking the Faberge egg are from a parallel Earth, so the book felt a lot like a time travel novel. Of course these technologically advanced treasure hunters meet up with the professor, Julius, on our Earth and he is swept up into the search with them as different factions compete to find the egg.

I liked the plot twists and the action scenes were well-done. The idea of the parallel Earth where relics from our world are saved from destruction and stored for everyone to be able to enjoy and cherish them was something unique in this story. I’m curious to know more about how that world developed.

Have you read any of the Quantum Curator books? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.

Book Review – The Many-Colored Land

27 Nov 2023 Leave a comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , ,

The Many-Colored Land is the first book in the Saga of Pliocene Exile by Julian May (paid links). I had never read anything by this author, but this book was proposed as a selection for one of my book clubs, so I picked it up. This book was nominated for a Hugo and a Nebula Award and won a Locus Award.

I read this in e-book format.

Here is the blurb:

In the year 2034, Theo Quderian, a French physicist, made an amusing but impractical the means to use a one-way, fixed-focus time warp that opened into a place in the Rhone River valley during the idyllic Pliocene Epoch, six million years ago. But, as time went on, a certain usefulness developed. The misfits and mavericks of the future—many of them brilliant people—began to seek this exit door to a mysterious past. In 2110, a particularly strange and interesting group was preparing to make the journey—a starship captain, a girl athlete, a paleontologist, a woman priest, and others who had reason to flee the technological perfection of twenty-second-century life.

The group that passes through the time-portal finds an unforeseen strangeness on the other side. Far from being uninhabited, Pliocene Europe is the home of two warring races from another planet. There is the knightly race of the Tanu—handsome, arrogant, and possessing vast powers of psychokinesis and telepathy. And there is the outcast race of Firvulag—dwarfish, malev-o olent, and gifted with their own supernormal skills.

Taken captive by the Tanu and transported through the primordial European landscape, the humans manage to break free, join in an uneasy alliance with the forest-dwelling Firvulag, and, finally, launch an attack against the Tanu city of light on the banks of a river that, eons later, would be called the Rhine. Myth and legend, wit and violence, speculative science and breathtaking imagination mingle in this romantic fantasy, which is the first volume in a series about the exile world. The sequel, titled The Golden Torc, will follow soon.

While the concept of this novel was quite intriguing, this book was challenging for me to enjoy. The story is told through numerous points of view, and at the beginning of the book I struggled to keep each character straight and to understand how they related to a coherent story. Eventually it is clear that these are the characters that are going to travel back in time to the Pliocene, but I think it would have been easier to follow this opening if the story had started closer to the point at which they begin their journey.

Once they arrive in Pliocene Europe, the book was better, but I still found it hard to identify with the characters. They encountered some difficult conditions there and each character’s personality created different responses to this unique world state, but I also found that I struggled to like or care about any of the characters.

Some positive aspects of this book were that the idea of traveling back in time on a one-way journey is always fun to explore. Part of me does want to discover what happened to this Pliocene land and how the alien Tanu and Firvulag arrived and made it their home. I’m not sure that’s enough to convince me to invest the time to read the next book (The Golden Torc), but I’d consider a different series by the author (paid link).

Have you read any books by Julian May? Which ones do you recommend? Let me know in the comments (above).

Find more of my reviews here.

Book Review – Sea of Tranquility

03 Jun 2022 1 Comment

by Clare in Books, Reviews Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I had not read any of Emily St. John Mandel’s books until just a couple of months ago. I picked up her newest release–Sea of Tranquility–as an audiobook and made my way through it quickly. While her books are linked thematically and through some of the characters, you can read them in any order. You can find my review of her earlier book, Station Eleven, here.

Paid links help to support this blog.

Here is the blurb:

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal–an experience that shocks him to his core.

Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She’s traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive’s bestselling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.

While I didn’t like Sea of Tranquility as much as I did Station Eleven, it was still an intriguing story. Both books are told through different points in time, but Sea of Tranquility is actually about time travel. Like in Station Eleven, pandemics are also part of this story, and eventually the different viewpoint characters become interrelated through the actions of the time travelers.

I had a harder time getting into this book because I didn’t find the opening chapters as engaging as I did for Station Eleven. However, once the overall theme and story started to take a concrete shape, I found myself enjoying it more. I don’t want to spoil anything by giving too many details, but the book delves into concepts of what is real in our world and how people act when faced with knowledge of mortality.

The audiobook is narrated by an ensemble cast, featuring John Lee, Dylan Moore, Arthur Morey, and Kirsten Potter. This is always a little odd to me, as I seem to grow attached to one narrator for a book. One of the voice actors (Kirsten Potter) narrated Station Eleven, and I also enjoy John Lee’s narrations, having listened to several of his performances in the past.

Have you read Sea of Tranquility or any of Emily St. John Mandel’s other work? Let me know in the comments above.

Find more of my book reviews here.

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